We are Dave and Emily . Recently, we had a few setbacks. Dave lost his job a few weeks ago, but he should have either his unemployment benefit or a new job soon. That is something we can handle. Our major setback has been our beloved cat, Butchy. Recently, we took her into a pre-scheduled vet visit and received some distressing news. The vet found a mass in Butchy's chest. This was a bit of devastating news. Butchy may be a cat, but she's our baby. Dave's children are grown adults and Emily has no human kids. So Butchy (and her sister Daisy) are our children now. Butch is a tough old girl, but she is our BABY.

It could possibly be lymphoma or thymoma, or it might possibly just be a cyst/granuloma. In order to find out, it is going to take some extensive and expensive diagnostic procedures. Our plan is to start at the beginning and go from the least intrusive to the most expensive testing until we receive an answer that tells us what her treatment needs to be. Thankfully, we caught things early and we have a little bit of time to follow up with things. We are asking for help with covering Butchy's medical diagnostic expenses while I get back up on my feet from my recent job loss. Our initial visit with MedVet Oncology quoted us a ballpark figure of around $2500 to run all necessary tests to see if her cyst is cancerous or benign. Please give what you are comfortable with giving if you are able to help our Butchy out. Miss Butchy says just send her some treats if that's all you are able to do.

Butchy's story and how she became our baby.

Butchy was a street cat, a stray who took up residence at Emily's parents' house. Butch was taken care of, fed, and given veterinary care by Emily's mom and dad, but she was to be their outdoor cat. She lived under their porch for years. Eventually, Emily adopted Butch and brought her home to be an inside cat. Considering Butch was an outdoor cat and had a way of looking at the world with a skeptical eye, her bond with Emily was almost instant. Maybe it was because they both had some very hard recent years in their lives, who knows. They just seemed to understand each other. Then I came along. When Dave moved in and Emily and he started dating, he gave Butch her space. Dave saw they had something special, but he also noticed that Butch wasn't going to trust just anyone. It didn't take very long for her to start warming up to him. A week or so and Butch lays down next to Dave's leg while he was sleeping. She accepted him. Now they all have a bond that is incredible.

Butch is a very protective and loving cat. She sleeps at our feet a lot, standing guard throughout the night. She will come and get you if she wants you to spend time with her (she has her preferred sections of the house). Butch will wake Emily up if she's having a bad dream. She is notorious for checking on us while we sleep or are doing anything around the house. She is most definitely our baby. She has made it around 7 years with the first five years of her life being a little bit tougher than the standard housecat. Let's help give her another ten years of the cushy life she deserves. So we will ask again, if you can help donate to Butchy's medical bills, we would appreciate it so much. Butch says she wants treats if you can't do much more than that. Thanks for reading and considering helping out.

Butch, Emily, and Dave.