Blog — ABC Cat Rescue

Note: There are medical photos at the end with minor amounts of blood.

I like to theme name kittens so mama and kittens in the litter were types of beans. Mama Mung with kittens Navy, Adzuki, Lima, Fava, and Garbanzo. All voids but Fava has been a special journey for us and her fosters.

Cleft palate kittens are difficult to raise. You need to tube feed them from birth until they can eat small kibble whole which is around 6+ weeks of age. They are often prone to infections and it's hard to tell if it's just the cleft palate that has an issue or if there are potentially other issues going on affecting compatibility with life.

Being a small rescue that does about 200 cats and kittens a year, Fava and Garbanzo were my 2nd and 3rd cleft palate kittens. Several years back I had Sapphire who didn't make it despite being tube-fed.

So, finding out I now had two at once had me so worried, especially since I'm not the one who tube-feeds them. We managed to get them to the foster quickly and they had both been doing well until Garbanzo passed. I was incredibly worried about Fava getting sick and passing so I managed to get a serious antibiotic from my clinic that was essentially meant to only be used in life-or-death situations. Luckily, we never needed to use it.

This was all back at the end of August and Fava had her first cleft palate surgery in early February. We left early in the morning to pick her up from her amazing foster to make an 8:50 am appointment where they did the consultation, we discussed her surgery, and they took her in to have surgery that day.

We stayed in the city for the day so we could collect her at the end and take her back to her foster but there had been a delay, so she hadn't started her surgery yet.

When we got to the clinic thinking she should be done they were still working on her but finishing up. And then we kept waiting and waiting. Of course, when things take longer than expected it's hard to not get anxious and wonder what could be happening. I would have never been able to guess but they came out and told me that surgery went great, however, waking her up from anesthesia she was so agitated that she kept bleeding from a burst blood vessel up in her nose. They would sedate her again so it would stop bleeding but when waking her up again it would happen again.

Eventually, after being there over an hour past close, they decided we needed to take her to the emergency clinic down the road. Practically a stone's throw away, thankfully.

They let me know that I would have to carry her wrapped in a towel because she kept flailing every so often and they didn't want her to pull her stitches. Okay, no problem, I can do that.

They handed me her wrapped up, I got into the passenger seat with some difficulty, and we started going to the clinic. Looking at her she worried me. She was shaking and then occasionally would flail; it was hard to not think of the worst possible outcome.
I grabbed a photo for her foster who I had been updating the entire time things were happening. She is so loved by all the people who have helped us care for her and they were all worried as well. She tried to flail a few times and I did my best to keep her from moving too much so I was very thankful that the emergency clinic was just down the road.

We got to the emergency clinic and rushed in with her wrapped in a towel. The dental clinic had called ahead of time, so they were expecting us, and they took her into the back.

Then we had to wait.... And wait....and wait ..

In an emergency, no news tends to be good news but that doesn't help comfort my anxiety. About an hour or so later they said she was stable, and I met with the overnight vet to discuss her care. We had to go over things like what happens if she needs CPR or other emergency measures and I let the vet know that I wanted whatever was in her best interest where she would maintain quality of life. One thing that made her emergency care easier was that I had opted to get her an esophagostomy tube, a feeding tube that was routed through her neck into her esophagus. The cost wasn’t a lot extra, and we had been concerned about being able to get her to eat soft foods after surgery because she had never eaten canned food before, and trying to syringe feed her by mouth if she wouldn’t eat could open the stitches in her mouth. So, this helped in the emergency clinic because they could keep her well-fed without worrying about if she had an appetite and without affecting her surgical site.

They brought her to the room I was in so I could see her before we left. She looked a lot more alert than when we were transporting her in the car.

After that we were able to head home, we brought her after-surgery supplies to her foster, who thankfully lived not too far away and we were able to head home to finish off our long day. Her foster was approved to pick her up the next day as she was doing post-surgical care, so we didn’t need to make the trip out there to get her discharged from the emergency vet.

That’s not quite the end of her story though.

I was originally told by the emergency clinic that I would get an update before noon, although if there was an emergency they would call me so that night I left my ringer on and proceeded to not sleep a wink.

