Iona - Health Scare And More Progress Options

[Ken Albin]

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

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[Dusty Moonrise]

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