UPDATE!!! 07/08/07

Taquita is doing great!!! He has not had any medication in 3 weeks!!! He doesn't seem to be having any more issues at this time. It's so easy for us to get our hopes up but we know there is still a chance that he could start showing signs of pain again. We believe it was just time, love, and prayers that got Taquita this far.

Even though Taquita has improved drastically we are still in desperate need of help with paying his vet bills, if you can help in any way please see the information at the bottom of this page.

Taquita is still very spoiled. He has claimed the end table that sits next to his foster moms favorite chair. If anyone puts anything on the table he knocks it off, it's his way of saying he wants HIS table clean.

UPDATE!!! 05/05/07

Taquita is doing well. He is still on his anti-inflammatory medication. The doctor had his dosage set at once a day but recently has been moved down to every other day. He still has his condition even though it is still undetermined what it is. It seems that his discomfort is localized around his tail bone area.

He's gaining weight and still growing. He is still very happy and playful, begs for constant attention. If he doesn't get the attention he craves he will come up to you, look at you and meow. If that doesn't work he will put his paw on you and tell you again. There's nothing that will bring his spirits down except for pain. He is such a wonderful like guy and we're still praying for a miracle.

02/05/07

Taquita's mom was rescued from a drainage pipe along with her brother and sister. Unfortunately the person that rescued them was unable to keep them all as the two girls were pregnant. Taquita's mom was given the name Lucy. Lucy wasn't quite a year old yet so when she gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens, it was very difficult on her. Due to giving birth at such a young age she had to have an emergency spay when her babies were just barely a week old. Lucy and her babies would have lost their second chance at life if it weren't for the caring humans that helped them.

Taquita survived along with his mom, a sister, and 2 brothers. Their mom was unable to produce enough milk to feed her babies, so each one had to be bottle fed to give them the extra their mom couldn't supply. The 4 grew up to be sweet lovable kittens but all suffered from chronic diarrhea, Taquita still suffers from this but will hopefully grow out of it.

Taquita's mom and 2 brothers have been adopted into loving Furever homes. His sister, Blossom, is still looking for that special place she can call her own.

Taquita has suddenly became ill. He was always a very loving happy little guy. He loved to be held all the time. He would talk to you and give you kisses. His favorite way to be held was cradled in your arms like a baby. He is suffering from a lot of pain and discomfort, the Doctors are unable to determine what is wrong at this point. He cries out in pain, he doesn't want to be held anymore or even touched, he only wants to be pet on top of his head, but still loves to be talked to.

Our vets have examined him, monitored him, ran several test that can be done there in the office, conducted stress test, and now we are waiting on his test results from his blood work to come back from the lab. His illness is not something that is easily diagnosed as it is unusual and came about rather quickly. The treatments he has received as of 02/05/07 are already running close to $300, this amount grows each and every day as more and more test are being conducted. We will do everything we can to find out what is wrong with this little guy and try to fix it if at all possible. He is such a wonderful kitten and deserves the very best. If you can help in any way it would be so greatly appreciated.

UPDATE!!! 02/06/07

The lab results came back in on Taquitas blood work. The results didn't help with the diagnosis, everything was normal. The Vet decided to do x-rays to see what she could find. The x-rays revealed that he has an enlarged liver, but this may or may not be the problem. So more blood work has been sent off. The new blood work is looking for more detail on his liver, checking for FIP, and looking for any toxins he may have come in contact with. They have placed him on pain medication to ease his suffering and placed him on antibiotics to see if they help. It is so sad to see Taquita in this condition, he's normally such a little lover boy.

UPDATE!!! 02/07/07

Taquita has not improved yet. We are still waiting on his test results but in the mean time he is remaining on the pain medications.

UPDATE!!! 02/08/07

The detail lab results came in, everything tested normal. The Doctor has conferred with others trying to come up with a diagnosis, unfortunately they are unable to diagnose the problem. They are continuing his antibiotics which usually takes 72 hours before the Doctor can determine if they are helping. At this time it appears that what ever is causing Taquita to be ill may have been an underlying condition that just didn't rear its ugly head until now.

