Who’s in care with TinyKittens as of October 31:
♦ Shelly’s sun porch: Salia (tortie girl with a ginger triangle over her left eye) and Hyatt (brown tabby with white boy)
♦ Shelly’s: Mason, Auracuda, and Princess Consuela are upstairs with the Teens and Cassidy
♦ At Kimsies’: Moustachio (aka Stashie Bumblepants — see Kimsies’ Leo, Bobbi, Bowie & Big Brother Jager Facebook page for updates)
→ Comparison weight chart from Firefly’s kittens to Princess Consuela’s Auto kittens ←
October 31
- Cassidy got a surprise visit to Mountain View today because of blood in his urine. Per Shelly, “Most likely diagnosis is feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD), which we will treat with pain meds, fluids and a special diet.”
October 29
- Shelly, Foster Dad John (The Critter Room), and Sarah (Sarah’s Kitten Cuddle Room) tried to pull a prank on viewers today, but technology fails caused Shelly to start laughing, ruining their big prank and reveal. (The fail is more funny, I think, than the actual prank would have been.) The reward for the prank was an extended Q&A session about fostering and their foster cams. (Note: Shelly’s having trouble with YouTube so her upload of the Q&A session didn’t work; BrookIvy uploaded a copy, but she obviously had another cam open in the background so you can hear the audio for that other cam on her video.)
October 28
- Shelly posted a video on Instagram of Hyatt playing.
- She also posted a video of Salia purring. (We get a really good view of Salia’s right eye issues in this video.)
View this post on Instagram
October 27
- Shelly is speaking at the Animal Welfare Advisory Network of BC (AWANBC) Conference today. (She is part of a discussion panel.)
- Salia is a purr machine (with a sweet trilling purr) now that she’s feeling better. She’s very much a lap cat and spent much time in Gwen’s and Suzanne’s laps during their visits.
October 26
- Staying in with Shelly overnight did not work as Salia kept hiding under the bed. So Shelly moved her back onto the sun porch where she could be monitored more easily on the cams.
October 25
Aura Update
- Aura has her one week checkup today. Her specialist team is extremely happy with her progress so far. She won’t be completely healed for another two weeks, but her palate repair is healing well and she’s gained a lot of much-needed weight. Shelly expects that her case will be written up in a journal article by the vet team at some point.
Notes from Shelly’s evening update on Salia
Screenshot show the Horner’s Syndrome symptoms in Salia’s right eye post-surgery (drooping lid, 3rd eyelid up, pupil smaller)
- Salia spent last night out with the other cats (instead of on the sun porch with Hyatt) and did well.
- She had a fever that didn’t break until 4:30 AM. In spite of that — normally they wouldn’t do a surgery when a fever is present but there was an urgency to this surgery — Salia had her polyp surgery today at Mountain View Veterinary Hospital.
- The vet team pulled a 2.2 cm by 1.2 cm polyp (double the expected size) out through Salia’s throat — it was displacing her soft palate, making it hard for her to eat and causing her to lose weight. (She weighed 2.6 kg at last weigh-in, versus 2.71 kg when she first came in in August.) If she had not been brought in, she likely would have eventually either starved or suffocated to death.
- The vet team also did a ventral bulla osteotomy, where they removed part of Salia’s right middle ear because of the septic infection, which would have kept creating polyps. She has probably suffered from this ear problem most of her 3.5 years of life and been in pain that whole time. She has also probably been deaf in that ear for some time. She may have (or regain) some hearing in that ear, and her left ear is fine so she will be able to adjust.
- Salia has an incision down her neck. Shelly will have to monitor her for swelling and airway issues so Salia will be spending the night with Shelly and Aura (and possibly Cassidy if he continues to make Good Choices). The sutures are not dissolving sutures so Salia will have to go back in 10 to 14 days to have them removed.
- Per the specialist, when he removed the structure, it was in such severe condition (all infection and little else) that it completely fell apart in his hands. It was complicated to clean it all out.
