25 replies to this topic

[Laurie IMOM]

Sophi is a beautiful 1-1/2-year-old kitty who needs dental surgery for an oral/dental infection triggered by gingivitis and oral herpes. She previously received an antibiotic injection to temporarily stabilize her condition, but needed additional care including teeth extraction, teeth cleaning and polishing, and additional antibiotics.

If left untreated, severe dental disease can cause blood poisoning (which can lead to organ failure), neurological issues, and a disease called stomatitis.

Fortunately, Sophi has a wonderful and caring human mom who has worked hard to find help for her.

Thanks to our generous donors, who make one-time or ongoing donations to our general fund, IMOM was able to pledge $233.65 to help Sophi have her surgery today.

To donate to our general fund, which will help the next pet in need who comes to us, please click here.

Thank you for helping this beautiful girl!

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[Judy]

YAY RAH...this is what I wanted to see!!!!!  Congratulations...

[Bina and Peda]

So happy to hear Sophi is receiving the care she needed.  Thanks IMOM for helping her.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Wow! It all seems almost too good to be true! When my vet handed me the estimate a couple of weeks ago, I NEVER thought I'd be able to afford it, but thanks to everyone here at IMOM, as well as a donation from the FVEAP, Sophi rode to the vet for her surgery on my lap (the only place she feels safe and secure during car rides) this morning!

I have to admit, even though everyone at our family vet is wonderful, I was rather nervous leaving my baby there to await her surgery this morning! Because her last owner died on her and left her alone in the world, she has quite a bit of separation anxiety, and watching her be carried down the hall away from me, I'm pretty sure I did too. We have developed quite a bond in the 4 months since I brought her home. So much that when I leave for the night to stay with a friend, I ALWAYS come home to my family telling me that Sophi searched and called for me all night long. It is this bond that makes me that much more grateful to everyone here who made her surgery this morning possible! I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Cindy and Laurie for their vigilant communication with me, helping to make this a smooth and fast process, to the generous donors who contributed remaining balance, and of course those who messaged me to offer support, encouragement, and advice! You all will probably never know (or maybe you will) how much you will have impacted my life by allowing me to keep my baby! Even though I haven't had her for very long, I'm certain she's going to be one of those pets. You know, the really special ones? The ones that we never forget, that we love more than many people in our lives, that we almost feel made us a better person, and that hold a special place in our heart forever? Yeah, one of those, very much like mouser was to me. So again, I thank you all for enabling me to continue building one of those very special relationships.

While I wasn't able to be by Sophi's side right up until she slipped under anesthesia, as I would have liked to have been, I was allowed to be with her during and observe her pre-surgical exam. Here are some photos of my last few minutes with her before her surgery! Will be back later with photo as well as verbal updates on how everything went once we pick her up!

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In her carrier waiting. She wasn't too happy to be back in it.

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Weighing in!

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Dr. Nagel Getting Another Look At Her Mouth

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Nerves!

[rag754]

This is great news for Sophi and her new family! I hope she recovers and gets well soon.

[Beauty's Kathy]

Thanks to all the IMOM Angels, and cheerleaders for keeping IMOM going so that kitties like Sophi can get the help they need.

I wish you and Sophi a long and happy life together

Kathy

[Mandi & Sophi]

Hello everyone!

I am pleased to report that sophi came home around 5:30 yesterday evening! Here are the updates!

