Jesse the Toothless Wonder

Dear Friends, Yesterday Jesse had his first appointment with the oncology team at University of Florida Small Animal Hospital. The ultrasound revealed lymphoma is present in multiple areas of his body, including his spleen which puts him in the Stage 5 category. However, the team notes that Jesse’s lymphoma has highly unusual or atypical features. His cells are intermediate, neither small which are good, nor large which are bad. They also cannot be 100% sure of what the organ of origin was. While technically very advanced because it is present in so many different places, he has apparently no clinical signs, which is usually not the case when the disease has spread this far.

Jesse was administered his first dose of cyclophosphamide, with a daily prednisolone prescription. His eye looks fabulous, so the drops are working to simmer down inflammation. Because Jesse is not checking all the typical boxes for a cancer of this type, his doctors want to see him in another week to determine how his body is reacting to the treatment.

The oncology team expressed yesterday, just like the ophthalmology team did back in November, that Jesse was “a very sweet boy” who took both the lengthy examination and treatment with grace. His Resident Intern Clinician mentioned that when cats react strongly to being in this kind of environment, their treatment can be negatively affected. Clearly, this won’t be a problem for Jesse. His lead oncologist is celebrity Dr. Rowan Milner, who has twice received Clinician of the Year awards. And in recognition of his development of a new melanoma vaccine and for other research, Milner was named Clinical Researcher of the Year by the Florida Kennel Club. He also won the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence and received a faculty enhancement opportunity award from the Office of the Provost at UF. Despite this heartbreaking diagnosis, we think Jesse is in great hands.

During these first couple of days while the cyclophosphamide goes to work, we have been told his poop and pee will require special care in handling. So, he’s hanging out in my office, which he thinks is great, to avoid the other cats from using his litter box.

We are all about positivity, despite having numerous senior cats requiring advanced medical attention, so please refrain from commenting with premature condolences. You would never know Jesse is sick to look at him. He’s eating fine, active, and strong. Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Kim

Fire Pee, Aliens and the C Monster

Hi, evfurrybuddy,  this is Dori. Although I may change my name to Ripley because of what happened to me this past week. But first, I want to welcome all of yoo born in December to the Ber Month Fan Club. Yoo don’t have to be born during a Ber month to belong to my Club. Yoo just must love everything about the months ending with a Ber.

So,what happened to me was, last week while Doktor Feelgood whooped it up in Hawaii, I had fire pee. Hoomons call it a urinary tract infection. Momma bought me medicine and cranberry treats, but by Tuesday I was still spending too much time in my litter box. So, when ChauncieMarie went for her all-day glucose curve, Momma took me in too. So, there I was in the bad box, curled up in a cute lil ball, hoping nobody would see me. But when Momma picked me up I broke my pearl necklace that I got for my OctoBER birthday. Pearls scattered all over the place, but Momma got them all, and the next day Daddy fixed it, so I’m back to looking pretty in pearls.

I was prescribed a big ol’ pill every day to chase away my fire pee. I really hate taking pills, but what can yoo do. However - and this is the part where I might need to change my name to Ripley from the movie Aliens - when Momma got up the next morning, she noticed I was in my litter box, and when I got out, I scooted on my booty. And I was squealing! So she picked me up to wipe my booty, and yoo know what she found? Oh! It’s just too horrible and too embarrassing to talk about. I’ll let yoor imagination figure it out. 

So, I got medicine to terminate the alien inside me, and I’m getting extra treats that will help me feel better again.

Meanwhile ChauncieMarie, who was diagnosed with CKD last year, has been struggling with her newly discovered diabetes while Momma and Dok Feelgood try to get her insulin dosage right. Momma has increased her food, adding delicious HydraCare, while reducing the insulin. ChauncieMarie said to tell yoo all she's appreciative of your thoughts and prayers. 

Opie has been feeling pretty good despite getting CKD this year. He's still eating like a lil piggy, so keeping him out of the not-prescription noms is a constant battle.

And ... I'm sad to tell yoo my brother, Jesse the Toothless Wonder, has been diagnosed with lymphoma. On Monday December 11th he travels to Gainesville's University of Florida Small Animal hospital for a meeting with the oncology department. His appointment isn't until 1:30 and he's not allowed to eat beforehand, so he's going to be very hissed off about that, cuz Jesse is all about food.

