Meet one of the two winners of our July photo competition – Fiona! 🙂
Picture Artist: Yuki Chung
Read his story written by her loving mum Mimi on how Fiona got to them. 🙂
Nine pm on a Tuesday evening, we heard a knock on our front door. Matt went to answer it, listened, closed the door and said “it’s for you.”When I opened the door I was met by a neighbor, her little daughter, and this tiny orange face peeking at me from a cardboard box.
They had found her in the street all alone, and had no idea what to do with her. One glance and of course we took her in. She had a nasty fungus covering the last inch of her tail, and a patch on her abdomen, but otherwise appeared healthy. We estimated her age at 3 weeks at the time and bottle fed her until she was ready to graduate to a plate. She quickly became known as Fiona Glenanne for her feisty personality.
Copper bonded with her very quickly as a kitten, and they spent many hours snuggled together on my desk.
She has a condition called feline hyperesthesia. It is a condition that causes such severe discomfort that as a kitten, Fiona often bloodied her own tail during an episode, and often attacked anyone who happened to be in the area. As she got older, the episodes increased in frequency and severity until we finally put her on a twice daily medication to ease her symptoms. We still have to be very careful and especially vigilant at observing her posture and expressions. She loves people but only allows petting on or around her face. Any sort of restraint causes such a level of discomfort that she lashes out aggressively. Stress exacerbates her condition but Fi has developed her own coping mechanism. Anytime she is startled or often after episodes of her condition, she comes and demands to sit on my chest. She then wraps her paws around my neck and nuzzles her nose in, kneading rather aggressively. She has been known to break the skin on either side of my neck, but it is so worth it to know I can offer her that comfort. Fi is an avid tree climber, plays fetch, and loves to ride around on Matt’s shoulders. She is one of our strongest personalities and a real joy in our lives.
Below is a slide-show of more of her fantastic photos! Enjoy!
If you would like to meet her and her friends on the caternet please click here for Copper’s Cat Commune facebook page.
And we hope you all are looking forward to more lovely photos and posts <3 @KatzenworldBlog
Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
LOVELY THANK YOU FOR SHARING
Thank you once again 🙂
So good to read the kitten found the right place for her condition, full of love and understanding – and a willingness to put up with it and even treat it where possbible. Everyday heroes, these humans.
Though I wonder, if the cat does not like being kept – how the h*** do they get the medication inside?
I think it’s difficult with any cat to make them take medicine xD try probably have to lure her in with treats hehe
You say .. my Tom would need heart-medication – but he refuses anything in which I have hidden his pills – and in the end I had to give up as applying the pills by force would have been worse for his heart with all the stress.
Oh no 🙁 That is a terrible situation… Have you tried asking your vet on any advise with this? We once had to give one of our cats a table every second day and that was no fun at all… Our vet in the end gave us a special little pill feeding device. Basically looked like a pen on which you put the pill at the front enclosed in a little capsule. Push it in the mouth of the cat and press a button at the back to push the pill in. I know doesn’t sound nice but this was far easier than going through the whole REFUSAL we had otherwise 🙁
The thing we had with our other cat was eye drops… That wasn’t easy either… What worked with her was each time after the eye drops give her, her favorite treat and eventually she related the eye drops with her treat and came on her own accord at the time of eye drop giving to sit still and endure it.
Ultimately with a heart condition before attempting anything I would seek advise of a professional vet though as you are right that you wouldn’t want to stress him anymore!
Have to go to the vet again this week – their annual appointment comes up. I really wonder what is gentler: to treat him with some force (the pill-feeder needs two persons, I am afraid, one holding the tom – a big one – firmly, the other opening the mouth AND giving the pill via feeder) or to just allow him to die earlier because of this condition. That is the side effect of letting estranged, not properly socialized cats into my life.
🙁 That is indeed a very difficult decision… Got to say that we are lucky that both our cats are tiny so it is a bit easier.
Have you checked with your vet if there is a liquid alternative to the tablets – At least my cats get fooled by mixing it in with Vitakraft Liquid snacks if they need any meds.
P.S in German: Zu welchem Tierazt gehst du. Ist es einer in Hannover? (Ich komme ursprünglich von dort! :))
Ist eine Tierklinik in Wülfel. Hab mir schon gedacht, dass du aus Deutschland bist 😉 KATZENworld war ein give-away, wie man in deiner neuen Heimat so schön sagt …
Hehe ja :). Meine Schwester wohnt noch in Hannover. Ich war früher immer bei nem Tierarzt in Neustadt am Rübenberge mit meinen Kleinen
Aus ‘nem Stadtteil von NRÜ kam mein letzter Freund. Ein Katzen-Feind.
