Gary's Medical Expenses

Update on Gary: 3 weeks ago, after many delays and false starts and countless tests and pre-procedures, he went in to have his dental extractions, and boy, did they extract. When he got him back, he was minus 19 teeth, many more than anticipated. While he's been healing slowly, he's had difficulty with the tons of sutures and the oddity of trying to eat with only about 1/3 of his teeth left. Furthermore, the cone made him so crazy that when his mouth was bothering him (every time he ate), he'd paw at the cone and begin to panic, often falling down. On two occasions, his lower jaw got caught underneath the bottom part of the cone. As a result of this and the constant gnashing he's been doing, he apparently popped a suture, and several times we've found blood on the side of his mouth. Poor miserable boy. More pain meds, more calming meds. Today he went back for another follow-up. As it turns out, since he has visibly been more distressed and clearly uncomfortable after a brief period of calm, he had developed an inflamed bump at the site where the suture was. He's still at the vet, undergoing another sedation procedure so the offending painful bump can be removed, after which it will be biopsied. So the saga continues. If you're able to pitch in a few quid here and there, every little bit helps! Thank you all so much - to those who lovingly and generously donated before, we can't tell you how much it means to have that kind of support. If you would rather just share it, that helps too! Thanks and love from the whole half-human-half-feline family! xo Rachel, Chris, Gary & Cosmo

Hello again, dear friends and animal lovers! As much as I'm uncomfortable asking for this kind of help (again), especially when things are so tricky and difficult across the board for so many people, we find ourselves in another situation where the need for assistance is imminent.

My darling Gary, who is now at the ripe, impressive and legal voting age of 18, has been dealing with CKD (chronic kidney disease) for a while now. He's also recently been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. These conditions are two of the things my sweet departed Wyatt, his littermate, was dealing with several years ago before he passed.

Additionally (and this is the really hard part), he needs to have some teeth removed, as any time he eats, he goes into a frantic bout of head bobbing, jawing, and pawing at his mouth to mitigate the pain. Because he's now quite underweight from the CKD and hyperthyroidism, he often trips or loses his balance when so doing because he has so little muscle tone left. It's agonizing to watch every time and I'm sure more so for him to go through; and though he was scheduled to have the dental extractions very soon, we have to push a bit extra so the new meds can have time to stabilize him, as it's always risky to put any animal with his conditions under general anesthesia, to say nothing of his advanced age.

Between the vet visits, the meds, the battery of tests, and the heart ultrasound to clear him for the procedure already under our belts, and the upcoming extractions themselves; we're looking at about $4500, perhaps more, perhaps less- depending on the next set of results. I've searched high and low and no pet insurance company will cover a cat that age, particularly for preexisting conditions, unless it's for emergencies (poison ingestion, injury, some other accident, etc)., and none of this qualifies. He's on a wellness plan with Banfield and has been for years but they don't cover this kind of thing, and frankly... I've been wholly underwhelmed with them for some time and we're breaking up with them anyway.

I know it's a lot to ask, but this cat owns a massive piece of my heart, and the fact he's made it this long without too much trouble until now tells me he's still got some good years left. Lastly, I promise that I do and always will do whatever I can to help people when their furbabies need it. I thank you profusely in advance. Between our move, the added expenses of being in a house, and my own personal medical albatrosses I've been removing, it's been hard to catch up. To everyone who already donated in 2020 when Wyatt was so sick as well, your generosity still means the world - you helped us achieve what would not necessarily have been possible at the time. And if all you're able to do right now is spread the word, that means a lot too. Thank you so much.

**N.B. If the goal amount seems weird, it's because we surpassed our original goal before, which was $5K, so I've made it $10K for additional needed funds, rather than start a whole new campaign.

<3 Rachel, Chris and Gary

12/19 Friends, we deeply regret to inform you that yesterday, we had to say goodbye to Wyatt. After several weeks post cancer diagnosis and figuring out what treatments would really be doable in their varying capacities, and what would actually help improve his quality of life rather than just extend it for our benefit, he took an abrupt, steep downturn, and within only days we realized that attempting to do any further treatment would almost be worse. Anything more aggressive would have been much more arduous on him and require likely much more $, and would really only be delaying the inevitable a few more months, which would have been excruciating for him. At the age of 16, and being terribly underweight for a cat his size, we were fearful he wouldn't even survive the rigors of those. He was suffering greatly, and seeing his light fade little by little was simply torture. 

They say pets tell you when it's time, and he was telling us very clearly. With pain in our hearts but with the resolve of knowing we were doing the kindest thing for him, we had a hospice vet come to our home and help us give him a beautiful, peaceful and dignified sendoff, with him in my arms, surrounded by his family. We are devastated, but know this was the best way he could have departed. We can't thank you enough for your contributions and moral support, and we will be forever grateful. You helped us recoup a great deal of our costs, and enabled us to continue with the treatments to manage things until we could really figure out what to do. Lastly and most importantly, this enabled us to give him the most honorable, beautiful farewell we could. Gary seems to be alright, but definitely misses his brother. He's been sleeping on the blanket where Wyatt was at the end. We're loving on him extra hard, while we all grieve. 

For those of you with fur kids, hug them extra tightly, and we wish you and yours very happy holidays, and much better days ahead for all of us. Again - you gave us, and both our boys, such an invaluable gift. Thank you for being part of their story, and for being so gracious. 

Love, Rachel and Chris 

11/30: Gary seems to be continually on the mend, which is wonderful. Wyatt is basically in a holding pattern right now, and while we're grateful for that, we don't have the luxury of tons of time. There are several treatments of varying intensity and length we're trying to decide between, with all factors included, but mostly what will be best for him. Thank you! 

11/12 Hello friends, fellow pet parents and animal lovers! I humbly seek your assistance. Anyone who knows me also knows that I've got a very hard time asking for help, especially for things of this nature, but numerous circumstances have kind of forced my hand. 

As some of you may know, my boys, whom I found when they were mere weeks old as the last kittens in their litter, and have raised 'til now (they are sixteen), are two of the loves of my life, and both dealing with various medical issues. Gary had a serious health scare in October and had to spend a very expensive night at the vet. While he seems better now with a new diet and meds, he still needs to be monitored.

Wyatt, who's bravely been battling hyperthyroidism and CKD (chronic kidney disease) for several years, was unfortunately also diagnosed with lymphoma in early November, when we miraculously got him in to see a specialist after he'd nearly stopped eating entirely. While we're dealing with the emotional and logistical ramifications of that, we've also taken a major financial hit. Between the two of them, vet visits, ultrasounds, x-rays, IVs, additional meds, special consultations, and everything else that goes with these things have piled up; and continued care, procedural decisions and accoutrements are of course factored in.

Of course, it's been an incredibly harsh time for everyone - making this request even more difficult for me - but 2020 has been punishing in so many ways, including work wise. Wasn't our greatest year. It's been hard to catch up in general, and this has been an extra gut punch. 

Wyatt is currently maintaining with steroids, and this is giving us some time to figure out the next step, which, no matter what it is, will also be costly. But we're happy that he's hanging in and even seems to be improving for now, which is why we want to do all we can to keep helping him do so. We love both our boys like crazy (obviously). 

It feels like a lot to ask, and probably trite in comparison to other things going on. But if you or anyone interested can spare even a little bit to help us defray the past costs and some of the current ones, some of which are still pending, our gratitude would be immeasurable. Thank you so very much. -Rachel & Chris