Update: The vet appointment went very well. Dr. Blake said that he can be sedated and cleaned out first thing tomorrow, and that it will only cost us a few hundred dollars (like less than $500). This will get him out of danger for now. Then, once we raise enough money, he can have a second surgery to remove most or all of his colon, and that should prevent this from happening again. He said this surgery would probably cost around $3,000. I am going to raise the fundraising goal now that we’ve talked to the vet, and I’ll update with receipts (and pictures) once we get him back tomorrow. We are extremely optimistic. This was the best outcome we didn’t even realize possible.

This is our little boy, Sebastian. He is three and a half years old. He has a condition rarely found in cats called hypothyroidism, which means his body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones to run his organs properly. When his thyroid levels aren’t under control, he develops megacolon,

where his colon gets enlarged and he becomes dangerously constipated. Twice, he has had to have surgery to have hardened poop removed because his body couldn’t pass it. He has been living with these issues his entire life, and with three medications daily, he was moving through life just fine.

It took us a few weeks to notice because he hid it very well, but Sebastian started throwing up his thyroid pills over the holidays. I’ve been dissolving them in water and massaging his little throat to get him to swallow everything, but he’s not getting better. He’s been struggling every time he goes in the litter box for the last two weeks. Nothing we’ve been able to do at home seems to be helping.

I called the vet. We are going to see him today to talk about our options. As of right now, they are:

1. The person I spoke to on the phone said they’ve recently started doing a procedure on megacolon cats to remove part of the colon. This could be a permanent fix for part of the problem, or it could just buy him more time, but we don’t know the specifics. This will probably cost a few thousand dollars.

2. Deobstipation, which is the surgery he’s had before to remove whatever has him blocked up. This will not prevent this from happening again. This will also be a few thousand dollars.

3. Say goodbye to our boy, because he’s already so young to have had so many surgeries and he will probably need more. It’s not an easy decision to make, but he has been fighting hard and I know he’s in pain. Everything I’ve read so far indicates that his medications will most likely become less and less effective over time, so we do need to seriously consider his quality of life.

We have information to collect and decisions to make. I never ask for financial help for our cats, but now I am begging for it. Treva and I are not working right now, and between Sebastian being sick and one of our hospice cats passing two weeks ago, I just can’t go out and Uber when I know I could be spending quality time with my boys. Most of our cats are hospice. No amount of money will save them. Sebastian is one of the few we have who could still have a lot more life left in him. Please help us.