UPDATE!!! 02/09/07

Taquita is not showing any improvement with the antibiotic yet. The vet is continuing the antibiotics just in case they do start to help while they are still trying to diagnose the problem. They ran more blood work for which they are now testing for Toxoplasmosis, this test takes several days so hopefully we will have the results the beginning of next week.  Taquitas wellbeing is constantly on our minds as we pray that this little guy gets to feeling better once again; his loving, playing, and kisses are greatly missed everyday. It's so hard to watch him go through this  especially knowing how he was before he got ill.

UPDATE!!! 02/10/07

He's still not showing any improvements. The vets will continue to watch over him throughout the weekend while we wait on his test results to come in. Thank you so much for your interest and support in Taquita. We will continue the updates each day to help everyone stay updated on his progress.

UPDATE!!! 02/12/07

Taquita's test results have not come in yet but in the mean time he remains on his antibiotics and Phenobarbital. The Doctors at the veterinarian office are now referring him to a Neurologist. The test results from the Toxoplasmosis are expected to be in between the 19th and 21st. Taquita is still eating, drinking, and going potty just fine. While he's on his medications he remains calm. Please keep checking back as we will keep you updated as the days go by. Taquita has a lot of people that love and care for him; thank you for being one of them.

UPDATE!!! 02/14/07

Taquita's still has not improved. His condition remains the same. Even though he is still in a lot of pain, he was able to purr today and let us know he still loves us. 

UPDATE!!! 02/15/07

Taquita's wasn't doing to well today, now the Phenobarbital is causing him to be constipated. The Doctor is still monitoring him but so far there has been no improvement. He is still very alert to his surroundings but is still in pain. The Doctor said that at times when they are holding him he will purr and start pawpawing them; he is such a sweetheart. He has an appointment to go see the neurologist on Tuesday, hopefully they will be able to solve this horrible mystery.

UPDATE!!! 02/17/07

Taquita is no longer constipated. He has not improved but he hasn't got worse either. He is still crying and isn't moving around much. Even with all he is going through he has his good moments, which don't last very long at all, where he wants to be pet and talked to. It's so heart wrenching to see him look up at you and starts to purr, during these times he really enjoys his human hands scratching him behind the ear or under his chin. He is still scheduled to see the Neurologist on Tuesday.

UPDATE!!! 02/19/07

Taquita seemed to have a better day today. Even though he still doesn't feel well he purred a lot, did a lot of kneading, and even tried to play with a string. His Toxoplasmosis test came back negative, which means he doesn't have it. He goes to the Neurologist in the morning, hopefully they will find something that is curable.

UPDATE!!! 02/21/07

Taquita went to the Neurologist. They believe his problem lies in his spinal column, if so it could be a tumor or even a Herniated Disk. To find out if this could be the problem they need to do a CT SCAN which would cost around $1200, then if surgery is possible the surgery could cost about another $1200 to $1500. Their first thoughts were that it was something in his hips but addition x-rays reveled his hips were fine. They also did a series of pressure type test, he was responsive to all of them, but showed signs of pain when his mid section was touched and he has a problem walking. The Neurologist removed him from the Phenobarbital, she said this medication is mostly for seizures and she didn't believe he was suffering from seizures but is in fact in a great deal of pain. She also believes the Phenobarbital is hindering his ability to walk properly, so to see if this is the issue she feels that removing him from the Phenobarbital will show if he actually has walking problems now or not. He is on pain medication as well as an anti-inflammatory drug to help ease his pain until we can obtain addition information as well as funds to help pay for the medical bills as this visit was also over $300. With all he had to endure yesterday he was not feeling well at all last night nor this morning, but now that he has settle back in and relaxed he is feeling much better. While on these new meds he doesn't seem to be in near the pain he was previously. This evening he was purring and even would give a nudge as if to say "scratch me here". He is such a sweet lovable little guy!!! It just doesn't seem fair that something so wonderful should have to suffer through all this but we hope that a great miracle will come about.

