Jon Snow was near death when he was found.
Vets suggested that he be put down because he was so sick. He was diagnosed with feline coronavirus and feline herpesvirus. Doctors also thought he might have infectious peritonitis, which can be deadly in cats.
Still, the woman who found him, Rachel Brown, wasn’t going to give up on him.
She refused to have him euthanized and, instead, focused on treating him. He slowly started to recover, and the vets were shocked when just five days after he was found, his tests came back normal. Jon Snow was going to pull through, and he was going to go home with Rachel.
Rachel and Jon Snow are now best friends.
They like to cuddle together and take photos. Rachel even created a Facebook page for the cat. He had a big fan following, and Rachel also uses the page to help remind people to help animals who can’t help themselves.
She shared Jon Snow’s story on the page, too.
She posted:
“On June 23rd, 2016, a starving cat was found in an alleyway in Cheongju, South Korea, and taken to a kill shelter. Two days later I saw it’s profile on the shelter listings online and decided that I needed him. His profile said he was dehydrated, emaciated, and had a severe upper respiratory infection.”
“I talked to my vet, who said those were easy to treat, so I had my Korean-speaking boyfriend call the shelter for me to inquire about this cat. The shelter owner said don’t adopt him, his treatment would be very expensive, but was reluctant to give us a guess on how much. He said he is very sick, it’s nice what you want to do, but he isn’t worth it. That basically solidified my decision and I told him I would be there the next day to pick him up.”
“I picked up Jon Snow as I decided to name him on June 26th and took him to the nearest emergency 24-hour vet to my own town. As soon as I arrived I just showed them the cat and I had 4-5 people in the exam room tending to him. They took his blood and tested it. He came up coronavirus positive. They cut off some of his matted fur and cleaned his face with a fine-tooth comb.”
“He weighed 1.5 kg, and they said he was 1-2 years old. He had ulcers in his mouth and inflammation throughout his body. They gave him an IV and shortly after that, he threw up blood. The vet took me into her office and told me they were 80% sure he had FIP, which is a fatal and incurable disease caused by a mutation in the coronavirus. She said his kidney and liver were failing and that he probably wouldn’t make it. It was up to me to euthanize or treat him, and I chose to treat him. I checked him into the hospital.”
“For 5 days he was in the hospital. It was a 30-minute train ride from my town but I visited him every day after work. On the second day he was weak but stable. He hadn’t eaten any food, but the IV hadn’t caused him to throw up again either. On the third day he started to eat. I stood by his cage and said, “eat Jon”, and he sniffed his food and started eating it.”
“BEST thing ever. On the fourth day he started playing and exploring in the exam room. On the fifth day, they tested his blood again and his levels were NORMAL. They said they had never seen any cat improve as fast as Jon did. I asked about FIP and they said they didn’t suspect it anymore. It is commonly mis-diagnosed. I was able to take him home on the sixth day.”
“At home, I gave him medication for his inflamed stomach and URI, anti-bacterial and steroidal eye drops, anti-fungal cream on his face that had lost all its fur, and liver supplements. At his one-week check-up, we took another blood test and I was given 2 more weeks of medication because the test showed he was still fighting infection.”
“Two weeks later, at his next checkup, we took another blood test and his WBC count was totally normal, no more infection! He did one more week of reduced dose medication, still getting all the other things (eye drops, cream, liver, etc.). At his checkup one week later, the vet said Jon was so healthy, all he needed was liver supplements every other day.”
“I have watched Jon improve every single day from the day I got him, and he is truly a little miracle. He loves to play with his toys and his boxes. He loves to eat his food and drink water. He never had to be litter box trained. He follows me around my apartment and always wants to be near me. He sleeps with me in my bed and sometimes right on top of my head on my pillow.”
“He loves to roll over on his back and get tummy scratches like a little puppy. He talks to me so much in little chirps. He was 1.5 kg and is now 4 kg. He goes crazy at dusk and loves his zoomies. His matted fur was all shaved off, but now he’s the floofiest cat ever. He’s such a curious and sweet kitty, and I love him with all of my heart! Thank you to everyone who has followed his story from the beginning and who donated to him or prayed for him in any way. Thank you thank you thank you!”
The good news is, Jon Snow is healthy and happy.
Rachel clearly loves him, and it’s a good thing they found each other. They will always be there for each other, and the bond they share is amazing. If she hadn’t spoken up and saved him, this beautiful cat would have been euthanized. Thanks to Rachel, everyone can watch him live a happy life on social media.
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