In March 2004 a woman was driving down a country road when the car in front of her tossed something white from the window. At first the woman thought it was a crumpled bag, but then it bounced on the grass and stook up shakily and began to walk towards the road. The woman stopped and picked up a small, skinny, and very matted cat. A few phonecalls later, the cat - now named Mattie - was on her way to Bendy's Home.

Several kind people paid for Mattie to have a complete physical including bloodwork. Mattie was found to have a heart murmur, and donations came in to cover a chest echo for her. Mattie was started on Enalipril daily for her heart. Mattie's bloodwork looked good, my vet estmated she was between 14-16 years old. She is front declawed.
Mattie made herself at home, she was kept isolated, as all newcomers are, for the first few weeks. She liked her bed, her food, and loved attention esp being brushed. After a few weeks she was moved to the senior room where she would enjoy the picture window and more room to move around. She mostly ignored (and still ignores) the other cats in the room, asking only for her sunny spots to be left unoccupied by others. She meows an ancient creaky meow when she wants attention and gives headbutts to say hello. She did have the bad habit of defecating on the rug instead of the litterbox, but that is hardly a big deal in this house! She prefers soft litter, probably because of her declawed front feet.

In November of 2004 Mattie began holding up her feet as tho they hurt and becoming even more sedentary. A trip to the vet showed that her kidneys were beginning to give out. Her kidney values were just over the line. One kidney is very small, so she essentially runs on just one. She was given fluids and vitamins daily for a week, then several times a week, and now receives fluids weekly for maintenance. Her diet was changed from senior food to prescription K/D which she loves.
She was also started on Prednisone at a low dose to help her front feet but not strain her kidneys too much. Two weeks of Prednison saw Mattie walking again and also eating much more. For the first time since she arrived, Mattie looked like a cat instead of a bag of bones! A kind person donated several bags of Lactated Ringers, the SQ fluids that Mattie gets and also paid for her prescription food.
Mattie does not like the fluid treatments, and protests by peeing on the floor. We tried to crate her after her treatments, but she banged up her face on the crate door. Occassional rug pee-ing is one thing, but 100-200mls of fluids weekly into the rug is too much even for this house! Mattie was fitted with diapers, which she protested but which stayed on and did the job. She only wears them for 12 hours after receiving fluids. Some kind people donated diapers for her.
The fluids treatments and food have brought Mattie back to the sociable girl we know and love. We hope that Mattie will be with us for years to come and will continue to do well.
 
We are very sad to report that on September 21rst, 2005, we had to say goodbye to Mattie.
She greeted us that morning with a pathetic meow, she could hardly stand.?? She was massively dehydrated and her color was terrible.? 150cc of LactatedRingers did nothing.? We know too well what that means.
She had blood in her mouth, we didnt know why.?
We called the vet to tell them we were on our way, and sped out the door.?
The blood was from a cut in her gum, we have no idea how she cut herself.? But it ws clear to everyone there that Mattie was dying.? the vet looked at her color, listened to her heart and felt her kidneys.? There was no good news.
We are glad that Mattie had her last year and a half here at? our home, being loved.? It is always painful and difficult to say goodbye, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind what she was asking when she meowed at us that morning.
 
We will miss you, Mattie.? The window is very very empty without your tiny white and black self in it.