- A
- J
- J
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A tragedy occured to the liveliest of kittens on the afternoon of Thursday November 10 that has left our not-quite-yet-six-month old kitten, Sarutobi, with a broken spine. Two vertebrae just above his hips are slipped and no longer aligned. His spinal cord is in tact, and he has about 10% functionality of his rear legs. He is able to take himself to his litter box. The most devastating part is that his tail is paralyzed and lies dead behind his limp hind quarters.. If he does not recover, his tail will need to be amputated.
We are begging for help as we do not know where else to turn. Sarutobi is the specialist of kittens, the only white one in a little of 7, and the biggest lover. He has more love to give than any animal we have ever met. He will bury his face in your beard, wrap himself around your neck while you sleep, and head bump you when you're sad. He has acted like a service kitten to Jon, and quite literally, they need each other. His beautiful tail used to twitch in the cutest circles when he was playing with springs, and we just want him to be that happy again.
We have called all of the hospitals and cat/small animal clinics in our area and have determined the following:
- Surgery to realign his spine: $5700
- Post-op medication and care will be about $200
- Feline acupuncture: $150 per session (ideally 2x week for 6 weeks)
Our goal is $6500 as that will cover the surgery, post-op care, and the first few acupuncture sessions.
We do not know what happened. A few months back Sarutobi took a fall from our third floor railing onto the staircase below giving him a good knock on the side of the head (mild swelling which him look like he had been punched by Rocky) and a bloody nose. We had him examined and X-rayed, and he was prescribed a round of ibuprofen and rest. Needless to say he rarely returns to the third floor, and has definitely not returned to the railing.
Thursday afternoon we found Sarutobi, and his sister Matatbi, on our back balcony hiding underneath the grill. The cats are allowed on the balconies, but have never ventured into the wilderness. There is a wild black cat, a coyote, and a pair of hawks who roam our neighborhood, but we don't believe any made it onto the balcony. We've discovered scratch marks on the balcony railing possibly from a fall, a scare, maybe an attack? When Sarutobi tried to come in, his body seemed swollen, and he was moving his back legs like John Wayne. He laid down in front of the sliding glass door, turned his face away from us and just slept. We layed an ice pack on his rear to help with the swelling, and he seemed to appreciate it. We slept downstairs to be near him, and in the morning we awoke to find him in his curled up in his carrier. As we went through our morning routine, he got out of the carrier and made his way to a favorite spot behind the couch looking lethargic and now almost dragging his hind-quarters. When he would stop to sit still, he seemed to be holding his weight on his front legs. We took him to the vet, had him X-rayed and examined to find that he had somehow broken his spine. His tail likely will not move again and will need to be amputated. The vet said that the original injury from the fall likely had not healed, and given he has been growing exponentially the past few weeks, his coordination would have been even more off. Whether he was scared, attacked, fell or if something fell on him (seems unlikely), we don't know what happened. All we know is that we are sadder than we thought possible, scared for our kitten, and just want to give him the best possible care and chance at a happy healthy cat life.
His best hope is to be examined by a feline neurologist and then have surgery to realign his spine and attach any nerve endings. To do that we need to raise at least $6500.
Please help.
A tragedy occured to the liveliest of kittens on the afternoon of Thursday November 10 that has left our not-quite-yet-six-month old kitten, Sarutobi, with a broken spine. Two vertebrae just above his hips are slipped and no longer aligned. His spinal cord is in tact, and he has about 10% functionality of his rear legs. He is able to take himself to his litter box. The most devastating part is that his tail is paralyzed and lies dead behind his limp hind quarters.. If he does not recover, his tail will need to be amputated.
We are begging for help as we do not know where else to turn. Sarutobi is the specialist of kittens, the only white one in a little of 7, and the biggest lover. He has more love to give than any animal we have ever met. He will bury his face in your beard, wrap himself around your neck while you sleep, and head bump you when you're sad. He has acted like a service kitten to Jon, and quite literally, they need each other. His beautiful tail used to twitch in the cutest circles when he was playing with springs, and we just want him to be that happy again.
We have called all of the hospitals and cat/small animal clinics in our area and have determined the following:
- Surgery to realign his spine: $5700
- Post-op medication and care will be about $200
- Feline acupuncture: $150 per session (ideally 2x week for 6 weeks)
Our goal is $6500 as that will cover the surgery, post-op care, and the first few acupuncture sessions.
We do not know what happened. A few months back Sarutobi took a fall from our third floor railing onto the staircase below giving him a good knock on the side of the head (mild swelling which him look like he had been punched by Rocky) and a bloody nose. We had him examined and X-rayed, and he was prescribed a round of ibuprofen and rest. Needless to say he rarely returns to the third floor, and has definitely not returned to the railing.
Thursday afternoon we found Sarutobi, and his sister Matatbi, on our back balcony hiding underneath the grill. The cats are allowed on the balconies, but have never ventured into the wilderness. There is a wild black cat, a coyote, and a pair of hawks who roam our neighborhood, but we don't believe any made it onto the balcony. We've discovered scratch marks on the balcony railing possibly from a fall, a scare, maybe an attack? When Sarutobi tried to come in, his body seemed swollen, and he was moving his back legs like John Wayne. He laid down in front of the sliding glass door, turned his face away from us and just slept. We layed an ice pack on his rear to help with the swelling, and he seemed to appreciate it. We slept downstairs to be near him, and in the morning we awoke to find him in his curled up in his carrier. As we went through our morning routine, he got out of the carrier and made his way to a favorite spot behind the couch looking lethargic and now almost dragging his hind-quarters. When he would stop to sit still, he seemed to be holding his weight on his front legs. We took him to the vet, had him X-rayed and examined to find that he had somehow broken his spine. His tail likely will not move again and will need to be amputated. The vet said that the original injury from the fall likely had not healed, and given he has been growing exponentially the past few weeks, his coordination would have been even more off. Whether he was scared, attacked, fell or if something fell on him (seems unlikely), we don't know what happened. All we know is that we are sadder than we thought possible, scared for our kitten, and just want to give him the best possible care and chance at a happy healthy cat life.
His best hope is to be examined by a feline neurologist and then have surgery to realign his spine and attach any nerve endings. To do that we need to raise at least $6500.
Please help.