HFL Emergency Medical Care Kitty
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
Home for Life Animal SanctuaryMedical Care Fund for animals like FIV+ kitten Mick, survivor of near drowning in a manure pit
$685
raised by 11 people
$20,000 goal
#TeamMick update: going all out and sometimes falling short. Heartbreaking but we did all we could
We want those who are following Mick's case to know that he did not make it. We lost him late Saturday evening after he had been rushed into the University of Minnesota emergency for the second time. Our overnight staff ( Home for Life is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year) saw Mick late Thursday night when she fed him about 11 pm and he was fine- trotting around, asking for food, But by 6 am Friday morning, when she went to do his morning breakfast, he was recumbent, flat out and she called to say she thought he had died. But she looked again and - he was hanging on by a thread. Laurie's quick thinking saved his life- she got him on a heating pad, under warm blankets and fed him Karo syrup as he almost seemed as if he had had an insulin crisis. Then she drove like a bat out of hell to the U ER and got him there in time for them to help.
There we were discouraged at the initial reaction by the emergency vets who were not very optimistic for Mick. We persisted to get him the care he needed at this point when the prognosis seemed so grave- he had hung on during the car ride and was trying his best to fight. We were not going to let him down without more information. Mick had low blood sugar- too low to read and a very low temperature. What was going on? He had been doing so well just a few hours before!?
Mick was admitted to the ICU and Dr Torre and the critical care team did their best for the next 48 hours to fight for his life. Two weeks post exposure to the toxins in the manure pit, they didn't think that incident was the culprit but were unsure of what was happening.
Mick initially responded to the dextrose IV drip, prednisone treatment and other supportive care. He started eating and the vets worked hard to try to figure out how to stabilize him so he could be discharged and come home. But on Saturday afternoon, when they tried to wean him off the dextrose drip , he crashed out again. Bloodwork results never supported any viral infection like from FIP, but we knew Mick had FIV ( feline infectious virus) and that was challenging the immune system. His kidneys looked abnormal on imaging and his liver seemed affected.
Finally, the consensus seemed to be that Mick undoubtedly was suffering from a cancer- what the critical vet described as a paraneoplastic process which was causing unctrollable hypoglycemia( low blood sugar). The cancer was making it's own insulin and causing the drop of bloodsugar that was so life threatening for Mick.
It was not going to matter how much dextrose we gave him, how much he ate and when we heard that despite his efforts to take in food, he was passing whole pieces of chicken and kibble, we knew we were not going to be able to restore any kind of normalcy of life for Mick, and he would go from crisis to crisis until his little body gave out. This we could not bear for our sweet, courageous little guy. We made the most difficult and heartbreaking decision to release Mick from his suffering , though we hated to give up on him. But at this point, it was not about what we wanted, but what was most humane and kind for him. It seemed so unjust- this sweet young cat, barely out of kittenhood, who hardly had a chance, between the manure pit near drowning and now this fatal diagnosis. It has taken a few days to come to terms with the harsh reality that life isn't fair even when an animal is so deserving of a chance.
We wish we had a more positive outcome to report. Especially with the Give to the Max day fundraising at stake. But Home for Life specifcally was created to help high risk and fragile cats and dogs like Mick, and it is fair for our supporters to know that things don't always work out as we pray and hope, despite everything we do for our animals. Yet that is the point- if Mick had a chance, it was with Home for Life. We can live with the result, as hard and tragic as it was, because we have peace that we did everything we could, as did Paws and Claws Shelter of Rochester who first helped Mick , our heroic staff who tried so hard to help and stabilize him, and the veterinarians of the University of Minnesota, once he was admitted to the ICU who fought for his life. If I were a cat or dog, I would want people to fight for me too, and not give up as soon as things got hard or a little murky in terms of a diagnosis. I am proud that Home for Life did EVERYTHING we could to help Mick including releasing him when it was clear we could not do more, and to always keep HIS welfare the priorty.
