Dorthy a.k.a Tia - an ongoing story of hope.

Dorothy a.k.a Tia was barely a handful when she arrived at the Nine Lives Foundation. She was brought to us at the tender age of 3 weeks in early April of 2007, after being found abandoned on a sidewalk in Redwood City. Her tail was already crooked and an unhealthy infestation of fleas. Luckily we had a nursing mother with kittens her age who was willing to take her in. Lauren was a good mother to Dorothy. These two photos are of Lauren and her kittens, with tiny Tia the only brown tabby in the mix. At fist they were all the same size.

To our distress we soon found that little Tia had already been exposed to ringworm, likely before she was brought to us, which she shared with the rest of her new litter mates. While they all quickly recovered and continued to thrive, Dorothy did not. She stayed small while the other kittens rapidly grew. Here she is, on the left, on April 26, 2007 at 4.5 weeks of age.

Soon Lauren's kittens had been adopted, four of them by their foster family, or returned as Callie and Yazmine were and Dorothy returned as well and it was very clear that she was half the size of Callie and Yazmine. Worried for her well being she was once more shuffled out to foster care where she got ringworm baths and was fed baby food to fatten her up but nothing seemed to work. On Saturday, August 25 she went back for a check up and we discovered that she'd dropped down to 1.03lbs. The ringworm now nearly covered her body and she had liquid poo and a nasty URI. Things were not looking good for her and her current antibiotics didn't appear to be helping. On that day Dr. Thompson and her foster mother discussed putting her to sleep but decided that she needed a little more time and faith.

So back she went for foster care with new medicine to help solidify her poo. It was like a miracle. Our crooked tailed Tia cat regained her energy and in less than a week she'd gained 8 oz. She's still on the road to recovery but we think she's going to grow up to make some family very happy.

As of today, September 14th, 2007, Tia is 2.08lbs and growing. Her eyes are nearly clear and she hasn't had a sniffle in days. Her ringworm is nearly gone and she has more energy than a nuclear power plant.

If you have any spare healthy, growing thoughts, we'd be grateful if you'd send them Tia's way. We're quite in love with her and hope she has a very long life ahead of her.

Written by: LH