CH Kitty Club

20100911 KarenS (Weeble (of Baltimore))
Weeble wobbled up one night as I was out front feeding the ferals their late night meal.  I had never seen this cat before!  And it was obvious that something wasn't right about this little guy.  He swayed back and forth on his feet and walked so strangely!  "Come on, little guy!" I said.  He wobbled up to the food bowl and I saw something that broke my heart.  This little cat had only about half of the hair that he should have, and was covered with scabs all over his hairless body.  He tried to eat the food, and it all seemed to fall out of his mouth.  I could see that he was ear tipped, so obviously had been TNR'd at some point.  "Crap!" I thought.  "What do I do??"  I was pretty sure that he would not survive out there much longer in his current condition.  But I was not allowed to bring in any more cats (we had 6).  Plus, what if he gave some terrible disease to my cats?  He could have mange.  And why was he walking like that?  He could have a brain infection!  Well obviously I couldn't leave him out there like that so I had to take a chance.  I thought.. if he lets me pick him up, I'll bring him inside and try to help.  So I scooped him up (he probably didn't have any energy to fight) and ran him inside and put him in the bathroom and closed the door (and washed my hands!)  

I found that he did much better with canned food, so he got a whole can.  I saw that there were fleas crawling on him, so I treated him for that.  I got online and searched for information about wobbling in cats.  That's when I came across cerebellar hypoplasia.  I figured he could have that - or a brain tumor or infection.  He seemed so hungry though - I put my money on CH, not an infection or intracranial pressure increasing process like a mass which should make him nauseated.  We made it to the vet a few days later.  They couldn't say for sure that it was CH (said it could also be heavy metal poisoning) but they did some skin scrapings and we were happy to find out that he didn't have mange - likely just a severe flea dermatitis with a terrible skin infection as a result.  He was FELV/FIV negative!  He got a shot of long-lasting antibiotics, and another flea treatment and some shampoo.

This poor little guy didn't have energy to do much.  He slept in a carrier in the bathroom, scratched at his wounds a lot making them bleed again, slept, and came out for canned food 3 times a day.  My fiance was supportive of my helping him, but not of us keeping him.  

We soon ran into a problem - we had a week long beach vacation 6 hours away coming up and I didn't know what to do.  I really didn't think he was ready to go back out and was thinking that he shouldn't ever return to the city streets.  We decided to take him with us, so that I could continue his rehabilitation.  He was the best traveler!  Not one peep during the whole ride.  Slept or just watched the scenery go by from his carrier.  When all of the dogs were bad at the beach (pooping, peeing inside), Weeble was an angel and used his litter box like a champ!

We made it back from the beach.  Weeble went back to the vet for another antibiotic shot and some antibiotics for an ear infection.  He was gaining weight and slowly growing back hair.  His angry red skin was reverting to a healthy normal gray color. He was now living in our bedroom.  He would keep us up at night playing with toy mice so we had to start confiscating them at night.  We could hear him playing upstairs during the day because it sounded like a tornado going through our bedroom.  We decided to integrate him with the other cats.  He romped around without a care in the world.  He went up and down stairs with pretty good skill.  He found a little red dot to chase and with all his new strength he could play for hours.  Who had time to sleep anymore?  He got a little better at eating dry food.  Now that's pretty much all he eats - with a canned treat every now and then.  He still drops a lot of dry food, but obviously gets enough down.  He has found a new best friend in my youngest "normal" kitty and they chase each other around the house.  He is a brand new happy-go-lucky guy!  And all of his hair is back and he is one handsome fellow!

I had him up for adoption but slowly realized that I couldn't part with him.  Luckily my fiance fell in love with him too because now he is staying with us forever!  I had no intention of getting another cat and had felt that ferals probably belonged outside and had no idea what CH was.  But the story of Weeble just goes to show that you never know what will wander into your life one day and change your life forever and that there is so much more for us to learn!
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