Bayside Animal Hospital

Case Study: Colby
Breed: Domestic Shorthair
Sex: Male

    This is the story of a stray kitten now known as “Colby”. Colby was brought to Bayside Animal Hospital November of 2007 by a nice young lady who had found him crying and alone near a creek. She couldn’t keep him, but she could see that this little kitten was very sick and needed medical attention.
    He arrived at our hospital malnourished and dehydrated. We estimated him to be only 4 or 5 weeks old. He had a respiratory virus so severe that his face was completely crusted over. His right eye had ulcerated and ruptured from the infection. The affected eye was unsalvageable and would have to be removed once he was big enough and healthy enough to survive the surgery.
    Sadly, there is a very effective vaccination against this severe type of respiratory virus (the tri-annual FVRCP vaccine that most pet kittens and cats receive), but his mother was likely an unvaccinated stray.
    Colby’s problems didn’t end there. He was so heavily parasitized internally with roundworms and coccidia that he had uncontrollable diarrhea. He had external parasites as well-including ear mites and fleas.
The odds were stacked against this little kitten, but he had such a will to live that we just had to give him a chance at life. After several weeks of treatment with antibiotics, immune-stimulants, de-worming, ear mite treatment, and flea treatment… Colby finally began to look like a normal kitten! By Christmas he was strong enough and big enough that we decided it was time to address the eye. Surgery came off without a hitch. He recovered nicely and even looked cute afterwards…like he was perpetually winking at us.

    One would think this was the end of Colby’s story, but not so. Just when we thought it was safe to find him a home we noticed some crusting on his ears. We suspected a contagious type of skin fungus commonly called “ringworm”. By the time a culture had confirmed our suspicions, Colby was covered in it. This meant another month of hospitalization for Colby, twice daily ointment and medicated baths twice a week.
    Call it destiny or luck or just good timing, but during much of Colby’s treatment we had a lovely lady (we’ll call her “Mrs. L”) in the hospital frequently visiting her sick cat. She took an interest in Colby, and eventually decided that he would make a nice addition to her family! On January 25th, after spending most of his short life in a cage receiving various and assorted medications, Colby finally left for his forever home.

    Congratulations to Colby, a kitten who has already used up about 8 of his 9 lives, and to Mrs. L-our heroine!