9/7/02, Saturday - Mom meets Mimosa at the shelter and rushes her to the emergency clinic.

9/8/02, Sunday - Mimosa comes home in the early afternoon. She has her leg in a splint but it will need to be amputated.
She is having severe neuro trouble, arching her head & stiffening her legs. The emergency vet insists that with a lot of tlc she can recover and that the head arching is not seizure activity but actually an ear problem.
Tons of disgusting gunk is cleaned out of Mimosa's ears.

9/9/02 - Mimosa spends day at vet for wound care. eating well. Holding head up in eve and purring loudly. It is clear that she does much better when being held than when in her carrier.
She is no longer doing the neck arch w/stiff legs but still veyr trembly.

9/10/02 - Mimosa pulls herself onto my shoulder after eating. Held onto my arm while "nursing" on syringe.
Still trembling all over. Does a rocking motion which stops when I pick her up.

9/11/02 - Vet is very pleased with Mimosa's progress. when her toes are brushed along a tabletop, she now corrects her feet to a standing position. Trembling is much reduced. Tried to stand later in the evening!

Eating even more than before. about 45cc food & 15cc water for late nite dinner. 9/12/02 - This morning Mimosa was hardly trembling at all. No rocking! Alert, holding up head, trying to move around. When placed in carrier, became agitated and started rocking. Stopped shortly after being taken out of carrier. Mimosa went to the vet in a cat bed today.
-This evening Mimosa decided she wanted out of her bed and began scrabbling out. I set her on the floor, supported her belly with a hand, and she began walking!! She had some trouble co-ordinating the good hind leg, so at first I moved it for her. After just a few times she figured it out. She spent about 20 minutes investigating the room, scrabbling along!

9/17/02 - Mimosa is scheduled for her amputation surgery Thursday. The vet confirmed that she is blind and deaf. At the end of yesterday's vet visit he held her up and said "You are one tough kitty."
She is eating out a bowl, with a little assistance getting positioned at first. She is trying to explore the world, pulling herself along. I have made a cart to help her walk and develop her shoulder/leg muscles. She has soem trouble remembering to bring her feet forward again while on it.
I am using vibrations to try and communiate with her. I stomp on teh floor before I walk towards her. Before taking her out of her cage (she spends nights in a cage) I bang on the cage twice. I hold her agasint my throat and chest when I talk with her.
She purrs when picked up and seems to be very content, despite all her troubles. She is definitly staying here as a permanent member of the house.

9/28/02 - Mimosa improves with each day! She did have a fever for several days last weekend, but adding a another antibiotic took care of that. There was no visible infection, the surgeon said it was most likely an inflammatory response. Her surgery site looks great.
Mimosa began to respond to some sounds earlier this week, and her hearing gets a little better each day. She can hear sharp sounds (clapping, clicking) from several feet away. She is also responding to movement and light changes. We are hopeful that she will continue to regain her sight and hearing!
She is getting stronger and more co-ordinated too. She can now sit up straight, tries to stand, and holds her food dish with one paw. She is grooming herself and last night washed her face for the first time that I have seen.

10/8/02 - Mimosa is tracking things better by sight and sound, but still has a long way to go. Her co-ordination is improving, but she is still having problems with balance. She is playing her kitten friend, Ariel, using her head and front paws.
She still needs assistance to walk. She has wiggled out of every sling and harness that we've tried! With a hand to either side of her she does a strange kind of walk. She straightens the hind leg, putting her nose into the rug, then positions her front paws just ahead of her nose and pushes up. Then she does a hop with the hind leg and starts over.
With incentive, she does much better. After smelling the kittens' food she made a beeline right to it. She was very interested in going around in the grass outside, too.
Our biggest concern now is that she is getting fat! She isn't happy about her meals being limited, but until she is running around more on her own, she won't get to eat all day long. Left to herself, she spends most of her time asleep.
10/12/02 - Mimosa had an adventure outside today. She was clearly very happy to be outside. The moment we stepped out the door she became very alert.
She tried harder than ever before to get herself standing and to walk. I did not give her any weight support, just kept a hand on her stump to give her balance. She still has a very poor sense of balance. She showed better control of her legs than she ever has before and went charging around and around.
Periodically she would flop in the grass and turn her ears every which way, listening. She had a nice time sunning herself and chewing on grass. In the meantime, I was being alive by mosquitos but they showed little interest in her. When the mosquitos became unbearable, we returned inside. Mimosa had spent an entire hour outside, more active of her own free will than ever before. Outdoor trips will defintily be a regular event for her!

10-15-02 - MIMOSA TOOK HER FIST LITTLE SCOOTS YESTERDAY!!!!
She managed to scoot - keeping her butt low but making little hops, for about three feet to a food dish completely unaided!
It wasn't easy, her ears were sideways and she was concentrating hard, but it worked! She has been working hard to do it again!

11-15-02 - Mimosa is now scooting all around the house!
Mimosa is investigating everything, following the other cats, and being about as active as a regular cat now. She still tips over every so often, but can right herself. She is even sometimes standing with her legs straight and not fallng over! She has taken a few small steps like this successfully. She has regained some fine control of her toes, which undoubted helps her balance.
Her hearing is still only partial, and it is difficult to know what she will hear. She hears the vaccuum cleaner, food cans, her name, other cats, but does not hear people walking, dogs barking, things crashing down. Her sight is mostly recovered. She is slow to track things, but that improves day by day. I am trying to encourage her to play with toys, mostly she looks at them and maybe puts a paw on them.

3-10-03 - Mimosa has TWO major improvements in two days!
Mimosa has been steadily getting better and better. She can catch herself before falling over, rights herself readily, and is very active now.
BUT TWO major changes in the past two evenings! That is amazing!
Last night, as mom put Mimosa in her night-time cage, Mimosa ASKED to play! She looked up at mom with those big eyes and waved her feet in playing motions. she has NEVER done that! So, mom grabbed the nearest toy (a stuffed animal) and Mimosa swatted it and bit it. Mom took Mimosa's hindfoot and made her do the rabbit kick, then Mimosa did it on her own! hoorray :)
THEN this evening, Mom is on the computer and hears a cute kitty hello trill. She looks around, and there is Mimosa looking up at her, and she trilled again! MOm was so happy! Mimosa has NEVER trilled hello. she grumbles a lot, she growls when she is unhappy, sometimes she hisses at other cats. sometimes she makes funny sounding pigeon noises, generally when she happy. but she actually said hello!
much happiness in the bendy house tonite!

10/8/04 - MIMOSA IS DRINKING OUT OF A WATER DISH! I never thought I'd see the day she would do this! She finds the dish, drinks normally, and leaves without knocking the dish over. It is great to still see improvement going on!
12/02/2010 - Mimosa passed away overnight of unknown causes. She had been active and eating well. We assume she had a seizure. We will miss our grumbly girl. Mimosa picts
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