Help Trixie, a tiny little spunky kitten, LIVE

My name is Shannon McGraw. I am hoping to raise funds to help provide Open Heart Surgery for my kitten, Trixie. Trixie is 1 of 4 kittens born to a former feral queen (now spayed and vaccinated through TNVR/Trap Neuter Vaccinate Release). That former queen is now living in heated accommodations and fed regularly in my backyard along with 7 other community cats(all of the females have had TNVR, there is still 1 male that I am trying to catch for TNVR).

About 6 years ago my cat, Loretta, was diagnosed with a rare injection site cancer. We were lucky and our wonderful vet removed the tumor. However, after 3 years the cancer returned and claimed her life another year later. I had been grieving Loretta about 1 week when I saw a Facebook post about a cat that had been brought into my local animal shelter, Paulding County Animal Control. Her name was Eleanor. The post read, “Anyone want a moody cat.” Evidently, Eleanor wasn’t adoptable because of growling at everyone. When El became so grumpy, the shelter thought TNVR might be the best way to go. The TNVR medical team discovered that poor El had been front declawed by someone. So now, she couldn’t be released as a barn cat & couldn’t be put in the adoption room because of her attitude. I wanted her immediately.

Eleanor was to be my only cat, as she did not like other cats. However, fate said differently.

I began feeding the hungry cats that wandered into my yard. Then, I started getting them vaccinated and spayed. I bought heated houses for winter and set up umbrellas with frozen water bottles to try and keep them cool in the summer. One of the cats must have already had a litter because she soon showed up with 3 kittens in tow. I socialized her kittens, brought them inside, got their vaccinations and spay/neuters even though Eleanor was not too pleased with this.

Before I could catch this female, she had yet another litter. But this time, things went wrong. The Queen (named Baby) was very sick while nursing these 4 littles. I fed her probiotics and the highest quality of kitten food (Royal Canin Wet Kitten Cans & Kitten wet Churu for hiding the probiotics) trying to help through nutrition. I was finally able to trap her when this last litter was about 9 weeks old. She is doing SO well now that she is spayed and vaccinated.

So now, I have 7 cats inside including Trixie: Eleanor, Minnie Pearl, Gimli, Little Bit, and Fluffy. My intention was to foster and find homes for these kittens. No homes were found and now I’m attached so yeah, it’s been kinda crazy going from 1 to 7 inside.

If you have noticed the math doesn’t seem right, that’s because we very sadly lost one of Trixie’s brothers. At about 6 weeks of age, Trixie’s brother seemed to be in distress. I carried him to Marietta Urgent Care & then to Dogwood Emergency Clinic. Unfortunately, the doctor at Dogwood found that he had a congenital birth defect that was incurable. It was heartbreaking to learn that nothing at all could be done to help him. He had been born without an exit opening for his excrement. I asked how he could have survived to this point and was told the bodily fluids would have left another way and that this was about the age that these problems become evident.

This was both horribly sad and very expensive costing close to $1000 for the combined efforts of the 2 vet clinics.

It wasn’t long until it became apparent that Trixie was having problems, as well. As the kittens were weaning, she would hungrily gobble up the solid food only to almost immediately regurgitate. I consulted my family vet, Dr Judy at Paulding Animal Clinic, who very generously took X-rays of Trixie (at no charge). She began eating a prescription diet of Royal Canin Recovery wet food from an elevated tilted dish and was referred to a specialist at The Blue Pearl in Sandy Springs, GA (Atlanta area).

At the Blue Pearl, Dr. Yannick Couture completed blood work, X-rays, & a sonogram. We accumulated charges of $1863.50 there which I paid that day from savings.

