Urgent!! Cat Needs Help By Tomorrow Afternoon!!

Urgent!! Kitty in North Carolina Needs Your Help In The Next Few Hours!

I have been taking care of and feeding a stray kitty for about a month now, and I’m in the process of trying to find him a home. His name is Cookie, because he’s black and white and looks like a cookie. Yesterday, his energy level seemed to have decreased, and today, when I got home from work, he was on the ground next to the bushes and wouldn’t get up. My roommate said he had not eaten all day. Plus his eye appeared to be infected. So I immediately took him to my veterinarian. Unfortunately, Cookie has an infection and also Feline Lukemia. Plus, there’s a possibility he may have cancer, because his lymph nodes are swollen, and kitties who have Feline Lukemia are prone to develop cancer. Cookie is at the vet right now with a 106 degree fever. My veterinarian suggested that I have Cookie euthanized, particularly since there’s a possibility that Cookie has cancer. Since the only way to know for sure if Cookie has cancer is to do a biopsy, I decided to have that done tomorrow, and the results will come back tomorrow afternoon.

If there is *anybody* who can take this poor sick cat, please contact me at jamiej7@bellsouth.net. Cookie is so precious and such a sweetie. He’s a cuddler and a non-stop purrer. He purred all the way to the vet. I would guess he’s around 3 years old, but I don’t know for sure. He’s small, and he has extra toes on his two front paws. I can’t bring him home, because I have two kitties, and I can’t expose them. And, right now, because of a couple of other emergencies, I don’t have the financial resources to take care of him properly. I’m using my bill money to pay for his vet bill.

Cookie’s a sweet little baby, and I would hate to have to put him to sleep just because I can’t find a home for him. I don’t think I can do that, but I don’t know where to take him when I pick him up from the vet. I’m in North Carolina, and I will drive him to anyone who will take him, or meet someone halfway. I hope someone can help this poor little baby.

Thanks everybody,
Jamie

Thank you, Steph. I appreciate the ideas. I just went to the Best Friends site at the link you gave me and wrote them an email telling them about poor Cookie.

And, I'll start calling shelters in the morning.

I really appreciate your help. Poor little Cookie. I talked to the vet a little while ago and, unfortunately, in spite of them giving Cookie meds and antibiotics to bring the fever down, it's gone from 106 to 107, so that's not a good sign.

I guess we'll have to say a lot of prayers. Thank you, again, and take care.

Jamie

Thank you, Denice. I really appreciate your help tonight.

The poor little baby. I just can't believe he got that sick that fast. He seemed fine Monday, but was a little sluggish yesterday, but I thought it was just the heat or something. When I got home from work tonight, he wouldn't even get up. This is just so awful.

Prayers work a lot of the time, so hopefully, they will work in poor little Cookie's case.

Love,
Jamie

I got some good news this morning. Cookie's temp has gone down to 98.5 (after going up to 107 around 2 am), and he's alert and starting to eat a little and is feeling a *whole* lot better. The vet said that there are different kinds of white blood cells, but the only kind Cookie has is lymphocites (spelling), which usually indicates that there is cancer; however, when they looked at the cells under a microscope, they didn't look like cancer cells. So.......... rather than doing the biopsy, first they're going to do something called "fine needed aspirate", which means they'll just use a needle to otain a sample from the lymph nodes. He said about 95% of the time, they can find out if the kitty has cancer or not from this procedure. If they're unable to determine that by doing this, then they'll do the biopsy. That way, Cookie won't have to undergo surgery, unless, of course, the results are inconclusive. They pick up the sample around 9:30 this am, and we'll have the results this afternoon.

His white blood cells are at 25% and normal is 25% to 50%, so he's very anemic. I'm not sure what he meant by blood cells being at 25% other than he said, "so he's very anemic"

So, most of this news is very encouraging. If he doesn't have cancer and the infection is cleared up, then Cookie has a couple of years of good quality of life ahead. Then, we'll just need to find him a home.

I'll keep you guys posted. I'm going to work shortly, so I won't have internet or email access until about 5:30 this afternoon, so it'll be after that when I can post again.
Take care,
Jamie

Thanks, Debra. I actually have Cookie in my spare room right now, so it's good that he's not at the vet now. One of the vets at the animal hospital had told me that it wouldn't be a good idea, but the Dr. who has actually been treating Cookie told me this morning it would be all right, plus, I called a specialty hospital, and the Dr. there it would be all right, too. I just have to wear something over my clothes when I go in the bedroom and then remove it and keep my hands washed etc.

Cookie's temp had gone back up to 106 this morning, but the Dr. said for me to just give him antibiotics twice a day and bring him back Tuesday for a checkup, unless he gets worse, of course. And Cookie seems to feel fine this afternoon. He's wanting to play and all.

So, hopefully, we'll find somebody to take him. So far no bites, though.

Take care,
Jamie

Blue,

Thank you for your prayers, hug and pet for Cookie. I'm a firm believer that prayers do work, so your prayers are very much needed.

I believe that Cookie will soon have a home. God has worked everything out *so* far. Like I said before, if I didn't have 2 cats already, I would keep him in a flat second, and you certainly can't keep him either because of your cats and the distance and financial constraints. My finances are limited, too, but, fortunately, I've had 2 friends call me who chipped in to pay the vet bill. Otherwise, I would have called my Dad for a loan. :-)

But, again, prayers are very very valuable, and prayers work, so thank you very much for yours.

Take care,
Jamie

Denice,

Yep, it's going to be hard to find him a home, though. Apparently nobody is interested in a feline leukemia kitty, at least so far. I've got an ad running in the local paper and have posted all over the internet, but so far no luck. It's a shame, too, because Cookie is a real sweetie, and he's closed off in that bedroom, and he really hates it. And feline leukemia kitties live normal lives for years--they just have to be inside with no other kitties. I slept in there with him last night, and he curled up next to my side. He's just so adorable. And talk about purring, he *never* stops purring. :-)

Denice, I really really appreciate all your help with Cookie. I don't how I could have done it without you, and I just want to say thank you.

Take care,
Love,
Jamie

Thanks, Anne. I never thought about that. I'll definitely do that.

Actually Cookie is now in my spare bedroom until I find him a home. I talked to my vet, and I also talked to another vet at a local specialty hospital, and both of them said it would be all right to do that as long as I'm careful about not spreading germs by washing my hands before and after going into the bedroom, etc.

But Cookie really wants to be out of that room. He's so lonely, even though I visit him often. And he just loves people. I put my two cats in my bedroom last night and let Cookie come out for a couple of hours and he was so happy.

BTW, I don't know if you saw one of my earlier posts, but you can take a look at Cookie's picture at the following link:

http://www.geocities.com/patdfucile

He's really just adorable.

I really appreciate your suggestion, and I will definitely look into it.

Take care,
Jamie