Trixie Bell the Wonder Cat

September 2011

Trixie came into my life almost two years ago, along with her littermate brother Blue, and their older sister Hallah. All three are loving beautiful Persians.

When she was being spayed and during her first nasal surgery (at another clinic), she suffered a stroke. She was quite badly affected, and I was afraid that I would lose her.

I took her to Dr. Sadak, who had taken care of my previous kitties and to a neurologist to be sure that I was doing everything that could be done. I also took her to get acupuncture. The acupuncture worked !! She had four treatments and showed improvement each time. Unless you knew her history, it’s almost impossible to tell she ever had a stroke. She still has a little difficulty with her balance and judging distances, but compared to where she was (unable to sit up to eat or go to the bathroom, etc), she is TOTALLY recovered.

Trixie has had a number of health “issues”. Being a Persian, she has tiny nose. It’s so small that she’s had to have her nares (the “holes” in her nose) enlarged twice in order for her to breathe more easily. Dr Sadak also has to shave the hair around her nose to keep the opening as unobstructed as possible. Needless to say, little Trixie isn’t a fan of her “Brazilian trim” !

She also has herpes – probably from when she was born and passed on from her mother. I started out by seeing an ophthalmologist, because the herpes has caused eye problems, but Dr Sadak has taken over that treatment also. The herpes also causes upper respiratory issues, so she’s on steroids and antibiotics as needed.

Last, but certainly not least, it was discovered during an MRI and CT scan down at MSU that she has hydrocephalus, also known as water on the brain. According to her scans, her brain is a lot smaller then it should be. The rest is all fluid. Based on that, she should be sitting in the corner drooling, but, probably because she was born with this condition, her brain and body learned to adapt to it. The hydrocephalus also might have played a part in her having the stroke.

I submitted her story as Cat of the Month to show that even cats with very serious medical problems can show miraculous improvements. If you get bad news about your cat’s health, don’t despair – even if it seems hopeless. Almost always something can be done to improve the cat’s quality of life. I know that at some point Trixie might deteriorate, and I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But she has been through so much – there have been so many times when I was sure she would not live through the night – or even the next two hours – when I called the Kentwood Cat Clinic up in tears - and here she is playing with her toy mousie or chasing her brother or sitting in the window looking out at the birds.

She really is a wonder cat, and I am so very fortunate to have her in my life. I hope she can give hope to others who may be going through some difficult times.

Katy Newberg