Dr. Couture recommended we do a CT scan to confirm and plan surgery because he suspected that Trixie had a Vascular Ring Anomaly/congenital birth defect. His quote for the CT Scan was $2500-$2800.00. The recommended surgery was expected to be an additional $6000- $8000.00. I couldn’t imagine how to pay this amount. Dr Couture told me to look up Bailey Chairs for dogs on the internet and that something similar would help Trixie. He also explained that she would need her feeding station to be elevated much more so that she would essentially stand up on her back legs while eating. I was told to hold her in an upright position after her meals for 20 minutes in order to give gravity a chance to help the food move through her constricted esophagus. All food must be liquid and she must be fed more often in order to get in the calories that she needs. At almost 3 months old, Trixie weighed about 1 and a half pounds. She would need to weigh at least 2 pounds before surgery could be completed.

Dr Couture explained that while a fetus, one of Trixie’s veins grew around her esophagus instead of going where it should have. He said the vein then basically became a ligament squeezing her esophagus. Evidently, this is an extremely rare birth defect with most family vets seeing possibly only one in their entire career. Surgery was said to be the preferred course of treatment as the vascular ring could potentially slowly choke her to death as she grew older. He also shared that though the prognosis, post surgery, was good, some of these cats continue to have what is called Megaesophagus afterwards. Dr Couture explained that Megaesophagus is a condition in which the esophagus stretches out to hold the food that hasn’t passed through to the stomach. Having surgery sooner than later would give Trixie a better chance at avoiding MegaE altogether or correcting it.

I began searching for funding options and alternative solutions immediately. I spoke with animal organizations that I had donated to in the past. My wonderful local animal shelter asked their veterinarian to review Trixie’s case and give me a second opinion. He felt that odds of the surgery failing or leaving Trixie with many other problems were too great. I was told that adoptions are now very low and funds so limited that Trixie’s case was too much for them to take on. They also shared with me that they knew of no other organizations that would be able to help due to the current state of the economy, overcrowded shelters, & low numbers of adoptions currently. I went back to my local veterinarian and shared with his office the state of things. He made the recommendation that I just try to give Trixie

The best life I can. I have been trying to do just that.

Trixie is adorable! She absolutely loves all people and all cats! Trixie is rapid fast and very strong. She delights in jumping up onto my shoulder and riding around like a pirate’s parrot. Trixie follows around the biggest kitten here, Little Bit, like she is his greatest fan. Unfortunately, for Trixie, it’s a bit like Foghorn Leghorn and the chicken Hawk, he gives her a look that says, “You’re bothering me kid”.

Trixie has done so incredibly well with the upright feeding of liquid food. I feed her 4-5 times a day with treats in between. I joined a group on Facebook called Feline Megaesophagus. I was able to learn so much there. This is where I began to get ideas about how to create an appropriately raised feeder station for Trixie. I made it by stacking more and more cardboard boxes as she grew. The feeder has morphed over time. At first, I stacked books. Then, it was made from a plastic box and a couple of photo frames, haha. Eventually I duct taped cardboard boxes together and covered it with Dollar Tree wallpaper. The top box is a softer graham cracker box that I mashed on one side and taped down. I used that to give as much tilt as possible without the food running out of the dish. A tilted dish sits on top of the stack. Members of Feline Megaesophagus are who urged me to try the veterinary schools. ❤️.

As Trixie ages, it is getting more and more challenging to hold her upright after feeding. She has a life to live and wants to get busy with it! Because it is becoming so hard to get Trix to submit to being held upright, I am beginning to more greatly fear that MegaE may develop. I will just say that I cannot stand the thought of my sweet little Trix slowly choking to death. I had been told to wait for UGA’s call but, I called them.

