What James Knows

Look. I’m going to tell you right now that this post is going to tug at the heartstrings a little bit. You’ve been warned.

Monica and I adopted two adorable kittens on Sunday. We picked them up from a very kind woman who runs a cat rescue in upstate New York. The two grey tabby kittens were christened Drizzle and Juno. We brought them home and they explored our apartment and everything they could do and play in there.

Juno’s on the left and Drizzle’s on the right.

Drizzle was the calmer of the two. She watched as Juno ran around like a crazy cat playing with everything. She participated too though, jumping and chasing the laser pointer and such. We knew when we got them that they’d had a problem with diarrhea earlier in their lives but they seemed to be over that by now. We received some medication to give to them which proved rather difficult to administer.

When we were finally able to give the pill to Drizzle she threw up about 15 minutes later. Nothing really came up except for some yellowish liquid. We were concerned but figured this came as a result of the pill or the little bit of butter that we coated it in in order for her to swallow it easier. At 4 AM it happened again though.

This morning Drizzle seemed a little out of it. Juno was up and running around like normal but her sister was just sleeping or laying down. We hoped she just needed some rest. Monica was very worried. She wanted to come home during her lunch break to check on her. After speaking with Lori and me she did not.

Monica got home around 5:30 and found that Drizzle had thrown up a few more times. She looked out of it and skinnier than before. She called the animal hospital right down the road but they were closed. They told her to go to the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers. As soon as I got home we took off with Drizzle in her little carrier.

We got there and waited for about a half hour before they saw us. Drizzle had thrown up in the car on the way over. They took her in to examine her and a few minutes later a doctor came out to see us. When asked what it could be, the doctor mentioned it could be Panleukopenia (Internet info here?). We had never heard of this but apparently it’s a virus that attacks white blood cells. The doctor suggested keeping Drizzle there overnight and providing her with IV fluids to help re-hydrate her.

She provided us with an estimate of the cost and my jaw hit the floor. I’m not going into details but it was a lot more than I ever expected to shell out for both cats, let alone one of them. We talked some more and some things weren’t absolutely necessary. Even with their removal it would still be expensive. During this time, Drizzle had thrown up two more times. They had started her on IV fluids already because they couldn’t wait anymore. If we were to take her home now she wouldn’t make it through the night. All of this to take in and we’ve had these kittens for three days.

After much talk, Monica and I decided to leave Drizzle at the hospital. Yes, we just got her but we honestly love her and her sister so much. We decided to call back in a few hours to see how Drizzle was doing and then try again in the morning. In the meantime we’d look for a vet in the area to help lessen the cost of all this. (The main reason it was so expensive was because we went to an animal hospital and not a vet.) The doctor also asked if we wanted them to perform CPR if the need arose.

We got home and a little while later we got a call from the doctor. She performed a blood smear on Drizzle and found that she had almost no white blood cells. It seems like it’s definitely the panleukopenia then. We have to get Juno tested ASAP and Drizzle could need more time in the hospital. The doctor asked me if “this effects how aggressively I want to pursue this.” I almost threw the phone at the wall. How could she ask that after all of this?

So now it comes to this. I don’t know how else to say this, but I need help. We need help. We want to save Drizzle and we want to make sure that Juno is OK too. I’m not asking for much. Anything would help. If you can give us a dollar or two to help us save our kittens, then I ask humbly for you to do so.

I promise I won’t ask anything of you again and I’ll continue to post funny and stupid things I do here. This is the hardest thing that Monica and I have faced together and I think it’s one of the hardest that I’ve ever faced in my entire life.

Tags: Drizzle, Help, Juno, Kittens