Gray Lady is Adopted!
March 2024 Gray Lady’s Mom recently sent us an update that this kitty “thrives on her daily routine” in her FURR-ever home for the past couple of years. What a great success story after all the suffering and life-threatening health issues she had, as described in her amazing history below. Her Mom says she enjoys morning head rubs, treats, naps in her cat tree and afternoon playtime. We at FURR are thrilled to hear Gray Lady’s news and wish her continued good health and happiness!
June 2022 Gray Lady is adopted! Check back soon for her adoption story.
Feb 4, 2022 This gorgeous long haired beauty has been through hell and back, but now she is ready for love! This amazing girl is very quiet and gentle and just wants a quiet home and belly rubs! Gray Lady has the softest fur you have ever felt and she would love to be the only kitty and the center of your universe! She is one amazing girl nd just under 2 years old. Her eyes are nothing short of amazing emerald green!
Aug 4, 2021 WHAT A JOURNEY! Gray lady goes to the vet every 2 weeks to recheck blood work. She went week before last & had her feeding tube removed! Her blood work at that point was remarkably improved, except for liver values, but at least she was eating on her own (not a lot), and was able to have her feeding tube removed … whew! Poor kitty had that tube in her esophagus for over 3 weeks while I fed and medicated her.
The last checkup visit last week showed continued improvement in blood work and liver values were improved, but not quite within normal range. The vet said that she thought, however, that Gray Lady was well enough for her spay surgery and during that surgery, she would take a liver biopsy.
Yesterday, Gray Lady had her spay surgery and liver biopsy. BUT, during the surgery, the vet felt something very hard in her stomach that was not normal. She decided to do exploratory surgery while Gray Lady was under anesthesia, and low and behold, her stomach had a HUGE hairball inside! The hairball was removed, but I was told it was too big to have ever passed normally! Gray Lady would not have been able to pass it NOR would she have been able to throw it up due to its size! Thank goodness the vet discovered this mass and was able to free her from it!
BUT…….the vet wanted Gray Lady to be on quite a few medications after this extensive surgery, so she kept her overnight to monitor her and give her meds. I had mentioned to the staff that Gray Lady was NOT a fan of getting oral medications and to beware!
Today, I got a call that they could NOT medicate Gray Lady and that I had my work cut out for me with her being on FIVE medications!
It was decided to re-insert a feeding tube for the medications……….poor kitty! During the SECOND surgery to insert the feeding tube, Gray Lady had a HUGE bleed out that was concerning, but the vet finally got the bleeding to stop! This poor cat……………my gosh!
I brought her home this afternoon and will continue to tube medicate her for the next ten days & watch for any bleeding. Hopefully, for her next recheck appointment and blood work, she will be able to get the tube removed and FINALLY GET TO BE A NORMAL KITTY!
Throughout this entire ordeal, this kitty has remained very sweet and humble. I believe she knows that I am doing everything I can to save her. It is hopeful that she will one day be a normal cat with no medical issues, but we will see what the liver biopsy says in a few days.
Meanwhile, please pray for this kitty! Please also consider making a donation to help cover her medical costs! Every visit is $150-$200 and her surgery yesterday AND today was over $1,100.
July 11, 2021 – Update on gray Lady: Just wanted to let you all know that GRAY LADY is steadily and slowly improving (the 6th cat trapped & rescued in the Jenkins colony @ Topsail Beach)! I am still tube feeding her several times a day, but she is starting to eat a little bit on her own also. She is almost finished with her MANY medications and I feel like we have turned the corner. I really think she is going to recover and hopefully move on to the adoption floor!
GRAY LADY is a beautiful cat with long silky blue/gray colored hair. She has huge round green eyes and she looks like she is smiling from the side. I just love her especially knowing how much she has been through and how she came so close to death. She deserves a life of leisure with lots of love, brushing and comforts of inside safety!
Here are a few pictures to catch you up to date on her progress. She is definitely looking a lot better! It has been a tough road.
July 2, 2021 I was called about another colony at Surfside Beach. That is about 40 minutes away from me. I have trapped, so far, about 9 cats and am only about half way done. There is a lot of time and travel involved. All of the cats have to be taken to the S/N clinic or my vet.
“GRAY LADY” is the Mama of an older set of kittens, Spot, Charlie, Percy, Marsha and Sara, herself a young, but very beautiful, adult female – GORGEOUS long haired Russian Blue color with no white. Trapped her and after examining her, discovered that she was NURSING! (All of the older kittens above where hers!), but this must mean that she has ANOTHER new litter. I was devastated. Had to release her to make sure the babies survived.
After a few weeks, Gray Lady showed up with TWO little kittens, Lucy and Willy! With the caretakers’ help, managed to trap the 2 kittens, but even using the kittens as bait, Gray Lady would NOT go back into the trap. Lots of time spent driving, waiting, praying but with no success. The kittens were about 4-5 weeks old, but safe. The kittens had a hard time and back and forth to the vet with them, but finally started coming around. Gray Lady still at large………….
.GRAY LADY above was finally retrapped with the help of the caretakers and my drop trap. By the time we re-trapped her, she was very skinny and emaciated, BUT she had a huge protruding belly. I couldn’t believe that she was pregnant AGAIN with her THIRD litter! Gray Lady was feral, but tolerant of being handled, medicated, etc. I took her to the vet and got her rabies (no distemper when preggo) and blood work done. She was very very thin and weak. At only a little over a year old and being pregnant again for the 3rd time, she needed emergency care. I set her up in my bathroom with all the needed prescription food, fluids given IV and kept her quiet. Unfortunately after a harrowing ER visit, poor Gray Lady lost her third litter of kittens but still clinging to life herself!
The next day after the ER visit, I took her to my vet and they did ultrasound, xrays, bloodwork and thorough exam. Gray Lady was fading and her organs were shutting down. She was anemic, emaciated and just giving up. She was prescribed a lot meds, probiotics, antibiotics, fluids, etc. My vet (who was absolutely wonderful, caring and completely aware of what I had also been through) put her under anesthesia and inserted a feeding tube in her esophagus to make it easier for me to feed her and medicate her.
It has now been almost 2 weeks. Gray Lady has slowly improved each day. It has been a nightmare. Every sign of something positive just lights me up! She was becoming jaundice, but now her color is back. She just started eating a little bit on her own YESTERDAY! She seems more alert and “almost” picked up her tail when I brushed her back. I am very hopeful that she will survive. Please say a prayer for this beautiful kitty. She has been through many of her 9 lives in her short life.
If anyone wants to donate, we NEED money. Caretakers have given, neighbors have given, but a lot of our old donors have stopped giving since we moved. I don’t know why since the work continues every single day and there is no bottom to that bucket. Thank you all for helping with the bills for all these cats including Gray Lady (more news to come………this is just the beginning of what I have been doing).
For adoption information or to schedule a visit to the Feline Urgent Rescue & Rehab rescue facility to meet this kitty, please email FURR’s President and Founder, Terry Schultz, at adoptafurrcat@gmail.com.
Learn how to adopt this kitty! FURR adopts to the Wilmington/Hampstead, NC and surrounding area only and to approved homes.
If you are not ready to adopt a kitty, please consider fostering or sponsoring. All donations are tax deductible.