Mick, how we would have given anything to have you come to us and be part of Home for Life for many more years. It was not to be. Yet your story deserves to be told,and we are raising money today in your memory, so we will be able to help the next cat or kitten who needs us to go to the wall to help them when they are trying so hard to fight for their lives. We love you and will never forget you, Rest in peace little Mick
Most in animal welfare know this motto " Saving one animal won't change the world, but it will change the world for that one animal". But for an animal, being rescued is not the same as being saved. And, some animals, like little Mick, need saving more than once to live their best lives.
It’s for these dogs and cats that Home for Life was created.
Mick narrowly escaped drowning in a manure pit located on a farm in Goodhue, MN, and was lucky to be helped in the nick of time by the owner of the property, who spotted him and scooped him out before he went under. Mick had obviously had a very hard life up to the time he landed in the pit,and was struggling to eke out a living. He weighed only 4 pounds when he arrived at the shelter, in Rochester MN where the farmer brought him and he was vomiting and had an upper respiratory and an eye infections. Luckily, thanks to some medications, healthy food, and lots of attention from staff and volunteers, he became much more healthy and energetic , and he gained 11 ounces in his first two weeks at the shelter. The shelter had him neutered on October 5. In spite of everything Mick has been through, he was a very sweet and friendly boy right from the start. He absolutely loves being held and receiving attention and affection, and he has an instant purr. When Mick tested positive for FIV, the shelter asked us to take Mick in at Home for Life. As a 9 month old FIV+ kitten who had already survived much, Mick had much to live for still, but was unable to find an adoption opportunity. Our sanctuary offered him the loving care, place to belong and home for life he longed for. Now, Mick was not only rescued but saved!
Mick had used up one of his 9 lives, and then, nearly another one when just 2 weeks after arriving at Home for Life, he was rushed to the ICU of the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center on a Sunday night in apparent acute kidney failure. The ultrasound revealed kidneys lit up brightly and suggested some type of insult had occurred causing impaired function of the tubes inside the kidneys,and launching Mick into the crisis. He must have been harboring some exposure after his near drowning in the manure pool which impacted his kidneys- in trying to survive and keep his head above the surface in his weakened state of only 4 lbs, he undoubtedly ingested some of the filth and in the 2 weeks since he came to us, the toxins worked their way thru his little body and affected the kidneys.
Mick was discharged after 4 days in the ICU hospital with the seal of health and will need close monitoring and recheck of kidney values in a couple of weeks, as he remains very fragile. But he gets a little better every day, one of the many miracle animals at Home for Life A life that could have fallen victim to desperation and despair has instead been restored - and Mick will go on to live all his 9 lives, a happy and peaceful life at our sanctuary, and a living testament to good overcoming the hardship he suffered before he was even a year old.
Sanctuaries like Home for Life are in a position like no other type of animal welfare organiztion to save the lives of the animals they care for, sometimes more than once!
. Mick's case proves that a true sanctuary like Home for Life is more than a holding facility or transition chute. Like a true and loving home, we don't give up on our animals, make the help we give them conditional, nor predicate their care based on the future fees their placement may generate. When an animal comes to Home for Life, a care for life sanctuary, our commitment is for the long haul- we don't turn over the animals thru adoption and don' t benefit from adoption fees either- which often represent a huge portion of a typical animal rescue's and shelter's annual revenue- as much as 35 - 90%. It takes more than good intentions and mercy to help animals like Mick, pictured with his doctor at the ICU at the University of Minnesota Vet Hospital - it takes a major commitment of our resources- time, care and money – to save their lives and give them a home for life.
On Give to the Max day, you can make the difference! Help Home for Life truly save the lives of animals like Mick We have TWO inspiring Match Challenge grants totalling $20,000 that will be honored for all gifts given thru November 30th 2020 so every dollar you give will be doubled 2: 1. to save the lives of these most vulnerable cats and dogs of animal welfare.
Give from the heart and give to the max today!