You'd never know he's sick. His eye looks better because of the eye drops he gets twice a day, and he's eating well and bouncing around like he owns the place. We pray these are good indications that he's going to be a success story and beat the C monster. Please add him to yoor prayers if possible.

Because of everything going on, I know yoo will understand that we won't be posting much throughout the holiday season.

Time is precious, my fwends. Hug each other tight.   Love, Dori

Meet Chill Bill

Hey pals, Rabbit here. You may not know it about me, but I can be a handful, stressing out my pawrents and my older fursibs. Especially when I’m bored, which is like… all the time.

Then one day I found this strange duck sucking on the wall. He called himself Chill Bill. Said he'd come to help me calm the hekk down by providing me with unconditional love like the kind my mother gave me when I was just born. Since I’ve turned my pawrents once-peaceful home upside down by acting out, I gave Chill Bill my attention.

He didn’t ask me to talk about hating my mother because she gave me up for adoption, or my deep regrets for not achieving my dream of buying my own Black Forest Ham farm. He just sucked on the wall plug, filling the air with aromas that made me feel good. Feel loved. I told him I didn’t think anyone in my home loved me except Mom and Dadders. I admitted I was sad because my only friend Dori had a restraining order against me. I haven’t seen her in months. 

Chill Bill listened, and the more he listened, the calmer I felt. Oh I haven’t undergone a personality change. I’m still an AssRabbit. Yesterday I was hell-bent on making Candy run so I could chase her, and I got put in my ZenDen for a time out. And when I was released, I discovered Chill Bill had a twin sucking on another wall plug. I sniffed him and felt the same comforting vibe I'd had with his brother. 

For the rest of the day I hung out with my sibs without making them scream. And that night Chill Bill – or his twin, hard to tell cuz they look alike – joined me in my ZenDen, filling my room with invisible positivity. 

My mom is a cat rescuer and most of my fursibs are seniors, so she’s determined they enjoy their golden years without stress. She was looking at me when she said that, so I guess Stress is my middle name. But Chill Bill reassured me he’s here for the long haul to help me become a friend to my fursibs, and not a foe. 

My new friend Chill Bill fills me with feelings of comfort. I'm a calmer version of my usual chaos-creating self because of Chill Bill and TheraPetMD. You can quote me.

If you need to have a Chill Bill of your own, check out TheraPetMD. This isn’t a paid advertisement. I just wanted to share my success with this product. Stay chill pals.

Mealtime Madness with the Senior Wonderpurr Gang

Gidget followed me into the cat apartment closet where I placed her dish containing a smidgen of Fancy Feast pate and a handful of Iams senior kibble on the rug, then closed the doors to prevent others from stealing her food. Over the past year Gidget has decided she’s not a fan of canned food – any canned food – so I mix her kibbles in with the pate to get something into her.

Next, I invite Peaches to join KC, Candy, and Frank in the kitchen where they dine atop a pink child’s table with the legs removed. However, she dives under the bed, leaving me no choice but to serve the Queen her cuisine where she hides, suspicious of my motives.

Meanwhile ChauncieMarie and Opie dine on top of the bed, happily lapping the Purina Pro Plan Hydra Care liquid supplement that I poured over their yucky prescription noms for kidney disease, mainly to get them to eat it. I hover, waiting for Peaches to finish. Naturally she slows her bites to the point of raising my blood pressure. Chevy and Nikolas are waiting for their dinner delivery, but I can’t leave, because the moment I do my French girl will immediately join Peaches and eat food she shouldn’t have. At nearly nineteen ChauncieMarie’s nose can still ferret out the food she can’t have and has a pattern of checking out Gidget’s closet to see if the door is adjacent, as well as any other bowl that smells better than hers. She moves amazingly fast for an old broad.

ChauncieMarie has had CKD for the past two years. This year Opie was also diagnosed with CKD. Telling my old ginger boy that he can no longer eat from everyone else’s plates has been an uphill battle, so I finally had to ban him from the kitchen. This is the main cause for Peaches being suspicious, because Opie has been her dining partner and best friend for nearly sixteen years. If he can’t leave the cat apartment, well… she won’t either.

