Hello! We are Veronica and Jason DeLoach and we are currently raising money for our cat’s vet/medical bills.

Update (1 year later, 2025): Our poor girl started throwing up again on Thursday, November 6th. We thought maybe she wasn’t feeling well. When she continued to be unwell on November 7th, we knew something was not right, as we had just gone through this a year ago. We brought her to our trusted vet, who was able to do a successful surgery last year. They were able to give her anti nausea medicine, and we were told to take her home for monitoring overnight. Unfortunately, she got sick twice more that night when we got home and the following morning, so we brought her back into the vet. The vet then did an ultrasound to see another shadow in her stomach (luckily, not her intestines this time). They went into another surgery where they found a large hair ball. This was not due to her past surgery…simply bad luck (this can happen to any cat, especially cats with long hair). Unfortunately, the hair ball was too large and dense to pass through, and her stomach would not break it down further, which is what was making her sick. Surgery was required to remove it. They were able to keep her overnight for monitoring, but we did have to transfer her to another hospital the following morning for additional monitoring. Today is Monday, November 10th, and she is home and recovering. She is still a little out of it, but had been using the litter box and ate a small meal last night. We would appreciate prayers for a smooth recovery.

Thankfully, we chose to go to the right vet this time (shout out to Advanced Veterinary Care in Orlando), and we were in and out in 3 days vs. almost 2 weeks last time. This past year, we have tried to get money back from VEG in Winter Park for their lack of thoroughness and responsiveness, as we had spent almost a week there and spent somewhere between $20-$25k on our stay there with no answers after multiple X-rays, ultrasounds, and tests. When we transferred to AVC, they were able to find the answer and go into surgery within hours (which we are so grateful for). With all this being said…between this year and last year, it has set us back close to $45,000. We know there is so much going on in the world right now, and so many people need help, so we are only trying to raise a fraction of this money to help pay off some of our debts. If you are able to help, we would appreciate anything. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

Veronica is also a wedding photographer in the Orlando area, so any wedding referrals are especially appreciated during this time.

TLDR (2024): Our cat, Lily, got sick and it spiraled into over a week’s worth of vet visits, overnight stays, lots of tests/treatments, and eventually an emergency surgery.

FULL STORY (2024): Our girl, Lily (who we also call Willa Girl), got sick one Thursday night. The next morning, she did not eat (which is very unlike her) and wanted to hide from us. I brought her to our vet who gave her fluids and anti-nausea medicine. They also did bloodwork that came back fine. They sent us back home in hopes it was just a stomach bug, but said to contact the emergency vet if symptoms got worse.

Friday day she was very lethargic and still didn’t eat or drink. Same with Saturday. On Saturday, she threw up again and we immediately called the emergency vet who instructed us to keep her in a confined space overnight, and to bring her in if she threw up again. Sunday we did not see much improvement with eating, drinking, using the bathroom, or energy levels, but she was coming around to us more so we thought that maybe she was starting to feel better. Unfortunately, on Monday, she started getting worse. We brought her into the emergency vet where they took an xray, but did not see anything but fluids and gas in her stomach. They said it could be gastric ileus, so they again gave her fluids and anti-nausea medicine and we went home for the night. They told us if she did not improve within 12-24 hours we would need to bring her back in for an overnight stay. On Tuesday, she still hadn’t eaten or drank water, so we brought her back to the emergency vet for an overnight stay. She was hospitalized Tuesday night and Wednesday night. In this time, they had done bloodwork (multiple times), and two POCUS (point of care ultrasounds). Neither showed anything obvious. They hired and outside company to come do an ultrasound, where they took pictures of her. Again, nothing came back obvious besides a potentially inflamed pancreas. The snap test came back negative, but because there were no other signs, they began treatment for that. She got a tube put down her nose to help drain some of the fluids and gas. They also hoped to begin trickle feeding her with the tube. This did not work, and she began to throw up again. On Thursday morning, they suggested us taking her to a specialist. We did, and they immediately suggested another ultrasound that they were able to perform and review in real time. They spotted a shadow and thought it would be best to perform and exploratory abdominal surgery. We suspect this was a bit of an emergency, because they rescheduled other surgeries so she could go first. They ended up finding some kind of thread/string material in her stomach and intestines. There were 10 incisions through her small intestine that they had to fix, as well as one by/in her stomach (which was causing the inflammation in her pancreas). They also suspect the thread was stuck to her tongue at some point, because she had a wound underneath her tongue. The surgery was successful, and they kept her overnight. We were able to see her Friday, and she was so happy to see us. She was finally beginning to act like herself. They kept her overnight again to monitor her. On Saturday morning, the specialist clinic was closing, but they suggested one more overnight stay for monitoring. So we were transferred back to the emergency vet. Fortunately, they allowed us to stay with her all day and all night. We could see obvious improvements this day with her eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and wanting to walk around the room we were in. We also got plenty of head butts, which are her specialty! Haha. Sunday morning, we finally brought our girl home! After a week and a half of what felt like the scariest time of our lives, we were going home. We are two crazy cat people - our cats are our babies. I cannot imagine having lost our Willa Girl. I am so so grateful for the doctors that saved her life.

We have been home for almost a week and a half now, and also close to 2 weeks post surgery! There have been a few hiccups, but she is recovering well! With Willa being healthy and young (5 years old), we were obviously willing to do everything we could for her to keep her comfortable and alive. This, of course, accumulated a lot of medical bills. Much more than we were anticipating. We are fortunate and feel guilty asking for any kind of help right now with so much going on in the world, but these events have set us back quite a bit. We are hoping to raise just a fraction of the costs to make the blow a little less.

Veronica is a wedding photographer in the Central Florida area near Disney World. If you know anyone looking for a wedding photographer, referrals would be helpful and much appreciated during this time.

Thank you so much for your time reading this and any donations! Anything helps! <3