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West Michigan Rehomed

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Grand Rapids, MI
West Michigan Rehomed

We provide rehoming services for cats that were strays, from hoarding situations or owner surrendered
(2)

01/08/2024

Eye update on miss Jaycee because what is cat rescue if you do not have multiple major medical cases at once 🫠

Jaycee was returned on 12/30 and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Two days later on 1/1, I noticed an ulcer on her left eye and also other changes that were concerning. The next day, her eye continued to become more cloudy but I was not able to get her into the vet until the 3rd. When she was seen on the 3rd, the veterinarian was particularly concerned with the white material that was in the front chamber of her eye. She also noted a small ulcer but we think it may have been self inflicted after the other issues caused her eye to become painful. The veterinarian tested her intraocular pressure and it was elevated in her left eye meaning she has glaucoma. Secondary glaucoma in cats is usually a result of uveitis (inflammation inside of the eye) which then prevents fluid from circulating causing pressure to build up. Uveitis can cause white blood cells and fibrin to accumulate in the anterior chamber of the eye which is all the white material that can be seen.

Unfortunately, uveitis and glaucoma can progress incredibly fast and glaucoma causes permanant damage by the time symptoms are noticed. Looking back at the photos from the 1st day she was back in my care, I can now see that her left eye does look dull and cloudy but I didn't notice at the time as there can be weird glares in photos. 2 days later, the symptoms were obvious and it was already too far gone. I asked the family that returned her if they noticed anything and she said she didn't but her son had noticed her eye slightly changing colors the few days before she was returned. Even if the glaucoma was caught when her eye started to change colors, it's likely it was already too late and management of glaucoma can be extremely tricky and requires seeing an ophthalmologist. At this point, all we can do is remove the eye which will resolve any and all issues especially since she has no vision in the eye. She will be perfectly happy and healthy with only one eye. She is on medications to keep her as pain free as possible until her surgery on the 15th. We will likely need to see it off for histopathology to make sure it's nothing more serious such as cancer.

Moral of the story: Cats never fail to amaze me with new medical conditions and can go from their eye being perfectly fine to needing to be removed from unknown definitive reasons in only a few days. Jaycee's keeping things interesting!

01/05/2024

Jaycee and Finnick were adopted a year ago from us and due to unforseen family circumstances, they had to be returned last week. It's so crazy seeing these little ones after so long.
Jaycee also surprised us when her eye suddenly started showing changes 2 days after we got her back and then quickly deteriorated over the weekend. She will need to have her left eye removed due to damage caused by acute glaucoma and we will explain more about it in another post. Her surgery is scheduled for the 15th, so wish her a smooth surgery and quick recovery🙏

12/31/2023

As 2023 comes to a close, we are so thankful for everyone who has supported us throughout the year. In total, we cared for 85 cats!! 🥳

This year included 56 spay/neuter appointments and 86 veterinary office visits. Of the 85 total cats, 40 of them came from one mobile home park that we have been working on since May of 2022. Here's to a great year!

12/24/2023

Miss Judy Bloom:

❗️Latest update❗️During her last exam this past week, her veterinarian felt that her bladder was firm which was very concerning. They did a preliminary ultrasound of her bladder and found what is highly suspicious of a tumor. She needs an ultrasound performed by a veterinarian who is trained in advanced ultrasounds/diagnostic ultrasounds to fully determine the extent and location of the tumor, other bladder/kidney changes, and even potentially to take a sample of the tumor. One of the top differentials for bladder tumors in cats are transitional cell carcinomas (TCC), so we do not know exactly what this fully means for her going forward.

We are hoping for the best and really want her to be able to live out many more happy years as she is only 7 years old. Keep Judy in your thoughts 🙏

More background on her journey: This sweetheart came to us at the end of September after she was having litter box issues. Her family had her for 5 years, but unfortunately were no longer able to address her issues as it was taking a toll on the family. They believed they were at a dead end, but I know there were still so many options left to be explored as I have gone through this with my personal cat for the past 9 years dealing with his feline idiopathic cystitis. It is definitely a never ending battle when it comes to cats urinating outside of the litterbox and even if they cannot control it due to behavioral or medical conditions, it still is incredibly frustrating.

As Judy had no diagnostics done to address her urinary issues prior to coming to us, we were hopeful it would be something as simple as a UTI, litterbox setup, or behavioral that could be managed with medication and lifestyle changes. The first day she came into our care, she got a full work-up with bloodwork (no signs of kidney disease thankfully!) and a urinalysis. The results were normal minus the protein in her urine was high which is not necessarily something to jump at right off the bat as we had not explored thing such as litterbox setup yet.