Noon rolls by and I finally must call in because I am so anxious I needed to know something. Once again, no news is good news but knowing that wasn’t enough. They said she did great overnight; she is more stable, and the bleeding has stopped. All things considered that was the best news we could be getting at the time. We are told she can be discharged at 2 pm and I remind them that her foster will be collecting her.

2 pm comes by and I get an update from the foster that just before she gets there Fava started bleeding from her nose again. Shit.

They let her visit with her and then said her discharge would have to be pushed back until 5 pm. Thankfully the bleeding stopped and Foster was able to collect her at 5 pm.

10 pm roll around. Foster messages me letting me know that Fava has Jello-like consistency mucus that she has to suction out of her throat. We were concerned that if it didn’t clear or the foster didn’t notice it in time she wouldn’t be able to breathe.

Back to the emergency clinic. Foster waits at the clinic and I’m just staring at my phone not wanting to miss a single update.

And we wait, and wait, and wait…

Finally, there is an update. The same overnight vet who saw her the night before took her case again as she adores Fava. As I said, everyone loves this sweet girl wherever she goes. The inflammation from surgery is what is causing the mucus and to reduce certain meds to hopefully help with the consistency, so it isn’t so thick. She was able to be discharged at 2 am and the foster heads home with her and I don’t think either of us slept well that night.

From then on it was a matter of how long she could stay out of the emergency clinic, each day that passed made it less likely that she would have issues and need to go back and after a few days it seemed like things were going well that she would only need to go to her follow-up appointments with the clinic that did her cleft surgery.

First, follow up. Things are looking good although it is recommended that she gain weight. She salivates when being fed through the tube after a bit so small, frequent meals are given by her foster. After a week she could have soft food by mouth and a few days later they took out the feeding tube. She was so happy to have it out and the protective cone off of her neck.

Things seemed to be going well but then at the beginning of March, the foster noticed that Fava seemed a bit sneezy and when checking inside her mouth it looked like two small holes opened in her surgical site (this was expected), and that it looks like there is some pus. This was typical before her surgery, she had to stay on antibiotics because she would get infections anytime she was off of them, there was even one time when pus was flowing out of her mouth before the decision to keep her on antibiotics permanently was made.

So back to the veterinary dental clinic, she went to get it checked out. She had a cold, an infected incision line, and an ulcer. The last two are firsts for the vet who did her surgery. Of course, like we needed more firsts for her to experience. She still needed to gain weight and since she was eating things by mouth easier, we suggested soaking some kitten kibble (royal canin works great) so it is soft on her mouth but kibble has a lot more calories than wet food so it would hopefully be easier for her chonk up.

Just over a week later at her planned follow-up appointment she has finally gained weight, at least 400 grams which is amazing. Her revision surgery is booked at this appointment and up until now things have been uneventful.

She’s been spoiled and I’m sure when her foster must fast her for tonight to prepare for tomorrow’s surgery she is going to have all sorts of opinions about it. She’s very vocal and will make her feelings known.

Her journey continues but we are all caught up to the present day. Of course, I am anxious about her surgery tomorrow. It is a significantly less involved surgery compared to her cleft palate repair, so we are hoping there won’t be any issues that have her staying in the emergency clinic again.

UPDATE AUGUST 26TH
Firstly we want to start with that Fava is doing well. She is happy and loved despite everything she has had to deal with.

After her last surgery in June they did a follow-up to see how she was doing because, once again, a small hole opened up in the surgery area. Upon further evaluation, it was determined that while the area was mostly protected it was flimsy and the conclusion was that her body just didn't seem to be healing in the way it was expected to.

Dr. Legendre felt like it was important to take some time to speak with his peers to see if there was something new we could try to give her a successful outcome, however, since Dr. Legendre is the best at what he does, everything suggested had already been done.

Upon talking with him, our best conclusion is that Fava’s body keeps rejecting the donor bone graft that is used in the surgery and that is what keeps preventing the area from properly healing. Dr. Legendre will do another surgery in November using the cartilage in her ear to provide support to the area and with another feeding tube placed, we hope that this will finally be the final surgery she has.

Fava’s Medical Bills
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