Positive Update On Leo

I wanted to give anyone finding this blog a really good positive update on my life with Leo.

After a very rough start Leo is doing fantastic. He is the sweetest BIG BOY. Time, proper medications and holistic approaches have worked so well for him.

Leo started out taking 2 elavil pills a day and is now down to 1 pill. I've experimented with him not taking any and it just isn't good for him. He needs that little bit of help. He is calmer on the medications, yet still spunky. He has two sisters whom he loves and who just adore him.

Leo playes with both KC and Sadie all the time. He naps with them and cuddles with them both.

Leo is extremely affectionate. He will sleep with me at night and loves to be held and hugged and will give tons of kisses when being hugged.

I hope this blog and this post gives any of you reading, the energy you need to stick with your kitty that is worrying you so much at the moment.

I adopted Leo in April of 2008. It's now February 2009. I never thought I'd keep Leo. I thought I was crazy for attempting to adopt him and then keep him. I regret nothing. He is the sweetest most behaved cat in the house.

My best advice to any of you is to give your kitty the time it needs to get better and more calm, to try elavil, which is relatively inexpensive and see how your kitty after three months on the meds daily. I wish you the best of luck.

Update on Leo's progress

It's been many months since I adopted Leo and had all the issues with Kitty Kind and Mayor's Alliance. I am so glad to have that in our past.

Leo, with all his mood disorder diagnosis's is doing fantastic. I have learned that with proper medications, love and time you can rehabilitate a cat with FHS and separation anxiety.

Leo takes Elavil two times a day. He eats Innova and Wellness foods. Top of the line organic pet foods.

I can touch him almost anywhere and he won't get upset. He has two little sisters now to play with. They LOVE him. They love to play with his tail and cuddle with him. When he cried for attention they come running to his aid.

We had a rough start but thank goodness I kept him and gave him a proper home.

I've heard some really bad stories from others who have had dealings with Kitty Kind and Mayor's Alliance as well. Much of the language they mention was used toward them I remember hearing myself. Terrible. Just terrible.

The end result is that Leo is doing great. He has grown and gained a lot of weight. He is almost 12lbs. He's large and strong and well-adjusted. The calmest kitty in the house. :-)

Pill Pockets Are AWESOME!

I had my pet sitter take care of Leo this weekend. I asked her to bring Pill Pockets with her and see if Leo would eat the treat and take the pill before I actually bought them myself.

This thing is awesome. She had a very easy time giving him the treat and pill and wrote me a note about how he behaved and played with her and ate the treat easily. It was so good to learn of all this.

She left me a bag of the Pill Pocket treats and I used it for the first time myself, this morning. Leo LOVED this. I think this is going to make my life so much easier and Leo so much happier. He of course doesn't enjoy me throwing a pill down his throat...who would.

He has a new toy now too. It's one of those sparkling tickler toys. He and I can play forever with this. He LOVES to chase it and catch it and run after it.

Right now he is tuckered out from all the playing this morning and he is sleeping. :-)

Reporter From Helium.com Responds To My Query Re: FHS Article

I wrote to a writer/reporter at the following website: Helium.

Rens wrote an article on the syndrome and treatments of FHS:
Cats health: Rippling skin disease symptoms

Here is what he wrote back to me (posted with permission):

"Thanks for reading my article on FHS. I read the two most recent pages of your blog. It is very clear that Siobhan has treated you in a highly incorrect manner. From what I read I can draw the following conclusions:
- Siobhan has misinformed you in various ways.
- She changes her story so often that she clearly isn't trustworthy.
- You have facts that prove you're right and their (being the various organisations) wrong."

Living with Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome

I have heard the following from the rescue organizations that are now trying to build a case against me and blame me for Leo's symptoms: we never saw this while he was in our care, we never heard of FHS before, he was only sweet while in our care, you just want to drug a cat.

The following is information from catchannel.com

Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS) (also called “rolling skin syndrome”) is a condition that usually appears in cats between the ages of 1 and 4. Siamese and other Asian breeds have a higher prevalence of this syndrome. This would be one explaination of why no one from the rescue agencies saw these behaviors in Leo before he was in my care, where they have been clearly observed by me as well as visitors to my home and my Veterinarian. Another explaination would be that he lived in a tiny cage for three weeks so that symptoms such as meowing would be considered normal and a sign of simply wanting to be let out of his cage, he obviously couldn't run around or be aggressive with anyone while in a tiny cage either.

