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Moki's Story:
Every now and then, cat lovers come across a truly rare find. A
kitten or cat, that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Now that
cat or kitten may not be the healthiest, cleanest, or even the
friendliest, but there is something extra special about them, something
that tugs at your heart strings, something that, well, just melts your
heart. For me, the kitten was Moki.
I first met Moki while volunteering at my local feline shelter. I
had been volunteering for a few months when Moki and his sister Java
where admitted to the shelter. It was kitten season and we had an
influx of kittens in the shelter, many of whom where feral. I like to
think that someone must have been watching out for Moki and his sister,
since we found them on the doorstep of the shelter one night, cold,
scared and hungry.
Over the next few days as I went about my business as usual at the
shelter, but as each day passed, Moki caught my attention more and
more. Perhaps at first it was because, we didn’t normally house
kittens at the shelter, but then it became something more. Moki and his
sister Java were two of six kittens that we could not place immediately
into foster homes. Most of our foster homes wanted cute cuddly kittens,
not untamed wild ones. Looking back on it, I have to admit Moki was
probably the worse one of all. Whenever one of the shelter staff would
try to take him out of his cage, he would pitch a fit something awful.
His ears would go back and he would hiss as loud as he could. When that
didn’t work, he would try hiding under his bedding, in his litter
box, behind his food and water bowls, whatever would make it most
difficult for you to get him out of his cage. His attitude however, did
not fool me. As days passed and I grew more attached to his fitful
ways, I began speaking with my boyfriend about bringing Moki home to
foster. We already had six cats so the decision to bring Moki home to
live with us, was one we had to give much consideration. After a few
days, and some long hard thought, we agreed that this extra special guy
deserved an equally special home, if only on a temporary basis…
The minute Moki meet my boyfriend was amazing. I will never forget
it. Moki and my boyfriend instantly bonded. It was as if Moki had never
been feral. The next few days and weeks went well. We had given Moki
his very own bedroom filled with toys, a scratching post, a queen-sized
bed to sleep on and all the food he could eat. He ran, jumped, played,
purred and delighted in all the attention. Unfortunately, little did we
know, that was about to all change.
Moki had suffered from what at first appear to be a mild upper
repository infection ever since I had brought him home from the
shelter. We didn’t believe it to be anything major. Over the
years I have had a number of cats with URI’s and the shelter had
treated hundreds of cases that appeared just like Moki’s at the
time. Neither of us had any reason to suspect that this would turn out
to be unlike anything either of us had every battled before.
We started Moki on a regular course of antibiotics all the while
believing his symptoms would clear up in a few days. When his symptoms
got worse, instead of better, we took him to the vet. By now Moki had
gone from a little sneezing, slight runny nose and watery eyes, to
being lethargic, and refusing to eat or drink. Along with the
antibiotics, we began force-feeding Moki. We also started him on a
daily routine of sub-q-fluids, which I administered myself at home.
When Moki’s health continued to decline, and his head started
shaking like a diabetic when their insulin level gets to low, we took
Moki back to the vet. This time he stayed over night. I will never
forget what happened next, the month was July, the exact date was
7/27/2007. Blood was drawn from Moki upon his arrival at the hospital
and the result of his blood test came back on the morning of 7/28. The
news wasn’t good. Moki’s had a temperature of 104.3 and a
white blood cell count of 0.7. The normal reference range for kitties
given the test was 3.5 – 16.0. The doctor told us at that time
that Moki wasn’t going to make it. “His white blood cell
count was lower than a cat suffering from leukemia in their final
stage.”
Despite all the odds being against Moki, I couldn’t give up
hope, I wouldn’t give up hope, so since the office where he was
currently being held at, closed on Sundays, I picked up Moki that
afternoon and moved him to an emergency vet. After taking a look at
Moki and the medical records I bought with us, the emergency doctor on
call confirmed what the first doctor had said. Before leaving Moki in
her care, she thought it was best that I say “good bye” to
the sweet little guy, since it was unlikely he would make it through
the night. It was not without much crying, telling Moki to hang in
there and that I would be back to see him again tomorrow, that I let
the doctor take Moki to the back office for the night. If Moki made it
through the night and didn’t have a drastic turn around by
morning, the doctor said she would have to recommend putting Moki to
sleep the following day. That night I just couldn’t sleep. I
cried and prayed and cried and prayed some more. Moki just had to pull
through this, despite the odds…
The next morning I received a call from a new doctor, who had taken
over Moki’s case. The new doctor asked if I could come in right
away to see Moki. She informed me that Moki’s health status
looked nothing like what was described in his medical records from the
night before, and since she was not the doctor on call when Moki was
admitted, she asked that I come take a look at Moki to verify that her
findings where correct and that there hadn’t been some kind of
mistake made.
When I got to the hospital, I to was surprised. Moki, who had been
standing at death’s door only a matter of hours ago, was now
alert and aware of his surroundings. I made the 40 min trek to visit
Moki everyday, over the next few days. While alive and obviously alert,
Moki had suffered some neurological damage. At first we where not sure
if he would ever be able to sit up or eat on his own, was our little
guy doomed to a bed ridden life?
By the end of the third day, Moki managed to sit up on his own,
although it was only for short periods of time, before he would end up
falling over on his side. His head still shook uncontrollably and he
was still unable to stand. Here stood a shadow, of the proud fierce
kitten I had brought home just weeks before. The little guy, who was
ready to take on the world, now couldn’t even manage to crawl
inside his own litter box.
On the upside, the vet techs discovered that Moki could indeed eat
on his own, but only when a plate was held up to his face, and only wet
food. Of course Moki still needed help to sit up for extended periods
of time while trying to eat, but the fact remained that Moki was making
progress!
