Smudge's Vet Bills for Chronic Kidney Disease and Arthritis

Hi! I'm Nimmy, and I'm raising funds to pay for my cat, Smudge's recent and upcoming vet bills.

Since November we've spent a few thousand dollars on Smudge's health, including emergency visits, and the next few months are going to be just as bad. Today (5 March 2025) we had it confirmed that he has kidney disease and will need a complete change in diet (I can throw out all the food we recently got for him, yay), added medication to manage his bowels (dehydration causes constipation), and also anti-nausea meds and possibly appetite stimulants.

He will also need more frequent urine and blood tests to keep track of how he's going and whether we need to ramp up his level of care.

Smudge is a very special cat. When I first saw him, he was a tiny ball of grey fluff curled up in the centre of a pillow. He was riddled with fleas and worms, and horribly underweight due to neglect by his first owner. After a week of being fed properly and having treatments for parasites, at 10 weeks old, he weighed just 600g and was about half the size of his siblings which had been adopted earlier.

He's my special little rescue, but I also agreed to take him at a time when I was getting ready to leave an abusive household. There was a lot of fear and anxiety over possible repercussions from leaving, but knowing that this tiny little creature needed me kept me brave and determined. If I wasn't going to do it for myself or anyone else, I was going to do it for this little baby that nobody else had wanted to take in.

He is now 15 years old, and an absolute sweetheart and a delight. He's still enjoying food and play, and loves cuddles. I'm not ready to give up on him while he still has so much life and love in him.