Finally Home Animal Haven in Scottsville, Virginia

Nov 10th

Thank you to all who donated toward this calico babies vet bill! Your contribution DIRECTLY helps these animals get the care they need!

Upon arriving we took her straight to the vet on Friday and they diagnosed her with a serious upper respiratory infection. They said they wanted to try their BEST to keep her out of the emergency room this weekend so they administered IV fluids and antinausea meds to entice her to eat.

Upon the initial exam as the vet tried to open her eye, a large amount of fluid immediately burst out. She expressed that even though it was concerning and unexpected, it was probably an instant relief as it was building up painful pressure on her eye. We are hoping we can still save that eye but the upper respiratory infection is our greatest concern as it can be fatal in kittens.

Her treatment plan consists of receiving a sponge bath twice a day to clear all of the drainage from her nose and eyes and helping to clear her airway as it makes her cough a lot. Her oral meds had to be specially compounded (since she is so little) and the vet wanted her to receive two doses immediately to get them working in her system as soon as possible. She is also receiving a warmed prescription high calorie canned food diet, offered often to help her get more nutrition when she wants to eat.

In addition, she has several ulcers in her mouth making eating painful. However the ulcer medication may prevent her from absorbing her URI medication and since that is the single most important issue she has currently, we decided we must tackle that first.

We are keeping a close eye on her this weekend hoping the meds keep her going in the right direction. She is a fighter even though she is SO sick!

As long as she continues to improve the plan is to follow up in a couple days to adjust her treatment plan and address her other health issues.

Nov 14th

"Honey BooBoo" Update-

This little lady has got a lot of fight in her! We decided the name fit her perfectly as even the vet said despite being so sick, she is determined to play and be an adorable and sassy gal. She was able to stay out of the ER this past weekend and we revisited her treatment plan yesterday.

She has maintained her temperature and is finally well enough to have a bath to get her cleaned up and feeling a little better. She is still receiving meds for her upper respiratory infection twice a day. She does have less drainage but is still coughing quite a bit so we are keeping a close eye on that.

She tested positive for both roundworms and coccidia and we've started her on two more medications to battle both. She also has been started on a probiotic to jump start her natural immune system and hopefully help her body better fight all that she has going on.

She is still receiving ointment to both her eyes. Due to the fact that it's very inflamed and she still uses her third eyelid to cover it, we are at this point unsure whether her vision will fully recover. We are hopeful as time goes on and as it heals, so will her eyesight.

Nov 26th

When you’re a little bit cray cray (crazy) but so DARN cute!

Honey Boo Boo has finished up over two and a half weeks worth of all of her oral medications and is feeling so much better! She breaks into a flying leap to get to you and loves to climb up to your shoulders, hang there and play!

She’s still extremely sneezy so we are assuming her sinuses are somewhat inflammed. The vet is very impressed with her weight gain. They were hoping that by her being on probiotics that her natural immune system would kick in but they are thinking she needs another boost. The vet suggested adding an Immuno-5 supplement to promote her resistance to viruses, support a healthy inflammatory response and increase her respiratory health.

Her eye has come to a halt at opening any more than it has, but the vet is encouraged that her cornea appears to be healthy underneath. As long as she continues to improve, we are going to meet back in a couple of weeks to talk about removing the extra tissue (similar to scar tissue) and for her to potentially be able to keep that eye!

Dec 17th

This little lady has been so much sass, you’d never know she had any illness holding her back!

She went to the vet yesterday to get her 2nd round of boosters. We have been extremely happy with her progress over the past couple of weeks as her eye that had just stopped healing and was holding on to scar tissue…randomly started to open up!

Even when she’s maintained a clean bill of health for weeks, she’s retained a chronic sneeze. We plan to see if there is an underlying cause (such as a polyp) when she’s under sedation for her spay.

We do think she has a weakened immune system since she was so sick for so long and any type of stress (such as going to the vet) sends her into developing cold like symptoms again. Two different vets have been involved in her care and have resorted to calling her a “chronic sniffler”. She has been off and on antibiotics at different times for this. We are hoping that as she gets older, her immune system will eventually be strong enough to fight viruses off on its own. She’s on a couple of different supplements to boost her immunity.

Despite her setbacks so early in life, she has so much zest, energy and love for playing!