Clive's New Friend, Lucky!

Clive has a new friend, and her name is Lucky...

Isn't she precious? Lucky recently had surgery to correct PRAA after her mom, Laurie, read about Clive and saw how well he's doing, and we'd like to share Lucky's amazing story too! Read about Lucky, as told by her mom, and see more photos of her here: Lucky, Baby Kitten with PRAA

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9 Months After Surgery...

Since his surgery almost 9 months ago, Clive has come a long way!

He has now taken over the house and all the cat beds...

and the dog beds, too...

Here he has kicked Buddy out of his bed and has taken it over...

Here is Clive with his Aunt Poppy. She drove 10 hours to see Clive...

and then he took over her bed too...

Clive is now a healthy and normal fellow! 

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Just got Clive home,,,,,,

   

He seems to be doing pretty well. He ate first thing when he got home and then paced around a lot. He didn't like the ride home in the car at and I think that got him pretty agitated but now he is sleeping on my arm (makes typing rather difficult). He is confused by his e-collar but it's one of the soft ones so it gives a little when he hits stuff with it so that helps a bit. Ty seems confused by his new attire as well. You can't really see his scar that well in the pics but it's really large! He is shaved on both sides of his body and you can really see how underweight he is now. Time to start fattening him up I hope. The surgeon said she was able to pass a large tube down his esophagus into his stomach while he was under anesthesia so that's a good sign. He will be on special medication as I mentioned in an earlier post (in addition to pain meds) but it has to be compounded so I have to pick it up at a special pharmacy in a few days. I am supposed to keep him "quiet" and "calm" for two weeks now which is going to be really hard as active as he likes to be but I will try.....the grand total was $1990. Thanks so much to everyone who donated and everyone who sent such great vibes his way.....

HUGE HUGE THANK YOU TO CC'S FUND

This local Charlotte group has come through in a huge way for little Clive and with their help we have now reached our goal!! Clive is so touched that so many people have taken an interest in him and are pulling for him. I really can't say enough about this group and how wonderful it is that they are out there helping people who are unable to pay for expensive procedures for their pets. You can read more about them here and again thank you to them on behalf of Clive:

CC's Heart Fund at Carolina Veterinary Specialists

THANKS

Just want to send out a BIG thank you to all who have donated and those who are following Clive's story so far! You guys are awesome. It's really touching to see people taking time out of their days and money out of their budgets to help this little guy out. He really appreciates the concern!

Clive after eating

This video is a little hard to watch but I wanted to give people an idea of what Clive is dealing with. This is what happens to him after he eats and this is what would ultimately end his life prematurely if he didn't get the surgery. This frequent regurgitating causes him to aspirate fluid into his lungs which in turn causes respiratory problems like pneumonia. He has already had pneumonia once and would continue to get infections periodically until eventually his lungs just wouldn't be able to handle the abuse and he would die at a young age. Keep in mind that this is a VERY mild attack for Clive. In the beginning his attacks were much more violent but now with the elevated feedings and him only eating canned food (dry food makes him violently ill almost immediately) and also eating a lot of small meals throughout the day, I manage to keep his attacks short and mild. He is currently eating about 5 times a day. The episodes usually last about 5 minutes - I only taped a small part of it.

Surgery Update...

Clive's surgery is now scheduled for the 8th of February which is less than 2 weeks away. You can read more about Clive and his condition in the post below and on the other pages of this blog.

Clive and his family would really appreciate your contributions to help pay for his surgery. We totally understand that many people are financially unable to make contributions of money, but your contributions of prayers, purrs and pawsitive vibes will also help save Clive's life!

If you would like to make a contribution you can do this by using your PayPal account or credit card and the PayPal button at the right, or you can call Carolina Veterinary Specialist and make a donation with your credit card right over the phone and it will go directly into Clive's account. Just ask for Candy and tell her it's for Clive Watts (his mom's name is Emily). The phone number and address of Carolina Veterinary Specialists is in the right column under the PayPal button, and you can also visit their web site to read about all the good work they do. We will keep you updated on the total amount of the contributions we receive and all contributor's first name will be listed as Clive's Benefactors in the side bar at the right. Every one can also "Follow" Clive to show your support!

Surgery Fees

Clive's surgery will be very expensive. So far the estimate for his surgery is $1800 - $2400. We won't really know the exact amount until the surgery is over. There is a charitable fund connected with Carolina Veterinary Specialists for heart patients, and they are going to help with some of the cost but there will still be a big balance left to pay. Any amount will help, no matter how small.

Anyone can leave comments now, and Clive and his mom would love to hear from you so feel free to leave comments!

Thanks and many purrs from Clive & his family, and keep your paws crossed for Clive to make a speedy recovery!

This is Clive...

When Clive's foster mom found out about his condition, her choices were

1. have him euthanized so he wouldn't suffer
2. take him home, add him to the family, and try to fix him

Well, for Clive's foster mom, having him euthanized wasn't even an option to consider...

Little Clive has a condition called Persistent Right Aortic Arch, which is a congenital vascular abnormality which causes vomiting and anorexia in young animals. The diagram at the left gives you an idea of what's wrong with Clive. Congenital means he was born with it and as he grows the condition will worsen causing more pressure on his esophagus which makes swallowing difficult, and if a kitten keeps vomiting food he won't thrive and will eventually die at a young age. This condition is more often found in puppies...in fact it is so rare in cats that most of the information you can find about it is about dogs, and aortic arch abnormalities also occur in human babies.

The good news is that Clive can be saved with surgery!

So far Clive has been doing pretty well with the special care and canned food his foster mom is giving him. You can see in the photo at the right how Clive has his food elevated so the gravity will help his food go down. But Clive needs to have this surgery as quickly as possible because as he grows the "arch" will continue to put more pressure on his esophagus and make it harder for him to swallow. Because this condition is so rare in cats, Clive's surgeon is consulting with the veterinary school in Raleigh so we are waiting for that before proceeding to schedule Clive's surgery. We should know what the vet school has to say within the next couple of days.

I'll be posting more information on the cost of Clive's surgery and the contributions we've already received from Clive's friends and benefactors, so stay tuned...



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