There is no test to diagnose FHS. A diagnosis of FHS is made after other causes of the clinical signs are excluded by diagnostic tests, and by a positive response to treatment. Blood tests and other diagnostic tests will likely be necessary to rule out medical causes that may be confused with FHS, including hyperthyroidism, parasitic skin infections, skin allergies, etc. Again, Leo has undergone a CAT scan, spinal tap, and full blood work and everything else has been ruled out.

No one knows exactly what causes FHS, but there are a few possible explanations. It may be a type of seizure activity, and the fact that some affected cats respond to anti-convulsant medication seems to support this explanation. Leo was on anti-seizure medication and it seemed to be helping him a lot. However there was so much accusation from the rescue agency about the possible damage this mediaction could do to his liver with this type of standard medication for this syndrome that I discussed with my Vet. stopping it and observing Leo over the course of the next few weeks to see if he can continue to progress without it. He is also on anti-obsessional medication. At this time he is no longer taking the anti-seizure medication.

Effective anti-obsessional drugs include clomipramine (clomicalm) and fluoxetine (Prozac). Be aware that it might take 3 or 4 weeks for an initial response to the drug. By 16 weeks, the full effect of the drug should be known. When anti-obsessional therapy is ineffective or only marginally effective, try anti-convulsants. The first drug to try in cats is usually Phenobarbital. Leo was on phenobarbital, but again I have been accussed over and over verbally by the rescue agency of putting Leo's liver in jeopardy and just medicating him to get the cat I want.


I have been thinking a lot about the condition Leo has. As an energy worker (reiki) I can scan his body with my hands and feel the areas that are out of balance. I often notice that his stomach is hot when I scan that area, as well as his extremities. I have since read from other people that their cats are very sensitive to touch in those areas as well. Leo is also very sensitive to being touched anywhere besides head and neck, which he loves to have scratched.

I believe that FHS is similar to Fibromyalgia in humans.

Please see the post directly below this as well.

Kathie From Kitty Kind Called Me Tonight- Emergency Help Needed From My Blog Readers Please

I cannot believe the call I just receieved. After many days of receiving no contact from Mayor's Alliance nor Kitty Kind I thought they dropped the issue. Boy was I wrong.

Kathie informed me how Mayor's Allience wants the cat back from me and is trying to make a case of improper care of Leo from me. She said that they are concerned about him "being drugged" and that Siobhan has told Jane Hoffman only bad things about me and the care he is receiving while under my care.

The representatives of Mayor's Alliance seem to forget that they turned Leo over to Kitty Kind to have Leo adopted and that Leo was legally adopted to me.

Jane Hoffman has only heard one-side of the story from her employee who has been nothing but unfprofessional and innapropriate from the start.

Poor Leo. All THOSE people care about is that I have the facts behind me to show the negligence of his care while in their hands and that I can expose them. Therefore they want to go after me.

Here are the facts again:

Siobhan never disclosed to me that she worked for Murray Hill Hospital.
Siobhan never disclosed to me that before going to Kitty Kind Leo lived in a cage for three weeks at Murray Hill Hospital.
Murray Hill Hospital bungled and botched a standard procedure, his neutering. By the night I received him into my home his "scrotum" (now gone) was so swollen the area was the size of two golf balls full of BLOOD. The wound began to leak BLOOD so much so that it appeared it was coming from his rectum as well.
After only having Leo for one night I had to rush him to the emergency vet because Leo vomited all night and could not hold down food and the blood coming out of his botched neutering. The Vets told me that this was probably caused by him feeling so sick from the neutering that was done incorrectly.

Let's just stop here for a moment. Murray Hills Vets which incorrectly performed a stanadard and routine operation of neutering so badly that the cats "balls" were the size of golf balls went COMPLETELY UNOTICED. He went out for adoption in this manner.

Yet, I am being accussed of improper care and drugging a cat because THEY DID NOT OBSERVE THE BEHAVIOR I HAVE CLEARLY SHOWN THEM HE EXHIBITS DUE TO A MEDICAL CONDITION DIAGNOSED AFTER LEAVING THEIR CARE.

To me they only prove my point: It is they who have been negligent as they didn't observe their botched neutering, swollen wound and blood pooling up in the area and they who didn't properly observe him, test him and let him go undiagnosed for FHS.

I cannot believe that me, the person who was willing to take a cat "with a neurological tick" (since that is all that was disclosed to me) and who observed all I have, and who was BEGGED verbally on the phone on the way to the emergency Vet to please keep Leo and not give up on him are now from the very same people being accused of improper care and drugging a cat. This from the same people who could not see the physical signs of their BOTCHED neutering.

