Hey everyone, my name is Michael and if you know me, chances are you have met my cat and best friend Grizzly (Grizz, Grizwald, Grizzly Dog, Grizzy, King Grizzard, Bubb, Bubba, Handsom, etc.)

Last week Grizzly became sick and was initially diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia. After spending a weekend in the hospital, Grizzly came home and his condition worsened instead of improving. Grizzly's lethargy was increasing and he was continuing to refuse food. After having to re-admit him, it became clear that his pneumonia was caused by a greater issue. An ultrasound revealed inflammation inside his stomach, raising concerns for a handful of possible chronic illnesses. It is still undetermined what exactly is to blame for this, but we have started to treat it as if it was Inflammatory Bowell Disease (IBD).

After spending 6 nights in the veterinary hospital on IV antibiotics and nasal-tube feeding, Grizzly is home, eating on his own and slowly regaining his strength. Even though he is responding well to the treatment at the moment, the future is still very unsure.

The treatment Grizzly's already received to get him back home and behaving semi-normally has had to be covered in full with borrowed funds. Because of this ordeal, I am already $10,000 in debt and I am doubtful of my ability to pay this off on my own. On top of this, it is likely more treatment and care will be required to maintain a comfortable quality of life for him. No matter the underlying issue, intestinal flare-ups like this are likely to happen again in the future, and pinpointing a definitive cause and treating him accordingly will be costly.

I know many of you have had your lives touched by Grizzly in one way or another. Many of you have had the opportunity to share a home with Grizzly and I over the last few years. Others have only needed to meet him a few times to know how special he is. Maybe you don't even know who I am and have come to this page enchanted by Grizzly's charming portrait at the top. Whatever my relation to you is, I am relying on the generosity of my friends, family and community to recover financially from this and put me in a position to provide Grizz with the life he deserves.

Thanks for your time and generosity from the bottom of our hearts.

-Michael and Grizzly