We thought we were making progress and this would be a simple fix, but a month later she started having frequent urination in small quantities outside of the litterbox. We were suspicious of a UTI given the new symptoms so she had another urinalysis with a culture/sensitivity of the bacteria to help properly diagnosis and determine what antibiotic was needed. To our surprise, the lab was not able to culture any pathogens so a UTI was not the issue, but her urine protein was still elevated. The protein value can be falsely high due to many types of protein affecting the results, so a further test, urine protein to creatinine ratio, is needed to determine if the protein is truly elevated and if so, by how much. If was truly high, this could mean her kidneys were not working as they and properly filtering out the protein. Since her bloodwork and other urine values were normal, one possibility was that her kidneys were under a lot of strain due to high blood pressure. She had this more sensitive protein urine test performed and her blood pressure taken which was high. The more specific urine protein came back completely normal which means she doesn't have an issue with her kidneys causing extra protein and thus her symptoms which is good news but left us still on the hunt for answers.

12/19/2023

Tongue out Tuesday 😍

12/16/2023

Afternoon naps 😴😴😴

12/16/2023

She takes her biscuit making very seriously!

12/08/2023

After having Sawyer for almost a year, her forever family knew they needed to pick a day to be her birthday and December 7th was the winner. Happy Birthday, Sawyer!! 🥰

12/02/2023

We're still working through Judy's urinary issues, but it's okay because we're taking it one step at a time and will figure out what this girl needs to be healthy for years to come. 💕

11/30/2023

It's a hard life having a fluffy tail when there are foster kittens around 🤷‍♀️

11/23/2023

We personally recommend trying to be slightly less messy when eating dinner than this little one is, but to each their own. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! 🦃🦃🦃

11/18/2023

Sycamore is our longest resident. We've had him since he was 5 weeks old and now he is 7 months old. He has chronic nasal discharge which unfortunately is just how he is and will always be. He was adopted out once but was returned a week later because, as with long-long feline viruses such as herpesvirus, stress will worsen symptoms so he had a flare-up. His snuffley little nose was not what the adopter expected or wanted even though we are always very straightforward with our cats' medical histories. For now, this handsome boy will be calling us his home until he finds the right family 🤞

11/15/2023

Judy has the right idea 🥱😴

11/11/2023

Why are you so tiny and cute? 🥹🥹

11/07/2023

Raspberry, why are you so cute? 🥹

11/04/2023

She still doesn't have an official name... but look at how much progress she's made in 1 month! No more being covered in scabs and sores for her.

10/30/2023

Getting up in the morning is hard when you have a kitten as cute as her who just wants to cuddle.

10/28/2023

If you ask Jack O'Lantern, he'll tell you the best place for a nap is on top of the refrigerator. I'll just have to take his word for it 🤷‍♀️

10/27/2023

A photo update of Salem who was adopted back in February. She's ready for halloween! 🧹🎃🕸

10/22/2023

A good window to look out is really make it or break it for miss Judy ⛅️⛅️

10/17/2023

This boy is only around 5 hours old! His mom immediately rejected him and he was found cold, not cleaned, and with his placenta still attached. Don't worry little one, you're in good hands!

10/13/2023

Yesterday was neuter day for little Goomba and he charmed all of the staff with his sweet personality! 😻

10/09/2023

Introducing our newest addition whose eyes are bigger than she is and whose skin is just a tad (very) crusty! We still haven't found the perfect name for her yet, but some of the suggestions have been Krusty Krab, Dandy (short for Dandruff), Frosted Flakes, and Seby (short for seborrhea)🤦‍♀️

She actually has a history with us as we noticed her roaming around the mobile home park we are working on back in March. Her previous owner said she put her outside because she was trying to attack their pet birds. We offered to have her spayed free of cost for the owner because we did not want another intact female roaming the park. Although she was skinny (estimated ~7 months old) and had some minor fur loss at that time, she seemed fairly okay and the husband cared about her so still wanted her around. In early May, the owners told us that her and another family member's cat that they let outside were not getting along. They stopped putting out food for her because of the fights and then one day she vanished. The previous owners said they brought her to the other side of the park and dumped her. We searched for her with no luck and waited for her to come back to her normal area, but she never did. We honestly feared the worst and thought she had died. We respected the choice of the previous owners that they still wanted her, but made sure they knew we were available for anything they needed for her care and were so sad that they dumped her instead of reaching out to us when they no longer wanted her around. FIVE MONTHS later, this cat runs up to us one morning meowing and looking rough. She was alive!