I cannot believe I am in the position of having to defend myself and the care I am giving to Leo. I cannot believe that the videos I took to show proof of the physical behaviors and signs of FHS is being used against me.

Why did I take those videos in the first place? Because I was being called a liar by Siobhan. I was verbally being accused of lying about the symptoms just to get medication to "get the kind of cat I wanted". So silly me! I thought that showing video proof of what was happening to Leo would obsolve me of being called a liar.

Instead the video is now being used against me and I am being accussed of causing the symptoms Leo has and being told he is behaving this way because he doesn't like me or my home.

So not only are licensed Vet's who have admitted they have not seen the behavior while in their care, trying to make a diagnosis, which is illegal to do, they are also trying to make a psychological diagnosis on Leo as well as me. The same people who couldn't see the MISTAKE THEY MADE WHEN THEY BOTCHED HIS NEUTERING AND SENT HIM OUT FOR ADOPTION ANYWAY!

Perhaps the Veterinary licensing board should look into the negligence of the doctors at Murray Hill and consider revoking their license to practice medicine. It seems clear to me that they are giving improper care and letting a lot of diagnosises go unchecked and animals leave their care without proper medications and care.

While under my care, Leo is exhibiting much progress. He is able to concentrate on playing with his toys, eat his Innova cat food, sleep in bed with me or on the couch which he loves. He has a favorite window that he can see for miles, with trees and birds to watch and listen to. His aggressive symptoms that are standard for cats with FHS have lessoned significantly.

As I posted earlier, I have witness the skin rippling now, which is extremely common with these cats and helps Vets to solidify their diagnosis of animals with this condition.

FHS is diagnosed when all other possible diseases such as cancer or viral diseases have been ruled out. Since Mayors Alliance paid for his CAT scan and spinal tap and the Vets released him to me stating he is cleared of all other possible diagnosis for his neurological condition it is entirely appropriate according to the medical literature on FHS to diagnose Leo with this condition.

From my call with Kathie of Kitty Kind tonight, it appears to me, and she has admitted verbally to her, that the Mayors Animal Alliance is trying to build a case against me and wants to try to remove Leo from my home and care.

So I am calling on you to please write letters on my behalf and on Leo's behalf about the improper care he received while under Murray Hill's and Siobhan's watch.

Leo is my little boy. I do not trust those organizations to take proper care of Leo. I have followed the orders of my Vet and he has received nothing but love and proper medical care from me. I am completely baffled that I am being put in this position.

I do not want to expend my energy fighting these people. But if forced to I will do it. I will win and they will lose.

What the representatives of Mayors Alliance is doing to me at this point constitutes harrassment. If they continue to move forward in this fashion I will present the FACTS and prove that they harrassed me. And I will win. And once I win I will then take them back to court and sue them for harrassment of me should they force me to take it this far.

Siobhan, none of this needed to happen and it is you who is hurting an animal by how you continue to push for a case against me. Shame on you! Leo was born with a mental illness in his brain. Under my diligence and care, he has been properly diagnosed and is on the proper protocal. Your vengence for me seems to be more imporant to you than the fact that he is happier and healthier today under my care.

All I ever asked of you Siobhan was to honor your word and committment to me to help pay for the medications which was your offer to me as you pleaded for me to please keep him. I never asked for the financial help. YOU OFFERED IT TO ME. It's time for you to put your ego in check and admit what you did was improper and that you are making this personal rather than providing the financial aid you offered me, to pay for the proper medical care, which your organization misdiagnosed under your watch.

Enough is enough.

To my blog readers: thank you for reading all the long posts. Please see the post below with the address to write to the Mayor about this situation. Please ask other animal lovers to write to the Mayor as well about this situation. Please tell them what you think about how Siobhan handled herself and represented the organation she works for. Please tell them how Leo should not be removed from my care and the only stable home he has ever known.

Thank you for all your help.

Skin Ripple and FHS and Cute Photos

I finally saw the skin rippling happen to Leo tonight. I wasn't able to catch it on video. It happened so fast. He was laying on my bed and awake and it just happened to his entire body. If I can catch it soon on video I will post. It will be good evidence that his diagnosis is correct and make Siobhan and Mayor's Animal Alliance have to eat crow, apologize and offer the financial help they promised when begging me to keep him.

In the meantime I caught these photos of Leo the past two days. He is a silly little cat. He sleeps so funny sometimes. His tail is so long that he can do the following:

And he also puts himself in the following position to sleep: