Just like the title character in the musical “Hamilton,” the cat with the same name didn’t throw away his shot at life.
Neither did his owners nor the internal medicine specialists in the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.
But it didn’t come easily for Hamilton, a five-year-old cat from Ames. Hamilton isn’t actually named after the “10 Dollar Founding Father” from the musical and American Revolution fame, but rather Hamilton Hall on the Iowa State campus. His brother is similarly named Curtiss after Curtiss Hall.
“It was several months ago, and I was working from home,” recalled Kim McDonough, Hamilton’s owner along with husband Dustin, “and I noticed he was always at the water dish. It was the same thing the next day.”
A trip to their local veterinarian determined Hamilton had anemia, a condition where there is a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells. He was prescribed antibiotics and steroids and sent home to get better.
Only he didn’t.
Wanting to give their cat his best shot at life, Kim and Dustin came to the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital. Multiple tests were done. Hamilton was found to be positive with feline immunodeficiency virus but that doesn’t cause anemia on its own. Subtle bloodwork changes suggested chronic kidney disease (CKD), but mild CKD would not normally produce anemia that severe.
But the internal medicine specialists at Iowa State did find something unexpected.
“There was significant protein in his urine, an unusual occurrence in cats,” said Dr. Laura Van Vertloo, associate professor of veterinary clinical sciences. “This case was challenging because Hamilton’s abnormalities did not fit neatly into a single diagnosis or at least not a diagnosis that was apparent to us at first.”
After a few days in the Iowa State ICU, Hamilton went home but his condition didn’t improve. Things go so bad that the McDonough family was seriously considering whether Hamilton’s quality of life was worth going on.
Then out of the blue came a late night call from their primary veterinarian asking for a photo of Hamilton’s paws.
It seemed that Hamilton wasn’t going to throw away his shot at life after all.
Van Vertloo and several other Iowa State veterinary medicine professors were attending a conference and went to a session where the speaker was describing a series of cases of immune-complex glomerulonephritis (ICGN) in cats. The cases had something in common, young adult, male cats who had protein in the urine, anemia that is worse than expected, and a relationship with retroviral diseases like FIV.
“It was a light bulb moment for me because it made Hamilton’s strange constellation of clinical signs fit together perfectly,” Van Vertloo said. “I was so excited about this that I called Hamilton’s primary care veterinarian right after the lecture to tell her about how this would change our plans for moving him forward.”
One strange characteristic mentioned in the lecture is puffy and very sore paw pads in cats, hence the need for photos of his paws.
“Hamilton’s paws were really dry and flakey,” McDonough said. “I used to put Vaseline on his paws to help with that condition.”
That abnormality was confirmed during a re-check visit. A subsequent treatment was prescribed and soon Hamilton was moving just as well as a dancer in a Broadway musical.
“Just last week we saw Hamilton for a re-check and his blood work suggests a good response to treatment so far,” Van Vertloo said.
But for now Hamilton and the McDonoughs are happy for a second shot.
“After the first round of treatments, it was like we had a new cat,” McDonough said. “He went from his death bed to being a kitten again. I had forgotten how mischievous he was. He has beaten the odds for now.”
Or maybe Hamilton just didn’t want to throw away his shot at life.
September 2025
