Hello, my name is Attila! And I’ma pirate cat… and a lucky cat!
Maybe while reading my story you may think I’m not that lucky… but despite that, I know I’m lucky… so let me show you why!
I bear the name of a brave viking, a warrior, and that’s really appropriate even though my mom surely never thought that I would need to be so brave in my nine lives’ lifetime!
When I was a ikitty I was pretty beautiful (IMHO! ;) ) and very much loved, I lived like a king in my little house with Mommy and Granny and didn’t have a single care in the world, apart from choosing what butterfly I’d hunt in my nice garden on a sunny day or which armchair would feel cozier to take a warm nap in winter.

THEN ONE DAY, I SUDDENLY FELT SICK

My eyes were swollen and Mommy took me to a mad in a white coat who stung me twice with a needle and said I had a flu.
I had to see that man many times because in the end it turned out I didn’t have a flu (this is one of Momy’s weird behaviors: she loves me so much but she keeps having me stung by those needles… it’s strange, isn’t it? Almost as strange as the fact that she can’t purr… but she’s Mommy and she’s perfect to me anyway!).
In the end the vet said I had FIP.
Now I can tell that is a really bad, bad thing… Mommy and Granny poured floods of waters out of their eyes (and when humans do that, it’s a very bad sign, you know…) but then they didn’t believe that and decied no to send me to the Rainbow Bridge (obviously! There isn’t a single river around here, how could they find a bridge? How silly!). More doctors kept stinging me a lot and in the meantime my right eye was feeling funny. Not right at all, believe me.
It hurt, I couldn’t see very well and it felt as if it was about to pop right out of my head… that was scary! But I’m a warrior cat and I kept my mouth shut and my tail upright, while Mommy told me everything would be alright.
I was a good boy, as she told me to be, and one day I fell asleep and awake to a new, odd feeling… my right eye was hurting in a different way and I felt it wasn’t there anymore… in fact, I had become a pirate cat!
It was a very hard time, I was hurting all over, stopped eating and just slept, numbly, waiting for the pain to end while mommy took care of me all the time. And it did, one day, the pain stopped and ever since people call me “Little Pirate” which is not bad, but “Attila the Warrior” or “Attila the Beautiful” definetely suit me better! ;)

ALL THE STINGING WASN’T IN VAIN

Then one day all the stinging wasn’t in vain and the vet has great news: he knew what my disease was! It’s called aspergillus fumigatus (what a disgusting name! Couldn’t his mom give it a more sensible name, like Attila???) and it’s a fungus.
How could it get inside me??? However, it decided to move right into my head and make the back of my eyes his new home and to do that it ate my eye out!
The vet fed me many disgusting drugs and in the end he found the right one, it’s called Noxafil.
I heard Mommy say that it’s not available in Italy, it can only be sold to humans who are hospitalized, and it costs 1200 € but luckily we had one for free for “research”. I drank it all as a good boy and I finally got rid of the fungus!

OR SO WE THOUGHT…

Or so we thought… after a few months I was sick again, Mommy knew the fungus was back and took to see more vets, and that lead to more stinging.
I was very, very angry. What was with this Aspergillus? How did it find its way back in? (They say though my nose… I can’t believe it stuck up my nose and I didn’t see it!) Did it really need my other eye? I wouldn’t give it up, it was the only eye I had left and I needed it, for butterfly-hunting and more really important feline tasks!
Noxafil was over, and Mommy had to go to Switzerland to buy it. It costed 800 € and we didn’t have all that money…
… Mommy looked for help and many good hearted people helped us raise the money to buy it! We got to know so many new friends, so may kind and generous people who didn’t even know us but donated the little they could to help me…
Mommy said I wouldn’t be alive, without them. I don’t know what that means, but she pured more water from her eyes when she said that, and I licked it sheepeshly from her face… it was warm and salty, and it made me sad.
I drank my Noxafil again, but… it didn’t work anymore!
! The fungus had grown smart and knew how to fight… it fighted and stuck to my eye… I’m a warrior, and I’m brave… but I was tired. I’m not complaining, but I was fed up with this fungus, I wanted it out of my system. I couldn’t take it anymore. Mommy took me to a big hospital in Milan, they put me in a machine called CAT SCAN (obviously, since I’m a cat… they must have DOG SCANS as well because there were many dogs waiting for their doctors there, as well!) and stuck tubes up my nose, they did me something called rhynoscopy I think… I don’t know, I felt dizzy and tired and all sleepy so I don’t remember.
The evil fungus was still there, they said. More water from Mommy’s eyes.
But then we ran into an Australian researcher, Dr. Vanessa Barrs! She’s such a kind, brilliant, amazing doctor! She knew everything about orbital Aspergillus Fumigatus (it seems my fungus has relatives who moved abroad…!) and she explained how to cure it and make it go away.
We needed a new drug, called Ambisome. As before, this drug wasn’t available in Italy (why??? Isnt’ a cat allowed to have aspergillosis in Italy, I wonder?) and Mommy went to Switzerland (it must be far, I’ve never been there…) again to buy a vial, that costed 200 €!
A vial lasted 3 weeks and it’s not a nice drug: a doctor had to stick a needle in my vein and I had to keep it for 3 hours while the drugs infused into my blood… I had to do this every other day and I was a patient, good boy as long as the vet put a nice green patch on my paw after the cure…
It matched wondefully with my orange fur and at home I could sit in my garden and show it off proudly!
But one day… oh, my god! The doctor put a PINK patch on my orange fur and it’s honestly disgusting!!! I had to tear it off my paw!