Since she was abandoned months previously and told this directly from the previous owners, we quickly brought her in and she was seen by our veterinarian. Her skin is in bad shape due to a condition called Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex. In these cats, their immune system goes slightly haywire over allergens such as fleas, mosquitos, foods, or for seemingly no reason. The biggest prevention of these incredibly itchy and uncomfortable flare-ups is limiting exposure to the allergens that cause the immune system to overreact. We are assuming that since she was outside, the irritant was likely fleas/mosquitos. She received a long lasting steroid injection. In less than a week, she is already feeling so much relief. You can see the difference between the first 2 photos and the ones of how her skin looked when she was first found. All around her neck, under her chin, and over her shoulder blades was nothing but a layer of scabs at the beginning, but 80% of them are now gone. Some cats will only have flare-ups when exposed to things such as fleas/mosquitos and as long as they are indoors and kept on prevention, they do not have any issues. Other cats may still have it reccur after the steroid injection wears off and either require semi-regular injections or to be on immunosuppressive medications. We are hoping she is the 1st scenario, but will know in around a month to see if the lesions come back. For now, she is just soaking up all of the attention, pets, and playtime with my cats. This little crusty girl is super sweet ❤️

10/07/2023

Gracie is becoming so brave laying on a chair in the middle of the living room! I also love Jack O'Lantern in the back photo bombing!

Gracie is also known as "Behind the Washer Cat" because she spent her first 6 months with me living behind my washer 99.9% of the time. Seeing her graduate to being out in the open warms my heart.

10/06/2023

Sage and Basil are happy it's Friday too! 🙌

10/02/2023

It wasn't quite October yet when this guy came to us on Friday, but our veterinarian couldn't resist naming him Jack O'Lantern 🎃🎃

10/01/2023

Oliver update!

Oliver's story started back in May when we brought him in to be neutered, FIV/FeLV tested, vaccinated, microchiped, dewormed/given flea/ear mite prevention, and also treated for a urinary tract infection. We kept him inside, but he absolutely hated it and it caused him extreme stress and he even started redirecting his aggression towards people even though he normally is the sweetest boy. We had to make the difficult decision to release him back into the mobile home park that he came from and all of the neighbors made sure to keep an eye out for him, monitor any wounds, and make sure he got wet food and unlimited pets. After months and his life being continually in danger as more and more cats in the mobile home park were being purposely hit by cars, we finally found him the perfect home to be a working cat ("barn cat") where he will be much safer and looked after.

With the picture updates, the adopter also shared with us "Hi! Just letting you know that Oliver is doing great! We let him out of the barn this week & he’s staying close to home, he’s gained weight- definitely loves food, and out other cat is tolerating him 😁 Thanks again for taking care of him!" which makes our hearts so happy 💕

- Important note regarding Oliver's situation and outdoor cats because we do NOT advocate for cats being outside unsupervised unless feral or truly working cats:
Besides from ferals and working cats, cats should ALWAYS be indoor except when supervised outside or in a safe enclosure. Your average kitty that was not born/grew up for years outside is 100% better to be kept inside unless supervised. We have even found that a majority of friendly cats that were born/grew up outside into adulthood like Oliver still adjust perfectly fine to being an indoor only cat. I've even had friendly cats who lived outside for 8+ years come into my care and still only meowed occasionally for a week or so while they adjusted to the concept of walls and doors and then were perfectly fine being indoor only. Even if your cat meows at the door, is a door dasher, or is supposedly happier outside, they still should be kept outside and there are numerous options for safely letting them out while being supervised or in an enclosure (we made one from deer fence and then garden mesh to add extra height for my cats when I was growing up and it was super cheap). I cannot stress enough how much of a life and death situation it is for cats to be outside unsupervised not only for themselves but also for all wildlife species as outside cats are an invasive species and threaten our wildlife. Having a background in wildlife rehabilitation, I cannot tell you how many thousands of mammals and birds were brought in after having been caught by someone's indoor/outdoor cat. They very rarely ever survived the ordeal which is so sad when it is 100% preventable by keeping your cats indoors. If not for the sake of our wildlife, it's for your cat's safety. I cannot tell you how many cats I have picked up from the side of the road after they were hit and killed by a car or have seen that were severely injured by other cats or contracted life-threatening viruses from interactions with other outside cats. It's just not safe. In Oliver's case, it was not that he just meowed to get back outside, he was extremely stressed to the point of attacking people and it did not subside. Some cats have also never be socialized and act like a wild animal is trying to be contained inside if you bring them inside. For these situations, these cats do best living outside because of the hand they were dealt having been born outside because of the huge intact cat population we have/owned cats being let outside who are not fixed. His only solution was to find an amazing owner who will look out for him, provide him needed vet care, access to food, water, and shelter and who lives in an environment that is safer than the middle of the city in a mobile home park. His owner even contained him in the barn for a few weeks as is necessary for him to learn that is his new home and not to wander off. The best thing to do is to prevent cats from having unsupervised access to the outdoors in the first place so then they never develop any bad habits of trying to door dash. They cannot miss what they don't know.

