In August of last year, Alice and her brother Andy were brought to VOKRA with their feral mother. These tiny kittens were only about seven weeks old and were very sick. They had severe conjunctivitis and pneumonia but, over time, were nursed back to health by VOKRA’s volunteer Cat Care team.

Little Alice was touch and go for a long time and there were several days when we didn’t think she would make it. But she is a feisty little fluffybutt and pulled through.

The two siblings were finally well enough to go to foster at the end of September. They were lucky enough to head to the caring home of Dawn and Matt, no strangers to kitty illnesses. Dawn and Matt’s beloved 18 year old cat Delilah lived for the last year of her life with a variety of illnesses requiring medications, subcutaneous fluids, and other treatments to be administered regularly. When she passed away early last year, Dawn and Matt decided to foster with VOKRA and share their love and experience with some cats and kittens in need. They are great fosters and, when the chance to care for Alice and Andy came up, they didn’t hesitate. Andy had fully recovered but Alice’s breathing still sounded rough, like upper respiratory congestion, and she still required drops and cream for her eyes twice a day.

Since being in our care, Alice has had numerous treatments but nothing ever seems to clear things up completely. Still, we keep trying! We have worked with our vets to determine the cause of her trouble, testing her for nearly every possible thing: Leukaemia, herpes, bacterial infection–all tests have come back negative. She has been on antibiotics six times. We have changed her litter and food several times and tried giving her antihistamines in hopes that it might be something as simple as allergies. No luck there either. No matter what we do to try to help her, Alice keeps getting better…then getting sick again. She has trouble breathing and, when it gets really bad, she has to breath through her mouth and go back on the antibiotics.

Alice has had a nasal flush and an endoscopy. The nasal flush gave her some relief for a few weeks. The endoscopy revealed a partial collapse in her nasal passage. But that doesn’t explain the constant congestion and her breathing troubles. She has had two stays at the emergency vet where she had to have immediate, life-saving, medical intervention in order to get her hydration up and her fever down.

One vet thinks the partial nasal collapse is what is causing the trouble. Another vet is not convinced that is the case. So she’s now been referred to a specialist and we hope we’ll have some answers soon.

Dawn and Matt are as dedicated caregivers as these sweet kittens could hope for. Dawn tells us,

 But there is not a lot of relief for this poor kitten. Since being in foster with Dawn and Matt, Alice has had:

• 12 vet visits
• 4 different vets
• 6 rounds of antibiotics
• 3 sedations (endoscopy and spay, herpes swab, bacterial swab and nasal flush)
• numerous rounds of medication

Dawn absolutely adores these two special sibs.

Throughout all of her trials, Andy is constantly by Alice’s side and he cries non-stop when she is not near. These two do everything together, including using the litter box! If she goes, he goes too and vice versa. The first time Dawn took Alice to the vet, Andy buried himself under blankets until she came home. And when she finally did, he nuzzled in and literally wrapped his arms around her.

Isn’t Alice lucky to have her brother Andy to love her? She’s also lucky she ended up with VOKRA. We are a no-kill rescue so we will continue to work with our vets to figure out what’s making Alice sick and, hopefully, we can give her some relief soon. But, as you can imagine, doing so isn’t cheap.

The vet costs for this eight-month old survivor have, so far, totalled more than $2600. We are waiting for the latest test results from the specialist but, if those tests come back negative, the next step would be a CT scan in hopes of a diagnosis. The estimate for that scan is over $2500. We have no idea how we will afford that, let alone the cost of treatment should we be lucky enough to finally get an accurate diagnosis. 

Our vets help us make caring for kitties like Alice more manageable by giving us great rates. They often waive the examination fees and provide us with medications. The amount of Alice’s vet bills would be significantly higher if we had to pay standard rates for everything and we are most grateful to our caring vet partners. But we still desperately need help to pay for Alice’s ongoing medical care if she is to get well. Also, we wouldn’t think of splitting Alice and Andy up, so we will continue to pay for Andy’s food and litter in foster rather than having him placed for adoption on his own.

These kittens didn’t deserve to be born outside, uncared for and exposed to illnesses. They didn’t deserve to suffer without medical attention for weeks before VOKRA got involved. They deserve a forever home where they can live long, healthy lives, and where Alice can receive the medical treatments she needs. Don’t they?

 As special as Alice is, she is not the only kitty in VOKRA’s care who requires extensive and expensive care. Please help us continue caring for brave little Alice and other sick kitties like her by making a donation to VOKRA today. You may not be in a position to contribute time or have the cat care experience to help the way Dawn and Matt do, but your financial contribution of any amount will be so appreciated and will absolutely make a difference; possibly the difference between life and death. We’d love to be able to pay off Alice’s vet bills but, more importantly, we want to be sure we have the funds to cover the future bills we know are looming for her.

Please help Alice keep fighting, adventuring, and snuggling with her brother Andy. You can donate to her online here or, write “For Alice” in the comment field and donate here to VOKRA today.