I get down on my knees several times to check the Queen’s progress, receiving a glare each time I do. No one shoots a glare like my torbi. I finally risk it to run into the kitchen to grab the remaining dinners and deliver them to Chevy and Nikolas with apologies for being late. Bless them both, they hunker down over their dishes without complaint. At least at first. I will return in a bit to find if the flavor of pate agreed with them. Nik has become picky over the past year and sometimes will leave his meal untouched.  Chevy is a bit more happy-go-lucky and will eat just about anything. I deliberately give them something different in case they want to switch plates.

Recently ChauncieMarie turned diabetic, throwing an even bigger monkey wrench into my life with the Wonderpurr Gang. In all honesty I've watched this train coming at me for years. The train being that I knew when I adopted a group of stray cats all within a short time of each other, all pretty close to the same age, one day they would become seniors with varying medical issues. Well, now the train is about to run me over. I'm okay caring for them financially, but the heartbreak is going to be enormous. I'm certain every one of you reading this can relate.

Twice a week since October 18^th I’ve run ChauncieMarie across town to have her glucose checked to determine the right amount of insulin for her. I went through this with my tabby Buddy who passed at age 24 after being diabetic for ten years. Unheard of, but I don’t mess around when it comes to my fur babies. He traveled everywhere with me so I could give him his insulin twice a day. I would even leave parties to drive back home to give him his insulin at the same time. So, while I’m deeply sad about ChauncieMarie going through this, I’m devoted to give her the same dedication. God forbid anyone else becomes a diabetic – looking at you, Miss Candy Applebottom who needs to drop a few pounds. She tells me she’s not fat, she’s fluffy, but I digress.

Then on top of ChauncieMarie’s latest medical revelation, I now face even darker news. When we returned from our Alaskan cruise, I noticed that Jesse’s left eye looked a little weird. At first, I thought it might be the light. He’s not one to look me full in the face, rather he dips his head and looks away, especially when I aim a camera at him. So, getting proof that something was wrong took time. Finally, I got the photo. His left eye looked orange and the pupil was strange. I ran him to our veterinarian on the same day I took ChauncieMarie in to be diagnosed with diabetes. Doctor Feelgood tested his eye for scratches but as there were none, she determined it was internal. We chose to take Jesse to the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville where we had taken Buddy way back when we first adopted him as a two-year-old stray. He had an odd voice, and his breathing was noisy. Turns out he had a polyp growing in his nasal passage. With that a success story, we were confident that they could help Jesse.

Gainesville is two hours away via winding back roads. Jesse went with us to Ashville, North Carolina last October, so I knew he would travel well. And he did. At the hospital they gave him a once over to determine that he may have a tumor in his eye. Best news – it’s just in his eye and can be removed along with the eye. Worse case – it’s lymphoma and has attached to his eye, which means its elsewhere in his body. And, as if that was not upsetting enough, they told us Jesse tested positive for FIV.

 Jesse is fourteen years old. He is the son of Queen Peaches and was born (along with his now deceased brother Jack) under my neighbor’s deck on March 30, 2009. Never once had any vet told me he’s FIV+. That Chevy is FIV+ didn’t surprise me because when he first turned up, invited by his pal Nik to join the Garage Band, he was a friendly but feisty kind of guy. However, he sensed that Jesse and Nik were his only hope of getting a home, so he always got along well with them. No fighting at all. So, I’m not sure how Jesse, who has always been an introvert, never a fighter, got the virus.

 We return on the 17^th for Jesse to go through a full day diagnosis with both the ophthalmology and oncology departments involved. If you feel moved to say a prayer for Jesse the Toothless Wonder, we would sincerely appreciate it.

Ironic how November is not only National Senior Pet Month but also Pet Diabetes Month. 

Sadly, Dori, the President of the Ber Month Fan Club, is off sulking in her window hammock because her plans to celebrate Everything Autumn have been derailed due to time restraints that have kept me from performing my job as her muse and secretary. There's always next year, I've told her. I've even suggested she can celebrate Autumn all year long, which she may or may not do. You know how cats can't make up their minds..

I'm blessed to have cat loving friends who appreciate the trials and tribulations that go hand-in-hand with rescue. Upon hearing of Jesse and ChauncieMarie on Instagram and Facebook they've reached out to me with advice and reading material. I sincerely appreciate you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Kim

Until Next Time...

. 

