2 years already...

It's been almost 2 years since Zorro's surgery and he is perfectly fine thanks to all of you who donated! We thought he would be a little runt his whole life because of how malnourished he was as a kitten due to his cleft palate, but he is HUGE. He is pretty much half the size of us and very fluffy as I like to call him. :)
We may have spoiled him a little too much when he was a sickly little thing because he needs constant attention, like for example at 4 am when we are trying to sleep! He is getting better with that though and his nuzzle-kissies make up for it! He's a pretty special cat and we can't thank everyone enough for helping to save him! Even Prudence is starting to warm up to him finally.. ;)

Interestingly enough he still prefers to drink from a water bottle, which you can see below....Thanks again everyone!

Feelin' fine...

Zorro had his post surgery check up today and everything looks good after 2 weeks! His sutures are taking a bit longer than expected to heal, so he will be spoiled with wet food for at least another week. I think he's sick of it though, he's ready to go back to his dry food.

The vet showed me how the hole is all closed up, it's pretty amazing. He has been drinking from Prudences' water dish with no problems, it was hard not to choke up the first time he did it to be honest. (Another crazy cat lady moment)

We figured he would be hurtin after his surgery but we had to keep him from running around, he was happy to be home.  We are happy to have him, especially healthy. It's crazy to think how bad of shape he was in just a few months ago.

Thank you again to everyone who has cared, donated, and/or spread the word. We have the best friends and family. We never imagined that we could pull this off, but everyone showed up for us and the little man and it's greatly appreciated. You all truly have saved his life. :)

We are so very very very close....

Hello all.
It's been a little while. I have to say it's hard to have inspiration when he's being such a stinker. ;) We can definitely tell he's feeling a little better now. Also, I've noticed how much bigger he has gotten; making him curious about everything new he can reach by leaping. It still amazes me how much his growth was stunted. He still isn't as big as his brothers on the farm, and it has taken twice as long to get this big.

Also, I really think that he was affected by not being able to eat and drink freely/easily at a young age. He definitely has OCD. I know cats are in general, but he is very persistent! Especially when it comes to jumping on the counter.

In any event, the biggest news is that due to family emergency, our vet had to reschedule Zorro's surgery. It is now another week away on Tues. Nov. 16.
This only leaves one week of recovery before Thanksgiving, so we might have to have a small Turkey Day celebration in our shoe box apartment with our little delicate boy. I've always wanted one of those 'Felicity' type of Thanksgivings anyways.

I have to say it makes me a bit nervous that he has to go another week. He's been having trouble with his food lately, choking and sneezing more frequently. He has gotten so strong compared to how sick he was not too long ago, though so I'm sure he will be fine, it's only a week.

Big news is that we only need $35.00 to reach our goal!. Donations have slowed down, which is understandable thanks to all of you lovely people who have donated! There are so many of you! Ashley and I have an extra week of tips we can add into the Zorro Jackson/Kitty Cat Fund as my G-ma Alice calls it. We make a small amount of tips as baristas at a local cafe, but it has added up throughout these past few weeks!
It would be great if we could reach our goal, but I'm so grateful that we have gotten so amazingly close no matter what the outcome. Thank you all so much.

oh.. hey, i'm still sick. check my story out in posts below!!!

On a bright note: Joss Parry, Steph Byers & Jamie Morgan, Callie Raymond & Justin Upton have all gave us some donations for little Z' in the past two days!! <3

Ash is in the process of making LOTS of cds & also in the process of making a thank-you card to send to all of our friends & our vets.

Another video of him drinking from his water bottle...

It's hard to catch him on video because he gets too distracted.... 

A new video of him drinking from his water bottle, much better lighting this time. 

In case you haven't heard, we taught him to drink from a rabbit feeder the day after we learned he had a cleft palate. I had a rabbit as a child and thought it could help. Because his head & neck are elevated he doesn't choke on his water anymore! He has been gaining weight steadily since he has learned this and is no longer obsessed with water.Although, he still has trouble with his food even though we have tried elevating it. Of course it doesn't help that he likes to play with his food and knocks it down all the time. 