- Her 7th cranial (facial) nerve was damaged a bit in the surgery so she has symptoms of what is known as Horner’s Syndrome, where the third eyelid on her right eye is partly up, the pupil of that eye is smaller than the left eye, and that eyelid droops.
- She’s on really good pain meds and antibiotics.
October 23
- Aura continues to do great following her palate surgery. We’re still on the 10-day danger palate watch, but so far she’s continuing to do great.
October 22
- Kimsies posted several videos from her visit to the Happy Forest today: Quincy (aka Sir Flops-a-lot), more Quincy, and Rollins.
October 21
- Shelly posted comparison pics showing how Aura’s palate looked when she was a baby, just after her surgery, and now, four days post-surgery.
October 19
- Tom returned to the Happy Forest today.
- Kimsies posted other videos from her Happy Forest visit today: Rollins, Quincy (aka Sir Flops-a-lot, the new tripping hazard, taking over from a long time of safety inspectors that included Saratoga and Ramses), and more Rollins
October 18
- Shelly posted a short video of Aura eating wet food at her 4 AM feeding. It’s amazing to see her just go to town on the food — must feel incredible to her to not have to try to get food around her cleft so she’s making up for lost time. (Can we expect a big growth spurt now that she’ll be able to eat like a normal kitten?)
- Shelly later posted some pictures from Aura’s surgery as well as an updated comparison image of Aura’s palate from birth to now. Aura has also gained 150 grams (!) since yesterday morning, a testament to how much she’s enjoying being able to eat like a kitten should. A growth spurt is definitely on the horizon.
October 17
- Aura went in to the specialist today, ostensibly for some tests and an exam at 09:30. But it turned into more….
- The specialists (West Coast Veterinary Dental Services, same vets who did Calvin’s and Quinnbunny’s dental surgeries) determined that they were able to do Aura’s actual surgery today. (!!) After a long day of tests and Shelly pacing, one of the specialists called with the great news, that they were able to repair her palate (usinge donor bone plate from a dog to stabilize Aura’s palate) in a three-hour surgery. (Aura needs to make it 10 days without it opening up again to be essentially in the clear, but for now it’s good. Shelly has to ground her in the bedroom without any of the fun toys and with lots of monitoring.)
Note: The embedded video below is from the Facebook Live, but you can also watch the video on the TinyKittensHQ YouTube channel. (The YouTube video offers the ability to turn on auto-generated closed captions.)
- They did not have to pull any of her teeth.
- Both of her ear drums are damaged from the pressure and chronic inflammation. Shelly will get more information when she speaks to the vets tomorrow and at the follow-up visit on October 25.
- Aura doesn’t have any nasal turbinates, which are bones that filter out germs, etc., so she will probably always be snarfly.
- They didn’t see any polyps in her ears.
- She continues to have no lung problems or any indication of aspiration pneumonia.
- Aura is on an all wet food diet (no kibbles).
- Caroline Yeung, one of the vet techs who looked after Aura, posted a picture and video. in the comments on Shelly’s live video.
- Shelly also posted a short video of Aura on a supervised outing with the big kids… and the first thing she did was start playing. LOL (Click screenshot below to view that video as it wouldn’t embed here properly.)
October 14
- Kimsies posted two videos from her Happy Forest visit today.
October 11
- CT results are in for Aura and Salia. Aura will see the specialist on October 17. Salia will have her polyps surgery on October 25.
- Mason’s anemia is getting worse and his various blood test levels are rising slowly.
- Cassidy’s hips are bad — they will be seeing a different specialist to see that they can do.
- Hyatt was tested again for toxoplasmosis. He will likely go back to the forest one day, if he’s still not amenable to humans…as long as his toxoplasmosis is cleared up and his eyes are as good as they’ll get.
- Tom is doing well and will be going back to the forest eventually.
- Consuela is still looking for her forever home.
October 3
- Shelly posted an update on Tom, whose eye is looking much better after a few days of treatment.
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