The Ziggy Page: Homepage of Ziggy the Cat, info about feline cardiomyopathy and blood clot in cats.

About Ziggy: born November, 1988
breed: Japanese Bobtail mix (mother cat was a calico stray with long tail... we believe the father cat was JBT!)
current age: Ziggy passed away Sept 30, 2004 - he was just a month away from his 16th birthday.

prior health conditions: irregular heartbeat noticed in 2002. No hospitalization or medications prior to 2003 when he threw blood clot. Ziggy was a very healthy cat for over 14 years!

2003 health condition summary: Ziggy has dilated cardiomyopathy. His blood clot on June 18th left part of his right foreleg paralyzed; he spent almost a week in the hospital. Circulation did not return in the following weeks and he was not a good surgical candidate for amputation because of his late-stage heart condition- his odds were only 20:80 of surviving the operation without any major complications.. if he did survive, his long-term prognosis is still very short (a few months) We chose to bring him home. His expected survival as of July 3rd, 2003 (last time he was at the vet for his follow-up visit and the day that surgery was discussed) was a few days, or possibly a week, with expected systemic infection to result from his leg fairly quickly.

2004 health condition summary: In March 2004 - 9 months after getting blood clot, Ziggy's dead leg falls off! His stump heals well and he is doing very good! In Summer 2004, Ziggy seems to be "slowing down" some so that he is not quite as active as he used to be last summer. In addition, his respiration is not looking as effortless as it used to be and he occasionally needs his diuretic (furosemide). At the same time, he has also lost a little weight. As of Sept 2004 he is 7.4 lbs.

Feel free to bookmark Ziggy's website! It may take me a while to improve this page, but for now, click on one of the links below to see Ziggy's current health statis since his blood clot.

I initially created these links for family and friends to check on Ziggy's status at anytime since he got sick in June of 2003, but I welcome anyone who comes across these pages to feel free to browse through and write me if you wish. I have not found any other site about a cat in this situation so maybe this one will help someone else out there. If anyone knows of another site that documents another cat in this condition, and what happened in the weeks or months ahead, please let me know.

- - NEWS FLASH!! - - Ziggy has a "Look-A-Like!"

PHOTOS and notes: (graphic intensive; some links will take long to load)
Scroll down to bottom links for most recent notes.

OTHER SUCCESS STORIES:

*** GOLDENROD ***

For 7 1/2 months, this beautiful orange kitty named Goldenrod, was being pampered and living the good life, after getting a blood clot to both hind legs (circulation returned in one leg after 6-8 weeks) - but the other leg was never fully healed and most of the tissue in this leg died. His owner bandaged up his hind leg often, much as I did for Ziggy's leg! It seems Goldenrod and Ziggy have a lot in common. Goldenrod had HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). Click on the link below to learn more about Goldenrod!

More personal experiences needed!!!

... if there is anyone else who has been in a similar situation, please write me!! I'd like to share your story with others!! Since this is a very uncommon occurrance, and we would like to let people know that there is sometimes hope even if the vets will say there's nothing more that can be done. With proper care, in some cases, cats can live for many months happily... immediate surgery (or euthanasia) apparently are not always the only options out there !!! We would like to hear of other success stories please write and share your story to help others in this situation!!!

Awards & other Fun Stuff:

The above membership card was given by Ringo,
a cool siamese friend who was generous enough to put some
fun photos of Ziggy & his toys on his own catsite!
Click here to see them!
(and then click here for page two!)