Wanda’s Road to Recovery Fund

This is Wanda. She’s an 8 year young Calico rescue I adopted from a shelter in Compton CA over 5 years ago. She was initially a scared street cat who constantly begged for food, played with my necklaces, and refused to be held. Over time, she turned into a sassy spoiled chunk that slept on me every day and night. She was the definition of a calm, happy, fat, lap cat.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been caring for my poor sick kitty ongoing for over a year now.

Wanda was unfortunate enough to get attacked by a previous roommates dog in July of 2021. She has been sick ever since. In both Montana and Arizona, I took her to 5 different vets and tried a number of ineffective treatments. In December she started losing appetite and eventually stopped eating all together. Wanda withered to a dangerously low weight and I had to bring her in for an emergency feeding tube procedure. She nearly died.

For months I was tube feeding her 3-4 times a day in addition to trying more antibiotics and treatments. She couldn’t breathe through her nose, she was sneezing blood, and her left eye was crusted shut and swollen with puss. It wasn’t until February of 2022 after extensive lab testing we finally found the source of her illness. Wanda had developed a rare and severe fungal infection that had grown large enough to block her nasal passage entirely and even break some of the bones in her face. This condition was said to likely be related to the dog attack.

Since then, I’ve been medicating her through the E-tube in her neck with the anti fungal medication every 12 hours. After a month on the new meds, her symptoms cleared well enough to gain her appetite and she could eat on her own again. Hope was restored, however I had to keep her on the medication from a range of 3-18 months to fully clear the infection. I kept the feeding tube to administer the meds since she couldn’t tolerate it orally.

As of 7 weeks ago, I moved into a new apartment and she’s been having issues vomiting and swallowing. At first what was thought to just be stress related, has now turned out to be much much worse. Wanda has developed a scar tissue stricture in her throat as a long term side effect from the prolonged irritation from medication, E-tube, and occasional vomiting. This stricture is below the tube and right on top of her gag reflex.

Because her throat is now so narrow, she can no longer eat solid food, and worse yet, this condition can’t be treated until the tube is removed and healed.

Her internal medicine specialist vet has advised to start tube feeding again and add new medication to help with the irritation. I can’t remove the tube until she’s off the anti fungal medication, so this has become quite the complication.

The current blood work reflects another 6 or so months of the antifungal, and meanwhile Wanda has been an absolute trooper. This entire time she’s been active and very affectionate. Recovery is hopeful and attainable, however it has been a heart breaking experience to endure both emotionally and financially.

Wanda deserves a happy and long life, and as her mom, I am dedicated to providing the utmost care for her. She’s been a beacon of support in dark times and has done a lot for me. She has endeared so much, and we truly need any of the help we can get.

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