Hi, my name is George and Mr Binks, along with his brother Salem, have been with our family since they were born nine years ago. After years of being indoor, outdoor cats, they have been strictly indoor cats for over a year now as they are allergic to fleas. It was a losing battle for some time now to rid our house completely of fleas and even when that issue was mostly taken care of, both of the cats had severe skin conditions we couldn't treat. A trip to the vet later and both were given steroids and treatments that actually worked and whilst Salem is now suffering early onset alopecia due to anxiety, we thought the extent of Mr Binks' issues was a dead tooth that needed removing.

But a month later, after rapid weight loss from 4.3KG to 3.5KG, we took him back to the vets and blood tests and urine tests were done resulting in Mr Binks' diabetes diagnoses. I wish that was the end, but the vets themselves have said there's something wrong with his skin and fur they don't understand which require even more testing. And to add on to that, the insulin treatment he is currently receiving is a test period to see how he will react to it. He is no longer able to have any sort of treatment on his skin, he is now prone to UTIS which have already resulted in blood in his urine, and he still needs his tooth removing.

So far, the vet bill went from £120 from Salem's medication to help with fur regrowth to £530 even with £50 being paid after his recent vet visit. Whilst that itself could be manageable, he will require more blood tests not only for his diabetes but for the unknown issues revolving around his skin and fur. This will easily rack the bill up to multiple grand, along with the £100 a month for his insulin, which might increase if his condition requires more insulin than he is taking, which is currently a small amount. This isn't to mention, the dieted food he will inevitably be put on down the line to keep his glucose levels in check.

Both Mr Binks and Salem are getting older, and we just want them to live comfortable lives. They deserve to be happy in their older years, as happy as they have made us throughout the years. It's upsetting to see both of their healths decline and whilst it is being managed, and the price of monthly medication is doable, the vet bills keep piling and it's becoming difficult to stay on top whilst the tests are still being run.

The money from this fundraiser will go primarily towards current vet bills, and future ones, along with the initial cost of medication and treatment. We don't know what the future has in hold for Mr Binks in terms of his unknown skin/fur issue and whilst we can only hope his issues end with the diabetes diagnosis, it seems as though that won't be the case. There is also the fact that Salem's future is still somewhat unknown in terms of where his treatments are going. If the medication he is currently on do not help, there will be blood tests, potential skin taken for testing and light therapy. All of these will add hundreds more to the bill that we are unable to handle at once and we worry that the bill will get too high, our small payments when we are able to not doing enough to bring it down, and the vet will not be willing to go through with more tests or treatments.

We have tried to solve this ourselves, but it is getting too much for us to handle. We love our cats more than anything, and we can't stand to lose them after so many years together. We have another cat Cosmic, who has also been with us for many years, and, thankfully, his health is fine which is probably due to them not being related as Salem and Mr Binks are littermates. Cosmic would never be the same without his brothers, not after they've spent almost every day together since Cosmic was a very small kitten. The idea of losing any of them heartbreaks us. Our family wouldn't be complete without these little idiots running around making a mess of the house and taking up the entire bed despite being so small.

Even if you can't donate, sharing the fundraiser is more than enough and you are helping more than you.

Thank you for reading

(p.s this is a picture of them when they were only a month or two old. Mr Binks and Salem have always been glued at the hip, even though they fight as much as they love each other.)