Leo is a handsome yellow-orange tabby who has fallen on some very rough times. He was an owner surrender at a kill shelter, who was dumped because he was “too affectionate!” Are you as horrified by that as I am? Fortunately, the nice humans at Kitty Corner sprung the 8-year-old cat and brought him to their facilities. Kitty Corner is associated with Contra Costa Humane Society and Contra Costa County Animal Services, and its purpose is to provide rescue and seek out homes for adult, senior and special needs kitties. Once, there, they found out what an utter treasure Leo is — sweet natured, passive and yes, awesomely affectionate and gentle. But all the stress of losing his home and all the changes he had to face got to this sweet, sensitive soul, and he stopped eating and developed a deadly disease called hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease.
Some of you may know what fatty liver disease is and some of you don’t, so let me explain. We kitties need an almost 100% protein diet, and our livers help us metabolize all that meat. The liver also metabolizes fat, among other complicated processes. Now, when you humans diet or stop eating, your body is able to live on your fat stores fairly easily. It doesn’t work this way with us cats. When we stop eating and our bodies go into starvation mode, the liver has to work overtime to metabolize all the fat that is suddenly flooding its system. All that fat builds up, swelling the liver and turning it yellow. If a cat does not immediately receive veterinary care for this condition, it can kill him.
That is what started happening to Leo — because of stress, he stopped eating, and began to develop fatty liver disease. You can see how yellow his lips and gums are here.
In an attempt to give Leo a quieter, more stable living situation, and to encourage him to eat, he was handed over to a very nice foster couple. You may even know these humans through their lovely blogging cat, Savannah! Savannah has been blogging about Leo for the past week. He has had a very rough time. Savannah’s humans took him to a clinic to have a feeding tube inserted, since he still was not eating on his own. The clinic did not give Leo the best treatment (to put it politely), and they weren’t able to adequately explain how to care for Leo (Savannah’s humans are novices at this sort of medical care). So Savannah’s humans and the Contra Costa Humane Society mapped out a different plan of action for him. Savannah’s personal vet took Leo under her wing and he is currently at the Civic Feline Clinic, getting the best care he could possibly have. You can read more about Leo at Savannah’s blog here.
Although Leo is receiving lots of love (which he greatly appreciates), and is getting fed through a tube, he is still in danger of succumbing to this awful disease! Only when he begins to eat on his own will they know he is really beginning to recover. Meanwhile vet bills are adding up! Savannah’s humans spent over $2,300 themselves, and Contra Costa Humane Society needs funds to continue Leo’s care. The good news is that you can donate to Leo’s medical expenses right on their website — just go to their donation page, and where it says, “Please select the program or fundraiser to which your donation should be applied,” use the drop-down menu to pick “Leo’s Medical Care.” Your donation is tax deductible.
I do hope you can give something to help out this amazing guy! But I am not just asking you for money, I am also asking you for lots of purrs for Leo! He is going to make a wonderful companion for some human who really appreciates a cat’s affection… but he needs your help first.
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I lost a big beautiful cat to fatty liver disease. He had it at the no kill shelter and they didn’t know because he was still a fat cat. I’d only had him a couple weeks. Unfortunately, we think he died because he gave up. He was very stressed from being at the shelter and hadn’t had time to really bond with me. It breaks my heart still to think about him. I wish the best for Leo and a thump on the head to his previous owners.
Sending purrs for leo… Wish we could do more. Momma’s been struggling too because of her meds. I’m really sad. 😥
HELP! This is what it says when I click on your links to help out Leo —>
This account has been Suspended or Closed
Please contact your web hosting provider for more information
What’s up with that?!??
The site is back up now – I believe they had a glitch with the website hosting company.
My humom says she will help on Furiday too..she wishes she could pick Leo up and give him all the loves and affections he needs..we are so mad at those mean humans!! 👿 Purrayers for Leo!
And bless Savanna and her Mom & Dad for taking care of Leo!
We know a kitty that had this happen, but she recovered fully and never had it happen again. It just takes some time and a lot of love to get him back to good health. I will send love and prayers!
We are purring for Leo…
Keeping everything crossed for Leo. have shared xx
I have heard from other furriends about the disease.
I keep my paws crossed that Leo will start eating on his own real soon !!
XOXO
manee manee purrz ya finds a forever home leo N manee manee blessings frum St Francis two ewe
for health
XOXO
We hadn’t heard of that disease before. We’re purring for Leo to get better soon! We’ll go make a donation to help too!
