Stitch's people were unable to keep her and had been looking for a new home for her. She was a sweet-natured, young, pretty cat and they had a home lined up for her. But just before she was to go to her new home she was hit by a car. The accident damaged her hind quarters so that her tail was limp and she dribbled pee. Now she was unadoptable. So in November '06, Stitch came to us. Her body might have been damaged but love and trust still shone in her eyes. She tried to make it to her litter pan but either the bladder muscles or the sphincter didn't work too well, and her limp tail got in the way. So, on the vet's advice, we arranged in early March for her tail to be amputated, and Stitch went on two kinds of medications to improve her bladder function. The meds seem to be helping and in mid-April, Stitch joined a communal room at the shelter. Since she's young, pretty, affectionate and lovable then if her problem clears up completely she should be very adoptable. Until then, even if she only leaks a little bit, she is a hard-to-place cat. Time will tell.

Stitch's videos were made when she arrived at the shelter, before her tail was amputated. She was a loving, trusting little cat, even when she was new. But you can see how her tail hung limply.

Sept/07
Stitch is a quiet, undemanding little cat who keeps to herself most of the time. She can always be seen lounging on a shelf or in a nest somewhere in her communal room. She doesn't join the crowd of cats who run up to us for attention when we enter. That doesn't mean that she doesn't want attention though. If you sit down and give her a fuss, she soaks it up blissfully, rolling and reaching into the caresses. She combines the best qualities: she is affectionate but independent enough that she won't pester you. We hope the time will come that she can enjoy a home of her own. Her bladder leakage problems do seem to be improving. We expect she will be a perfectly normal and wonderful family member.

May/08
Stitch seemed depressed for a while when the most contact she had with people was when volunteers went to medicate her. She began to think that people only looked for her so they could shove something into her. But when the medication ended, she soon relaxed and began to welcome visitors confidently. When she recognizes one of the volunteers who makes sure to give her a fuss, she'll stretch out and purr as soon as they get near her. She loves belly rubs and stretches right out for them. One day she sprawled blissfully in a volunteer's lap for a long time. Not until she exerted herself to stand up did she dribble pee. You just need a thick towel in your lap if you cuddle Stitch. When we're not around, Stitch can be quite companionable with some of the other cats. We found her in a nest under the couch recently, snuggled beside a semi-feral youngster named Renee. (Renee never met a human until she came to the shelter and she prefers feline company.) Stitch doesn't seem to look for feline company. But if another cat joins her, she doesn't mind.

Dec 5/08
We think Stitch might finally have recovered full bladder control. If so, it's wonderful news for this poor little cat. She's healthy. pretty, gentle and well behaved, and she does yearn so much for affection -- more than we have time to give her. This could be her chance to find a real home where she'll have somebody to love and to love her back. We just have to be sure before we list her for adoption. Occasionally we find accidents and indiscretions in the communal rooms. Shelter life is stressful even for the hardiest of cats in the best of shelters, so if we find a puddle it could come from anyone. We just have to keep our eyes open to see who's doing what in Stitch's room.

In her videos below, Stitch was napping when the volunteer arrived. But she's always ready for a bit of attention and she woke up fully as the volunteer petted her and she asked for more!

Dec 10/08
Stitch is not ready for adoption yet. :(    We checked with the vet about her incontinence. One of the volunteers thinks she still leaks a bit although she doesn't dribble continually. The vet determined that she actually has good anal tone and bladder control. So we're going to try a different medication to see if that will help with the dribbles.

Jan 16/09
Poor Stitch. We had such high hopes for her new medication. It would mean a new life for Stitch if she could become adoptable. But it doesn't seem to have reduced her leaking at all. That experiment was a sad failure.

