Lilith's Final Vet Costs and Cremation

UPDATE as of February 16th: Lilith is no longer with us, but unfortunately the costs for his treatments are, as well as the costs for cremation and ER visit. Any help at this very difficult time would mean the world. At the time of setting this page up, we were hoping for a little bit of help with the costs of his treatment for the urinary tract infection and blockage as it was quite a high bill, but we never expected we were going to lose him so soon.

FROM THE INITIAL POST JANUARY 25th 2014: This here is our beloved cat Lilith (he's a boy cat, but he ended up with a girls name)"Š. He's been with us since he first meowed at our front door at midnight when he was a six week old kitten. That was fifteen years ago and we've been the best of friends since. His life has been one of ups and downs health wise, surviving being hit by a car, then contracting FIV in his younger years has meant a slew of health problems for the poor boy, especially later in his life.

His most recent issue was a urinary tract blockage and infection that required intensive veterinary care involving several days of hospitalisation, catheterisation, IV fluids and several different medications. Lilith is no stranger to illness, in the last few years he's had a prolapsed lens on his eye which required the lens to be removed, then months later his eye split open along where the scaring on the eyeball was, which meant a total removal of his eye was necessary. He was diagnosed with an adenocarcinoma of the mammary glands (an extremely rare occurrence in male cats) and had that successfully removed. He's battled ongoing urinary tract infections and antibiotic resistant super bugs, skin infections, uveitis, feline influenza and more. He's on daily medications and gets regular injections for his arthritis and bladder issues. As you can probably imagine, none of this comes cheap. He's been back home with us for a little under a week and is doing ok, despite seeming a little drowsy from his muscle relaxant medications. He's had some urine leakage again, so he's back to the vet tomorrow (5/2/14)"Š, which will mean more ongoing treatment, and an even bigger bill than the one we already have.

In times past we've managed to put together enough for treatment and make payment arrangements with our vet, but this particular instance has come at an especially hard financial time for us. Late last year we had a rather expensive house move that left us out of pocket and significantly over budget due to a number of things going wrong. We were in our new house less than a week before I nicked my skin shaving my legs, which then progressed to an infection which spread rapidly, directly above where I had pins and plates in the bones of my ankle from when I broke it as a teenager. I ended up being treated for osteomylitis and having to have surgery to remove the pins and debride the bone, and was put on long term IV and oral antibiotics, and consequently l was off work for almost three months. Plus a lot of things weren't covered by my health insurance, so I was out of pocket for doctors gap fees, orthopedic, mobility and rehabilitation equipment, a huge amount of prescription medications, travel expenses and other miscellaneous costs. Basically, it was an expensive time all round. Then just as it looked like things were looking a little brighter and we could start saving again, poor Lilith became sick.

So you can probably see why it's come at such a bad time. This vet bill came in around $1600, and we've only so far managed to pay around $300 of that. This isn't by far his largest bill, but it's come at a particularly hard time for us. Any help you can give will be gratefully and humbly received. We made a promise to Lilith when he was young that we'd always be there to look after him and that we'd do everything in our power to help him lead a happy and healthy life. I say without a hint of hyperbole that he's my best friend, and I truly would do anything for him. Lilith also has a kitty brother and three kitty sisters who love him very much, especially his brother Merlin and his sister Alice, who he's particularly close to. They pined and were generaly miserable while he was away.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any help you could give, even the smallest amount, would make a huge difference to Lilith and the whole family.

Please feel free to share this page with anyone you think may be interested. Thank you.