With all this said, I know that we are obviously not at a point where people will keep their cats indoors and it's a learning curve with education as to why being inside is so important and what cats truly are meant for an outside life - ferals and working cats. I was even hesistant to share Oliver's story because I do not want to give the wrong impression that your average cat should be outdoors because Oliver falls into that category of cat that cannot safely be kept inside due to his start in life. Despite him being outside, it is being done so reasonably to ensure he is happy and healthy for years and years to come with his new family who are AMAZING. We know that Oliver is in good hands, safe, and loved.

09/30/2023

For 6 months this girl jumped on the counters every time I went into my kitchen just in case there would be food out for her to steal. I could not leave anything unattended for even 5 seconds otherwise she'd be helping herself. Other than stalking me for food, she did not trust people until the last month or so when she discovered that accepting head rubs is not so terrifying. Even at the beginning when she was absolutely terrified of people, she somehow always found the courage to sneak up to me on the counter if it meant she might be able to steal a bite of my meal before running away like her life depended on it. Last week, Alice found a family and was adopted out. She is now jumping on their counters and mine are empty.. Goodbyes are always so bittersweet and I'd be lying if I said I did not really miss her, but I am also so happy for her and her family 🥹

Photo updates they sent 💕

09/27/2023

Welcome, miss Judy. We'll find you your family 💕

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Videos

She takes her biscuit making very seriously!

It's a hard life having a fluffy tail when there are foster kittens around 🤷‍♀️

We personally recommend trying to be slightly less messy when eating dinner than this little one is, but to each their own. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! 🦃🦃🦃

We love when adopters send us updates!! This girl Clove was adopted from us LAST YEAR in October and could not be happier. She loves her amazing family! ❤️

#cat #catnip #catrescue #kitten #rescue #adoptdontshop #spayandneuter

Willow rates this built-in toy a 10/10 😁

This very shy boy approves of the new catnip ball that we put in the track today! He has been with us for a few weeks now, but he still does not have a name. He was one of the first cats to be fixed a year ago when we started our work in the trailer park. After being neuter, we had returned him back to the hoarder as a sign of good faith as he was one of his favorite cats and if nothing else, we at least wanted him neutered. He was kept in a separate bedroom in the trailer with the siamese cat with fur loss that we posted the other week (who also needs a name!!) because he supposedly hated all other cats (which is so far from the truth). Once we took the siamese in, the hoarder reported that he missed his friend a lot and was meowing and had tears in his eyes being all alone in the room. The hoarder wanted them together again and finally decided to give him to us so they could be reunited as we said returning the siamese to the trailer was not an option. Although him and the siamese don't actually spend much time together now and I've only found them cuddling/sleeping together once, he is so happy to have other cat friends to play with. Regardless of how he ended up here, he is here now and is getting the medical care he needs for his upper respiratory infection along with general care. We are working on socialization as he is extremely timid. We will give him all of the time he needs to learn that he is safe and can trust people before we find him his forever home.

It is not always simple when you rescue animals who were born into a hoarding situation and were never socialized despite having lived in a trailer for years. This beautiful girl was rescued in October on death's door. Gracie had a fever, was lethargic, and would not eat or drink. An ultrasound revealed an enlarged uterus so she was promptly started on medication and spayed the next day. Although you never want to put a sick animal through a surgery, spaying was the only option to remove her diseased uterus that was making her sick. Despite the severity of her condition, she pulled through! Her uterus was so friable. It was a challenge to get the suture to hold as even the slightest tension of tying suture kept causing her uterine tissue to disintegrate. Even if she had survived her overall poor condition had she not been rescued, she would have surely died when she became pregnant again (which is inevitable when you have hundreds of intact cats together). Even though her health returned, she still only knew a life of hiding under floor boards with no human interaction. It has been over 2 months of working with her and this is the FIRST time this girl has EVER purred or asked to be pet. She still has a lot of warming up to do, but she is so sweet and we know all it will take is a patient single pet family who shows her unconditional love. She is approximately 2 years old, spayed, vaccinated, microchipped, FIV/FeLV negative, healthy, and most importantly, looking for a family!