April 30/09
    We have sad news about Stitch. We noticed in the last week that she seemed to have trouble pooping. Our volunteer in charge of animal health sent us the following update this morning.
    "I've been giving her wet food to help ease things and also gave her fluids. However, the last few days she hasn't wanted to eat. She's lost weight. She ate last night but I took her to the vet anyway today just to see if there was anything going on. Bad news. Stitch's colon is now nonfunctioning. She is solidly backed up because she has no muscles there anymore. They could sedate her and give her an enema but it's tough on her because it's dehydrating and uncomfortable for her. Then her colon will just fill up in another week. There is an operation that can remove almost the entire colon but in Stitch's case, the part of colon left would have no anal tone at all. This means that stuff would be pouring out of her on a continuous basis. She would live surrounded by it and covered in it. So her prognosis is not good. The recommendation is to let her go -- soon. Stitch seemed fine today after I brought her back from the vet. She looked comfortable and turned over for a belly rub. Her eyes are clear and bright. But she must feel some discomfort, and she can't eat anymore cause she's 'stuffed'. The vet will check with me tomorrow and we're going to try and arrange a time for her to come by the shelter. Poor thing, she's so sweet. She's been content at least even if she wasn't as happy as she could have been in a real home."
    This is heartbreaking for all of us. At least our Stitchy was well loved. A cuddler volunteer comes by every weekend and sits with the cats in Stitch's communal room. They enjoy lap time and all the pets she can give them. Stitchy was right by her side for her share of the lovin'. We'll miss our little Stitch.

May 5/09
An eleventh hour reversal -- the volunteers received the following note in their weekly update on the shelter population: "Update on Miss Stitches - We are trying one last thing with her. It is a long shot, and our vet doesn't have a lot of faith that it will make a difference for our poor girl, but we felt we have to give it a shot." Yes, Stitch is still with us. The volunteer who liaises with the vets agonized about it. Stitch still seems so content, and she's fine in every other respect except her bowels. She's not suffering other than being severely constipated. The volunteer made one last desperate suggestion to the vet. What if Stitch was cleaned out -- just this once -- to see if it would kickstart her insides into functioning on their own again. Maybe -- whatever the original cause -- they've ground to a halt because she is so completely backed up now. If cleaning Stitch out gives her more time then it would be worth it. If it fails, at least we gave her every chance. So Stitch must sleep in a cage when we're not around so that we know for sure that anything in the litter box comes from her and no other cat. We're crossing our fingers and watching that litter box as eagerly as if Stitch was the goose who laid golden eggs. So far we've seen a couple of promising results. But she has to keep it up long enough that we know her insides are running smoothly on their own. All we can do now is wait and watch. After a certain period of time, a return visit to the vet will tell us how she is. So Stitch's story is To Be Continued.

May 11/09
    We received the following report from our vet-visit volunteer, "Stitch passed her exam with flying colors. The vets were both delighted with the unexpected outcome. Stitch's litter pan performance has been great the last week. I don't think we need to confine her anymore. I suggest we give her canned food once a day to make sure she gets enough moisture. She will continue to be on meds BID but she seems to be taking them much more easily this time than she used to. Meds will be 'for life'. Occasionally she may need a "clean out" but otherwise she's fine and she seems really happy too." So Stitch is able to quote Mark Twain: "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
    That was close!
    One family's heart had gone out to Stitch and they had planned to get a vet's advice about surgery or any other kind of procedure that might help. They wanted to take her home. Now maybe they can pursue this although we're not too optimistic that Stitch's leaking can be cured. On the brighter side, a 'cuddler volunteer' comes every weekend and sits with the cats in Stitch's communal room. This is so important to them. Shelter cats hunger for love like they'd known when they had families of their own. Stitch always get her share of Amy's attention and she rolls onto her back with her eyes closed and soaks it up with obvious bliss. That's when the photo above was taken.

Jan/10
We monitor Stitch to ensure her digestive system is working well. We'd been giving her a stool softener, Lactulose, after her near-fatal bowel blockage. However, for a while, it became a bit too loose. So the vet took her off the Lactulose and also reduced her Cisapride dosage (helps her colon work). Everything seems to be back on track. Stitch is in good condition otherwise. She's content in her communal room. She snoozes until she sees you and then she invites some attention. The other day we were trying to work with a new young cat in her communal room. The youngster wasn't yet prepared to get close to the other cats and growled nervously at them. Stitch ignored the growls and insisted on positioning herself beside the youngster in order to get some attention too. She's a quiet but loving little cat and she has many friends among the volunteers.

