Hi, my name is Samantha Phillips. I am Danny Phillips' older sister. Lots of you know my brother as a really great friend from either school or working/living with him in the Navy from 2015 to 2024. Jumping around the country, my brother found himself at his final base in Washington State before being honorably discharged. While in WA, he made a temporary but stable life. He purchased his first condo, a truck, and took in two sweet male cats, Binks and Tibbles.

In October of 2024, Danny then packed and moved his life, as well as Binks and Tibbles, across the country to come live with my family and me so he could have the time to establish a life here back home in Rhode Island.

Fast forward to Monday, October 6th, 2025. Binks and Tibbles are just 4 and 3 years old. They are still babies. Some will look at most animals and say they are just cats. But most will also understand that pets are like your kids and that you will virtually do anything for them. Binks started to display symptoms of being in discomfort. On Tuesday, 10/7, I learned he was not well and worsening. That night his symptoms scared me; Binks was in lots of pain, lying in odd spots, staring at the walls, vomiting six times, not urinating, and experiencing extreme fatigue. I left for work that night at 10:30 pm. My plan was to take him to his vet after I got out of work at 7 am, but I was actually unsure if he would make it through the night while I was working. On Wednesday, 10/8, Danny had a huge day ahead of him at URI. It being one of his long days at school through the week, I jumped to bring Binks. Danny called his vet, North Paws in Greenville. They had no openings but were told to bring him to VEG ER in Warwick. I got home, took my children to school, and took Binks to VEG and was there by 8:30 am. At 8:45 am, it was confirmed that Binks was having a medical emergency; diagnosed with a urinary obstruction and his bladder was about to burst. His blood work results were so elevated, their machine couldn't get accurate numbers. He was hours away from death. I called Danny right away, and the veterinarian spoke to him on speakerphone. That's where Danny was met with the financial hardship of just getting Binks to be stable, which was around $7,000. Danny agreed and applied for a payment plan. From there, Binks went under sedation to perform the procedure to drain his bladder. I watched them drain out 150 mL of bloody urine, in which the average cat's bladder is able to hold about 45 mL to 90 mL but is able to expand before it bursts, which is ultimately a fatal event. The staff flushed his bladder with saline in hopes of getting all debris out. After the procedure was complete, Binks came out of sedation and then had imaging taken of his bladder. The scan showed that although Binks' bladder was emptied and flushed, there were still a large number of stones deep inside his urinary tract, too large for flushing, meaning that surgery is warranted. After his imaging, Binks was placed inside his kennel where he is currently being watched 24 hours a day. Currently, Binks has an indwelling catheter, an IV, and a port for blood work. He is getting blood drawn multiple times a day.

At this time, Binks is on a roller coaster. So far since Wednesday, tests are showing that Binks was at one time worsening and not recovering like normal cats do after an event like this. Doctors explained to my brother that he likely has irreversible kidney damage, may need dialysis, and a possible blood transfusion since he was losing significant amounts of blood. Totally prepared to say goodbye, Danny was called early Friday morning, 10/10, to let him know that overnight his kidney levels have dropped instead of him becoming worse like expected. Still at very high kidney levels at this point, Binks is still not surgery eligible. Therefore, if he were to have surgery right now, he'd die on the table. Saturday morning, 10/11, my brother got another call explaining that his levels have dropped again. The trend is showing that he is progressing very, very, very slowly toward surgery.

At this point, Binks is already a miracle.

When surgery day comes, Binks will have to be transported to Tufts Veterinary Hospital, Ocean State, or hopefully his own vet at North Paws to get surgery. Unknown at this time. The bill will come to around $10,000 extra on top of his care at VEG. Danny is never likely to ask for money, which is why I told him I am going to create this page for him. Danny's cats are everything to him, and if he doesn't at least try to get Binks everything he needs at just 4 years old, he will never forgive himself, and me being his older sister and the animal lover I am, I won't forgive myself either.

Thank you for reading. Any donation made will be going to Binks' surgery, medications, and follow-up visits. I will update his status frequently.