MANY PEOPLE WAS THERE TO HELP ME

Unfortunately Mommy was sad in those days. She said if this cure wouldn’t work, I’d have to fly over to the Rainbow Bridge (that Bridge again! Doesn’t she know that cats can’t fly, anyway?) and if my kidneys were damaged we couldn’t do anything different because we’ve tried all known therapies.
Plus, she said we couldn’t affor to buy more medicines, so I said: “Mom, there’s so may people in the world. I can see them passing by while I sit in my garden, I can see them in their cars when we drive to the doctor’s, I can see them moving and talking in that box you watch in from of the sofa… they will help us!” But she shook her head, she said it’s not that simple.
You know what? It was! She asked for help though this website and people helped us buy all the medicines I needed! I told her it was that simple, because I know people are good and good people don’t think “it’s just a cat”!

BAD NEWS

Unfortunately in April I had to do some more tests in Milan and we had some bad news: the fungus refused to move out of me and invited all his freidns and relatives to live inside my eye and nose! In fact, I couldn’t breathe well.
The anesthesia did me no good: when I woke up I was feeling miserable, I was scared and my paws didn’t move… it took me days tor ecover and I was never the same.
The doctor said I couldn’t bear more anesthesias (I never really liked them anyway!) and my eye was hurting really bad… it even stopped working and my sight grew dim and hazy.
I was very sad and stopped eating and playing and going out in the garden: what was the point, when I couldn’t even see butterflies, my Mommy, my couch?

One day “convulsions” started (Mommy called them so) and some doctors said they were caused by the fungus having reached my brain, while some other suggested they were caused by that bad anesthesia…
I don’t know, but Mommy started to see more doctors to investigate this and find a cure, when one day something totally unexpected happened.
I felt convulsions coming, very bad ones, and the suddenly… nothing! I was so excited and happy! I was so euphoric I wanted to jump out of my skin! I wasn’t sick anymore!
I wanted to tell Mommy and Granny and all my friends, it was the best day in my whole life! But then I felt something was wrong… it took me a while but then I realized that I was seeing with both my eyes!
I was more than okay, I was an ex-pirate now! But Granny was leaking water from her eyes, and later my Mommy came by and she did that too… a lot of salty water from their eyes, like never before. I licked it and purred as loud as I could, but they wouldn’t stop.

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

It was then, that I saw a brilliant light, all blue and green and maybe yellow, it was so beautiful… I turned around to see where it was from and I saw green grass, and endless garden where butterflies where flying around, with many trees to climb and sleep in their shadow, there was a couch like mine and a small lake and the sun was making my fur feel comfortably warm.
There came this red, white and black cat with a wise and serious gaze walking side by side to a black and white cat, with a white slash across his face with a solemn and understanding look, followed by many other cats, all looking serene and peaceful.
They told me: “We are Ambra From The Light and Kiwi The Cat and we welcome you to the Rainbow Bridge, o brave warrior named Attila. Come with us to your new home.” And suddenly I remem
bered that Mommy had once told me all about this so-called Bridge but I hadn’t understood exactly where it was… and somehow now I had found it!
I was reluctant to leave Mommy and Granny, but something in Ambra’s sweet eyes and Kiwi’s proud walk felt right to me and I knew I had to go.
I licked Mommy’s cheek some more and told her “I’ll be right back!” and followed my guides.
There was this endless unforgettable party, but every day here is a party! The sun is warm but never too hot, the grass is soft, I can run and hunt and doze and play and eat as much as I wish to, and I made tons of new friends!
There is no fear, no hunger, no sadness or loneliness on the bridge, it is as Mommy once told me, indeed. I wish she could see this.
I became really beautiful after coming here, my fur is soft and shiny, my eyes are bright and I can see very well and don’t feel pain anymore, isn’t it great?
First thing I did, was asking if there was any fungus around here… you know? ;) They assured me no fungus will ever be allowed, so I can really say I’m having the time of my life here!
I go back to Mommy every day, I meow, I purr to her, I lick her face and the salty waters that keeps coming down her cheeks and I tell her I’m alright. Ambra said she’s going to stop one day and that I’ve got to keep coming to see her every day… of course I will, until that distant day will come, when she’s coming here here I am and we’ll be together forever! br>

I’LL NEVER FORGET YOU!

I’ve been a lucky cat, a warrior cat, a pirate cat, a loved and cherished cat, a cat with many friends, a cat who’s been brave and taught others to be brave and to hop, but above all I hope I’ll be cat who will never be forgotten, because I will never forget any one of you, you will always have a special place in my heart.
And now please excuse me, I just saw this incredible butterfly and I can’t lose her… gotta go!!!