Meet gorgeous 10 year old Norma! (Also known as Peanut, as she’s not much bigger than a small 6 month old kitten).

Norma came to BFFR as her owner passed away, leaving this sweet little senior fending for herself in the harsh winter conditions. With thanks to a kind hearted neighbour who couldn’t bare to see her going without, she was brought to our attention. Poor Norma was fading away and wouldn’t have survived much longer on her own.

It was organised that she would be transported straight to Lynbrook Vet as she was very underweight, anaemic, and severely dehydrated. Norma was so malnourished that she required 3 days at the vet on fluid therapy and supportive care. During this time the Lynbrook staff fell in love with Norma and showed her lots of love to brighten her spirit. It was found that is Norma is FIV Positive and, sadly, because her previous owners never desexed her, she has large Mammary Tumors growing all over her abdomen.

We weren’t sure if Norma’s condition would improve or worsen, but we knew we could promise her love and safety for the time she had left. We found her an absolutely lovely foster family who are committed to showing Norma love, compassion and end of life care if Norma’s condition worsened.

Since coming to us Norma has blossomed and found her love for life chasing balls of string and spending her days cuddling up on her foster carers lap getting spoilt.

Sadly, despite her new found joyful spirit, we recently received the devastating news after preforming chest x-rays that the tumours have already spread to Norma’s lungs. This means that the surgery we had in mind to hopefully extend her life by removing the tumours and having her desexed is now totally out of the question. The exact causes for the development of mammary tumors in cats is not fully understood. However, exposure to the female reproductive hormones, estrogen and progesterone, significantly increases the risk for mammary cancers in cats.

Mammary cancers are often seen mainly in middle-aged to older cats (around 10 years of age). Surgery to remove one or a whole side of breast tissue is by far the best treatment, but unfortunately in Norma’s case, as the tumours have already spread to her lungs, surgery is not recommended.

To say we are devastated is an understatement, especially given Norma’s tumours could have most likely have been prevented if she had of been spayed when she was young.

With surgery no longer an option for Norma our main goal now to ensure her last week and hopefully months with us are full of love and enrichment.

Our wonderful friends at Woods For Cats are passionate about raising awareness for responsible pet ownership by educating cat owners on the importance of desexing their cats and offering enrichment to their lives.

Woods For Cats have kindly donated one of their pawsome cat scratcher couches for us to raffle off in honour of Norma and to help us to cover some of the high medical expenses for our special needs cats.

Would you like the chance to win this great prize for your kitty whilst also helping support animals in need?