Bosie's Emergency Surgery Fund

This is Lord Dorian Clarence, a.k.a. "Bosie." He is the love of my life. I happened upon him over six years ago, during an out-of-country visit to a close friend who was fostering his beautiful self for an URTI. He looked me straight in the eyes as he greeted me, and I knew I could not live the rest of my life without his company.

I spent several months in agony upon my return home, thinking that upon his return to the shelter, surely a thing as charming and persuasive as he would be adopted by somebody else, somebody who lived nearby, before I ever even had a chance. At that point, I was heading into my second year of my bachelor's degree, aloft and unstable in terms of my living arrangements. I told myself that if I secured a place apart from the campus dorms where I could comfortably provide for a cat, I would go back for Bosie if he was still available.

Months later, I did in fact find a place to live, and Bosie had ended up in my friend's loving care again before anybody else had managed to snatch him up. I immediately arranged for him to be brought to me, from Oregon, USA, all the way up to British Columbia, Canada. He crossed a border, rode a ferry, and protested the entire way.

I have spent six years out of the meager 24 of my life with this lovely gentleman. He is a complete and utter brat, who is artful, demanding and domineering. Above all, he is affectionate, gentle, and kind. He loves spooning, holding hands, kisses, and giving hugs. He comes when you call, purrs up a storm, and is always by your side, especially when you are in need of comfort.

He is my everything. He's been with me through thick and thin, cuddling all the way, and has never failed to charm a single professed "cat-hater" into submission.

Last Sunday, after regular vet hours, he took a nasty fall. We took him to the emergency vet, and the $500 CND visit was very generously covered by my roommate.

Being the intrepid explorer that he is, he jumped up above our fireplace and knocked an ornament over, and in twisting to avoid it, gave himself a very rare injury. He tore what is called his "cranial cruciate ligament," which is "one of the ligaments in the knee joint that helps to stabilize the knee."

This is an injury more often seen in dogs, and is usually cured by rest and minimal activity.

However, Bosie, being too fancy for pedestrian injuries, tore a piece of bone of of his tibia (the shin bone) with the ligament. Usually, only very dense material such as bone is visible on x-rays; ligaments generally appear translucent. In the place where there was supposed to be nothing, was a shard of sharp, sharp bone.

This piece of bone needs to be surgically removed, otherwise it will cause further inflammation, impeding mobility, and in the worst case scenario, affect his long-term quality of life by initiating the painful process of arthritis by further degrading the exposed tibia bone.

The projected cost of his surgery, post-op care and rehabilitative procedures comes to just under $2,500 CND.

During the emergency examination, the vet also noticed something worrying"”the presence of an abnormal heart rhythm, arrhythmia, in the form of a gallop murmur. While Bosie has comfortably made it to 10 long cat years, sometimes a heart murmur is an indication of a more severe problem, such as heart disease. Before they can even consider him a candidate for surgery, they must do a full heart workup to rule out the dangers of subjecting him to anesthesia.

This process was quoted to me just under $1,000 CND.

This work-up, combined with the full cost of surgery, and the fee for the emergency examination, makes the projected full cost of his fall just under $4,000 CND.

This is the first time in six years, discounting regular annual exams, that such an incident has happened and I have not been able to comfortably provide for him. I recently graduated from my bachelor's programme, setting the student loan debtors on my tail, and was simultaneously let go from my former job. It was a few months before I found stable employment again, of which I am currently in my third week of, and in that time in-betwen became quite financially destitute.

Fully considering the very generous donations my friends have already provided me, I am currently lacking approximately $2,500 CND for his treatment. He is my life. I want him to be as comfortable and as well-taken care of as possible, and have already arranged for these procedures to take place as soon as they can.

Anything will help, even just sharing this page. I plan to update with his progress, complete plenty of awful phone photographs, as these procedures take place. Even just for reading this, you have my eternal gratitude!