Oh oh 😡
Es muss wohl auch solche geben. Aber ich hab mir meine Katzis erst zugelegt, als ich den Kerl abgelegt hatte!
Actually we have Fiona’s meds compounded at a veterinary compounding pharmacy. They are compounded into a flavored treat. All we have to do is yell “Fifi, treaties!!” and toss her the treat. She comes looking for us if we are late with her meds, even. We do the same for our Jack who suffers from an enlarged heart, an inoperable lung tumor, and asthma. He loves getting his “Jick Jack treaties!” We also have a cat named Bit with a chronic liver condition and hyperthyroidism. Unfortunately she does not like any of the treat flavors at all, so we have to use normal pills. Bit is easy to medicate once we get our hands on her though. Fiona would be a whirling terror.
Thank you for sharing 🙂
I have a tom with an enlarged heart (something rather widespread in larger cat breeds – and he must have some in his ancestry, he is impressive!). He would fight me, too, if I used violence. He will not take the “treats” (they are flavoured to be liked by dogs, maybe that is what turns him off). I tried a liquid medication – spread it on his fur – he just stopped to clean himself. 🙁 He does not like soft, mushy treats [pastes, pates], other treats, like the “sausages” only sometimes and not, when something is hidden inside. He is very, very wary of new things, too!)
Yep. She got lucky ! 🙂
aww she is so cute- I love the spiky kitten fur lol 🙂
I know it makes me want to adopt another cat! LOL
What a lovely story. Nursing a sick kitten from such a young ages builds an incredible bond.
Indeed! So glad you enjoyed their story 🙂
Such a sweet story! I love to read about cat owners that help a cat with a condition and not give up.
There is an old saying in Germany. Hope dies last! Basically meaning to never ever give up 🙂
Awwwww! Just impossibly cute! 🙂
I know isn’t she? ^^
A fellow “Burn Notice” fan…purrfect name! Heart warming story. Thanks for sharing =^,,^=
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
She is just like her namesake, too! One minute gorgeous and affectionate and the next, gorgeous and lethal! 😀
Haha! 🙂
When I found out my Andy has a heart murmur and high blood pressure, his veterinarian asked if I wanted his medication in pill or liquid form. I already knew pill form wouldn’;t be good because I couldn’t guarantee Andy’s take it in a tre4at or crushed on his wet food. I decided on liquid. They work it up with tuna, chicken or some other flavor (your choice). Though I still have some days where Andy isn’t easy to catch, I’ve worked out a routine where I catch him, wrap in snugly in a bath towel, then squirt the medicine in his mouth. After I give him medicine, I hold him (still wrapped in the towel), rub between his eyes (he’s a Persian, so this is a treat!) and stroke his head, telling him, quietly, what a good boy he is. When he starts to struggle to get down, I let him down and give him some cat treats he really likes. In the five months since this routine began, he’s become more relaxed and bonded to me, even if he still doesn’t like his medicine!
Aaawwwww thank you so much for sharing your experience! We really should put up a tips and tricks on how to give medicine to difficult cats haha
that was a wonderful story. Just went and liked their facebook page.
Thanks for sharing, and those pictures are precious. The two snuggling brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you – so glad you enjoyed their story 🙂
Hello! Matt from Matt and Mimi here. I love your artwork of Fiona.
As to how we med here:
Some of the cats we have to do in the “traditional” pill in the mouth route. Lucky for us Mimi is a vet tech. However, for Fiona we get her meds compounded in treat form.
A quick call of “Fi Fi Fi Treaties” in a very high pitched voice and she comes running for her meds.
Awwwww that is so great! And thank you for giving some insights on how you manage to get her to take them 🙂 Maybe our other reader can discuss this with their vet to see if they can do something similar! Thank you 😀
Thank you all for the wonderful comments! We are so proud to have our Fiona featured here at Katzenworld! She is a real joy to have! My husband and I run a small sanctuary for cats with chronic health and/or behavior conditions. I am a veterinary technician at my day job, and a kitty-caregiver as my evening gig. 🙂 We currently care for 29 cats plus 1 feral-in-progress in the yard here at Copper’s Cat Commune! Love hearing from so many like-minded kitty-folks across the world! – Mimi
Thank you Mimi :). We are very glad to have your Fiona on our blog ^^
Thank you for visiting my blog, I love cats so I spent ages browsing through all the lovely feline images you have posted.
Thank you Jean! 🙂 Will continue to check out your Blog and so glad you enjoyed ours ^^
LOVE! I will drop by from time to time when I have time, and will recommend your site to cat-loving friends. The only thing that cheers me more than kitty pictures is a live feline in my vicinity.
Awwww thank you so much Kim. :)!
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Beautiful photos and great story!
Thank you! 🙂