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Cara's been sick for most of her short life. She continues to have episodes of vomiting every two weeks or so. Before she had two endoscopies to open up her esophagus, Cara vomited daily. Her growth is stunted and she is just a tiny cat and very underweight. If you're not familiar with Cara's story, you can read more HERE and HERE (on our sister web site: Covered in Cat Hair).

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Sweet Cara.

Cara's been struggling for a very long time. We moved her to a new foster home so she could have “alone time” and a chance to recover. Cara was doing fairly well. Then, the vomiting started again and Cara became withdrawn.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Dr. Larry listening to Cara's lungs and heart.

We did not hesitate to bring Cara to see our Vet. He took some blood and did a thorough exam. He told us he was very concerned that Cara still has a problem passing food through her digestive system and that Cara will likely need a third endoscopy. This time, they'll also need to take biopsies of her stomach lining and small intestine.

The results of the blood work indicated that Cara has a very high white blood count. It's 28,000, when a high normal is about 19,000. This is bad news for our little sweetheart.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson.

Our resources are depleted, but our resolve is not. We need to raise money to provide another endoscopy for Cara. Should there be any additional funds, they'll go into our General Fund, to provide food and basic Vet care for any of the other cats in our Program.

If you'd like to help Cara, simply use the ChipIn widget, below. Your donation is tax deductible.

Thank you for helping Cara feel better.

We're very pleased to announce that we're just about finished building our first web site for another animal rescue organization! As part of our Mission Statement, one of our goals, in addition to rescuing cats, is to help other rescue groups.

We know that if we provide the tools for those rescue groups to do a better job getting the word out on cats, dogs or even rescued wildlife in need, then more animals lives will be saved. Our tools include robust websites that allow the rescue group to manage their incoming and adopted animals, be more effective at fundraising, reach volunteers and build a community of like-minded supporters. The tools are simple enough that most staff/volunteers can use them, so once we've completed setup, the rescue group can update and maintain their website in whatever way they wish.

We're always available should there ever be a problem or question. We won't leave anyone out in the cold!

In the future, we'll be having training seminars and will add staff to handle all our support issues. For now we're just thrilled we're off to a good start and we're beginning to search for the next rescue organization we're going to help.

If you'd like to apply for a Grant for us to build you a website, we'll be taking applications in the coming months. For now, you can contact us at: info@kittenassociates.org and tell us why your organization needs our help and we'll get back to you.

If you'd like to talk to us about sponsorship opportunities or would like to make a donation towards building communication tools for other rescue organizations, please contact me directly at: robin@kittenassociates.org

Stay tuned! We'll be unveiling our first web site soon!

Cara, at 16 weeks old, weighs barely 3 pounds. Her sister, Polly, is at a normal size for her age, which is one pound heavier. Their brother, Chester is a meaty, 2 pounds bigger. Clearly, Cara is the smallest of her litter, but why is Cara so small?

Being so small, Cara gets chilled easily.

Since Cara was just 3 weeks old, she and her littermates have been struggling with a serious upper respiratory infection. We've taken them to the Vet more times than we can count, at least once a week, if not more often. We're trying a very heavy dose of medications now, to see if we can shake this thing loose and get these kittens on the permanent road to wellness.

The latest medications for Cara and her siblings.

Cara lags behind. We've caught her vomiting up her food a few times a day, then hastily trying to eat it back up. While this is rather unpleasant to have to talk about, the fact that she's doing what she does, gives us more clues. She's having what's called, a “barium study” done using radioactive material that using x-rays, will be able to see if what Cara eats is completely passing through her digestive system or getting blocked somehow. If this doesn't tell us anything, we need to have an Ultrasound done on Cara. She can't continue vomiting like this because it will cause her serious health issues if she grows to adulthood.

With her big, green eyes, Cara is hard to resist.

Unfortunately, providing this level of care, costs money. We've been asking for donations to help Cara and her family get better and we're really thrilled many of you have offered to help. We're not where we need to be with donations, as the Vet bill just keeps growing since we can't find a cure for Cara.

Cara and her sister nap on their foster Mom.

If you'd like to make a donation to our Boo-Boo & Sniffles fund, 100% of your donation goes directly to providing care for kittens like Cara. You can make a donation HERE. Thank you!