It's been a long 5 weeks so far working with Iona. She improves a little bit socially each day. We did Have a major health scare when she stopped eating and had very loose stools and gas. Tests discovered she had pseudotapeworms, something I had never heard of and had to do a lot of research on. It is a close relative of the tapeworm that uses mammals as their final adult host. Iona probably ate an infected frog to get it. This worm is extremely difficult to kill. Our vets used an experimental protocol that involved Droncit, the same drug used for regular tapeworms. It was given in two shots a day apart and was 5 times the regular strength. She felt really lousy for a couple of days but slowly bounced back. She is doing great now and the worms are gone. Her appetite couldn't be better.

We've had a number of "firsts". I petted her for the first time with her not eating and she liked it. She got her first brushing today. The brush scared her at first but when I began stroking her with it her eyes got glassy and she stretched out. She also purred for the first time. Now when I come in with food she comes running up to the plate and tries to help me open the can. Earlier she would hide and check things out first. She is also learning to play with toys.

Her leg is slowly doing better. She limps heavily but is putting some weight on it now and is using it for grooming and scraping around in her litter pan. She goes in tomorrow for xrays and depending upon the results they may remove the pin in her leg.

It is amazing how much progress this little gal has made. Remember that 5 weeks ago she was hissing and spitting at everyone, including me. She used to spend most of the time hiding and would rarely come out except to sit in the window and cry. Now she is playing through the baby gates on a daily basis with the other cats here and has lost a great deal of her shyness. She is much happier living inside and seems very content. She still has several months of work to go but I just so proud of her progress. Here are two new photos that show how less feral she looks compared to her earlier photos.


Ken Albin

Hopefully the treatment has worked for the worm problem. So glad to hear of her progress. I know it takes a lot of patience and time but must be very rewarding. What a beautiful cat you have there!

just beautiful…(iona and her story) - patricia

I love her, she is just gorgeous. Just shows you what a bit of kindness and love can do eh?

madi xx

Beautiful, so beautiful! Hope she continues to improve, both health-wise and socially! I have raised a couple of feral cats in my time. Even though I am not a "cat person", there is something deeply satisfying in having the MONTHS of patiently coaxing them out of their wildness into revealing their loving little spirits! Great job, Ken, may God bless you for rescuing this adorable little kitten!

Andy

Well, it's been about 9 weeks now since we took Iona in. The pin in her leg is still there but due to come out in a couple of weeks. She is just the sweetest little girl now. I feel pretty confident in my skills working with feral cats but to be honest I really did not know if I was going to be successful with her. In the beginning she reminded me of some demon cat in a horror film. The vets were even afraid of her. Now she interacts with me playing with toys, gleefully rolling around on her back to grab at a feather. Today was another first for her. She came up on her own initiative for petting and stretched out next to me. She also has this cute pose I love where she lays on top of her kitty condo on her side with her legs hanging off.

The treatment for the pseudotapeworm destroyed it completely but she had a recurrence of her hookworms that we had to treat. She is fine now after suffering several days of nausea from the medication.

Iona shows her appreciation by grooming my arm. She has the most wonderful, loving disposition that has come out with her taming. It really saddens me to think of all of the cats like Iona who people did not want to work with to make them a family member. I stand by my claim that any cat can be tamed as a house cat with the proper approach and a lot of love and time. Iona was the wildest cat I have ever seen in 20 years of working with ferals so if she can be tamed then any cat can. Don't give up on those impossible cats. While I have sympathy for the trap-neuter-release groups I always think of the missed opportunities for creating great home furkids when they put those cats back outdoors.

Thank you for your kind words about my little miracle girl. She is truly a remarkable success story that is still unfolding.