A kitten with a rare cardiac condition has beaten all chances and is a real warrior and miracle on four paws.
On February 11th, Myrtle the kitten was born to a stray rescued cat as part of a litter of five. Meggie, vice president of One Cat at a Time (a cat-rescue in Quebec, Canada), recognized the kitten’s inability to acquire weight right away.
“She couldn’t get back on track during her first days of life, and we were on the verge of losing her. Her littermates were shoving her out of the way. Every two hours, my partner and I had to go check on her to make sure she was eating,” Meggie said in an interview.
“She had a hard time latching on, and she wasn’t drinking enough, so I had to use a syringe to help her. She didn’t let go.”
“It was during the following several weeks that they realized that the kitten wasn’t moving about with her rear legs as much as she should have been. “Her condition had us completely perplexed, and we had no idea what was wrong with her. Her presence was still evident in spite of everything.”
In addition to being the last of her siblings to open her eyes, Myrtle was much smaller than her siblings.
She was tenacious, and she pressed on with every ounce of vigor she could muster to complete her mission. When it came time for her first veterinarian visit, they noticed a substantial cardiac murmur, and the kitten was referred to a cardiologist for further evaluation.
“That’s when we learned what the problem was: PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). Something in her heart did not shut properly at birth, as it should have, and she was born with a hole in it,” Meggie was kind enough to share.
“It’s a somewhat uncommon congenital abnormality in cats. The fact that she was still alive, according to the cardiologist, was a miracle,” One Cat at a Time founder Marie Simard revealed with us.
“The most effective way to ensure that Myrtle lives a long and beautiful life is to have her undergo a specialized procedure known as a PDA ligation. We determined that Myrtle deserved this second opportunity given everything she had endured in order to live.”
Myrtle tried her hardest to keep up with her siblings and even the neighborhood cats, as she didn’t want to be left out of the fun.
“Myrtle was out of surgery three hours later. She had to be moved to the hospital’s critical care unit and put in an incubator with oxygen.
“A few days later, I was allowed to go fetch her and bring her home.” In an interview, Meggie said, “Her rehabilitation went flawlessly and quite rapidly.”
“My boyfriend and I tried so hard to keep her with us, and I believe we both knew from the start that Myrtle was our little warrior and that she wasn’t going anywhere,” Meggie said.
Myrtle is now nine months old, yet her size is still that of a six-month-old kitten. She is a high-energy kitten who is also quite loving.
Myrtle has fought her way through obstacle after challenge, and she has a lot more fight left in her. Today, her PDA has been fixed, and she is no longer on medication.
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