Ciao Bella!

Rescued on June 17, 2015. Bella is a very shy and fragile little furbaby who has been living in a parking lot nearby for almost a year. We’ve been trying forever to take her off the streets but she was so terrified (upon abandonment) she wouldn’t trust anyone. We’ve been delivering food and water to her every single day but recently she went missing for a few days and we were really worried.

This evening we found her in total distress, with voice loss, skin infection in her lower abdomen, and some bite marks on her back and legs. She finally gave in and we could bring her to safety. She’s sleeping safe & sound tonight in our laundry room. Sleep tight sweet Bella.  Scroll down for photos, video & updates …

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UPDATES

Thursday, June 18th
This poor baby has been kneading and purring since she was rescued last night. At first, she was hiding & scared but it’s like she already knew it in her heart she was safe with us so it only took her a few hours to start enjoying the warmth of a loving home again. She’s exhausted and there’s so much sadness in her eyes it totally breaks our hearts but Bella’s fate has been changed and we’re confident she’ll learn to be happy again in our cat shelter.

Friday,  June 19th
Bella had her first vet checkup. Bella suffers a skin allergy caused by fleas that has spread all over her body and a bad cough that has caused her to lose her voice.  She’s already on treatment with antibiotics + cortisone. A special diet to help her gain some weight and improve her overall health condition is also required. She’s is recovering well.

August 3rd
Bella has been spayed. Good news and bad news. Bella’s spay surgery was successful. Her uterus was full of early pregnancy remaining tissue that was causing an infection called PYOMETRA (infected uterus) It’s all gone now. No uterine tumor was found so her life is no longer at risk. The sad news is she tested POSITIVE in Leukemia (FeLV+) She’s on a 15-day course of antibiotics and she will have to take one anti-inflammatory pill every 24 hrs. for the next 6 days. She’ll also be on a special diet plus a Multivitamin supplement that will help her feel stronger. Due to her fragile condition and low level of body defenses, post-op will be a delicate matter. She needs to wear an e-collar (which she already hates by the way!) and be closely monitored

August 13th
Last Tuesday we took Bella to the vet clinic to have spay surgery stitches removed. Although the surgical scar looked OK on the outside, it was swollen all around it and it was starting to look purple. The vet found there was a tender mass inside that was not normal at all. Bella suffers from anemia, caused by her FeLV+ condition. Her body’s defenses level is so low it’s now interfering with the healing process. An ultrasound showed that there was some liquid surrounding the internal surgical wound so she had to be hospitalized to have her treated. After re-opening the surgical wound, the vet found an abscess. Unlike other infections, antibiotics alone do not usually cure an abscess it requires a drainage in order for it to be cured. A surgical drain had to be inserted and kept for a couple of days, to drain any body fluid that may accumulate and become a focus of infection again. Tomorrow, the drain will be removed and hopefully, she`ll be able to leave the clinic. On Monday, vets are getting lab culture results of the liquid drained to determine the cause of the infection for a more accurate prognosis. Bella is a very fearful cat, very traumatized by abandonment. Besides her FeLV+ condition, that is already making her extremely weak, all these post-op complications are not helping much. She’s very stressed and eating poorly, just enough food to get her going and help her body absorb the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pills she’s taking in order to fully recover. Once released from the vet clinic, she’ll have to continue treatment and wear the e-collar for one more week.

August 19th
Bella’s post-op has been quite complicated. Anemia caused by leukemia is making her healing process much longer than expected. Last Tuesday, she was hospitalized again. An abscess had to be removed; a surgical drain was inserted and kept for 3 days. On Friday, the drain was removed and she was finally released from the vet clinic. She’s very stressed by the whole situation and she does not want to eat much so she’s being fed with a syringe. Since a new surgical incision had to be made to remove the abscess, new stitches were needed and she’s still on antibiotics. She seems to be responding well to treatment. If everything goes well this time, next Saturday stitches will be finally removed and she will no longer need to wear the e-collar.