Andy's Medical Bills

Friends & Family,
Some of you know Andy very well, some of you are members of his very own imaginary fanclub, some of you have made art/drawings of him, some of you have taken care of him when we've been out of town, some of you adore this guy as much as we do and could easily spend an eternity caressing his shiny and soft furcoat - even if in just a dream.



Andy is 9 years 5 months old right now, he has suffered from GI (gastrointestinal) issues since he was a kitten; he is part of that 20% of cats who don't prefer Whiskas. He's been through many diet changes, and that probably explains why he loves to eat without restrain.



About 18 months ago he had to be hospitalized due to a severe case of constipation, and he was close to being diagnosed with "Megacolon" (his colon streched out enough to lose most of its elasticity, causing trouble passing stools); after this, his health has been pretty much up and down. 



On Sunday April 6th, we noticed something was wrong: Andy was not desperately begging for his dinner; we had to bring his bowl of food to the couch and then he ate the whole thing - but he vomited the next morning. Monday the 7th was pretty much a hard day for him, as he kept vomiting whatever was left in his empty stomach.

Ever since Monday the 7th, we've been in and out of hospitals, trying to figure out the reason for his loss of appetite, his fever, and his diahrea. Tests of all kinds were run, leaving him tired and underweight; he had to start being syringe-fed, and stayed a couple of nights at the ICU of the Austin Vet Hospital on IV fluids. We could not get an accurate diagnosis because that meant travelling to another hospital and invasive/aggressive interventions that would have debilitated him even more, so we decided to get him out of crisis with a steroid treatment, and buy some time to look for alternative cures or at least have him enjoy his last days at home with us - his family.



Yes, there is no way to know how long he'll live with this chronic condition, since his spleen and intestines are in bad shape; but we sure know we want him to be happy and relaxed as much as possible and for as long as it's not against his will. 



I created this campain to ask for help paying Andy's medical bills. In just one single week we had to upfront about two thousand dollars for hospital expenses. Since we don't have a car, and we have had to heavily rely on a car2go rental, we are expecting another fat bill. We've also been paying for Reiki sessions that have helped him enormously during his first two days of "recovery" - he's been eating one to two spoonfulls of tuna on his own ever since. We are also expecting more drug/medication expenses in the coming weeks (months?) and we have to be ready for surprises or last minute decisions. 

It's been really tough. There is nothing worse than seeing a loved one in pain, so we're doing all of this to get him to a better place. If you own any pets you probably understand our pain. 

Skip your next Starbucks coffee and spare five dollars if you have them. If you don't trust online platforms or internet money transfers, we can take a check or cash. 

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Anhelo & Jason