Sylvester's Get Well Fund

Sylvester is a cat that has lived around the UH Cancer Center since the building opened in 2013. He recently was mauled by a pitpull that was walked without a leash. My girlfriend tackled the pitbull, grabbed Sylvester and we run to the Vet Emergency, where he was saved. He on the mend now, but still needs a lot of care and treatment.

The full story (it is gory, FYI):

On the evening of June 13th my phone notified me that the temperature alarm of my -80 degrees freezer went off in the lab. My girlfriend volunteered to drive with me back to Honolulu. She stayed in the loading dock in the truck while I checked on the freezer.

While playing on her phone she noticed a very loud cat cry and she assumed it's a very bad cat fight. She sprinted towards the noise hoping to break the fight up but she stumbled upon a pitbull on top of a cat. She made the split second decision to hit the pitbull in the flank - this gave the cat the time to run away then tackled the pitbull until owner put the leash on him. The owner apologized.

After this she went to look for the cat, she found it, she scooped him up and called me to come ASAP. We did not see the condition of the cat, did not know even which of the resident cats it was as it was dark and the cat was a gory mess. It was in shock so it was not squirming or fighting. We drove to the nearby Veterinary Emergency and Referral Center (VERC) on Nimitz.

The cat was sedated, x-rayed, the wounds cleaned up. To everyone's surprise no bone was broken, all the organs looked intact. He was given an anti-inflammatory injection, a long-term antibiotic injection an oral painkillers.

He looked really bad, we did not try take pictures, we let him rest as much he can. He was not able to move and we had to use puppy pads. Most of his injuries were on his left front paw and his back. He really looked baaad.

He got better a little bit but he was not eating or drinking whatsoever and seemed very dehydrated. We returned to VERC on Saturday where they did a blood panel on him and the followings were detected:

he is FIV positive, anemic, and his white blood cells are through the roof. The Vet recommended he stays in the hospital for 3-4 days. We would not able to afford it and we thought him being a street cat he'd feel more comfortable alone in our garage. Me and my girlfriend are both biologists, she has animal husbandry background and she is experienced giving subcutaneous fluids to cats. So we took him home with bags of IV fluid and more medications.

He perked up the next morning and ferociously started eating. My girlfriend had no issues administering the fluids. He started purring at mealtimes and he enjoyed bein petted on the top of his head.

The swelling of his face went down and to our surprise now we were able to identify him....

Unfortunately it was already Wednesday and he ate and ate and we were worried that he still has not pooped so we took him to Waikele Pet Hospital, as lack of proper bowel movement is a life threatening condition in cats. They run another blood profile and thankfully the white blood cell count was normal! He however still had anemia. The Doctor mentioned that he is older than what they guessed at the VERC (2 years) and we had a picture of him at the Cancer Center from 2017, so he may be older.

We declined the x-ray for the poop (600$), as the doctor was confident that based on palpitation he does not seem to be clogged, but we agreed to return in case no bowel movement in a few days as he was still at risk due to his injuries. We postponed the follow up blood test to find out the source of his anemia as he was poked enough for one day.

We were contacted by the person who was feeding him and we got to learn that he was named Sylvester and he has been around since the building was opened (in 2013) and the caretakers were worried about him.

Sylvester was doing better and better but no poop so my girlfriend though she'll take him out to the garden, maybe the fresh air will help him do his business but he freaked out and run back to the house where he tried to hide and ... he pooped in the living room. I know it sounds dirty but we were super happy as it spared us a $$$ Vet visit. (And was a fortuitous cause for a major clean-up).

Sylvester's follow up was scheduled for Thursday. He was still not of the woods by the Doctor as he has other medical issues, the FIV, the anemia and one of his eyes has extra pigmentation, that may be melanoma. We think it may not be as melanoma is a very aggressive cancer and he has had this pigmentation over 7 years.

He may also need an amputation, depending on how his paw recovers. It has feeling in it, so there's hope.

UPDATE 7/9/24

On the checkup one wound did not close properly and we returned on Friday June 28th for a minor surgery. The wound was cleaned up and stitched together. Blood was taken for a thorough anemia panel. He got another x-ray on the paw, the doctor feared his bones are reabsorbing, but there were all OK. Sylvester had a hard time recover after the surgery, so they kept him in the hospital the whole day and we were able to pick him up in the evening.

He was very lethargic the on the weekend, and he was still under the weather on Monday, and my girlfriend took him to be checked out. The good nows was that his anemia resolved nicely, but the doctor found some disturbing heart murmur, that was not detected by the other vet before.

We got a phone call from his primary vet and he wanted to check on him on Friday the 5th as he got the results from the anemia blood panel which detected Mycoplasma infection and his neotrophils were low. Blood was checked again and neutrophils were OK and we continued with the antibiotics. He listened to his heart again and he also detected a substantial murmur. We scheduled a cardiologist appointment for July the 14th and another bloodwork check.

He has started to move the injured paw this week! Today, the 10 th of July he tried to put weight on the paw. We are going to call the pet rehab specialist!

We already have two rescue cats, so if anyone is interested to take Sylvester in, that would be great. He actually is very friendly with our two cats, but we are concerned as our big boy likes to play rough. Sylvester is super chill in our garage, uses the litterbox and is unfazed by the washing machine. He purrs when we feed him, and talks back with purring sounds when I talk to him.

Please donate if Sylvester's ordeal has inspired you. We are taking one day at a time with Sylvester, but I promise we'll keep you updated. We started this fundraiser thinking about future medical bills too, so we won't need to rename him to Max as in Maxedoutcreditcards.

Here is a video after the minor surgery on 6/28/24:

https://youtu.be/BlII3HQ4Vmg

Mahalo (thank you) for your support!

Please check back for updates!