Trixie was seen by the department of Internal Medicine at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching School on Monday, April 28, 2025. Dr. Jose Suarez examined Trixie, did blood work & took additional X-rays. On the initial X-rays Dr Couture had noticed minerals in Trixie’s esophagus( he thought they were possibly rocks). Dr. Suarez showed the minerals to me in the older X-rays and shared that he believed them to possibly be bones. They did look like a pile of tiny sticks. He compared this with the new X-rays and showed me how the minerals had disappeared, hence moved through her-Very Good News! He also outlined the esophagus in both X-rays so that I could see how much more relaxed it is now. He said that other than the constricture, Trixie’s esophagus looked normal. He believes the esophagus has relaxed because the regurgitations stopped with the new way of feeding. Dr. Suarez showed me how the xray couldn’t pick up all the soft tissue so only part of the contstricture could be seen. There was still a strong possibility of PRAA (vascular ring anomaly/birth defect) but, it was also possible that some type of trauma could have happened when Trixie was about the age PRAA would have shown up. If strictures (like scar tissue or hard tissue) from some unknown trauma were blocking Trixie’s esophagus then a balloon procedure might be needed instead of surgery. Because the balloon procedure might be something that would need to be repeated potentially many times, it would probably be more expensive than open heart surgery but far less dangerous for Trixie. The decision was made for her to stay overnight at UGA and have a CT scan the following day (I live about 100 miles away and have a 2 1/2 - 3 hr drive depending on traffic). The CT scan would tell us which direction to go next.

I borrowed $2700 of the required deposit. I borrowed another $300 from another source to pay the remaining deposit.

As I was leaving the university hospital that night, some graffiti on an overpass caught my attention. It was my name, written in all caps with an upside down N written in the middle just as I wrote as a child. The vandal had drawn a smiley face alongside the name. Now, I’m sure the all caps and upside down N were that way because the ‘artist’ was most likely leaning over a bridge writing upside down. I sure don’t support vandalism of any kind BUT, I choose seeing “Shannon Smile” in that moment as a sign that whatever happens with Trixie we are on the right path and it will be alright in the end.

Unfortunately, Trixie’s CT scan revealed that she was born with PRAA, Persistent Right Aortic Arch with aberrant left subclavian artery (congenital birth defect-vascular ring anomaly). It was recommended that we have a surgical consult asap but their calendar is very full. In the meantime continue the upright liquid feedings and holding upright 5-20 minutes afterwards (longer is better). Trixie and I arrived home late last night (Tuesday 4/29/25).

This morning, I called UGA to schedule the consult with their only cardiothoracic surgeon. The person on the phone asked how was Trixie doing because the openings for a consult would be very very far out time-wise. I explained. Then, she suddenly brightened and said there had been a cancellation if Trixie could come in on Monday, May 5. The consult appointment has been made! If the surgical team finds that Trixie is a good candidate for the surgery, it will be done on Tuesday. If all goes exceptionally well, it is possible that she could be released from the hospital on Wednesday. Wow, suddenly things are happening! I asked about the additional amount that would be owed. It is not definite but her tentative estimate is $2500.00. That is SO much more doable than the price quoted by the Blue Pearl. I am SO grateful!❤️

This all is and has been very expensive. Trixie’s Royal Canin Wet Recovery cans of food, along with her treats/supplemental calories of Churu Liquid(6kcal) and TIKI Cat Baby Thrive (25 kcal) have also pushed the costs up. It has been invaluable that Family and friends have very generously helped with donations of food and money when possible. I also use Receipt Apps to try and supplement my funds for caring for the animals. Purina’s Reciept App has been amazing by mailing coupons for food and litter as well as some samples. I sign up for those samples whenever I see them, haha!! I use Fetch, Receipt Hog, ShopKicks, Swagbucks, Upside, Rakuten, & Ibotta receipt apps. Every little bit helps in making it possible for me to aid these animals. That said, I will manage a way to get it paid. A friend very kindly suggested creating this GoFundMe. If you feel led to donate, then from the bottom of my heart thank you kind soul! If you are not able to, I completely understand. We all have obligations and, we all do what we can. I would greatly appreciate your prayers/good thoughts most of all! Those help just as much as money does. Thank you for taking the time to read Trixie’s story!❤️

I feel a bit like Bob Barker but, it just seems like “Please Spay & Neuter your pets” belongs here at the end.❤️