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Funds For Freya

Freya's Story: Freya came to me early September with her 4 siblings at roughly 6/7 weeks old. They were found living on the streets of Philadelphia. They had pneumonia, giardia, and were extremely malnourished. Animal control found them and took them to ACCT Philly animal shelter. I, a rescue foster, took in Freya and her siblings to nurse them back to health and find them forever homes. However, 24 hours after arriving at my home, I realized there was something wrong with Freya outside of the already known issues. She seemed to be the only kitten with diarrhea, did not appear to have control of her bowels and her rectum was swollen and raw. In hopes it was connected to the other issues, I monitored her for a few days while they got started on all the appropriate medications. After about a week, Freya’s symptoms were not getting better so I made an appointment at Harleysville Vet Hospital to have her looked at. Immediately the vet wanted to get x rays and rule out Megacolon. The x rays showed that was not the case. We treated Freya with injectable antibiotics and steroids in hopes it was an intestinal infection. During this time we felt it was best to separate Freya from her siblings in order to better monitor her individually. 2 weeks later Freya was still not any better, she was actually worse. She was losing weight, did not have a great appetite and was still seemingly incontinent. Another trip to Harleysville Vet Hospital where we did 1 more round of injectable antibiotics and steroids. We added a dietary supplement gel to help with appetite and weight lose. 2 more weeks went by and there was not much change. Freya was no longer having diarrhea and her rectum was getting better but was still not normal. Now the issue seemed to be that Freya was having constipation issues and her bowel movements were causing her great pain. At this point, Freya’s siblings were all adopted and she was completely alone.
We decided to get a second opinion at Ambler Veterinary Hospital. The doctor tried a prescription digestion diet and Enulose (a laxative) in hopes Freya had a hypersensitive digestive system. In order to see if this treatment plan would solve the issue we decided to monitor Freya for 3-4 weeks. The Enulose made a huge difference however she was still having bouts of constipation about 1-2 times a week.

Finally we made the decision to make an appointment at BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Hospital with an internal specialist. The vet specialist examined Freya and confirmed she too did not believe it was Megacolon. She wanted to get updated x-rays and bloodwork to help narrow down the search for a diagnosis. Freya’s bloodwork came back completely normal and her x-rays were normal as well besides the large amount of stool sitting in Freya’s colon. Based on this information the specialist believes Freya may have a stricture in her colon or rectum. This is treatable however, in order to fully diagnose and treat Freya, she will need a colonoscopy. Finally, we were leaning in the right direction and were getting some answers. Then came the not so great news... the colonoscopy and hospital care for the day of procedure will cost anywhere between $4200-$4600, which does not include any aftercare follow ups appointments."

For a very small local rescue, that amount of money is not something we have readily available. At this point we have dedicated nearly $800 trying to diagnose Freya’s illness. The specialist facility will not allow us to participate in payment plans and will not offer a rescue discount. We decided to up her laxative dosage daily while we tried to raise the money for her procedure.

It has been almost a month since Freya was seen at the specialist hospital. We have a GoFundMe for her which was shared on all social media platforms and we have tried to apply for a grant as well. We haven't even reached the halfway mark on the GoFundMe and we were denied for the grant because they are only offering help to dogs, not cats.

We are currently searching for more grants to apply for and contacting other facilities that may be able to help Freya for less or who will allow us to use payment plans.

Organizer

Kelsey Nicole
Organizer
Lansdale, PA

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