Frog's Story & Pictures

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Frog's Story

It was a cool damp day in April of 98 when Frog and his 3 siblings were born. As we watched these kittens grow & play we became particular fond of one. The "brave one" we called him, he was the most curious, always the first to explore new sights & sounds, and when the others became scared and darted off he stayed behind to check it out. As he played he would run & hop over his siblings....this action along with his round face & big round eyes earned him his name "Frog". He soon became as fond as us as we were of him. This lead to him joining us in the house. He would lay in the sunbeam all day, play with the other cats, eat dinner with us by jumping up onto to the chair then the table, he would wait for us at the bedroom door to go to bed at night and climb up onto the bed and position himself such so. He had his own routine / ritual going on & this was very amusing to us. At 31/2 months old we began noticing Frog was loosing his balance easily & his head would bob while eating or drinking. So the vet visits began:

1st visit- to our regular vet, a brief exam & his diagnosis was cerebellar hypoplasia...and his advise was to put him to sleep for he would only get worse and live up to 6 months. (We went home & looked up as much info as we could & decided a 2nd opinion was needed) 2nd visit- to a vet out of town, she confirmed this CH diagnosis but had better advise, she said he would not get worse & could live a long normal life. (We went home happy this time to have found a gentle caring knowledgeable vet. this was Frog's vet for life) 3rd visit- shots, checkup,......concerned Frog was not gaining weight.... 4th visit- Frog began to gag at times & grind his teeth, while climbing up onto his
favorite chair he seemed to get stuck, unable to move for a few seconds......made an appt...Frog's original vet was off, saw another one...he assessed Frog was having seizures & that something more was going on & said Frog was probably dying, gave us valium and sent us home......( we were not pleased with this & was broken hearted...went
home & searched the net for days looking for feline diseases & others who would know..this is how I found Bette) 5th visit- took Frog to our first regular vet to see what he would say...he said heartburn or sour stomach, gave us tagament which seemed to do the trick. 6th visit- back to Frog's vet ...he was not doing as well as usual, seemed
weak & doing less for himself, trouble using litter so we began using towels. The vet discovered Frog was loosing weight and not growing & teeth not coming in. She suggested special food AD Prescription & bloodwork to see what was going on & perhaps seeing a specialist.

Blood work results didn't look good: CPC's were not normal, slightly increased kidney enzymes showed damage to kidney, liver enzymes were high which was puzzling... this is when CH was ruled out and another disease was suggested called mannosidosis, a rare disease she said...no cure...but let's see what the specialist says.

So off to Ohio State University we went which made this Frog's 7th visit. An assessment was made & blood work taken & we were sent home still not knowing to much,,,,except those words again....."he doesn't have much time to live"......Frog was 11months old at this time and could still able to stand some & walk with assistance. Then the phone call came- it was most certainly mannosidosis and also toxoplasma. Both these conditions create the same type of symptoms & problems (and CH). Medication was prescribed for the toxoplasma and we were told to
continue to do what we were doing...which was loving our beloved little Frog...he responded well to the meds, seemed to pep him up a little. When we would take Frog places (vets, friends) we carried him in a handled
wicker basket with nice soft blankets inside. People would stop us to see & ask about him. So many people would instantly fall in love with him and just had to touch and pet him which he loved and a lot of times we would hear the words "poor little thing".

By the time Frog was 13 months he was no longer able to walk around or stand up...he would pull himself around on the floor, he always knew where he was going. We would help him to the "towel" , prop him up to feed him with a syringe, give him drinks, make comfy beds for him & lay him in the sun, window or in front of TV... I run a home day care & we also have 13 other cats. The children were very respectful of Frog & knew to be careful, I would always say "watch where you walk, you never know where Frog is" ....and was this so true, he would get himself under furniture, in corners or just be in the middle of the floor or in front of door. We made beds for him and tucked him in each night. He loved watching TV, being outside with us laying on grass, or just watching us...Frog had us on his schedule, we did not leave him home alone for very long at one time. And just like he never complained of
his disability we never complained of our time he took. By the time Frog was going on 15 months we noticed even more of a change ...he wasn't moving around as much..not attempting to get to the towel......we blamed it on the hot weather. He was sleeping more, not eating as much as usual....we called vet a few times to talk about this....we learned some of these things was to be expected...the grinding and gagging returned...we were worried. On July 16th we knew he wasn't feeling well but we were in denial, he wasn't going anywhere. On July 18 we knew something was going to happen.....we took turns holding and talking to him all day...it was as if he knew and was waiting for us to know and to be ready.... (we were not ready) I called vet, she said sounds like he was leaving us did we want to come over? A few hours later Frog was laying heavy on my chest, kneading me the best he could like he would do each morning, and was dribbling on me...seemed comfortable but would cry out once in a while....we decided to go on over to vets..we didn't want him to have any pain. Half way there a big rain storm hit..it was hard to
see....Frog's ears flicked and he seemed to be trying to crawl inside my chest and then he just laid still, eyes kinda rolled...looked very peaceful....I held his face up into mine, "No no, I said.."I love you..", and no lie the rain stopped and sun shining once again....we pulled over and held him a few moments and went on to the vets........she is one of
the kindest people we have ever met. She pet him and kissed him. We also weighed him...1.9 lbs.

The trip home was long and quiet, i held him and played with his paws like I always would. We discussed what to do next. The university wanted his body for research but we said no....he was to special. I wanted him somewhere we could always visit....so at dark we took Frog, a shovel, a blanket, flowers and did the deed..I sat there and held him up to my face & talked to him then I had to hand him over and our goodbyes were said......his body is laying at my dads' feet but we know his soul is up over the rainbow bridge running, hopping, climbing and joining other
members of our cat family. I know he looks down on us sometimes to see how we are doing, to see how many kittens running around now and I bet he even checks to see what is on tv...... Frog brought a special kind of love to this house and gave it to everyone he met. The other cats looked for him, the children still talk about him and so do we,,,we even still talk to him..... So if you have a CH kitty please learn as much about this disease as you can. If your cats symptoms differ than what you have learned get tests done........don't let vets get away with saying best to put him down or he has a short time to live....Frog didn't live long but longer than they all said....we believe his insides continued to grow while is body did not and his heart just got to big for his body.... We still have questions that we will never have answers to..maybe someday we will know..... We still have 13 cats, have lost a few and gained a few....among these cats are Frog's parents and brother: Black Kid, Evol, Squeak. others: Little Joe, Pretty Girl , Brother, Warbel, Crazy Nut, Gorden, Buddy , Noname and The Baby..........no matter how many cats come and go they are all loved as much but there was something very special about Frog no other cat or person has.............

(we have declared July a bad month for us...in the month of July in the past 3 years we have lost both our fathers, house flooded, loss of cat, and this year loss of Frog................)

Remember learn learn learn as much as you can about your cats condition,,,it could make a difference between life and death..........

All animals deserve the best they can have...its up to humans to see the animals get this...

Anne Stillion
astillion@webtv.net

Pictures of Frog