May/10
We managed to find the best dosage in Stitch's medications and she's doing well. She accepts her medications easily so the daily doses are not an ordeal for her. Despite having to call the shelter home for life, Stitch is happy. That's always a relief to us. Our greatest worries are the cats who chafe at shelter life though their prospects for adoption are remote. Stitch is just a pleasure to know.
 
 

June 25/10
Stitch seemed to have a recurrence of the problem that she had in April /09. She didn't appear to be pooping, and the volunteer in charge of animal health saw her straining after confining her to check her output. Sure enough. All plugged up. So she's been to the vet and been cleaned out, and her meds have been increased again. She's done well actually. It's been more than a year since she had this problem before. Now that we know it's easily resolved, we just need to stay on top of it.

July 2/10
Stitch went to the vet again on Wednesday. She still seemed to be plugged up. Her meds had been increased and changed, which was supposed to help her. Anyway, the vet evacuated her insides again (because, sure enough, she was plugged up). Her meds are increased again. If the meds truly aren't working anymore then we have a problem again. We'll have to deal with whatever happens and just hope for the best.

July 8/10
Poor Stitch has been confined in a cage so we can see if she's using the litter pan. We have seen a few encouraging poops in the litter pan. So far, so good! Poor girl, we've starting letting her out during the day so she can enjoy the summer sun on the porch as she loves so much. She's confined at night and we hope that we'll be able to get an accurate view of her litter pan usage from nights alone.

July 14/10
All seems to be well again in the bowel department so far. Stitch has been released from confinement and she's a happy girl.

July 23/10
Stitch saw the vet again this week and she was blocked again and needed another evacuation. We're bumping her meds up to three times a day. However, her colon is starting to loose its tone. We can only evacuate her so often; she needs sedation every time. So if the increased meds don't work we are faced with a couple of hard choices: surgery to remove part of her colon (which may or may not work and could cause her to have constant diarrhea) or euthanasia. We'll keep a close watch on her eliminations over the next while. We're hoping Stitch hasn't run out of good luck.

Aug 28/10
Stitch's latest check up found that she's gained weight and she is not blocked. Hurray! She's in great shape right now.

Nov/10
Stitch is ticking along smoothly. She spends her time quietly as ever, sometimes snuggled beside feline friends, sometimes snoozing on her own. But always she'll roll onto her back for a tummy rub if someone comes over to give her some pets. She's such a lovely, good-hearted little cat.

June 15/11
Stitch had seemed a bit quiet lately, and volunteers noted that she had been straining unproductively in the litter pan. So we took her to the vet. Sure enough, she was impacted again. The vet will clean her out and get her moving. Then it looks like she'll have to resume her meds. At least she never minded getting meds. Poor Stitch.

June 21/11
Stitch needed another trip to the vet on Monday to be cleaned out. She's in segregation right now so we can monitor her input and output, and she's not happy about that. However, last time she got clogged up, it took two or three 'jump-starts' before her intestines were working smoothly again. We hope she can soon enjoy the warm weather on the porch. She's such a sweet, patient girl -- we feel badly for her. She enjoys the porch so much in the nice weather.

June 28/11
We were as pleased to find a small poop in Stitch's litter pan as if she'd been the goose who laid the golden egg. She's weathered spells of poor health but has always bounced back, even from the brink. It helps that she's content with shelter life and never feels stressed. Hopefully she'll continue to recover fully from this last spell of getting clogged up. If she's back on her routine of meds, she should do fine. She sure didn't like being in an iso cage though. She chafed to get out and enjoy the freedom to wander around the porch in the summer weather.

back to list of animals to sponsor