MISHKA'S UPDATES

Many of you already know of our recent rescue of Mishka which was so very urgent. He was critically injured in a fight with a raccoon during the middle of the night on March 22nd. His stomach area was torn out by either the claws or teeth of the raccoon and the injuries were about the worst we've ever seen. Everything that should have been 'inside' was pretty much 'outside' of his body. A concerned homeowner heard the fight and found the injured little guy cowering in her garden shed. She knew it was an emergency and contacted PAF.

Taylor and I met at the home and assessed the situation as we didn't know whether he was tame or feral. Even tame cats, when injured, can put up a fight or try to escape being handled. The homeowner, Liz, and two of her friends helped us by moving garden furniture out and holding up blankets to form a barrier over top of the shed railing which was waist high. Even with horrible injuries he still tried to run from us and we had to trap him in a blanket in the shed. We rushed him to Dr. Janice Crook at Mosquito Creek Veterinary Hospital. He underwent immediate surgery and several days later, a blood transfusion to help him. It has been touch and go for him but Dr. Crook felt we should give him a chance to see if he could recover as he was young, barely a year old.

We have searched hard for an owner but no one has come forward. Little Mishka was unneutered and had no tattoo, microchip or collar so he may have recently been abandoned.

APRIL 3rd UPDATE

He is still with us and we are seeing some improvements so we are cautiously optimistic that he is going to make it.

Thank you so much to ALL the people who have so generously donated to help with Mishka's vet bills since the little guy was rescued on March 23rd! We are close to $ 3,000. to help pay for his two complex surgeries, blood transfusion, IV fluids, antibiotics and special care!

Three days after his initial life-saving surgery, Mishka's blood count was really low from all the blood loss and trauma. He needed help so the vet decided on a blood transfusion to boost his level. Taylor 'asked' her cat, Lawrence, if he would volunteer his blood and Taylor thought he said 'sure' so fuzzy, healthy Mr. Lawrence was brought to the clinic. We have included some wonderful photos here of the whole process of Lawrence helping Mishka! All went extremely well and Mishka's blood count shot up from 15 to 22 almost overnight. Mishka's own little body then started producing more red blood cells and he was at 30 a few days after that.

However, we hit a speed bump with Mishka last weekend as, although he was being fed only small syringes of pureed food, he couldn't keep it down for very long and we knew there must be a blockage somewhere in his colon.

This past Monday morning he was back in surgery for a 'look-see' and there was some good news and some bad news. The bad news was that a small section of his colon had kinked a tiny bit and wouldn't let food through but the good news was that other areas of the colon that had been resected and repaired in the initial surgery were healing well. So, Mishka had to have a bit more repair work done to unkink.

He was definitely brighter and more alert on Tuesday morning but he couldn't be fed just yet as his colon needed another few hours to heal. By late Tuesday night the vet clinic was slipping him small syringes of pureed food and we all hoped he would keep that down.

By Wednesday night he had not vomitted and had started to groom himself a little which is always a wonderful sign. Dr. Crook took a small video of him as she stroked him and that video is below.

Because there was no food at all in the colon it will take a couple of days to make it's way through so now we are all on edge waiting for . . . . poop! We will update you at the end of the weekend!

Thank you all again, SO MUCH, for helping little Mishka. He is fighting hard to recover and heal himself and we are all right there helping him. A sincere and heartfelt 'thank you' to Dr. Janice Crook and all the wonderful, supporting staff of Mosquito Creek Veterinary Hospital for their tremendous skill and care of our little guy! This is a long journey but we have our fingers crossed . . . .

Click on this link for a few photos on April 8th - MISHKA !

APRIL 30th - UPDATE and PHOTOS

Mishka's last night before going to Marina's family  . . .  and his forever home!