Dear Kitten Fund friends,

Although we still have a number of little ones in our Kitten Room and in foster homes, this month all eyes are on tiny tortie Maitreya. This brave little girl was found emaciated and weak. We rushed her to the emergency vet, where she was admitted for supportive care. Almost immediately, Maitreya had a brief seizure. The specialists believe she had been having these frequently, and began treating her with anti-seizure medication.

Maitreya has stabilized and is eating well — and she’s an astonishingly joyful little soul — but there’s a great deal of mystery around her condition. She is so tiny, we can’t yet pursue many diagnostics. With the exception of one small seizure this week, the medication has stopped the seizures, but she still has a slight tremor and weakness in her legs.

Right now, the possibilities range from malnutrition to cerebellar hypoplasia (both treatable/survivable) to a deadly storage disease. If that dreadful possibility sounds familiar to you, that’s because we lost little Tyke to the same problem just last month. Needless to say, we’re hoping that is not Maitreya’s affliction.

If Maitreya does well, with no seizures over the next few weeks, we will attempt to wean her off her medication. Whatever the future may hold for Maitreya, we are grateful she’s a Tabby’s Place cat, and that we can give her everything she needs to feel loved and have hope for a healthy future. For the time being, Maitreya is being fostered by our Senior Veterinary Technician, and she could receive no better care.

Thank you friends, for making this possible. For all the bouncing, tumbling invincibility of some of our smallest beasties, we all know that some of them need extra special love and attention. And thanks to your generosity, we can offer kittens like Maitreya their best life possible.