Feelin' Furry, Feelin' Purry

Hi All! I haven't posted on here in a while. I figured it was a good time to add a quick update about Pierre.

He's been doing really well lately! He have had a couple minor set backs this year, but we've been able to get his health back under control quickly. He's on the lowest dose of his meds that he's been on and so far so good! I am so happy that Pierre has been able to feel good and I am hoping that he will continue to for a very very very long time.

We're actually in the process of looking for a buddy for him since his current vet seems to think that it could be a good thing for him, as long as we can make sure the new kitty is VERY healthy since Pierre's immune system is compromised. Now I just have to hope that Pierre will be happy about having a friend since I've had to keep him isolated from other cats for the past couple years.

Anyway, Pierre is full of purrs and full of fur and he loves you all :)

Love,
Linds & Pierre

The Highs and Lows

I haven't updated in a long time, but trust me that means good things. Less good news has brought me to add a new post to Pierre's blog.

Almost a month ago, we lowered Pierre's dose of steroids for the first time since we switched him to Triamcinolone... I've been very optimistic and happy about the decision to switch drugs and lower the dose. I'm trying to continue being so, but it was very hard to keep my smile tonight.

For the past week or so, Pierre has been showing signs of another outbreak on his face. The lesions formed in his tear area, which makes it hard to tell if it is a result of his pemphigus, or a result of his feline herpes. I have decided to wait and see if it would heal on its own, because this seemed to happen right after we switched him to the new drug a few months ago. It could easily be a result of herpes, which might have come about because of the stress of traveling to the vet.

Tonight I gave Pierre his nightly dose of medication, and as I administered his pill, I brushed away a loose scab on his nose. The slightly large scab came away to reveal very pink and raw skin. I have no words to really express how disheartening it is to see something like that. I can say that I love Pierre like he is a member of my family, and seeing something like this on someone that you love is really hard to deal with. It is just like having a child who is sick a lot, and whenever they start to show more symptoms, you are at a loss on how to explain to them that it will be ok, and you can't explain to them that you don't know why bad things are happening to them. I can just kiss Pierre and distract him with fun toys and lots of love.

I have great hopes that Pierre will heal on his own again, like he did last time. I really do not want to adjust his medication, because the whole goal is to have him on a safe dose of steroids, and he is not quite there yet. I ask for prayers and love for Pierre, in hopes that his lesions to not get worse. He's such a beautiful baby, and anyone who has met him knows this. Hopefully those of you who still have not can still know how important and special he is...

Love to all,

Linds

Pierre Update 5/17/09

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I've posted on here, but I guess no news usually means good news, right?

Well Pierre has been doing really well lately. About a month ago or so, he had a small relapse.  (You can see the aftermath in the above photo..sorta bald underneath his eye, and a sweet superhero bald spot on his forehead) He broke out with some new scabs under his eye and all over his nose. Dr. Crothers decided to take Pierre off his chemo type drug called Chlorambucil and start him on a new drug called Cyclosporine. This is paired with his high dose of Prednisilone. The idea is that they will work together and we can slowly decrease the amount of Prednisilone that he is getting. Right now he gets one Cyclosporine pill every other day, and 10mg of Prednisilone every day. In a couple weeks I get to lower the Prednisilone dose to 10mg every other day. Once we start lowering the steroid levels, it gets scary. Last time we did this, Pierre had a relapse. The cyclosporin is supposed to help prevent that from happening. As always, I just pray for the best and give Pierre all the love I can. He also has an upper respiratory infection right now because of his lowered immune system thanks to all these drugs. He's on a twice daily dose of Clavamox right now for that. (only a few more days though). I have to monitor Pierre closely with weekly or biweekly blood tests at the vets office since he is on so many drugs.

I entered Pierre in a contest to be the new cat face of a pet hotel in Sacramento and San Francisco! If you would like to vote for him, you can go to his profile for the contest and click on the contest link from there. You will have to register if you want to vote, but its quick and painless. 

Pierre and I are also coming back east in 10 days! We will be flying to Chicago with Nic to adventure there with his family for a week. On June 3rd Pierre and I will be in BALTIMORE!! wheeee. So, if you have been keeping tabs on this blog and would like to see Pierre while he is home, please do :) Hopefully the stress of traveling won't have any kind of influence on his health. The vet thinks that he should be fine. 

Thanks for viewing his update, and please, as always, pray for him when you can. I think we may have finally found a good drug combination, but everything this pretty uncertain. Trial and error. 

I love this boy more than anything. 

We've been through a lot together, but it just makes me want to fight even harder. I'd never give up on this little guy.  This photo below was taken yesterday before we drove to the vet. His hair is all grown back on his face again :)

and some recentish photos below

Pierre is a feisty kitten again

Well, I suppose he's not so much a kitten anymore, but I guess since he's so small and adorable, he'll always seem like a kitten.

Anyway, sorry this blog update is so delayed! The internet situation at my house has been less than reliable. 

So a quick update, because i'm sure the signal will cut out again...

Pierre has been doing very well. He went back to the vet on January 20th for another checkup. His disease is in remission at the moment, and hopefully it will continue to stay that way forever. That is asking alot, but I am going to hope for the best. He was on 10mg of Prednisolone, but on the 20th, since he was improving so well, they bumped him down to 7.5mg. On February 20th, as long as he is still doing well, he'll go down to 5mg. Hopefully this slow road of of decreasing his dosage will continue to keep his disease in remission but help him get onto a lower, safer dose of steroids. 

He is back to his normal self. He is super loving, snuggly, feisty, crazy, and hilarious. He either wants to sleep on you or play with his toys...well I guess now, thanks to the steroids, he likes to eat alot too. He never used to try to eat people's food before (unless it was maple syrup or popcorn), but now he'll pretty much steal anything you are eating if you're not looking. He stole a big chunk of cheese off my roommate's pizza today, but we grabbed it back from him before he could eat it. Cheese = not good for kitties.

Anyway, i'll keep this posted periodically. Keep our fingers crossed that he continues to improve and stay healthy. Thank you all for your support... Pierre is my best friend and an important member of my family and I'm so completely amazed and happy that he is feeling better. 

PIERRE HAS COME HOME!

TODAY IS AMAZING.

My beloved Kitten has come home!!!!

I drove to UC Davis this afternoon to pick him up. 

I have not stopped smiling since the moment I saw his bald little face come toward me in the waiting room...

So here is how the day went:

I left Truckee at 1:30. I drove to Sacramento and remembered that I needed to find a Petco so I could get pierre some wet food and a new toy or two because he didn't have any at the house. I couldn't pick him up until five so I had tons of time to kill, which wasn't hard since I got lost in a few different ghettos on my way to and from Petco. GPS isn't always accurate. 

So I got to UC Davis at 5..a little early but I hoped that I'd be able to get him anyway. I sat in the waiting room for about three minutes and then I saw the most beautiful sight imaginable..

Dr. Claus walking down the hallway with Pierre in her arms! I was finally reunited with my little buddy! I took him from her and held him tight and he, of course, head butted me twenty times before I could even begin to look at the vet and listen to what she had to tell me. I had tears in my eyes looking at Pierre. He looked so much better! He was purring and snuggling... I'm almost crying just typing about how happy we were! 

OK, so on to the Pierre's Health Update:

The preliminary biopsy results are leaning toward Pemphigus Foliaceus. That is a good thing. We still don't know for sure (so please don't stop your prayers), but if it is what they think it is, it is treatable. (yayyy) 

So I have to give Pierre Prednisone(steroid), Clavamox(antibiotic), Famcyclovir(antiviral), a painkiller that is like a dulled down morphine, and Lysine. 

He has stitches in his chin from biopsies, and he is balding on most of his face. He has to wear this soft collar lampshade so he doesn't scratch his wounds. 

So, I AM SO HAPPY TO HAVE PIERRE HOME! he is not out of the woods yet cause we don't know for sure of the details yet.

So please keep praying for him. He's my best friend in all the world. He's passed out in my really soft zebra blanket right now. Its adorable.

Thank you all who have prayed, I believe they really have helped. I think a certain birthday wish thanks to my friend Nic really helped too :) So keep praying my friends and I believe Pierre will make it through these hard times. He just needs love, wishes, hope and a warm place to snuggle :)

Love,

Linds and Pierre

UPDATE: day two at UC Davis Vet Hospital

Optimistic Update and a Kitty on Steroids!

The vet called me about an hour ago with an update on Pierre. She informed me that the dermatologist had examined Pierre and agreed with the vet, Dr. Claus, that Pierre might be suffering from an auto immune disease. She believes that what our little furry brown friend may have is called Pemphigus Foliaceus. 

They are not certain of this conclusion yet. They took three biopsies from Pierre's chin and cheek areas. Since we are dealing with holiday timing, the results might take five days or so to come back. They are going to start Pierre on aggressive steroid therapy using the drug Prednisone. They are also sending me home with painkillers for my little Vicadin Kitty. ;)

They also found secondary infections throughout his face and eyes as are result of the lesions, so they are going to put him back on an oral antibiotic. 

Pierre also saw another Optometrist today. They said that he has Persistent Pupillary Membrane, which is not dangerous to his health or anything. It is a congenital anomaly that causes those lines that run through Pierre's pupils. 

They are starting to think that Pierre might not be suffering from Feline Herpes because in the past his symptoms have been improved by steroid therapy, which is usually ineffective when treating herpes. Also, his lesions are also on his ears, which is inconsistent with the herpes virus. Lets cross our fingers that Pierre is herpes free. It would be quite sad for him to have to deal with two ailments at once. Though, the vets are going to wait for the biopsy results before they take him off of his anti viral drug, Famvir.

Now, would everyone like to hear the best news of all?

I get to pick Pierre up from UC Davis tomorrow!!!

Yup, my little buddy gets to come home! I'm so excited to see him! I know he is not out of danger, and we still don't know exactly what is going on, but he is healthy enough to come home with me and snuggle with me all day! (yeah, sorry, I doubt anyone will see me at Northstar for a bit... I am gonna hold Pierre in my arms for at least 72 hours. haha)

So, please continue to think of him and pray for him. There are no guarantees yet. 

(and I wonder what my final vet bill is going to be. yowza.)

OK LOVE TO ALL

i'll update again tomorrow when I get back from Davis

love,

linds

(p.s. the awesome artwork on this page is thanks to Bailey Siewert (best bud, pierre advocate, and mother to Pierre's best bud Jake) and her amazing Paint skills)

Pierre is very sick and I cannot afford his vet bills...

Hi Everyone,

Pierre, my beloved kitten, has become very ill. 

I'm sure a lot of you reading this have met Pierre. He wins over all the ladies with his head butting/lip kissing charms. He wins over men with his backflip and 360 spin abilities. Does everyone know how he got his name? As soon as I was bestowed with the amazing gift that was a 7 month burmese kitten, I saw that he was the most affectionate boy I'd ever met. All he wanted to do was follow everyone around and try to kiss them. (just like Pe Pe Le Pieu) So, of course he had to be given a french name. Pierre was born. He is the kind of cat that wins over the hearts of avid 'cat haters.' I love when new people meet him because everyone is so excited to see 'the pug of cats.' His little tiny face and his huge south park eyes make you melt into a puddle as soon as you look at him. He is such a lover.

Well, as I'm sure a lot of you know, Pierre has been  battling a mysterious illness for most of the time that I have had him. The infections weren't very extreme at first, but they have progressively become worse and worse. For the past month Pierre has been fighting an upward battle again some virus (possibly) that has been attacking his upper respiratory system as well as his blood vessels and skin. I have been to many vets and even a feline optometrist. The most recent verdict was that Pierre was suffering from Feline Herpes and Calicivirus. These viruses are known to cause his symptoms which include: Upper Respiratory Infection, Conjunctivitis, Loss of appetite, and Sores and Scabs forming all over his nose, eyes, cheeks, mouth, chin, ears, and toes. Basically pierre has no fur left on his face, he is half scabs and half open wounds from scratching off his scabs. The vets think he might be suffering from Vasculitis as a result of his virus, and this ailment attacks the blood vessels and does not allow proper blood supply to the tissue, which in turn dies and peels off...a very painful experience for Pierre. 

I had to take him to the emergency vet in Reno last night because he was so sick and covered with scabs that his nostrils were closed up as well as his eyes. I've never seen an animal look this sick in my entire life.

After a $600 stay overnight at the ER, my roommate and I picked Pierre up in Reno this morning and drove him to University of California at Davis' Veterinary Hospital. Basically this is the best veterinary facility in the country. If anyone can diagnose Pierre properly and save his life, it is going to be these people.

Of course, the best medical care is never affordable. I received an estimate of $2,000. This will cover the cost of hospitalization and tests/diagnosis. The estimate might even increase depending on what they find out. Tonight they have Pierre set up on fluids, antibiotics, and painkillers. The vet called me a bit ago and told me Pierre was comfortable and she sang his praises. (See, everyone who meets Pierre loves him. He's very special. He's also my best friend)

There is alot to be done to save Pierre, but I am praying for a Christmas Miracle. He deserves to live a long and happy life. When he recovers, I'm going to spoil the hell out of him for the rest of his life. (not that I wasn't already...haha)

I would like to ask everyone to pray for Pierre's recovery. He is really, really in bad shape right now. If everyone sends up a prayer every day, maybe they will be heard. All I want for Christmas is Pierre.

I would also like to ask, if anyone has the financial means, to please donate to Pierre's vet fund. Its been $2600 in less than twenty four hours, and the tab can very easily increase. I know the economy is bad and times are hard, but if there is any amount that could be donated, it would be amazing. I need to give Pierre the best medical attention possible in order to give him the best chance at making it through this alive.

And if you do not have the financial means to donate, I just ask for your thoughts and prayers. 

Pierre is my family. I refuse to let him be taken away at such a young age. He has a lot more love to give and receive. 

Please keep him in your hearts during this critical time.

And thank you all for reading this. 

Love,

Linds and Pierre