Please Help Midnight

We’ve been taking care of the cats dropped off in the jungle in the tropical rainforest of Hana, on Maui, Hawaii. We don’t turn away the cats – and try to keep up with getting them neutered and medically treated.

One of our first rescue cats was Midnight, who arrived at our door about eight years ago. He’s become an inside family member. His owner had moved to the other side of the island and Midnight was left behind. He was about four when he picked us to live with. Midnight is an intelligent, affectionate, and talkative black cat; a Bombay breed with big round eyes. He sleeps with us at night and enjoys watching cat videos in bed on an iPad.

A couple of months ago, he developed a back spasm that caused his tail to move, uncontrollably in pain. Midnight would chew his tail to try to stop the wagging. After a while, the hair was chewed off the end of his tail. After an examination, the vet prescribed a small dose of gabapentin to calm the spasms for now. Additional tests showed he had developed hyperthyroidism, for which another medication was prescribed. Midnight can tell the gabapentin helps and lets us know when he needs his medicine, even though his face gestures make it look like it tastes horrible.

We suspect that someone previously mistreated Midnight and broke or significantly damaged his tail. He’s never been able to walk with it upright and it’s the joint area that appears to be the most painful.

The hyperthyroidism requires 2X daily thyroid medication. For the first few weeks, we gave him pill twice daily. It was not a fun time. We tried a pill shooter, with about 50% success. Often, a pill we thought had been swallowed was hiding under his tongue and spit in the corner when we left the room. Our vet recommended a gel form of the medication that we rub inside the fold of his ear in the morning and at night. This seems to be the best way for us to administer the medicine, and Midnight now enjoys his special massages twice a day. The medications are expensive, but he’s worth every penny and time spent to administer the meds (even with his sharp claws).

The food and the vet bills are expensive and anything you can share will be greatly appreciated. This month money was extremely tight because of the economy. We had to delay some monthly payments in order to buy Midnight’s medication.

Please know that every donation we’ve received has gone to the cats. It’s an ongoing obligation to continue to care for the kitty colonies. Thank you for reading this and considering a donation. May you always be blessed.