Gender: Male
2016 - 2020
Breed: American Short hair and Bombay mix (Educated guess made by vet)
Condition: Feline Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex (FEGC)
I had Grim since I was a sophomore in college, I hid him in my dorm until I graduated which was not easy and not something that I would advise doing. Grim came into my life thanks to my sister and a very nice lady from her workplace takes in stray cats. The lady takes in stray cats and gets them a basic checkup, shots, and payed/neutered. Afterwards she adopts them out free of charge to good homes. My sister saw a flyer that the lady had put up at her work place and immediately contacted me, as I've been wanting a cat for a very long time. A week later I picked him up and snuck him into my dorm.
About 6 months after I got him, he began grooming bald spots into his fur. At first I thought he was stress grooming and tried to keep him from doing it as much as possible by attempting to distract him with a variety of toys. December rolled around and one emergency trip to the vet later due to a bald spot having gotten infected, it was determined that he had a condition known as FEGC.
Living with FEGC was a challenge as there was no one official cause or treatment for it. To help keep his condition in check I had to change his diet to a limited ingredient diet which allowed me to discover that Grim is allergic to chicken, which happens to be in almost all cat food and treats. His allergy to chicken became a huge challenge and adjustment, but the hardest part was finding a dental treat to keep his teeth and gums healthy. The best dental treats I found were freeze dried minnows and dehydrated fish fillet which stimulate his gums when chewed on. He was also put on a low dose topical steroid that I rub into his ear every other day, thankfully he didn't mind it too much. Nothing completely solved the flareups of his condition, but at least they prevented them from happening.
Unfortunately during the pandemic of 2020, Grim developed a cough that sounded like hair balls. I took him to the vet where they discovered a buildup of fluid in his chest. When they tried to remove the fluid to get an x-ray that might show them the cause of the fluid, he became unstable. It was determined that draining the fluid would be too stressful on him and that the best decision I could make to help him was to let him go. That was by far the most difficult day of my life, I've never felt so completely shattered.
2016 - 2020
Breed: American Short hair and Bombay mix (Educated guess made by vet)
Condition: Feline Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex (FEGC)
I had Grim since I was a sophomore in college, I hid him in my dorm until I graduated which was not easy and not something that I would advise doing. Grim came into my life thanks to my sister and a very nice lady from her workplace takes in stray cats. The lady takes in stray cats and gets them a basic checkup, shots, and payed/neutered. Afterwards she adopts them out free of charge to good homes. My sister saw a flyer that the lady had put up at her work place and immediately contacted me, as I've been wanting a cat for a very long time. A week later I picked him up and snuck him into my dorm.
About 6 months after I got him, he began grooming bald spots into his fur. At first I thought he was stress grooming and tried to keep him from doing it as much as possible by attempting to distract him with a variety of toys. December rolled around and one emergency trip to the vet later due to a bald spot having gotten infected, it was determined that he had a condition known as FEGC.
Living with FEGC was a challenge as there was no one official cause or treatment for it. To help keep his condition in check I had to change his diet to a limited ingredient diet which allowed me to discover that Grim is allergic to chicken, which happens to be in almost all cat food and treats. His allergy to chicken became a huge challenge and adjustment, but the hardest part was finding a dental treat to keep his teeth and gums healthy. The best dental treats I found were freeze dried minnows and dehydrated fish fillet which stimulate his gums when chewed on. He was also put on a low dose topical steroid that I rub into his ear every other day, thankfully he didn't mind it too much. Nothing completely solved the flareups of his condition, but at least they prevented them from happening.
Unfortunately during the pandemic of 2020, Grim developed a cough that sounded like hair balls. I took him to the vet where they discovered a buildup of fluid in his chest. When they tried to remove the fluid to get an x-ray that might show them the cause of the fluid, he became unstable. It was determined that draining the fluid would be too stressful on him and that the best decision I could make to help him was to let him go. That was by far the most difficult day of my life, I've never felt so completely shattered.