Exploring Alaska Coastline Aboard the Holland America Koningsdam

Friends, this isn't Dori so don't wait for me to do any wavy paws. This is Kim (aka The Momanager) who along with Ray (aka Dadders) managed to escape the Wonderpurr Gang for ten glorious days to cruise the Alaska coastline aboard Holland America's Koningsdam ship.

Being away for ten days was both fun and worrisome. My fur babies mean the world to me, and because they are sliding into their golden years, being away is rough, especially when I'm on the other coast, plus aboard a ship without a way for anyone to get a hold of me. I deliberately didn't buy the WiFi package for the ship as I could check in with our kitty sitter when we stepped on land, and I felt secure in that my almost-nineteen-year-old super senior ChauncieMarie was in good shape to not need any close monitoring. And in all honestly I needed a break from both cats and my social media life. I've heard it's good to take a break, and after this past long hot summer, I was truly ready for one. I told Ray I wanted to go someplace where my melting brain could solidify, so he chose to take us back to Alaska.

We had already enjoyed a cruise to Alaska during the Summer Solstice 2015, and while it had been cold in June, I wanted COLD so Ray chose one of the final cruises for the season in September aboard the Holland America Koningsdam. With me being overwhelmed trying to write Rabbit's book (still a work in progress) and juggle umpteen cat social meowdia accounts, I had no brain juice left to plan a huge vacation. And since Ray is retired and constantly complaining he's bored, I let him take the reigns.

He truly hit one out of the park. He booked us first class on Alaska Airlines out of Tampa. We flew to Seattle, and the next day took an Amtrak train to Vancouver, Canada. The next day we boarded the Holland America Koningsdam ship with early boarding access as Ray booked us in the Neptune Suite that came with a private concierge lounge with coffee and yummies right across the hall from our room - I had to stop Ray from popping across the hall barefoot and in his robe for morning coffee - plus access to Club Orange private dining room.

PS - Orange is the color of the Dutch royal family - the House of Orange-Nassau - and has thus been considered the national color of the region for hundreds of years. The Holland America line has splashes of Orange everywhere, and therefore so do my videos. I've created short video highlights of each day, so please enjoy at your leisure. Thanks so much. 

Celebrating Dori on her Birthday

 

We at It's a Wonderpurr Life are celebrating our beautiful Dori today on her birthday.

Dori arrived in our Southaven, Mississippi yard at 3 months old on a cold winter night shortly before we left to drive up to Michigan for Christmas. At the time I thought it was just one stray, a black female with a bad eye. I told my fabulous pet sitter, Michelle, to feed her while I was away.

When I returned a week later, Annie the stray had brought her entire family - baby daddy Nikolas, two black panther sons and twin tabby girls. 

While the parents were sweet and tame, the kittens were WILD and scared the hekk out of me with their hissing and spitting. But I caught them all and kept them in an upstairs bedroom throughout the winter while I worked to simmer them down in order to be adopted.

Almost immediately I knew the one tabby girl had to be removed from the others. She was very sweet and never once tried to murder me with her mittens. She was so pretty with such a delicate feminine face. Ray started calling her his little peanut. Her twin was cute, but in a tomboy kind of way.

I put the family on Pet Finders, and right away there was interest in Dori. But when Ray found out his little peanut could be adopted, he said NO! To be honest I was relieved even though at the time we had around nine or ten ex-strays living with us. 

So Dori was officially adopted, and we also kept her daddy, Nikolas, who truly was the best daddy I've ever met. He loved his kittens and played with them all the time. I recall dragged a rug around the cat room for Nikolas to surf on, with the kittens jumping on to ride with him. To this day Nik is still a very sweet guy, and rooms with our FIV+ tabby Chevy. They were Garage Bandmates with Jesse until we moved to Florida and Jesse was kicked out of the band after losing his teeth to stomititis.

We cannot imagine our home without Dori. She has a sweet, spunky spirit, and greets every day with Joy. I especially cherish hearing her squeals of delight upon finding her precious Dolly Meow (who is constantly being lost under furniture or inside closets), or when she snuggles with me at night, waking me every now and then to pat my face and lick my cheek. Who needs REM sleep when you have the sweetest little girl reminding you that life is truly Wonderpurr, even with a dozen plus cats.

Happy Birthday, Dori! You are the true inspurration for It's a Wonderpurr Life.