Tuxedo's Page - By LDG

Name: Tuxedo

Sex: Male

Year of Birth: 2002

Breed: Domestic Shorthair

Fur Color: Tuxedo

Eye Color: Gold

Tuxie is a feral rescue - he was full of hiss and spit. Now he's our lover boy. He's got an autimmune disease, but he's a fighter and a survivor. He also happens to be alpha of the house!

Arrival Story:

Tuxedo was one of the original "outside" kitties that got us involved in cat rescue and TNR. Tuxedo was a little ball of hiss and spit. They'd all come running when we came to feed them every day. Except Tuxedo, who'd bounce up like Tigger - but then stand his ground, arch his back, flair his tail, and hiss and spit! He was the second-smallest of the bunch, and man was he nasty!

We deemed him unadoptable, and figured he'd be part of the feral colony. But even that became a problem. He was completely disruptive. As other kittens showed up along the way, he sent two of them to the hospital, both needing stitches. What a nasty little cat he was.

It started snowing before Halloween that year (2002). And it got soooo cold. Single digits. Tuxie would NOT use any of the shelters we put out. But he would come for meals and warm cat milk or warm chicken broth we made to help warm up the kitties.

One day, after putting out food for Tuxie (who we slowly moved away from where we fed the colony), Tux did his usual spitting and hissing as Gary put the food down. In total frustration, Gary sat down in the snow on the picnic bench and started crying. Then Tuxie walked over and bumped him in the foot. And that was it. Tuxie was Gary's baby boy.

Sometime in February/March, it went below zero. And every time we opened the front door, Tuxie would come running. OK - he loved Gary - but he'd already sent two cats to the hospital, and we had to separate him from the colony altogether. What could we do?

We found a new boarding facility that was basically empty. The woman's family had bred persians, and seemed to know what she was doing. We explained the situation, and she agreed we could board our feral kitty. She would even let him out to run around and play with him, and work on socializing him.

We visited him all the time for a few weeks. He would jump into Gary's arms. Well - we weren't able to get over there for a week, and the lady called us and said "I think there's something wrong with your cat. Every time I let him out of the room (they had two story "rooms" that were about 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep), he runs and pees on the carpet." HELLO? We jumped in the car, got over there, and got him to the vet.

He had a urinary tract infection. Duh. But we still didn't know what to do with him - and we didn't want to take him back there. By this time we knew the vets really well, and the vet techs all gave whatever kitties we brought in there lots of extra attention. We decided to leave him there for a week or two to see if we could find a home for him.

While there, he attacked the vet, who needed stitches. But every time we visited, he would JUMP out of the cage into Gary's arms.

Then he stopped eating. The vet said - "There's nothing wrong with him. He has obviously bonded with you, and if you want him to live, you have to take him home."

Oh God. We'd had four cats in the RV already, because we'd fostered Munchkin for a few months before she was adopted. But four cats - with one of them a cat that has done nothing but show total aggression to other cats - and in SUCH a small space? The RV was 37 feet long by 8 feet wide!

But there wasn't anything else to do, so we brought him home. And he was home, immediately. He was so sick because he'd lost about half his body weight so quickly. The other kitties came and sniffed him - and he sniffed back. That was it. No fighting. No hissing. No growling. Nothing. It was like he'd been part of the "happy kitty" family from the beginning.

Then... it turned out Tuxedo had an autoimmune problem. We noticed over time that he'd become rather listless, and he started turning his back to us when we were in the same area. Then he would leave the area to be alone. We took him to the vet - and he was terribly anemic. It took a long time to figure out a solution to the problem, and we came very close to losing him twice. It's not technically autimmune hemolytic anemia, but it's something like that.

I'll never forget the day when Tuxie had again lost over half his body weight. He was skin and bones. His hematocrit was 7 (under 24 is anemic - anything under 12 - 14 just isn't survivable for long), and the Doc said "I'm out of bullets." He had done so much research, contacted experts all over the country, ruled out every disease. The prednisone worked for a while, but wasn't anymore. Vet decided to give him a shot of depomedrol (a steroid) instead of continuing to pill him with prednisone. And that was all it took.

Well - he'd been to the vet's every day for months to get various shots (Epogen, nupogen - things to build up his red and white blood cell counts). In fact, we moved to where we were at the time specifically so that our drive to this vet would only be 15 minutes instead of 45+ . Then the vet trips went from every day to every other day. Then every week. Then every other week. There were a few setbacks along the way, but he was a fighter boy, and he did not mind going to the vet. He was SUCH a good boy, and had it not been so clear he was not giving up there was a point when we might have considered euthanizing him. But he fought all the way back - and how he's his big, fluffy, alpha self. And he only needs to go to the vet every 4 - 5 months or so for his shot of depomedrol now!

Favorite Food & Treats:

SHRIMP and chicken baby food.

Little furry mice that rattle! (...and, of course, chasing Spooky)