We have been following Leo’s story. Our paws are crossed for him.
Big hugs to Leo. What a sweet boy.
Purrs to Leo, sweet Leo.
Kudos to Savannah’s parents and everyone else who is helping sweet Leo. Maybe Leo’s former humans would’ve preferred a cat such as myself who would bite and attack them every day. Shesh. We knew about fatty liver disease cos TW used have a BFF who was a vet tech. Once Chizzy stopped eating and she immediately sprung into action. She said fat cats—Chizzy was 25 lbs—were more susceptible to this disease. I certainly hope Leo feels all the healing purrz and responds. Sending more healing purrz.
We’ve been following Leo’s course on Savannah’s blog and have been hoping and praying that the treatment he’s NOW getting (!) will save him. He’s a sweet looking cat and for someone to surrender a cat to a kill shelter because they are “too affectionate” is mind boggling. Leo’s such a handsome guy and once he’s eating on his own we hope someone will give him a forever home filled with LOVE…..and TONS of affection!
Pam and Sam
We just sent some green papers to dear Leo right before we arrived here. We are purring for that dear boy.
Thanks for letting us know, Sparkle. We hope Leo recovers and we have made a little donation. Many small ones can really add up.
mom got choked up….we lost our angel Tigger to this disease and it is terrible. we will be raiding mom’s green papers when she gets paid on Friday….and turning up VERY loud purrs for Leo and Savannah’s mom and dad. how awful to lose your home for being “too affectionate”
Ummmm…Sparkle and Sparkle Mom….what can I say…your post is so informative and so very kind to mention our pawsome Vet Dr Ellis and all she is doing and for praising my former rescue, Contra Costa Humane Society…they saved me from the jaws of death only hours to spare. Luvluvluv them and Dr Ellis who owns Civic Feline Clinic. Paw hugs, Savannah….and head bumps from my foster brofur Leo
*sigh* This is terrible. MomKatt saw a kitty in our local PetSmart Adoption Center (a fluffy long-haired calico) who was given up for EXACTLY the same stated reason. She thought, “Do WHAT?!” It made her SO angry & they’d have adopted her if we weren’t “full” already.
Sparkle, thank you for telling us about this & I’m going to donate something. It can’t be a whole lot ’cause the pawrents are going on vacation soon but we’ll give what we can – and of COURSE we’ll send purrs! That goes w/out meowing!
You’re awesome to help spread this word!
Purrz!
Selina
So sorry to hear about Leo-also have been there and it’s a tough disease to fight. Will bookmark and send donation when we can. Purrraying here for his recovery. (I can not believe some person would say he was too affectionate-I’m glad they gave him up!)
I’ve been following sweet Leo’s story at Savannah’s blog. So sweet of you to share his story here too. I have faith that he will make a great recovery! It may take time, but I know he can do it!
Oh, that is awful. And horrifying – too affectionate?!!!
Mom says we get more green papers on Friday, and we will help Leo then.
We’ve been keeping up with Leo on Savannah’s blog. We are purring that he will make a full recovery and finds a wonderful forever home.
Oh thanks for telling us about Leo. We sure hope he gets better really soon. We will go check it out.
Our first cat (Mr. Moe) that we got from a shelter when it was 8 had this disease–wasn’t eating for a month! The shelter’s vet force fed him at her home for a whole week and praise the Lord, he finally ate on his own again and we got him back. Never had the problem again after that. The vet didn’t charge us anything either–Thank you so much, Dr. Hart! Hope Leo gets a happy ending too!
What a sweetie! We’ll share to get the word out.
PS we shared with everyone except reddit – we don’t do them – yet……
We will continue to share over the next few days.
Dash
Sparkle Mum and I happy to donate but they need a form which seems to need USA addy and details (???) We want to help! We don’t have much but if everyone of us gave $10 then Leo would be well on the way, and if we add our LOVE as well – he will be all set!
We know the scenario when ‘NOT the best care is given’ ……….. Been There… had our hearts broken….. – so we want to applaud Savannah’s parents and the Contra Costa folks for their sensitive handling. THANK YOU GUYS.
Dash, you can also donate on Mom Linda’s Paypal…lcrodgers at sbcglobal dot net. I know you don’t live in USA so only advantage of donating direct to CCHS is it can be tax deductible. Others outside USA have donated to Paypal for Mom Linda. We will be posting the actual vet bill for all to see. Thank you for considering helping. Paw hugs, Savannah
That’s a real sad story ! I hope that Leo starts to eat of his own again ! I had never heard about such a disease !