"For 14 years, Ziggy was a very healthy kitty with no
illnesses whatsoever, not even so much as the
sniffles! He and his brother Clao were the best cats
anyone could ever ask for and they grew up thinking I
was their mommy since I weaned them, so we were always
especially close. They were instant purring machines
anytime they got any kind of attention, a look, or a
touch.
About 9 months after Clao passed away, Ziggy- who at
the time was more than 14 1/2 years old- got a blood
clot to the right front leg which essentially
paralyzed it. We thought it was broken and rushed him
to the emergency vet hospital. We quickly learned what
happened however. Normally this is either fatal in
cats or happens to both hind legs which is so
debilitating that it results in the need for
euthanasia. So I did feel somewhat lucky, however,
Ziggy was in critical condition for a week in the
hospital and the first few days he was on oxygen to
help him breathe. Unfortunately, they couldn't do much
to help him as far as the blood clot and the
circulation never returned in the leg. A few weeks
later at his follow-up visit, we almost chose to have
the surgeon amputate the leg but when we learned he
only had a 20% chance of even surviving the operation,
we changed our minds. His prognosis at that point was
up to a week to live. This was 7 months ago and Ziggy
is showing us all that he has a lot more living left
to do before it's his time to go!
"I have searched the net over for a cat in this
situation and have not found any. Ziggy has his own
website now called
The Ziggy Page
full of new photos
and notes concerning his progress and current health
status since the blood clot. If there is ever another
cat in this situation, I am hoping Ziggy's website
will give someone out there some hope or some
additional knowledge to make the best decision on how
to help their cat or what might happen in the months
ahead. I really had no clue what to expect and would
have never dreamed that he would be doing this well 7
months later. (He was "supposed" to have gotten very
ill from his dead leg in a matter of days.)
"Ziggy is a special cat indeed. Every day he plays with
his toys (or watches me play with them). I usually
hide half of them so that he has a new selection and
doesn't get tired of them. He occasionally gets new
toys added to his collection, and he has never had so
many toys before in all his life. He has his favorites
which lately has been his crinkley bug and crinkley
snake. When he turned 15 last November, he got a new
cat bed, bringing the total number of catbeds and
baskets around the house to five. We recently revived
an old catbed by putting it on the daybed and making a
"tent" over it with a sheet, and he likes it so much he
has been sleeping there almost constantly for the past
week. (see photo above) ...Ziggy loves being only cat in the
house. Since his brother Clao passed away, for the
first time in his life he is getting my full and
undivided attention and maybe that is one of the
reasons he is such a happy cat!
"He has short, supervised visits outside when the
weather is good. When he wants to go out, he will come
to me and then run to the door and look back at me to
see if I am following him. So then I follow him
downstairs, put his collar on, and go outside with him
for a little while and he is happy. Of course, if I'm
still in bed and he wants to go out in the morning,
then he will wake me up by poking me with his paw.
"We are all amazed that Ziggy is not only still with
us, but enjoying a wonderful cat life as any cat
would, despite his "handicap" - Ziggy is a real
inspiration to me, and I am so very proud of him!"
