Give Mara a Miracle

This is Mara. Mara’s litter showed up in my parents' neighborhood in July, and they watched Mara’s mom chase her away from the food they had set out for the neighborhood strays and take her other kittens somewhere else while leaving Mara alone in their yard for hours. She was clearly starving and not doing well. My dad decided he couldn’t sit and watch her struggle, so he rescued her from their garage on a morning I was coming up to visit. It was instant love. After a few hisses and head rubs, Mara was purring and soaking up the love. Despite being nothing but fluff, bones, and fleas, she’s been a lover since the start.

Fast forward to her first vet appointment, where it was discovered she has a heart murmur. The hope was that it was due to how skinny and flea-ridden she was, but as of her recent follow-up appointment, the murmur is still there. The vets believe she has Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). Untreated, kittens with PDA have about 6-12 months to live. But there’s hope for Mara - a surgery exists that could correct her heart defect and allow her to have a normal lifespan.

Unfortunately, this surgery, along with a consultation to confirm that PDA is what Mara’s dealing with, is a large expense. My parents, who currently have four other cats besides Mara, including a pair of kittens they rescued from their yard just a couple of weeks earlier, have been flooded with vet bills in the past year.

Please consider donating to help save Mara and sharing her story to reach as many people as possible. Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to giving this sweet kitten a chance to thrive. Thank you for your kindness and support.