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Hawk was
the only surviving kitten from a litter attacked by a raccoon.
He was taken in by a family and kept as an inside/outside
cat for years. Family circumstances forced Hawky and his cat
friends to have limited house privileges and eventual banishment
to the basement. Over the next eight years, Hawk watched his
older companion cats pass away. He became more and more distraught
and depressed with each passing cat. Additional changes in
family circumstances forced the decision that Hawk, now alone,
could no longer remain at this residence.
Hawk spent
four weeks boarding in a vet's office awaiting his fate. While
at the vet, a horrendous gum infection was discovered in Hawk
(only two teeth remained; the rest had rotted out). Hawk was
maintained on pain medication and antibiotics for his entire
stay at the vet. During this period, people who had grown
fond of Hawk desperately tried to find a shelter or rescue
to take him. The Cat Shack agreed to take Hawk after he was
to undergo surgery to have his remaining teeth removed, as
well as all the remaining roots from his rotted teeth. Hawk
arrived to the Cat Shack the evening of his surgery, which
had occurred on the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001.
By early
morning of Sept. 12, it was obvious to Hawk's foster home
that something was drastically wrong. Hawk was rushed to the
vet where it was discovered he was suffering from kidney and
liver failure. After a week of extensive vet care (including
medication and constant IV of fluids), Hawk's condition did
not improve. At one point, Hawk had a seizure and it looked
like there would be no recovery for him. The Cat Shack wrestled
with the very difficult decision of whether to continue this
expensive medical treatment since it didn't appear Hawk's
condition would improve.
And then
a strange thing happened...a prone Hawk, barely able to lift
his poor head up, saw another cat in the examining room and
perked up ever so slightly. This tiny sign of life was enough
to show us that Hawk wanted to live and wanted to find other
kitties to play with. And after a couple more days, a miracle
occurred and Hawk started to improve! A month later, we were
thrilled when Hawk returned to his foster home, still weak
but very much alive! And today he is a spunky, healthy cat
who has finally learned to purr and who can't wait to find
a permanent home! And thanks to the wonderful donations of
many of Hawk's friends, the cost to The Cat Shack for his
extensive medical treatment has been drastically reduced.
We can't thank them enough for their kindness and generosity.
To illustrate
the dire shape Hawk was in, below are his blood work numbers
(a bold red number is out of normal range) where you can clearly
see how much trouble he was in. Hawk is a very special cat
and it is a miracle that he is still with us today!
| TEST |
Normal Range |
Hawk: 9/12/01 |
Hawk: 9/14/01 |
Hawk: 9/17/01 |
Hawk: 10/2/01 |
Hawk: 10/26/01 |
| Glucose |
64-170 mg/dl |
58 |
253 |
95 |
102 |
99 |
| Urea Nitrogen |
14-36 mg/dl |
75 |
129 |
164 |
98 |
61 |
| Creatinine |
0.6-2.4 mg/dl |
6.2 |
10.3 |
8.9 |
5.1 |
3.5 |
| Total Protein |
5.2-8.8 g/dl |
9.0 |
6.2 |
6.4 |
6.0 |
8.4 |
| Albumin |
2.5-3.9 g/dl |
3.3 |
2.2 |
2.5 |
2.7 |
3.0 |
| Bilirubin, Total |
0.1-0.4 mg/dl |
0.7 |
0.7 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
| Alkaline Phosph. |
6-102 u/l |
<3 |
45 |
43 |
30 |
29 |
| ALT (SGPT) |
10-100 u/l |
328 |
560 |
6 |
21 |
45 |
| AST (SGOT) |
10-100 u/l |
2452 |
2105 |
132 |
40 |
24 |
| Cholesterol |
75-220 mg/dl |
100 |
103 |
165 |
114 |
89 |
| Calcium |
8.2-10.8 mg/dl |
4.2 |
5.8 |
5.9 |
10.6 |
10.2 |
| Phosphorous |
2.4-8.2 mg/dl |
22.4 |
14.4 |
10.8 |
7.5 |
6.9 |
| Sodium |
145-158 meq/l |
146 |
148 |
145 |
157 |
157 |
| Potassium |
3.4-5.6 meq/l |
7.9 |
6.0 |
4.7 |
3.8 |
5.1 |
| Chloride |
104-128 meq/l |
107 |
104 |
98 |
115 |
120 |
BUN
/Creatinine |
4-33 (ratio) |
12 |
13 |
18 |
19 |
17 |
| Globulin |
2.3-5.3 (ratio) |
5.7 |
4.0 |
3.9 |
3.3 |
5.4 |
| Hemoglobin |
9.3-15.9 g/dl |
13.2 |
8.8 |
9.6 |
7.3 |
8.3 |
| WBC |
29-48 thds/cmm |
31.3 |
26.1 |
21.1 |
10.9 |
11.8 |
Absolute
Polys |
2500-8500 |
27544 |
26695 |
18990 |
8829 |
10003 |
Absolute
Bands |
0-150 |
626 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Absolute Lymphs |
1200-8000 |
1565 |
843 |
1688 |
654 |
472 |
| Absolute Monos |
0-600 |
626 |
281 |
0 |
1308 |
708 |
Absolute
Eos |
0-1000 |
939 |
281 |
422 |
109 |
590 |
Absolute
Basos |
0-150 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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