January Patient of the Month- Patches!!!!

At the HAH, we like to think of Patches, a five year old female cat, as our Christmas miracle.  In reality,  her story began long before Christmas, and her miracle was really her new family, Steve and Marina.

Steve and Marina found Patches three months ago, crying in their backyard, after hearing commotion from a pack of dogs. Patches suffered a vicious dog attack that left her with wounds over almost half of her body. Having never met Patches before, but knowing she needed help, they brought her to the HAH and was seen on emergency by Dr. Schoeller. Patches spent several weeks in the hospital under the care of Dr.’s Shapiro and Heim. She endured numerous surgeries and countless bandage changes to clean and repair the bite wounds. Once the wounds were nearly healed, she developed a resistant bacterial infection causing complications to the healing and extending her hospital stay. Finally, after three weeks of hospitalized care, her wounds were healing and she was discharged with prescribed homecare.

A few weeks later, after dedicated care by her now smitten humans, Patches was completely healed and had free roam of the house.

Sadly, only a few weeks later, Patches returned to the HAH very ill with a liver condition called hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver. Hepatic lipidosis is an accumulation of fats in the liver that, if left untreated will cause the liver to fail. The treatment is dietary and if diagnosed early, works well in reversing the condition. Dr. Heim and Dr. Shapiro placed a feeding tube in Patches’ esophagus and prescribed a regimen of antibiotics, liver supplements and a carefully formulated slurry of food to be administered several times a day for weeks.

After a few more weeks of hospitalization Patches was well enough to be discharged and continue her care at home.

Today, Patches is home and completely cured. After weeks of specialized feedings at home she was weaned back to her regular diet and the tube was removed just before Christmas.

This month’s Patient of the Month won the hearts of her new humans throughout this process and has made a forever home with Steve and Marina. The intention of wanting to help a wounded cat created a family and we are so pleased to be a part of their story.

Happy New Year to this powerful trio!!

http://hollywoodanimalhospital.blogspot.com/2013/10/fatty-liver-disease-in-cats.html