Luka's Journey

Back in April of 2020, right when COVID-19 hit hard and restrictions have started to settle in our lives, I had to take some time off from work because I wasn't handling it so well.. got scared/paranoid/anxious with full blown panic attacks... whatever.. that's in the past now even though we are still in the middle of this "new" life.. point is that, what gave me strength and motive to keep going/fighting..it was, as it always been... animals. Particularly cats, as you all well know by now. This time, what came to aid and fix my so-broken mind was, again, a TNR friend from Forgotten Cats. Place that gave me so many things past years. I was talking to my friend Holly, she was getting more and more involved with TNR doing local small jobs and such...one day she texted me about this place in Wilmington that there was a great girl feeding some ferals that requested help with TNR services ( also named Holly)...and then she sent me the picture of this orange/buff looking old man cat living by a tree, laying on the dirt... looking more than sad, like given up on life. I have already failed at fostering with Kichi, but I just could not look the other way...and just told her to take it to Forgotten Cats and if he needed help, I would foster until we knew more or see how things progressed. All of you have seen pictures of how he was adapting to indoor life...how well he was thriving. He had issues with his mouth and a funny walk with an adorable broke tail... Forgotten Cats was able not only to fix him, but provide the first bump into his way to recovery by removing the broken teeth he had. Forgotten Cats is a great Organization that provides A LOT of care for outdoor cats and their caregivers all around the Tri-State area/ Philly / Nj / Maryland...but they cant afford to provide the kind of care that my friend LUKA here needed. That's why between my friend Holly Goldfeder, we decided to take responsibility of Luka's care. My dream is to integrate him to my household, if not maybe to Hollys household furry friends...but for any of that to happen, we needed to address the big problem here, that was his pain. We don't know 100% sure what happened to him living outside, but from his wounds I can tell you that: - he suffered a lot - he fought and hard.. - he is FIV+ - he probably was hit by a car, or withheld a significant amount of trauma to his right side of his body; giving him some, broken teeth, jaw pain, and biggest thing here, a funky walk. After a few weeks, Forgotten Cats allowed me to take him for x-rays an a ultrasound to see what was going on with his, odd bloodwork. It was then we it was clear that he was in a very significant amount of pain. I knew that because I saw him daily and was witnessing how with a simple touch to his hip area, he freaked out and became mad/aggressive and went into hiding for a while. The head of his right femur was broken, and healed in a way that kept rubbing into his pelvis.. causing him significant amount of pain. As I mentioned before, Forgotten Cats, cant provide this kind of care for all cats! I wish but its just the sad reality.. their mission is TNR and that's where their money should be going! That's when i decided to dive in completely in this swimming pool of rescue ( not the disinfectant ) haha I went back to work after a month or so of being home watching him ..nurturing him. First because obviously they needed me back at work ( West Chester Veterinary Medical Center ) but then also because isolation was getting into my head too... i needed to go back to somewhat normal... i needed to feel useful again. After some weeks back at work I checked with one of the doctors there Dr Woodcock, wanted to have his opinion into what should we do with him as his field of expertise is Acupuncture. We did bloodwork and x-rays again. That day, our medical director was present, Dr Hilary Fordyce, and said she could do the surgery but we needed to address his mild anemia first so he could have a safe surgery. Again, he is FIV + so its really important to make sure things are aligned and safe for a good surgery and recovery. After almost two months of battling his anemia we decided to setup a surgery day to finally battle this! That day was this past Monday 12.  I was offered employee discount which is AWESOME :D ( bill attached from surgery ) pre surgery stuff I absorbed already in  previous bills. I am pleased to say that the surgery went well.. they performed a FHO ( Femoral Head Ostectomy and also amputation of part of his tail. This last was an ongoing issue as it was getting caught into things making him really painful/annoyed. As I write this, he is laying in bed snuggling with fleece blankets, not so happy just yet because he has to wear a cone but.. he is using his leg! Next day after surgery even...its just amazing!. Lets just remember he is an FIV+ cat and their immune system is not the same as a regular cat, but hey he is recovery great and I just forget that he is challenged somedays!!! I just want to raise some money to cover the costs of his surgery. I know nobody told me or forced me to do this, I do this because I love animals and I need to give back as much as they give me back, or at least try to. His surgery is done, but his recovery period is not there yet. He will probably need some rehabilitation, a few months of medication to help with pain post surgery and during his rehab time.. and most probably another surgery but to fix his dental problems as he is still screaming in pain if not eating only wet food. If you can donate some, would be awesome..if you cant...also great, just share this fundraise if you can :) Thank you