By the end of the third day, the doctor sent Moki home. At that
time she informed us that she believed Moki had a condition known as
cerebellar hypoplasia. Although Moki tested negative for feline
distemper, the doctor said it was possible that Moki’s mother may
have suffered from the disease at the time Moki was conceived. The
severity of the condition the doctor informed us varies widely among
cats. She could not tell us to which extent Moki may recover, but she
did inform us, that Moki would never get any worse as a result of the
disease.
To be honest, I could have cared less about whatever accommodations
we would have to make on account of Moki’s new found disability.
I was just happy the little guy was alive and home at last, for I had
promised Moki on that dreadful day when I first brought him to the
emergency vet, that if he where to pull through this, he would have a
forever home with me.
Moki’s first week at home was pretty eventful. When the
doctor called to check in on Moki a week and a half after his release
from the emergency hospital we where proud to report that after much
work and lots of struggle, Moki was taking his first few steps on his
own, since recovering from the illness. He was now also able to eat on
his own from a dish placed on the ground.
As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Moki
continued to improve. Before we knew it, four months had passed and we
where able to take Moki completely, off the medicine prescribed by the
emergency vet. Within a very short period of time, after having stopped
the medication prescribed by the emergency vet, Moki had developed a
urinary tract infection. It was now mid Nov. to be more exact.
Our regular vet started Moki on a series of antibiotics to treat
the UTI. When the UTI didn’t clear up we brought Moki back to the
vet. This time Moki’s doctor decided to take an x-ray of
Moki’s bladder and to run another blood test. While waiting for
the results of Moki’s blood work to come back, Moki’s
doctor obtained all of his medical history from the other doctors who
had treated Moki in the past. In the meantime, I brought in some video
footage of Moki walking around at home, that I had recorded in the
past, to show the doctor. When the results of the new blood test came
back, Moki’s doctor found a startling surprise. Moki’s
blood work showed that Moki was FIP positive. After examining
Moki’s prior blood test, the doctor also discovered that Moki had
been testing FIP positive all along. The good news was that with each
new blood test, Moki’s FIP titers where going down. The bad news
came when the doctor examined the videos of Moki I brought in.
After examining the video of Moki, the doctor concluded that Moki
did not have cerebellar hypoplasia. Cats suffering from CH all have the
same tale-tale sign and that is a flagpole tag. Moki’s tail
instead of standing straight up in the air when he walked, fell limply
behind him. Moki was no CH kitty after all. So what was Moki suffering
from?
The new unconfirmed diagnosis was neurological FIP. Since our
regular vet could not confirm his suspected diagnosis, he thought it
best, if I wanted to pursue the issue, to refer me to a specialist at
UC Davis. The Veterinarian Teaching Hospital at UC Davis, he informed
me could do a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis of FIP. The doctor
went on to tell me that a FIP positive result on a blood test only
indicates that cat has been exposed to one of many coronavirsus. Most
cats will actually be exposed to a strand of a coronavirsus in their
lifetime, but few will ever come into contact with the strand that
actually mutates into FIP. Given Moki’s neurological problems,
the age at which his symptoms appeared and the positive FIP results on
his blood work, the doctor felt it best to have Moki examined further.
So off to UC Davis we went. If Moki was willing to continue to fight
the battle, who was I to stop him…?
Moki’s his first appointment at U.C. Davis was back in Dec.
There they did an ultrasound, and ruled out obvious liver disease as a
cause of Moki’s neurological symptoms. They also confirmed that
Moki’s bladder was ok, and that he was responding to the
antibiotics being used to treat his UTI. Fortunately, while they
couldn’t rule in or out FIP, they felt that Moki was not
displaying all the normal signs and symptoms, which often accompany the
disease. So now we where back to square one. UC Davis informed us that
Moki was a rare case. The doctors there had not seen many cases quite
like Moki’s so they where uncertain what was causing Moki’s
symptoms. Since Moki had even the neurologist at UC Davis puzzled, they
recommended two separate courses of action. Their first recommendation
was to have an MRI and CSF tap preformed. The problem they informed us
in doing the MRI and the CSF tap lied in the fact that since they had
no idea of what they where dealing with, both of these test might turn
up no results. The two tests where also very expensive and there was no
guarantee that either test would give us a positive answer. Both of the
tests would be used as a way of ruling out possibilities. The underline
hope would be that one of the two tests turned up an answer. The second
course of action would be to meet regularly with one of the two
neurologists that had seen Moki to record his progress. By recording
Moki’s progress and or regression over a period of time, the two
neurologists who saw Moki, might have a better idea of what they are
dealing with.
It is now Feb 6. Moki’s UTI has cleared up. He is doing well.
He still suffers from neurological damage, but it doesn’t seem to
get him down. In fact he has recently started running a little, about
four or five steps before he falls over, and taking small jumps while
he is playing. We decided not to put Moki through all the additional
testing recommended by UC Davis and instead to meet with a neurologist
on a regular basis, that is until such a time that we can raise the
additional money to cover Moki’s tests. In the meantime, Moki has
an appointment set up with the neurologist at UC Davis on March 6 to
continue to record his progress.
Moki’s love for life goes beyond anything words can describe.
He has thought us that there is nothing we cant over come, with the
help of a friend, a little support and lots of love. It is with this in
mind that I have become Moki’s voice, to share with all of you,
what he cannot, the story of his life…
If you enjoyed reading Moki’s story and would like to help,
we ask that you please make a donation. All donations will be used to
cover the on going costs of medical care and testing needed for Moki.
Together we can make a difference.
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