Taquita used to kiss his foster mom goodnight, she would lay on her side and he would come up and lay on her with his little legs and head draped over her shoulder waiting for her to turn her head to kiss him goodnight, he would then let out a little meow like to say goodnight and I love you too before moving to his spot on the bed or running off to play in the other room,  Friday night just over three weeks ago was the last time that he did this, it would be a wonderful thing if he could do it again.

UPDATE!!! 02/25/07

Taquita is still on his pain meds and anti-inflammatory meds. He has his good days and his bad days but they are bad for the most part. He was doing very well one day, he was up moving around and talking, but that only lasted that one day. Since then he is still pretty much stationary but looks at you with those sad little eyes and purrs so much when you talk to him and pet him. It seems as though the pain meds are keeping him stable for the time being but you can tell he still doesn't feel to well and may even be a little depressed. We have not decided what we are able to do at this point as the vet bills are already piling up and we are still in dire need of sponsors for this little guy.

UPDATE!!! 02/27/07

Taquita is doing very well on his meds. For now while he on his meds he is happy most of the time; he's very very playful, very talkative, very active, wants to be pet and pet and pet, and pretty much seems normal. This morning he ran out of the room he was staying in because he wanted to play with the other cats in his foster home. As soon as one was within his reach he would pounce on them and he would start playing like crazy, he was having a blast!!! The sad part is that this is just temporary, the meds are more than likely keeping the swelling down where ever the problem is. Unfortunately he can't stay on these meds as they will cause liver damage, everyday he's on them the risk goes higher, which would only make his situation worst than it already is. Our hopes are that we will be able to help Taquita since he is such a sweetheart!!!

UPDATE!!! 03/12/07

Taquita is still doing well while on the anti-inflammatory. He no longer takes his pain medication because the anti-inflammatory is relieving the pain so the pain meds are no longer needed.

While he is on his meds he is about 95% his usual self, although if touched in the wrong area he will let you know. He is playing, talking, purring, and eating like normal. He started laying on his foster mom each night to say goodnight again; sometimes he will say his goodnights and go to the foot of the bed but now he is wanting to stay right there at his foster moms hands. He will reach out for her hand and hold onto it with both of his paws and fall asleep. He is still trying to catch up on lost time by waking up at 4 and 5 in the morning insisting on getting loving and attention; he wants his hugs and kisses before settling back down to sleep.

He is going back to the neurologist on March 14 to have more test ran, these test will be approximately $1400. Hopefully these test will tell us what is causing him all these problems. Unfortunately we do not have the funds to have the needed operation at this time, so he will need to stay on his anti-inflammatory until we can raise the funds to pursue what ever is needed next. So far his vet bills are ranging around $1500, this does not include his appointment this Wednesday. We are in desperate need of sponsors for Taquita, if you can help please see your options below for donations. Thank you for following his story, it's hard to put his personality into words but we try, he really is a sweetheart!

UPDATE!!! 03/31/07

The test results were unable to detect any issues that may be contributing to Taquita's pain. The CT scan was clear so they did a spinal tap to test further for Meningitis and the FIP virus. The spinal tap results came back normal as well. The neurologist took him off of the anti-inflammatory and placed him on a drug used in humans for un-diagnosable nerve ending pain. The reason they placed him on this drug is to try to see if it was  a nerve problem that the test just weren't picking up on. For the first week and half he was still comfortable but then the severe pain returned. The neurologist then placed him back on the anti-inflammatory and removed him from the new drug; while on the anti-inflammatory he is painless and very happy. This helped them to determine that what ever is causing him pain, is not a nerve issue. They have suggested that he gets a bone scan to see if he may have bone cancer or a tumor growing on his bone somewhere, this test would be approximately $300. They also suggest he gets a second opinion from another specialty doctor which would be about $75. Unfortunately we are unable to do any more for Taquita as our funds have been depleted; so all we can do now is leave him on the anti-inflammatory and pray for a miracle.