Edit: she's booked in with vet Tania, whom i just met, who's lovely and who has been genuinely fascinated by all things dental for 25 years. So she will be in good hands. I sourced the most experienced and kindest vet, so your money is being intelligently applied!

Surgery's on Nov 14th, so it can all happen in one day; the echo and the dental. It's a full extraction so my little Arú will be sore for a while and will then feel much much better.

THAT'S A WRAP, YOU LEGENDS!!!

thank you each and every one who gave dollars or love and well-wishes. I'm discombobulated with gratitude!

Hello dear Friends and Friends of Friends,

Arú, my traumakitten, whom I've coaxed into knowing How to Cat over the past four years, has inherited more than just PTSD from her awful time growing up in a warehouse and almost starving to death due to location, heart problems and pelvic instability.

Early starvation has a big impact on health and her most serious issue is gingivostomatitis, where her own immune system destroys her gum tissue, leading to deep abscesses, erosion of the bone and teeth and, obviously, extreme pain.

At this point the only thing that will save her from this kind of suffering is a preventative dental surgery to remove most of her teeth (because plaque in even minimalist amounts triggers the auto immune response).

This is obviously hideously expensive. I used to be a vet nurse trainee and assisted in dental surgery on cats, and there's a lot involved, especially with cats with heart issues.

Over the past twenty-five years none of my animals has made it past nine years and some of that was really bad luck and some was that I couldn't afford the vet bills.

If I put this surgery off with Arú, her pain levels will increase dramatically and future surgery will be more expensive because it would involve the jaw bone also. At that point she would have to be put down.

So I'm trying to do this for her (and me) now.

It's not easy to ask.

I'm on a disability pension, which covers the basics and not much else. It's perhaps unwise to have a pet, but without one, my quality of life is not good. I think maybe I'm being selfish to have chosen to have a support animal. I don't know. I need one, though, on a deep survival level.

My hope is that this GFM is shared very widely, so that many hands make light work. It's hard on everyone right now. I know.

So if you can give even a smidgen: THANK YOU. And if you can't, your care and love are also invaluable: THANK YOU.

most gratefully yours,

Arú's Human