October 21, 2023
Next update on 10/24 after the kittens first vet check since the plasma eye treatments have started!
This has been an extremely rough week for our little fighter Varum. He was taken in for emergency surgery to remove a foreign body stuck in his esophagus and stomach. Varum had started losing weight and as the week progressed, he was vomiting food and not wanting to eat. After ruling out the basic causes of viral or bacterial infection it was decided to take him in for an x-ray to see what might be going on. The x-ray revealed a foreign body stuck in his esophagus and extending into his stomach. No Wonder he wasn’t gaining or able to eat! Multiple veterinarians were contacted in hopes of finding one who had a TINY endoscope to hopefully remove the issue without surgical intervention. We were able to get little Varum into a clinic north of Colorado Springs.
They worked to remove the foreign body via the endoscope but it was well and truly lodged between the esophagus and stomach. The only option was to open him up surgically and remove the object through his stomach. This is a VERY HIGH RISK surgery under the best of times and with Varum being underweight and starving his risks were multiplied. He made it through the surgery and took a long time to wake up due to how long he had to be under. Lauri drove up to see him while he was recovering and as soon as he heard her voice he started purring. By the next day his body temperature had increased enough for them to try giving him some soft food and he ate it like he hadn’t eaten in a week! (which for the most part was true) He was released back to Wild Blue Cats and our amazing medical foster who is continuing his slow recovery at home. He’s not 100% out of the woods yet as his swallowing is still not quite back to normal. He is a fighter and we hope to see him have a full recovery. This emergency surgery was not without high costs… we have added the $6000 total for this surgery to our fundraising goal and will extend our fundraiser to the end of November in hopes of having all Varum’s costs met. Wild Blue Cats will always work to save these precious lives!
The rest of the Eye Caramba 18 Kittens are improving daily! They are active, playing, gaining, and one by one getting spayed and neutered as health and weight allows. The two bottle babies are moving up to eating slurry (a mix of wet kitten food and kitten milk replacer) and will be moving to a new foster soon to continue growing and socializing. Some of our healthiest will be moving to adoption fairs soon and will be finding their forever homes! A handmade quilt to commemorate the 18 kittens is in the works and will be going into Wild Blue Cats Fancy Feast online auction the first part of November to continue to raise funds for these precious lives.
Please share our fundraiser to help us get the word out as far as we can. Varum’s emergency surgery was not something we ever expected along with costs higher than we thought! Wild Blue Cats couldn’t do this without all of your support! Thank you from Wild Blue Cats and the Eye Caramba 18 Kittens!https://www.facebook.com/donate/825608182636519/
https://wbcats.org/donate/
Venmo: @wbcats
– Amy Griswold