Medically:
Her surgery was without incident. The vet decided upon beginning work on her mouth that the remainder of her teeth except for her canines needed to come out. She now has 18 open extraction sites, because they couldn't suture them up and risk trapping any remaining infection. She has been prescribed a baby food diet (which luckily, she loves!) for the next 4 days to a week, then water softened to gradually normal food over the course of the next few weeks. She has a free follow up appointment on Monday, and will need another one again in 4 months. Here we are with the girls at the vet! (Dr. Nagel had already left for a meeting once we got there)
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Characteristically:
She was VERY happy to come home,  although she staggered around slightly for the remainder of the night from the anesthesia wearing off.  She doesn't seem to give much regard to the fact that she is supposed to be resting quietly, which I can't help but feel is a good sign. All of last night, she demanded my attention, even standing up on her hind legs to thrust her face against my hand. I don't think she ever wants to be put down again, and who can blame her? She seemed a little down in the mouth this morning (pardon the pun! hehe), and I'm not sure if it was from the adrenaline and excitement of coming home wearing off, or if she's feeling the loss a little more the day after, but she perked back up again later in the day when I came home from work. She even played with her furry mice (she likes to throw them wildly for herself) for awhile, and then with me as I poked my fingers in and out of the holes in her favorite cardboard box. She seems to be taking this all quite well, and has been insisting for about an hour that I come to bed with her. (Here she is playing occupy doorway in protest, as she often does, to get me to go to sleep with her and that's EXACTLY what I intent to do after posting this)
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P.s. Upon stopping by the local Vons on the way home from the vet to pick up the baby food, I noticed about 5 or 6 people give me dirty/funny looks, and my cashier tripped all over herself trying to talk to me as if the situation were somehow awkward. This is a BIG part of the reason I prefer animals to people. No judgment, and no ridiculous, unfounded conclusions! Haha!

[Mandi & Sophi]

Morning all!

Sophi is doing great and at this point is acting like nothings wrong at all! I'm looking forward to the follow up appointment on Monday so I can have it professionally confirmed that she's making a speedy recovery. I didn't realize she was going to devour the baby food so quickly, so now I'm off to the store to replenish the supply!

Catch everyone later!

[Bina and Peda]

I am so glad to hear Sophi is doing so well.  Please keep us updated on her progress.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Not a whole lot to report today! She still seems back to her normal self and is still loving the baby food diet. Will report more tomorrow after the check up with the vet!

[Mandi & Sophi]

So the re-check went well!

Dr. Nagel said she was looking good, although there was one extraction site that seemed to be collecting a bit of puss, so he wants to see her back on Friday to monitor it. She may need another Convenia (antibiotic) injection to kick it 100%. He also said the inflammation looked way better than it did pre-extraction, which is a good sign!

That's all for now! Night all!

[Mandi & Sophi]

Another re-check didn't go so well. She is now on oral antibiotics AND ear meds. More later.

[Judy G]

Sorry to hear Sophi has had a setback.  I hope  the new antibiotics and ear medicine will take care of the problem.  

Is she feeling bad, or is she still doing well otherwise?  She's such a beautiful kitty!

Judy G.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Thank you, Judy.

She was prescribed an oral antibiotic Friday, aside from the injected antibiotic she was given the same day as her surgery because her gums are healing kind of slowly and getting slightly infected because cat's mouths are naturally very bacteria filled, and she has 19 open extraction sites which behave like sores. And somehow in the midsts of all of her oral problems, she started a bacterial ear infection as well, for which the vet prescribed ear drops that have to be refrigerated. Right after her appointment, I had to take off out of town for a weekend to go prom shopping, which means my mom had to start her meds for me, and let me tell you, if she could talk, this is what I'm certain she would have said:

"Oh my god! Mom! Mom! You're home! Listen, mom, you wouldn't BELIEVE what this lady's been doing to me ever since we came home and you left! She puts this cold stuff down my ears, then prods at them until I can't hear anything, and THEN she squirts this foul tasting fluid down my throat with this plastic tube thing! Anyway, I'm so glad you're home, can we go outside now!?" And has spent the rest of the day doing everything possible to maintain my attention, and has now resorted to racing me to wherever she thinks I'm going every time I leave a room.

She was sooo glad to see me and it was insanely adorable. Her ears seem to have gotten better in the couple of days I was gone, and I'm afraid to open her mouth yet and upset her further just yet. But I'll keep you guys updated with her progress! Night all!

