Aleister's Vet Care

The handsome boy above is our 4-year-old tuxedo cat, Aleister, the sweetest cat I've ever owned. He rolls over to ask for belly rubs, even from strangers. He LOVES attention. He plays fetch. He sleeps on my pillow at night. He has never been sick a day in his life, until this winter.

The week of New Year's, Aleister developed a urinary tract infection, which we treated with antibiotics. When we took him to the vet for a recheck on January 18th, we were told that even though the infection is gone, he had developed a chronic condition known as idiopathic urinary tract disease, but we weren't really concerned because he had been acting normal. The next day, Sunday, January 19th, he suddenly developed complications and had to be brought in for urgent care on Monday, the 20th. The cause is unknown, and in Aleister's case, it causes his urethra to spasm so he has trouble urinating, which can cause bladder rupture or kidney failure. He did not seem to improve after the urgent care visit on the 20th, and that night had to be taken to the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital for emergency care.

He seemed okay the next day when we took him back to our family vet, and we tried to treat him with medication, but he required a catheter last week, on January 23rd, and was hospitalized at the vet. The vet hoped to keep the catheter in for at least 24 hours, but that night, after the vet closed, Aleister managed to slip out of his e-collar and pull out his catheter, which had been sutured in place. The vet didn't want to put the catheter back in in case Aleister pulled it out again, so the only way they were willing to recatheterize him is if he went to a facility that had around-the-clock monitoring. Nonetheless, the brief catheterization seemed to help, so they sent him home with us, and we successfully treated him with medication for about six days.

Yesterday morning, we found that the medications were starting to wear off long before his next dose was due. We consulted with the vet, and the only option was another catheterization, at a facility with 24-hour care. The cost estimate for this is below:





They required the low end of the estimate ($1748.86) as a deposit.

Here are Aleister's other bills. The original urinary tract infection:



The cost for his recheck (I did not include the cost of the C/D Multicare food, special food to help improve the health of his urinary tract, when I calculated the total cost of his vet bills):



The cost for his urgent care visit and medications:


The cost of the emergency visit to the veterinary teaching hospital (it's hard to read because it's a duplicate form, but it was $211):




The cost of the first catheterization:



I am a graduate student. I get paid by the university to teach and do research, but the low end of the current estimate is over a tenth of what I make in a year. Aleister's care has cost us over $2800 so far, which I have paid out of the money I had saved to pay our bills this summer (I am not guaranteed summer funding by the university, and it can be difficult to find a job in a college town). This current catheterization is not even a sure cure--if it fails, he will require a perineal urethrostomy, which will cost another $1000, which at this point we cannot afford. We love Aleister dearly and want to do what's best for him, but we are running out of money, and don't know what else to do. Any amount you can donate will help! Please help save our little boy.