UPDATE: July | 02 | 2009

Currently we're up to $244.64 (USD) in donations for Jack. To all of the donors and supporters thusfar, we're deeply indebted to you---and if Jack knew a thing more than what kitties know, I'm sure she'd give you a little hop, meow, and pur.

She's doing wonderfully, if even a bit too rambunctious for what was directed by her doctor to heal. We built a healing cage for her to stay in until her first two weeks is up. I'm pretty sure she's about fed up with it, lol, and trying to keep her from running and jumping when we let her out to stretch is pretty interesting.

The amount you've donated is incredible. We're still hoping for more, so please do keep your donations and coming!
To those of you who offered your good vibes, I'm positive it's paying off.

I'll take some new pictures of Jack today, if I can get her to sit still long enough to pose.

‹‹Meeting Our New Friend ››

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Right around two weeks ago Rox and I came upon a pretty little stray. It was about 4 or so weeks old at the time, and was the most adorable thing we'd seen. It was amazingly mellow, letting you pet and hold it as long as you liked regardless of your person. Now Rox has volunteered for many animal outreach groups, donating her time to shelters and feral cat rescue programs... and even she was taken aback at how gentle this little stray was.

Life is really awesome sometimes, and puts things to you that you wouldn't normally expect. For example, Rox is highly allergic to 99% of all animals, cats included. But she picked up this little girl and cuddled her right up to her chin, expecting to well-up and not be able to breathe. Usually this would happen within a minute or two... but guess what? Nothing. Her eyes didn't even get watery!

Another point of interest to us was that Rox's parents are pretty avid Cat haters. Almost to a ridiculous degree... but somehow this little kitty won over Rox's mom right at the first meeting.

While this pretty kitty was playful enough, and acted like she was just another ordinary feline, it was easy to see something was amiss. Every time she took a step, all you could notice was it's awkward limp. She had something wrong with her back leg, and was incessantly chewing the hell out of the inside of it. We were a lot worried about her. Something so small, so young, shouldn't have had such an awful time walking. I think all three of our hearts broke all at the same time as we watchers her hobble about every time we put her down.

With everyone on board, we took her home.

You know me.. I don't go many places without a camera. So of course I snapped a couple quick pictures of her the next day.

‹‹Now What do we Do?››

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It had only been a few days home by the time we could schedule an appointment to have her looked at. By this time the little limping kitten had won over Rox's dad, too. And her dad was the king of all Cat haters. It felt meant to be, and with our teenager on board we really feel like she's going to be a great fit to our family.

By now we'd also named the little thing Jack (after a character in the book I'm working on), because for some reason Rox was convinced she was a boy. It worked well we thought... she/he had a "Jacked" leg from whichever "Jackcident" she/he'd been into. Plus it's a cute name anyway, and something so adorable should have a cute name.

We finally got he/she in to see the Vet, where we learned Rox was mistaken in the gender and that the he/she Jack was actually Jack the Girl Cat. We decided that it just made the name "Jack" even more cute, and kept it. Sort of a 'Boy named Sue' thing, I think!

At the vet, they took Xrays and I got to see just how bad the break was. I snapped a picture of it with my phone, so I could show everyone who wasn't there what it looked like. It was so much worse than any of us thought, even having seen her little leg flop around in every direction when she'd run or try to play. It made all of her limping and chewing even more disturbing to think about. How much pain must she have been in... and to still stay so gentle and playful?

The doctor said they were going to have to open up her leg and put a pin in there to get the bones to fuse back together. It was serious procedure, and a spendy one... but what could we do? She didn't have feline leukemia or FIV (HIV for Cats), and we sure as hell weren't going to chop off her leg to save some cash, much less put her to sleep! So we scheduled.

We didn't know how we were going to pay for it, but it needed to be done. We couldn't have her suffering anymore. So she went in on Friday and everything went really well in terms of the procedure. When little Jack came out, she looked rag-tag, sleepy-eyed, and her leg a bit like Frankenstein's monster, lol.

It ended up Rox's parents paid the $1,000.00 for Jack’s surgery. We promised to pay them back, and we will. But there’s a follow up visit to remove the pin and stitches ahead of us, and we’ve yet to figure that out. We’re doing our best to keep her immobile and giving her as much love as we can---and between the whole family here, that's ALOT!!!

If you have it in your heart to help out our new furry family member, we would deeply appreciate it. Even a single Dollar can make a huge difference!! Your Positive Vibes and well wishes for her recovery are always welcome too! She isn't pretty right now, but here's the latest image of her, post Op:

Just Click the Picture of "FrankenJack" Above to Donate through Paypal to Help Jack the Girl Cat!

`FallenRox has put up a journal, too... it's pretty much the same, but definitely drop by and read it. She'd love to hear from you, too!

Hope you guys are awesome, and talk to you all soon.
-Jesse

AHiL