NEWS

Sep 25th 2009: Our friend Antonella has created three new and beautiful Attila's Calendar for the next year. You can download it in the "Download" section. Thanks Antonella, from me and all Attila's friend!!!!!

Jan 23th 2009: I would like to thank all those who think every day to my Attila, I see your candles lit every day for him and thoughts on the guestbook. Forgive me if the site was a little left to go but I was perhaps a little too selfish, thinking that there is no longer Attila still saddens me so much and it is not easy for me now to write here on his site.But is right for all of you that love him so much. I promise that I will attempt to update it as often as I can. Soon I'll put the photos of her little brother and sister of Attila, I am sure that he was a mandate for us to suffer less its lack, I think he wants you all know them. Hello to all, Attila's "mum", Valentina.

May 16th 2008: We put online a new section called "In Memory". Here you can find all sorts of tributes dedicated to Attila, be it drawings, pictures, poems, videos or whatever his story inspired. If you would like to add your personal tribute, please visit that page and sent it by email, we will put it online in a couple of days!

May 12th 2008: Light a candle for Attila, to show him your love and to show his family your support and encouragment. You can do it by clicking on the candle in the "Introduction" page. It will remain lit for 48 hours.

May 6th 2008: Attila is on the RAINBOW BRIDGE. He flew away at 4 p.m., after a violent crisis this morning made him fall into a coma. His family had to help him go where he belongs, up in Heaven among Angels like himself. RIP.

May 5th 2008: I'd like to let you see a new, short video of Attila: Here
Plus, if you would like to have a look at recent pictures, you can find plenty on Valentina's Blog , where Attila's Mommy uploads many pictures day by day. The most recent ones are on top, if you scroll down the page you'll find the older pictures.

May 5th 2008: This is the day when we thought Attila would leave us for good... we expected this day to be the saddest, but the river of hope and prayers that we sent up to the sky maybe wasn't in vain: a small sparkle of hope still shines for Attila! On Sunday he spent a peaceful day and he was feeling better: he ate, he walked out to the garden to lay in the sun, he was feeling better. A dear friend of Attila suggested that his convulsive attacks may not be ralted to the fungus reaching the brain, but may be a result of an cerebral edema caused by the last anesthesia they did him in Milan. After that you may remeber that he was feeling very well, not being able to walk and looking dizzy and confused. It may be true that something went wrong on that day, even though the vets denied this, and that brain damage was caused. If it is so, it can be cured and Attila may regain his functions and the attacks can be stopped. A trusted neurologist is going to talk to Valentina today to discuss about this and evaluate Attila's state. Besides, even though Attila's therapy with posaconazole is going on, we were strongly recommended a cure with colloidal silver (read more here) and today Valentina is going to talk to another vet who know a lot about this kind of therapy to check if it could be used on Attila. So don't give up hope and keep praying and sending your positive thoughts to Attila: perhapas a miracle may be on its way to reach our sweet Pirate!

May 2nd 2008: Attila is about to say goodbye and leave this world for a better place. Despite all the love and care that so many people, not just his Mommy and Granny, but all his vets and his friends have poured endlessly on him, our beloved, little, brave Pirate cat is tired, he's not going to make it. He's tired of fighting this fungus for his life, tired of pain. He deserves to leave this suffering behind and to go where he will have his eyes back, he will be healed and strong and he will be able to run and jump and hunt and play with other kittens without a single care in the world. Letting him go is the hardest decision ever, Valentina can't picture her life without her brave little boy, and you can only imagine how heartbreaking this is for her... but she knows that he's tired, she sees this in his eyes, in the way he purrs, in the way he licks her hand, in everything about him. He wants to go... keeping him here in this pain for a few more weeks would only be cruel and selfish, since recovery is just impossible. Unless a miracle happens, or unless he gets much worse than he is now, Attila is going to fly up to the Rainbow Bridge on Monday, surrounded by the pure love of his family. Think of him, then, pray for his little soul, let your love and prayers show him the way to a better place, where we will one day meet him again, where many of our beloved kittens are already waiting.

April 30th 2008: Attila is feeling terribily bad, his istuation is almost hopeless. Over the last 2 days he grew worse and worse, he almost stopped eating and moving, he just sits still and purrs to himself. He is blind. Yesterday in the evening he had convulsions that lasted 30 minutes: he was shaking out of control and the vet says this means that the fungus has found its way into the brain. At this point, there is almost no hope left for him. We wish we could help him, we wish we knew when it's time to let him go. This so heartbreaking, all the love, all our efforts were not enough to save him... Sweet Attila, what more can we do?

April 26th 2008: Today Mommy went to buy em another bottle of Noxafil. I told you we wanted to start a new therapy with VFEND, but my doctor said that the in vitro tests on Aspergillus with VFEND weren't better that the ones with Noxafil and so she thinks that the new therapy wouldn't be more effective. On the contrary, if it wans't good enough, it would take a few weeks before the signs show, and by then my situation would really be hopeless for recovery... so she suggests that I stay on the Noxafil therapy as before. Thanks to your donations, Mommy could afford to buy it (THANK YOU ALL!!!). Unfortunately there's bad news: my eye is sore and swollen and I can't see much... I'm very sad because of this, I don't feel like playing and going out. Mommy's even sadder than me, and I don't know whether my eye is going to get better...

April 19th 2008: Next week we will probably start a new therapy, with a drug called VFEND (voriconazole) that was strongly recommended by my beloved Australian veterinarian... we are a bit afraid to change the therapy, but we trust her very much so we will try this one, too. The examinations results showed that my situation hasn't changed over the last 2 months, which could be good (because the fungus would just eat me alive in a couple of weeks without the therapy) but hasn't brought me nearer to healing... so we need to try a different therapy to see if the fungus is less resistant to this one. Let's hope it works... PS: this other drug is NOT available in Italy and costs 700 €... for a change...

April 14th 2008: The vet confirmed that I'm having trouble working off the anesthesia they did me last week, that's why my paws are stiff and I can't walk very well. But today I'm feeling better and I think that in a few days I'll be my old self again! Now we're waiting for all the tests' results from the Hospital in Milan...

April 10th 2008: The day before yesterday Mommy and Granny took me to the vets in Milan. I meowed a little bit on my way there because I don't like staying in that cage they lock me in while in the car, so Mommy took me out and I could sit in her lap... it was comfortable and I wasn't afraid anymore! They made me sleep at the hospital, and they ran a CAT scan a a rhynoscopy (Mommy taught how to spell that!) to see if the fungus was gone. The doctor said it's still there, unfortunately, it's in my nose and won't go away... We are waiting for the examinations results to see if all those jections and infusions have been useful... Today I'm not feeling very well. When I woke up I was very angry and scared because I couldn't control my paws and I couldn't see anything. Luckily now my sight is back to normal and I can walk a little bit better, but I was really upset! I apologize if my memories of that day are a bit hazy, but Mommy says I haven't worked off the anesthesia and that's why I'm still lumsy and confused, and my paws aren't back to normal, yet. But don't worry for me, I'm a warrior! And soon I'll be back to normal! Meow!

April 8th 2008: Today I went to Milan for more testing and examinations to see if the fungus is getting weaker and if the therapy is working... soon we will KNOW! Hope and pray with me...