Charlie
is
a feral kitten that we rescued when he was weeks old. He had a full
veterinarian exam and we were told that other than his infection from
the wild animal that had bitten him that he was a healthy Maine-Coon
mix cat. Life with Charlie was fun until it wasn't at age nine we learned that he had developed a heart murmur.
Charlie on the day we trapped him
We had adopted a feral kitten
when he was injured by a wild animal. The animal had bitten off
the kitten's toes and by the time we found him he had a very bad
infection. Both the mother and kitten had to be trapped as they both
needed veterinarian care. Due to the extreme illness, we kept the
kitten
and tried to socialize him to live indoors with humans and their
dogs.
Charlie, Boris, and mom at our shelter
Charlie adjusting to living indoors
Charlie on the day he mastered the scratching post, with sibling Boris
Charlie loves his litter box for all the wrong reasons
Some
feral cats can be socialized others cannot. Know that I thought
maybe the medication at a young age affected the cat because this cat
would tolerate us but was terrified when we touched him, Did he
associate my human touch to when he was in the animal hospital for
two weeks? I don’t know but do know that I had tamed adult feral
cats in about six months but Charlie did not like people.
So
the cat lived with us, tolerated us and grew into an adult cat that
was a Maine Coon Mix. A beautiful cat that was hard to handle. We
had to give him his Revolution when he was sleeping and trap him for
his veterinarian appointment.
Charlie
the semi-feral cat tolerated us and that was okay..until it was not
okay. Charlie
liked to play with a plastic ball with a bell and one day he stopped
due to a coughing spell. Then another day he was playing with our
dog and again he stopped for a coughing spell. It seemed whenever
Charlie played he would cough. Then one day he stopped eating and
this cat was so sick that I did not have to trap him or put on gloves
to hold him. Charlie came to me and laid on my lap.
That
was the weekend that we really knew something was wrong. Since
Charlie was not eating or drinking I syringed fed him to keep him
hydrated and I also gave him CATMX a high-calorie paw gel. The gel
enabled him to eat because it gave him an appetite.
The
following Monday I made an appointment for Charlie and on the day of
his appointment, he was feeling better, and once again we had trapped him.
We thought he is fine, he is back to his old self. But that soon
faded when we were told he had a heart murmur and that was why he was
coughing when he played. Other than the cough there were no other
outward symptoms such as poor appetite, weight loss, breathing
problems like asthma, or weakness. The only thing we noticed was the
coughing when Charlie played with his cat toys or when he ran from
the bedroom to the living room.
The
veterinarian at this time would like us to watch Charlie and when he
goes to sleep to count his heartbeats in a minute's time. From that
reading our Veterinarian will determine what other tests are needed /
blood-work to check for anemia, blood parasites or diagnostics tests
like an X-ray, electrocardiogram, or ultrasound of his heart.
