Hello, this is Nathan and Tina, here on behalf of our very special "Bear the Maine Coon" Kitten.

 

Our beautiful little guy (who's only 17 weeks old) is in desperate need of your help. Recently he was severely injured and pinned under a heavy wooden bench at my studio, which tipped over as he must've attempted to climb it. I did not see what happened, but I heard it. The sound from the bench falling, and then seeing him pinned, panicking, screaming, and howling as I raced towards him will haunt my memories forever. I feared we had lost him in that moment.

 

When I lifted the bench, he took off stumbling and dragging his leg into the next room and hid under the couch, hissing and moaning. I was able to move the couch and carefully lifted him to place him in his carrier to prevent him from moving or further increasing his injuries.

 

We took him to a 24 hour emergency vet in Middleton, as this occurred late at night. When we arrived at 1:00 am, we had to wait several hours as they gave him pain medication and took x-rays. Needless to say, we didn't sleep at all that night.

 

The wonderful news... there was no internal bleeding or ruptured organs. The horrible news... he broke his left femoral head, and must have an FHO (Femoral Head Ostectomy) operation. He has bruising, swelling, and is unable to even move his tail at the moment.

 

Despite his injuries, he's hanging on like a fighter. He remains incredibly affectionate to our touch, and just needs to have us by him. He's wearing a patch for time released pain management, and we keep him isolated from his sister and our other cats, to prevent him from too much movement or excitement.

 

Since his visit to the ER, we have contacted over a dozen surgeons in search of the most qualified hands for his surgery, in addition to getting him in surgery as soon as possible. We are glad to say, he is going in for surgery this coming Thursday and Friday with a board certified surgeon at Edinger Surgical Options in Madison. His surgeon has given us complete confidence Bear will fully recover from his injuries with this surgery. This means everything to us, because as "Crazy Cat People"... Bear means everything to us!

 

Unfortunately, as anyone who has been in this situation fully understands, these emergency services and surgeries come with extremely heavy costs. The sum of his expenses between the ER visit, his surgery, and his follow up visits will surpass $5,000 in unexpected costs.

 

I wish I could say this is easily affordable for us, but it is far from it. We are ready to sell what we have to, open new card accounts, or do whatever we can do to cover theses costs. Not doing this surgery, is NOT an option for us. He's a part of our family, and for those of you who know me and my work with the Tigers, Lions, and Leopards at Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue, know how much I value the lives and quality of life for our feline companions (wild and domestic).

 

Asking for financial help for his surgeries is not easy for us. We work incredibly hard and take great pride in being able to provided for ourselves and give our cats the best lives possible. Sometimes though, life throws challenges at us all, when we need to swallow our pride, and ask for help from friends and family, and from those who share the same love for these animals, with the means to provide some assistance. Even a little goes a long way, and we greatly appreciate anything anyone is able to offer to help cover the costs of his ER visits, surgery, and follow up visits.

 

You're help, allows us to keep Bear happy and healthy with us, and to continue providing him with an active life full of love and adventure. He is a very friendly easy going, laid back, and loving 17 week old kitten. I often bring him out to meet my students and families at the studio after classes, and he loves all the attention he gets from them.

 

His favorite treats are minnows and herring, and he loves Tiki Cat Food and a healthy Raw Meat Diet. He loves to play with his sister "Bella", additionally offering companionship for our senior cat "Buddy". He loves going outside for walks, enjoys car rides and camping, and soon he'll even take kayaking adventures with us. We basically take him everywhere with us as often as we can.

 

It's not easy to ask for help, but it's even harder seeing him in this condition. We feared we had lost him, though thankfully his surgery will allow us a lifetime of love and adventures with him. We like offer our most sincere gratitude and appreciation for any kind of help or assistance you're able to provide. Nothing compares to the love of an animal, and from the bottom of our hearts, we can't thank you enough for making this possible for us, to provide him with the surgery and care he needs.

 

We are starting an Instagram Account for him, so others can enjoy our journey and adventures with him, and to watch him grow and life a long and full life, and to keep everyone updated on his condition and recovery.

INSTAGRAM PAGE: https://www.instagram.com/bear_and_bella_maine_coons/

 

Sincerely,

 

Nathan and Tina and Bear