Let me introduce you to Lyra.

Lyra is my second cat. A tabby, adopted from a person who I heard through various channels was going to give her to a shelter if no one adopted her. She claimed Lyra was good with other cats and my first cat YT was a bit....troublesome and I thought she needed a friend.

Well, Lyra turned out to be a bit of a scaredy cat and at some point in her life was possibly abused. She hated being held and was terrified when someone approached to pet her with BOTH hands. One was ok, two was not ok.

Over the last 7 years Lyra bonded with me, eventually let me pet her with 2 hands and OCCASIONALLY would actually crawl into my lap.



Lyra has had no health problems at all. Until this Memorial Day. During the day I found her laying out in an unairconditioned area of the apartment. It was weird, but I thought maybe she was just dealing with the heat.

I knew something was wrong when I found her laying in the bathtub, which she has NEVER done. She looked at me but wouldn't approach for pets, I picked her up and cradled her and then knew she had to go to the vet. She HATES being picked up, and now she was tolerating it.

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At the vets Lyra had blood drawn and they found the follwing:

- Normal temperature, though some dehydration

- High glucose which could possibly NOT mean diabetes as cats produce this when scared. And Lyra was terrified.

- High Sodium, which more than likely was causing the symptoms.

High sodium is very dangerous, Lyra needed to be taken in for observation and careful treatment to slowly lower her sodium. During this time we had an ultrasound done which ruled out kidney problems.

We still don't know what caused Lyra's sodium spike. But she is now under observation for a second 24 hours. To allow for additional sodium level decrease.

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All of this is devastatingly expensive. And although I sound calm, I have been a total wreck. I honestly cannot afford what all these treatments will cost, and Lyra's current treatment has been through the help of two incredible friends. One who let me use their Care Credit to pay for the hospital stay and another who when even on the West Coast paid for Lyra's Ultrasound.

But my friend cannot pay the Care Card bill nor can I possibly expect them too.  Unfortunatly I have no savings and have been in finanical trouble for several years. I only just started to recover with a new job and managed debt. Then, of course, this other shoe drops.

It caused me unbelievable guilt to think that I might not be able to protect my cat because of lack of money.

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I don't like doing this, asking my friends and aquaintances for money to help me pay for the care of one of my fur kids. But knowing my need, many of you contacted me and asked me how you could help and encouraged me to move forward with this site. Your words and well wishes gave me a bit of hope and helped me get through these last few days.

I don't forget those who help me and I make sure that one way or another I will pay any help received forward.

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Details:
Lyra's care minus the donated Ultrasound treatment is currently at $2100. I do not know what other fees lie on the horizon as we need to see how she responds to the next 24 hours. Overnight fee's are tremendous, and lower priced facilities we are familiar with and trust are booked solid.

So that is my basis for setting a goal of $3000

 - I used GoFundMe rather than PetChance because I will need to pay the CareCredit directly. PetChance pays the vet hospital directly. This could cause problems and delays especially if Lyra needs more care.

- If there is money that is not needed. I will donate it to the Paw Project Campaign to make declawing illegal. http://www.pawproject.org/

- If anyone wants to see the current bills, I will have them scanned and ready for viewing shortly. I will send copies on request.

- If you have any questions please feel free to ask and contact me via GoFundMe.






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