Edited by Mandi & Sophi, 07 May 2012 - 01:38 AM.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Well Sophi's medicine seems to be working. No more bleeding gums or hot and scabby ears! Because of her aptness to being ill, and her rather small size, I'm beginning to believe she was a litter runt, which would explain why the herpes so heavily affected her.  The litter runts have low immune systems and are born small because of that lack of nourishment and development of everything. So I think once I get her to a stabilized point of wellness, I'm gonna look into getting her on some form of immunity supplements. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm also thinking of trying to promote organ health. I went through organ/liver/kidney failure with mouser and it was a rather traumatic experience I would much prefer not to repeat.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Looked at her gums today. They look beautiful! Nice and light pink! She's almost finished with her meds and is going CRAZY wanting to go outside again. She keeps trying to sneak out and we keep having to capture her (Much to her dismay and fury), and bring her back in.

[Judy G]

Pink gums are good.   So is getting fiesty and wanting to go out.  Glad to hear Sophi's setback was just temporary and the antibiotic is doing its job.  Thanks for the  progress report.    


Judy G.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Thank you all for the support!

[Mandi & Sophi]

Sophi had her first taste of dry food since her surgery today. As she's been stubbornly denying her baby food/mush diet, she eagerly scarfed down her normal food. I also let her go outside for a little bit. She came back in looking quite pleased with the situation and layed serenely on the tile floor. Again, thank you to the generous donors, as well as all the supporting cheerleaders. You've helped me in a completely exceptional way.

Here she is getting ready to frolic in the tall grass in our backyard! :D
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[Judy]

I am so glad to hear that Sophie is coming a long so well...

Our cat has to go outside also and he is monitored when he is out there...he has to come in at night as we have coyotes here in Ohio so he's not allowed out after dark...just like a little child...

He was an outside cat and had to be out...he's a boy and it can mean trouble when they can't go out and they want to, believe me.  I do wish that he was an indoor only cat, but it can't be...in the winter he's in nearly all day, just outside to touch the snow and right back in.

I loved hearing about the pink and healthy gums....thanks for being so good about your updates.  Judy

[Mandi & Sophi]

Judy,

Yeah, that's how Sophi is. She's the cutest, sweetest thing, but she doesn't have much for common sense so we have to babysit her when she's out, or send one of our other 2 kitties out with her. We have coyotes in the lower, Eastern Sierra Nevada foothills, as well as raccoons and big predator cats., so Sophi has to be treated like a little child too. She absolutely despises it. Luckily our other 2 learned well from their senior, mouser, and know to stay alert and away from things that want to eat them, as well as the fact that our dog's barking means trouble and they should get in ASAP. I just hope that they'll eventually imprint that into Sophi, so she too can live out her life fully.

And I do know what you mean about wanting out when we don't want them out. It's just frustrating all around for everybody. Does he play in the snow at all? Our kitties like to chase the snow flakes.

No problem about the updates. It's the least I can do after all the generosity.

[Mandi & Sophi]

So after thinking that we were past everything, she now has something in her eye. We're guessing it got there the other day when we let her out to frolic. I pulled out a sticker, but I guess there's still more of something in there because it's oozing and she seems to favor having it closed. I Definitely think it's time to sign up for pet insurance on this one, she seems to be such a little plethora of medical issues.

[Mandi & Sophi]

So the vet visit revealed that there wasn't anything actually left in her eye, only A small ulcer where the sticker that we took out had been, which was what was causing the additional oozing, and bleeding that we noticed last night. It was yet another $110 for the vet to take a look into her eye, then put the foreign object revealing dye. We got some eye ointment as well! Fingers crossed that this is the last vet appointment for awhile!

[Judy]

Mandi, I saw your post about you thinking of volunteering for IMOM...what a wonderful thing to do...you know, that IMOM needs people to help out, I can't imagine all they have to do...

Hope this is something you find you can do...

I am still working so it's too hard for me to be able to be there when needed so I do what I can by posting and helping out the newcomers...

Hoping that Sophi's eye heals with no issues...

[Mandi & Sophi]

Judy: It is definitely something I would like to do! And I'm sure everyone understands your being bound by the obligations of life!

I am dismayed to report that Sophi's eye seems to only be doing worse and now the scabs on her ears are beginning to come back. DEFINITELY time to get that pet health insurance.

[Mandi & Sophi]

Pleased to report that the eye is getting better, now we just need to get her ears re-checked!