Fighting for Otter
Otter is an adorable little ginger kitten that belongs to my friend Meghan and her husband John. They adopted him during the pandemic lockdowns as a playmate for their other ginger cat, Orzo.
Otter had some medical issues before they adopted him, but he seemed to be progressing into a healthy kitten.
Unfortunately, since his adoption in September 2020 he’s had several life threatening hospital visits. Meghan and John are still uncertain of his future, but want to be the best kitty parents possible and have consequently accrued extensive veterinary bills.
If you want to support Meghan, John, and Otter in the fight for his life, please consider donating.
For more detail about his story, please read Otter’s heartbreaking journey below.
Hi,
I’m John Verdico. Last year during the COVID-19 lockdown, my social media was filled with adorable foster kittens and puppies, as I’m sure everyone’s was. One kitten in particular captured the attention of my wife and I. His name was Otter, and he was only a 40-minute drive west.
Otter was the perfect little orange kitten. He looked to be a great match for our other cat, another young ginger named Orzo, whom we adopted the year prior.
We knew it might be a long shot, but we direct messaged Otter’s foster, Alyssa Masten (@windycityfosters), to see when Otter could be available for adoption. To our surprise, Alyssa messaged back that day, and told us he was actually getting neutered in a few weeks, and after that he would be available.
So we kept in touch.
And as Otter grew, and we saw more and more photos of him, we fell in love.
Finally, his neuter surgery was scheduled, and we thought we’d be taking adopting Otter within a few days. During the procedure, however, the doctors discovered that Otter had a pretty strong case of pneumonia. It was so strong, that he had to be resuscitated twice near the end of the procedure.
But Otter’s a fighter, and he fought on.
Otter started feeling better, and through his struggles, our interest hadn’t waned. We kept falling further in love with Otter. Once he was cleared, he was sent home with Alyssa, and prepared for a meeting with us.
Meeting Otter for the first time is a pretty special experience. He’s a very small cat, with a massive personality. He loves people, and loves purring into their ears. He has a darling little fox face with askew whiskers. He’s a perfect little creamcicle goofball, and he has the ability to capture anyone’s heart.
When we took Otter home, we were told that he had a couple more days of antibiotics, and maybe a couple weeks more of healing time, but he would effectively be a normal, naughty little kitten. But two weeks later, Otter wasn’t doing so well. One scary Saturday morning, Otter woke up with a really sad and persistent cough, and looked to have trouble breathing.
Having never heard a sound like this coming out of their kitten, we got Otter to the nearest ER vet. After stabilizing Otter, the vet wanted to run several tests to determine the cause of his symptoms. The proposed diagnoses were fairly bleak (with the most notable mention being FIP) after the doctors X-rayed his chest and found a large volume of pleural effusion.
The doctors took some samples of the fluid, and proceeded to discharge a now-stable Otter with some Clavamox. Over the coming days, Otter would test negative for the scariest possible diagnoses, avoiding FIP, and coming away with a fairly strange conclusion: Otter’s infection was caused by pasteurella, a bacterium that often grows because of a wound of some sort.
We were not aware of any way Otter would have developed this bacteria, but when we learned more of his backstory, it certainly became possible.
Otter was found alone, the sole survivor of a litter born in someone’s yard in Hampshire, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. His mother had left him, and it was a blessing he was still alive when he was brought into Anderson and fostered to Alyssa.
We’ll never really know what happened to him outside after he was born, but it’s our only explanation for how he could have gotten pasteurella.
But Otter returned home, and despite reoccurring X-ray appointments, he was living the normal life of a young kitten: learning about his body, his surroundings, his parents, and mostly, his big brother, Orzo. Orzo was a saintly big brother from the beginning, showing Otter his belly early on during playtime, and grooming Otter every night.
Around Christmas, Otter seemed to be doing really well off antiobiotics. His repeat chest X-ray appointments showed no return of the infection yet, despite a couple of nodules that were biopsied and determined to be inflammatory tissue in response to his severe lung infection. He was still experiencing a residual cough from the infection as well.
The doctor told us he would like to take the larger of the two nodules out, and that this could basically be a curative treatment to stop the repeat bouts with lung disease. He wanted to see repeat x-rays to make sure the infection didn’t come back, and then talk about the surgical treatment in more detail.
But before Otter could make it back for his appointment, we had to rush Otter back to the ER after he lost his balance at home, and presented an increased breathing rate. He stayed two nights back in the hospital with pneumonia, but no pleural effusion. He came home with Clavamox again, and for a few days seemed almost back to his normal self.
In his second week back home, we noticed changes in Otter’s activity level, avoiding playtime with his brother and sleeping most of the day. He became increasingly disinterested in meals, and started drinking more water. He wasn’t well, and we didn’t know if the pneumonia was getting better.
Otter had to go back to the ER the night before his re-check appointment.
They stabilized Otter and found out he was life-threateningly anemic. Two weeks prior, his red blood cell count was around 30%. Now it was 14%. He had significantly declined in two weeks, but the pneumonia was improving. Where did this anemia come from?
The doctor treating Otter called early the morning after after we dropped him off at the hospital. She was concerned that the blood transfusion he received overnight had not significantly improved his prospects (only 16.5%), but he did seem to be feeling much better.
Otter’s a fighter, and he fought on.
Since he was already at the hospital, he was able to transfer directly over to his scheduled appointment the next morning. His normal doctor called in the late morning to report that he was definitely feeling better, but we have to address the cause of this anemia.
We decided to go through with a litany of new tests: an ultrasound, an immune disease test, FIV and Leukemia (both of which he had already tested negative for previously), and several other tests for infectious causes of the anemia, along with another transfusion.
We were pleading for a miracle. We love Otter so much, and couldn’t bear losing him, especially when he was clearly putting up a strong fight for his life.
The next morning, the doctor called to report that overnight, his red blood cells had gone from 16.5% to 20%, then to 22%, and finally to 26%, nearly normal levels. And even better, he didn’t have an autoimmune disease, parasites, or bacteria in his blood. He was anemic, but had no significant abnormalities.
His X-rays had shown improvement in his pneumonia, and the nodules in his chest appeared smaller and less defined than previously. He had a small amount of pleural effusion again as well, but a very small volume. He was also going to be on two new antibiotics, because the one he was previously on can have a rare immune system side effect, and the doctor wanted to remove that complication.
Otter is a fighter, and we are trying to give him every chance possible to fight for his life. From multiple chest X-rays to blood transfusions, we have accrued large veterinary bills thus far, and have a long road ahead of more diagnostics and rechecks to make sure he’s progressing in the right direction.
Otter wants to live. He’s fighting for his chance, and we want to give him every opportunity to do so. Any support you’re able to offer will contribute to his follow-ups, and his continuing care.
Thank you so, so much for your time and for your support.
John, Meghan, Orzo, and Otter