You can read more about him learning to drink from the bottle in one of the first posts of this blog. :)

It's official surgery is only 1 week away!

Lil' Z-boy's surgery is officially only one week away and we are now even closer to our goal! We received $45 in donations via snail mail today which takes us to $365 total! The surgery will cost around $500-$550 so let's amp up the fundraising for the final week! We have a larger undetermined goal that will depend on what his follow-up appointments will cost, but we will worry about that later! I am so shocked by everyone's love and support, I just can't believe you are all making this happen! Thank you all so much!

& Don't forget to spread the word! We have received several donations from people we don't even know so it definitely helps when others post a link to this blog on your facebook/myspace/twitter/anyothernetworkingsitethatidon'tknowabout. 

As for Zorro, he is still getting strong for his surgery. He has had some intestinal (fun) issues, and after research we think it could be an allergy to grain in his food. Grain is not a normal part of a feline's diet but is in all commercial pet food as a source of protein (instead of meat). Basically this means that on top of everything else, he now must have the best and most expensive food as well. Right now we are trying Before Grain(B.G) and it seems to be working. 

Of course after surgery he will only be able to eat wet food for 2 weeks. Not only will they be spoiled on canned food, but the BEST canned wet food money can apparently buy. B.G. also makes canned food that is 100% meat so we will try that first. It is ridiculously expensive but what can ya do right, he needs it! 

The morale of the story is that this is one very speciialllll kitty who has very special needs! I just can't wait until he can eat and drink without choking, it breaks my heart every time. I am really happy that we scheduled his surgery early because now that his long lasting antibiotic is running out he is sneezing a lot and has what I like to call 'goopies' in his eyes and nose again. I just keep telling him he only has to make it one more week, just one more week!!

People can be so amazing..and a donation update!!

For anyone with a pet in the Lancaster/Millersville area, take them to River Hills Veterinary Hospital in Conestoga, PA (3 mi. from Millersville). And if you're outside of the area and not happy with your Vet, she is worth the drive. Not only will you're furry loved one leave happy, but you will as well. Brenda DeLuca  is an amazing Vet, and a wonderful person. I learned this during my first visit with her for our semi-feral cat Prudence, but even more so now with lil Zorro. It has been a long road to recovery for him, not that we are there yet, but she has been there to help every step of the way, and has gone out of her way to help us get him treated at a reasonable price.
Among all of the amazing things she has done while treating him these past few months, she really amazed me today when she stopped by the local cafe that I work at. She immediately had a huge smile and asked how Zorro was doing. Her and the Vet she recommended me to (Chris Runnels of Lititz Vet Hospital) have kept in contact with one another and updated each other on his status (how adorable, right? Can't get much better care than that...or so I thought..) She can't believe how well he is doing and how much better he looks. She even told me that the new Vet can't fully understand what a miracle it is that he has made it this far, compared to how bad a shape he was in even just a month ago, let alone when she first saw him in July.
After chatting for a bit and making her a latte, she wondered when the surgery was. I told her it was just a little over a week away and then she told me she wanted to donate to help us. We are supposed to be paying her, not the other way around! How amazing, absolutely and truly amazing! I told her that I couldn't accept it after all she has done for us so far, but she wouldn't have it. She ended up donating $60 for the little guy, and we couldn't be more grateful.  No matter how disappointing people may be sometimes, it's always great to be reminded just how amazing and selfless people can be as well. I am still shocked hours later that she was willing to do this for us. She deserves all the thanks she can get and I would love if people could send thank you's to her for us as well. On behalf of Zorro....
Brenda DeLuca VMD
River Hills Veterinary Hospital
3161 Main Street
Conestoga, PA 17516

Her gracious and thoughtful donation brings us to $270 in total donations. That means we are half-way to our goal with a little over a week to go! Once again we are so grateful for your willingness to give and your selfless love for animals. Little Zorro wouldn't survive without this surgery so all of you have had a hand in saving his life. We (and he) will be forever grateful. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. For those of you who haven't, please consider helping us to achieve our goal, and for those of you that have, please spread the word and love around. We are sooooo very close to meeting our goal, and every little bit counts whether it's $1 or in this case $60. Thank you everyone! : )