I'm so pleased to hear of Sophie's progress! Yea!
It does sound like she may have gotten spooked somehow, and enjoyed
being back in her pen where she's always been safe. I hope you're
right in that she'll figure out she can have the best of both worlds!
Oh, I'm so happy she's doing well medically. What a wonder child she
is. And soooo pretty! Thanks for posting her pics!
Nina
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi everyone,
Sophie was freed in the last week of October, from her 6' by 6'
exercise pen that she had been in for so long. (I will rewrite Sophie's
history at the end of this message for those who don't know her and are
interested, OK?) For the first week, it seemed like she was deliriously
happy, playing and eating well and running around but soon she began to
hide up in the rafters of the basement and seemed to be depressed. She
would often not seem hungry and she rarely came down to play or come
for petting. I would shine a flashlight on her rear end, though, and it
seemed fine. She only needed one enema since I freed her.
I wanted to have her checked out by Dr. Stanley, her surgeon at
Michigan State, because of her depression and because she wasn't
getting much lactulose, the stool softener, in her, so I was concerned
that all was not right. She hid so well that I had to reschedule twice.
I caught her finally, with my son's help, and I took her in to see Dr.
Stanley on Friday, Jan. 14th. Dr. Stanley was very happy with her
physical shape and her rebuilt anus' condition! She was very happy to
hear that there was no obstipation to speak of since she has been
freed, too. She said that if the constipation/obstipation returns, that
she could possibly do a rectal pull-through surgery or a colectomy, but
that she would rather not have to go that way. She said she is just not
sure she could help her with the surgeries so it is better that we work
with her in other ways. She believes that if Sophie is doing well that
it is possible that her rectum is becoming re-innervated! (Or regaining
some nerve sensation there, as was explained to me.) Could it be that
she is better now because she gets more exercise or maybe time has
healed her or maybe the methylcobalamin that I give her daily (which is
supposed to help restore nerve function) is working? I am not sure what
made the difference but am very happy, of course. I know you join me in
wishing that her good stretch continues on and on.
Strangely, when my son and I caught Sophie on Tuesday, I had to put her
back into her pen until the appt. on Friday and she seemed happy to be
back there! She was lively and hungry and wanted to be petted galore
and scratched behind the ears and she played a lot at night, like she
used to. We decided to let her go free but to keep the pen open at all
times and let her decide. It was open before, too, but I am not sure if
she put two and two together before, that she could come and go in her
pen. I guess we will play it by ear again.
I got a few pictures of Sophie at Michigan State and one of them is
dear to my heart. It is of Dr. Stanley and Sophie. I have put them both
on her website at:
http://annlmla.tripod.com/id1.html
if anyone wants to see her now and also see Dr. Stanley.
Thank you for reading this long update and thank you for being there
for Sophie from the start.
Hugs,
Anne and Sophie
(Sophie is a sweet 1 1/2 year old peach and grey dilute tortie who as a
young cat was injured and had to have her tail amputated. She was a
feral kitty and was taken to the vet by a lady who was feeding her. The
vet destroyed her anus and surrounding tissue while amputating her
tail, in error, with a cauterizing tool. I adopted her shortly
afterwards from a kind foster mom in Delaware. She was driven to me by
a kind young lady who drove 14 hours straight to get her a forever
home. I had no idea of the damage that had been done to Sophie and she
quickly displayed how her rear end was an open wound and when scar
tissue formed, she could not pass stool easily and it became a very
real and serious problem. She was needing to be anesthetized and
cleaned out every week and it was advised to put her down several
times. I asked for a referral to Michigan State University which they
obliged and there we met a wonderful surgeon, Dr. Bryden Stanley.
Thanks to the efforts and love and donations of many people who opened
their hearts and gave money and prayers and lots of good wishes, she
had the reconstructive surgery needed to rebuild an anus and to
strengthen her rectum walls. Unfortunately, the rectum rebuilding did
not hold up well and she returned to being blocked every 4-5 days. Dr.
Stanley thought perhaps she had nerve damage, too, that was showing up.
That is where we were at last update.)
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