Founded in Memory of Skye – A Hydrocephalus Warrior

About Skye’s Fund:

Skye’s Fund was founded to help those cats that would otherwise get left behind or euthanized due to their medical condition(s). Cats with complex or extremely urgent medical needs can benefit from Skye’s Fund. Why do we need this fund? Because advanced/urgent veterinary care is extremely expensive. Unfortunately, this means that it is hard to continue taking in cats like Skye who need such care. Skye’s Fund will allow us to not only take in our normal cats like Poseidon (FIV+, FeLV+, Heartworm +, Double Enucleations), Jubilee (FIV+, Double Enucleation), and others, but ALSO take in more like Skye who’s only chance of surviving is a Rescue willing to take a chance on them and provide all the best medical care they can. Many say “no cat left behind”, but Skye’s Fund REALLY means no cat… Those in the MOST need deserve the same chance at life that others are given.

About Skye:

Skye was a beautiful kitten who came to Happy Tailz unable to move (she could only lay on her side), eat or drink on her own. However, she was such a sweet girl who when hand fed would ferociously eat and purr. She was a happy kitten. When typical vet care, bloodwork, x-rays, steroids, didn’t provide a solution or answer to her continued issues and inability to even sit up or hold her head up, Skye was taken to a veterinary Neurologist where she underwent an MRI and the mystery of what was wrong with Skye continued. The MRI showed she had Panventriculomegaly (fluid on the brain causing pressure – a form of Hydrocephalus), Cerebellar herniation, and severe syringomyelia. The main cause of Panventriculomegaly is typically infection, which didn’t show on MRI (no uptake on contrast) and 3 days after her MRI the analysis of fluid was also negative for infection. It was decided to place a VP Shunt (brain shunt – a tube placed in the ventricle of the brain attached to a valve which then would drain into the peritoneum of the abdomen and be re-absorbed by the body) and she had that completed 3 days later (Monday). After Shunt placement Skye was able to sit up, hold her head up, eat, and drink on her own! She was SO happy. She loved to stare at you and ask for all the attention she could get. Unfortunately, 2 weeks post placement a common complication occurred and her shunt clogged. She had a repeat MRI and shunt repair 1 week later. At the same time due to continued enlargement of her 4th ventricle above the brainstem, she had a second shunt placed in her 4th Ventricle. It was harder on her because it was so soon post her first surgery, but she did amazing! She slowly started getting all her functions back and was a happy kitten. She loved wet food and cat nip. She would seek attention and started to even meow when she wanted something! Two months later Skye started to decline. She already had a check up scheduled and underwent another MRI. Unfortunately, her mystery continued. Her brain shunts were working perfect and her ventricles looked amazing, but she had 3 new fluid filled pockets inside her brain, again without uptake on contrast so not infectious… Think of these pockets like cysts in the brain and they all were surrounding her brain stem causing compression… At this time she was only 6.5 months old… Her Neurologist contacted other neurologists and over that week tried to put a plan together to go in and drain those “cysts” via an actual open brain surgery. Her Neurologist had gonads of steel and was going to do everything in his power for Skye because she was STILL eating and drinking and trying to be her normal kitten self. We set surgery for that following Tuesday (7 days post MRI). Unfortunately, three days later while trying to eat Skye choked on her food repeatedly. Just before that she had an episode of very odd and troubled breathing. When she sat up (which she could still do!) she would start breathing weird and her gums would turn blue. At that time we made the very difficult decision to let Skye cross the rainbow bridge as her brain stem was being compressed and starting to fail. This kitten fought every step of the way! She never stopped trying to be herself. Even on her last day she was trying to do her favorite thing… Eat! She was always happy, always eating, and always asking for attention. Skye didn’t have a long life, but she got the chance to be a kitten for a few months…. That’s worth more than anything else. Why did these things happen to her brain? We don’t know… Not even the top Veterinary Neurologists could figure it out. She was beyond special. She was the little warrior princess that could! And we hope that her memory will now live on and help others like her…

Donation Options:

PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WVRJKQZ8RCYVN

Venmo: @skyesfund

Zelle: happytailzcatrescue@gmail.com

Bank Transfers available upon request