This is Cartwheel, one of our foster kittens. She’s about 7 months old, and ridiculously sweet, plus a serious lovebug (she adores cuddles). We got her and her two brothers Tumble and Somersault back in May. Her brothers were neutered and have long since been adopted, but the spay/neuter clinic refused to spay Cartwheel because she has a very serious heart murmur (a 5 of 6, for those of you who have any knowledge about such things, which we definitely did not until this).
She’s been checked a couple times since then, since I guess in some cases, heart murmurs can resolve themselves as the kitten grows. But the last check, there was no change, and the only way we would get any additional information was to have an echocardiogram done.
That kind of procedure is expensive, so to offset, I ran my very first GoFundMe campaign to raise the money. Once that was done, we scheduled the appointment. The first one available was going to be in January.
Except last night I got a call – they’d had a last minute cancellation and could we get her in today?
So this morning I drove her out to the vet clinic, then drove back out at lunchtime to bring her home. And this afternoon we got the verdict.
Her heart murmur is caused by a pretty serious heart defect – something she was born with.
There is some good news. She’s otherwise a completely healthy little cat. She doesn’t need any medications. And best of all, they *can* spay her, although it will be a more involved procedure.
We don’t know what the future looks like for this little girl. She very likely isn’t going to be adoptable, not without someone clearly understanding the medical issues she has, and the potential things she could face. It’s possible she will only live for a few years. They want to do another scan in 9 months time to see how things are progressing.
In the meantime, she has a home with us for however long she needs. She has no idea she’s ‘broken’. So we’ll do our best to give her the best life, because it’s nothing less than what she deserves.
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This jigsaw puzzle advent calendar is starting to get a little dark – this is the second one where the gift has not only shattered the window, but wreaked havoc once inside. Perhaps this is what happens when you outsource to drones?
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.