Help Papyrus the Kitten

UPDATE: Unfortunately, there was nothing else we could do. He's gone now. Please refer to the "updates" section for a more detailed post... But please know I appreciate your time, donations, prayers, and well-wishes a great deal. I know he did too. Thank you, and take care.


There's a long and a short to this story. Here's the short version to begin, but I'll provide the long afterwards for those who would be interested.

My name is Rachel. I suppose the easiest way to introduce myself is to say that I take care of cats, both at work and at home. I love animals of all kinds, and am committed to taking care of animals who need extra attention. I have a soft spot for the emaciated, injured, scruffy, or under-loved cats that I meet, I have a bad habit of fussing and over-worrying myself about the cats I work with. Right now, I have 4 kittens of my own: one who is blind, two who are missing an eye, and one who is missing an eye and shows symptoms of a neurological condition. Until recently, we thought it was Cerebellar Hypoplasia, but now it seems that things could be much, much worse.

My kitten--Papyrus--is in a bad way. He was struggling to breathe a few nights ago, and now it seems like things might be escalating. He's a foster kitten technically, one of the many cats taken care of by my employer, Faithful Friends Animal Society. But they cannot cover his costs, so I have taken those costs upon myself. But now, these costs are falling outside of my budget.

Right now--as I understand it--the bill will be around $3000; my fiance and his mother have already helped me cover a good deal of this. But, as they continue to look at Papyrus, it seems like things could be getting out of our price range. Every night he stays in emergency care costs $200 dollars, not to mention the price of drugs, treatments, and procedures on top of that. 

Now that they've examined him more, they've discovered that there's fluid accumulating in his chest cavity: pus, mostly. Very germy and icky... They pulled about 16ml out of him; that's a lot, for a cat who weighs only a few pounds. They've put in a chest tube to help drain the fluid, and we're waiting on a bacterial culture to give us some answers. But the vet at least, believes that this makes the problem far more treatable. 

But beyond that, the vet suspects that the problem might be in his brain. An MRI--among other treatments--might be necessary in the future. That would likely be another $2300, if not more... But right now we just want to get him out of critical condition.

I have $4000 in my savings account. I'll be selling a good portion of my personal belongings if I can, but I still worry if I have enough money to keep trying. Though the vet will be working with me to try and defray the cost where possible, there's no telling what charges we'll accrue. Nobody would blame me for giving up now, except for myself. I don't want to give up yet, and I don't think he does either. 

When we saw him the other day, he meowed at us and tried to move around, he's doing way better than he was before. It's amazing to see him recovering even this much, when nobody believed we could fix this.

But, I won't lie to you, his chances aren't good. My employer will not pay for a cat whose prognosis is this bad, they have too many cats with better chances they need to look out for. But me? I have 4 cats I need to look out for, and this is one of them. I can't give up until I know I've done all I can for him. Asking people for money--something that I never like doing--is my very last resort.

I need to raise as much money for him as I can, in a very short time. Please: any contribution you make would mean the world to me, my fiance, his siblings, our families, my coworkers, and one very special little cat.

~~~

Now, here's the long version. This is why this cat means so much to me, and perhaps why he means so much to everyone who has met him.

I have known Papyrus since he was about 1 week old, a tiny little cat who came in with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My employer--Faithful Friends-- took these kittens in, much like they took me in when I was looking for work and had to volunteer to try and bolster my incredibly meager work experience, and maintain my Food Benefits. For those who don't know the place, it is a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter, responsible for community outreach, veterinary services for low-income pet owners, as well as many other wonderful things that would be better explained by asking any number of cats, dogs, and people whose lives they have touched. Papyrus--my cat--is one such life.

From someone's backyard, they came in with severe upper respiratory infections and ulcerated eyes. They were--and still are--some of the most severe cases I have ever seen come in to the shelter, and I'm sure a lot of my coworkers would agree. They were tiny little fluffballs, but they are now almost a year old, and have surprised everyone with their recovery.

At the time, their names were Iris, Irene, Isaac, Ian, and Ivan. As you can see, they're sort of hard to tell apart... So in my head as I cared for them, I gave them nicknames, based on a game I was playing at the time.

Gaster

Braille

Sans

and of course...

Papyrus

Anyone who is familiar with the game "Undertale" will probably understand immediately why I called them this: there's laid-back Sans, oddball Gaster, and of course... spunky Papyrus. His brother always looked out for him, even when he started to display signs of a neurological condition.  All three big siblings love their little bro; even his sister (whose name we chose just to keep the font theme running) despite the fact that she can't see him.










Sans has been there for his brother through a lot, their bond was so strong, that Sans would cry when they were apart. Everyone at the shelter loves these little guys; I wouldn't dare claim that I love them most, or even know the most about what's best for them. But these kittens had a place in my heart and I couldn't stop thinking about them. Eventually, I decided to adopt them for my own, because they just meant so much to me.

While I was kitten-proofing my home, two volunteers at Faithful Friends were kind, dedicated, and loving enough to take Sans and Papyrus into their home for fostering. Maya and Marco love these two, and did so much more than anyone asked them to. Maya spent most of her day caring for them, and Marco built Papyrus a walker for him to build his muscles and hopefully encourage him to walk--something he hasn't yet managed to do on his own.


I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful Maya and Marco are, or how much they contributed to the happiness of these two cats and myself, by extension.

Papyrus, is on long-term foster care. But in reality, I am paying his expenses myself at this point. The shelter thinks it is probably best to euthanize due to the cost involved and the low chance of recovery. I am sure many people would agree, and I wouldn't blame them. However, I want to what I can before I give up on my little buddy. If you can help--no matter how big or small you are able to--it would mean the world to me.

There is a sign at Faithful Friends that says "Saving one dog won't change the world, but it will change the world for that one dog." Though he's not a dog, the sentiment applies to all animals, or at least I believe so. Even if I am only able to raise enough money to help him live a little bit longer, and there is no saving Papyrus, anything you contribute will help. No matter what happens, any money donated will only go to help cats. If there is money in this fund left over from whatever arrangements come from this horrible mess of a situation, I will donate it to Faithful Friends.

Until my own resources are exhausted, I won't turn to the money raised here. This fund is more of a backup, in case we need to spend more than we can currently afford on treatments.

Seriously, thank you for reading this, sharing it, and donating if you can. In my line of work, I have seen too many animals lose their lives to illness and insufficient funds to treat that illness, and I don't want my baby to be another one.