Some of you may remember that we got a new kitten that we rescued from Ivin’s Animal Shelter. Harold is the sweetest cat. But Harold has issues.

We got Harold when we was 10 weeks old. The shelter instructed us to have him fixed a few weeks after we got him. He was sick with a cold and needed to finish up the antibiotics. He was scheduled to be fixed a couple weeks later. When we brought him home, he wasn’t himself. He was playful before he went in, but afterwards he was having problems.

Harold was loosing weight, falling and having a hard time keeping his balance. I have been extremely stressed over this kitten. He wasn’t wanting to eat anything. He would drink a bit, but that was it.

I took Harold to the vet and they tested him for feline leukemia, infections, worms, inner ear problem and a host of other things. Then the vet came in and told me that he had a type of feline autoimmune disease. It could have been brought on by him just getting over a virus and then when he got his immunizations, it reacted with his antibodies. Leave it up to me to get a cat that has an autoimmune disorder.

They explained to me that with an autoimmune disease is where antibodies are created to work against the body. He didn’t know that I can totally understand the who auto immune thing since I have been dealing with one thing or another most of my life.

Today, Harold has been doing better. We have to watch him when he sleeps with us, because he can’t jump down. He can hurt himself since he falls the way he does. He falls while standing and can’t balance himself at all. As I was reading up on what is wrong with Harold, it was like living in the twilight zone. This is what it says about Harold’s issues;

• This is symptoms Harold is exhibiting is that of a chronic progressive disease characterized by chronic fatigue and muscular weakness, especially in the face and neck, known as Myasthenia gravis.

The reason I say it was like living in the twilight zone with Harold, is because I have Myasthenia Gravis. I had no clue that animals can get it too. He didn’t specify that it was MG, he used this long word. Then when I googled it, I was blown away. He had the feline form on MG . They say the prognosis isn’t great because of the difficulties they have. Well, God had to have known that Harold needed a family that would understand his special needs.

It all made sense after putting all his symptoms together and what he is doing. He has issues with the light. He can’t focus his eyes and he will go out of his way to look away from the light. The way he walks, bumps into the walls and falls while standing all makes sense.

We could have put him down but that was NOT an option. So , we will just make sure he doesn’t hurt himself and we will make sure he eats foods to help him.