Sam was literally near death when we pulled him from the shelter, against all odds and two vets saying that there was no hope for Sam and their recommendation was to let Sam go.
But we were stubborn and decided to go against all odds.
So glad we did.
Main issue for the vets was the fact that Sam was FELV+ and unfortunately for Sam the attending vets were way too focus on Sam (Hurricane Sam as they called him at AMC) being FELV+.
Due to the above they were attributing all of his problems to the FELV retrovirus and truly it was nothing but…
Thankfully at HPR we are well seasoned on retro-viruses a knew all too well that FELV+ kitties are let go from this world for the wrong reasons.
Did it just escaped the vets attention that this cat has bigger problems than his FELV status, he is approximately 10 years old, was approximately 3 or 4 pounds at the time, was incredibly malnourished, severely dehydrated, covered with fleas, had severe anemia due to the fleas (NOT the FELV), not to mention a deep and severe ear infection that was and is affecting his eye and his balance when walking.
Of course he was in bad shape, in pain and suffering, I will be too if I was to land at the hospital in the shape Sam was in.
The good part was that Sam’s will to fight and to survive was there, we saw that, he just kept fighting, never gave up and neither did we.
We asked the vet to send us blood work, after seeing his PCV (Packed Cell Volume) numbers, we realized that overall his blood work was not so bad and we confirmed this with our vet here in Florida Doctor Spencer Goldstein and internal medicine vet Doctor Aliyson Cannon, they both agree as well that Sam’s blood work wasn’t bad.
So at that point we instructed the vet at AMC in NYC to continue to treat Sam with whatever he needed to get him better.
After an interesting start with the attending vet at AMC and a slight argument about leaving the fact that Sam is FELV+ aside for as long as Sam was going to stay there and instructed him to treat the cat and NOT THE NUMBERS, we finally got Sam on the right track.
Sam, he had two blood transfusions, a ton of nursing care, a liver aspirate, ear culture, ultrasounds and what not.
His first transfusion took at first but then the blood work numbers after a week are so, where decreasing once again.
At that point he had his second transfusion which it did the trick in keeping his numbers steady and good.
That was another argument with the vet, as he was saying that Sam’s wasn’t regenerating and that the transfusions were just temporary solution.
Even thought this can happen in some cats as they can become transfusion dependent, this was not the case for Sam and once again we proved the vet wrong, sorry to say.
After the second transfusion Sam really started to improve, and his blood values kept improving and holding.
Sam was at AMC for approximately a month and then went into temporary foster care with one of our wonderful and seasoned foster parent.
Lisa provided exactly what Sam was lacking and needing the most, lots of TLC,
excellent care, attention to detail, good food and good vets, that focused on Sam and not his retrovirus.
Since then Sam has now gained weight and is now almost a 10 pound kitty, he is regenerating and his numbers are now holding at 34 all on his own.
Life is Good and SAM IS TODAY ALIVE AND WELL, he is on his way of being a good healthy happy cat, with a bright future ahead of him.
And we are yet to see great things from him to come,
He is all settle today in his permanent foster home with one of the best special needs and FELV foster parents we have, her name is Lisa.
The best part is that even after the vets ranted and condemned him for his FELV status, we performed and IFA tests to confirm the FELV status and the test came back un conclusive and was suggested we repeat the test in 90 days, which we were going to do anyway regardless of the results, as no animal is either positive or negative on just one test, so we still do not know if he is a true positive at all, how about that.
Miracles do happen is Sam is living proof.
We will like to send a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all of you “ANGELS” that have sent a donation to help with Sam’s steep medical bill, for your prayers and kind words/wishes for Sam’s speedy recovery.
Special “HEARTFELT THANKS”, to Steve, Polly and Sean,(three Saints) for paying the portion of Sam’s bill that we couldn’t raise in donations that we could have never – ever raised on our own, as his bill was almost 10K.
Special thanks to Lisa for taking Sam under her wing and yet making room for one more.:)
And last but not least special heartfelt THANKS to Melissa for buying a brand new cage for Sam so he can be comfortable and ISO until he can be re-tested again.
As of today 6/21 14
San is FELV negative now and is a big 17 pound fat and healthy kitty
Sam at NYC shelter.
SAM TODAY
