mabelle...aka why everything went wonky this last week...

so...most of you know we rescued this adorable kitten...
her life has been rough and she's only 11 weeks old.
to start...she (and her 2 littermates) were tied in a bag
& tossed from a moving vehicle onto the side of the road.
a wonderful woman rescued the mostly feral kittens...
had them spayed and neutered & all their first shots given.
on thursday july 7th we saw this tiny blue eyed ginger kitten...
fell in love, named her mabelle and that's that part of the story.

well...on saturday the rescue woman called me and asked how mabelle was doing.
she then starts crying and informs me that one of the other kittens died after being adopted.
she was trying to get in touch with the other owner to check on kitten #3.
kitten #2 died from panleukopenia

so, me being the protective animal mom decides to take her to the vet & get her tested.
(panleukopenia is incredibly hard to test for)
she tests negative and i take her home with new wet food and directions to keep an eye on her.
same day, i get another phone call from the rescue lady & kitten number #3 died too.
that kitten was fine and playing and eating and started throwing up and in 6 hours was dead.
this disease can hit and in less than 24 hours, kill a kitten.

 

the next day mabelle starts throwing up...
it's a sunday...crap.
off to the emergency vet...
mabelle is tested again and the doctor is thinking for sure she'll test positive (as am i)
but she tests negative again...
so she gets fluids shot into her...
gets an anti vomiting shot and an antibiotic shot...poor tiny little mabelle.
i take home tons of meds...one pill a day...2 doses of antibiotics a day and special food.

 

monday, mabelle just seems tired, no wonder after all she's been through...

 

tuesday, she's playing and running around with angus, eating normally...everything seems fine.
neither matt nor i want to jinx it...
so we just hope for the best and are appreciative of every good
day she has.

 

wednesday, same thing...eating & acting like a normal kitten...

 

thursday, again, same thing perfect kitten behavior.
at this point...we're starting to think we just might be ok.
thursday evening though...she doesn't seem interested in her food.

 

friday morning 4:30 am...gnarly kitten puking starts.
bless her little heart, she actually goes into the litterbox to throw up.
comes out and climbs back in bed and crashes.
30 minutes later...same thing.
15 minutes later...again...etc etc etc
i know the vet opens at 8 am i am just trying to hold out until then.
and thankfully, they got us in first thing...
the dr. decided not to even bother doing the panleuk test again...
he goes straight for the bloodwork.

a couple of hours later...it's confirmed...mabelle has panleukopenia.

so...friday at about noon they hooked her up to an iv drip and treatment began.
basically a kitten has to be strong enough to fight this off...and chances usually aren't too good.
but as of this morning's phone call from the doctor...she is hanging in there, is bright and alert
she's just not eating yet.
now we wait for tomorrow morning and hope that she has decided to eat.

right now, things look pretty good, but even the doctor said, it can turn in a snap.

so please, if you've taken the time to read all of my babble...

please please please keep little mabelle in your good thoughts and prayers.
she'll be quite the miracle kitten if she makes it through this.