UPDATE:

These past few weeks have unfortunately not turned out the way we wanted. Our kitty Ryu ended up regaining his ability to stand and walk and left the hospital weds 7/30 with a great prognosis. They had said that his MRI looked like he had a very severe inner ear infection and that it could be treated with antibiotics, seizure medication and motion sickness meds in order to help with his balance/vertigo. He was improving and we were over the moon getting to spend time with him. Lots of cuddling, laying in the sun and talking back and forth to each other with words vs meows.

On Friday 8/1 he came down with a really nasty upper respiratory infection. We took him back to the ER and waited four hours for them to tell us that his cold was viral and it just needed to run its course. They said that because he’s on steroids to reduce the inflammation in his brain, his immune system became compromised and made him more susceptible for colds. We took him back to where we are staying, bought a humidifier, cat vitamins, a heating pad and warm blankets and hunkered down to monitor him until his cold could pass.

Between our aforementioned treatments and bringing him into the bathroom whenever Ava or I showered, Ryu started to improve. Friday was the worst day sickness-wise, but then Saturday seemed a bit better. Sunday 8/2 he started the day off more mucus-y but his energy level seemed to improve. The whole time he had been eating and drinking too and even had a bowl movement, so it seemed promising. Then at around 1pm he threw up. I went to the store to purchase food that would be more gentle on his stomach and when I got back he had crashed. He didn’t want to move or eat and both of those things were completely uncharacteristic of him. We rushed him to the ER and it was there they told us that radiology had looked at this MRI and concluded that he had a brain tumor with an additional infection surrounding the tumor. We could move forward with brain surgery and chemo that would most likely extend his life by a few months. The issue was that cancer treatment would weaken his immune system and allow his infection to spread and opting to treat his infection would allow the cancer to get worse. Another option would have been to bring him home and manage his crashes and symptoms for as long as we could. Or else a last option was saying goodbye it was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make but ultimately we couldn’t let him suffer. Both Ava and I were there with him until the end. We are both still a mess a week later. It all feels like a bad dream and can’t believe this happened out of the blue.

Since then we have been managing a nasty cold that our other cat has been dealing with, because despite our best efforts to quarantine Ryu, Jiji somehow caught the cold that he had in the end. So far Jiji’s vet bills are at $150 which pales in comparison to the $11k we spent on trying to save Ryu. And now we’ve also been dealing with the aftermath of flooding which luckily didn’t affect us as much as it did some people but it put us in a bit more of a financial setback.

We got quotes to do the parts of the ceilings that are at risk of collapsing, as well as the floors. Including supplies it’s going to cost us about 6-7k additional to what we spent on Ryu. We tried going through insurance but they would only patch the actual hole that is in the ceiling of Ava’s room, without covering the cost to prevent the rest of the ceiling from falling (which we have been told it will). Our deductible is $1000 so it would be cheaper to just patch the hole out of pocket if that was the route we were going.

I have been going to the house every day to box everything up to prepare for the ceilings to come down. I’ve also been able to go to work here and there which is helpful in a financial sense, especially as I missed so much in order to try to help little Ryu.

I am going to lower the amount of the gofundme in order to reflect the updated amount that we need as well as account for some people who Venmo’d me separately. I want to thank everyone who has helped by donating or sharing thus far, I really don’t know what we would have done without you ❤️‍

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This weekend my daughter and I experienced two life-altering emergencies: an onslaught of seizures overtook our otherwise healthy 2 year old cat, and my daughter's bedroom ceiling collapsed.

Our kitty Ryu:

Ryu's Background and Personality:

Ryu randomly came to live with us 1.5 years ago after he was rescued directly from abuse. A heroic friend of mine worked in the in-home healthcare field and noticed that one of the clients was physically abusing their cat. Luckily my friend walked in during a manic episode the client was experiencing. The client was attempting to kill Ryu, and my friend made the decision to get him out of there without a plan. I used to foster animals quite frequently and so I had initially agreed to take care of him until he found a home. My daughter (Ava), our other cat (Jiji) and I all fell in love with him though and so he ended up staying permanently.

Ryu is a pretty cautious guy given his background of abuse but once he starts to trust he is so silly and filled with love. He has a little squeaky kitten meow that he never quite grew out of, and he loves to use it at the funniest times. He does extremely odd things, like scratch the hard walls of the house when he thinks that we aren't looking but if we spy him he freezes and sprints away. Every morning at around 7am he goes into a section of the cat tree which Ava and I have named "the murder box," because once he's in there he scurries around like crazy and tries swiping everyone who walks by.

The Seizures

On Saturday 7/26 I was getting work done on the couch and Ryu was curled up sleeping next to me. Suddenly he lurched off of the couch and writhed around on the floor convulsing in a horrible seizure. That was followed with four additional seizures in which he lost control of his bowels. I rushed him to the ER where he had another seizure. I then transferred him to 24 hour clinic with a neurology department and he's been monitored there since then. He currently doesn't have use of his legs but the neurologist said he could potentially still pull out of it. As of this moment he is getting an MRI and spinal tap and Ava and I are beside ourselves waiting for answers.

Ava's Bedroom

Ava was thankfully at my dad's house during Ryu's episode on Saturday so she doesn't have that horrific image of him seizing in her head. On Sunday my dad dropped her off at my place and that's when I decided to tell her what was going on with our poor kitty. We were in the living room talking about it and shedding tears when we heard a huge crash and puff of smoke bloom out of her bedroom. When we went to look, part of her ceiling had collapsed. In hindsight, Ava expressed being grateful that I was leveling with her about our cat during that time because otherwise she would have been in her room when it happened. I'm grateful as well.

As we were brainstorming what to do, it occurred to us that the insulation that fell through might have asbestos in it, as it looked grey and gravel-y and the house was built in the 40's. We panicked and evacuated with all of our animals (Jiji, our two dogs, three chickens, and 3 insects) and were luckily able to stay at my dad's place, an hour away. It's not an ideal setup and it really complicates my ability to work, given childcare and proximity to my job however having a safe place to go feels very fortuitous.

Plan Regarding the Ceiling:

The next day an asbestos specialist came and looked and was pretty confident the insulation doesn't have asbestos. However it does have fiberglass in it, and given the cloud of dust that arose it's looking like we are going to have to replace most of Ava's things. Today I am going to purchase a respirator, safety glasses and thick gloves and try to salvage what I can from her room. From there I'll have to replace the ceiling, rip out the carpet, install an inexpensive laminate floor and replace Ava's clothes and possessions.

We Need Help:

So far I have spent over $10,000 to try to save Ryu's life. The first day was over $4000 which included his intake, meds, blood tests, stabilization and a two-nights stay at the hospital. As of yesterday I paid over $6000 additionally, for anesthesia, his MRI, a spinal tap another night and continued care. I am a single parent on my one income and I feel like I'm drowning. I was able to take out an $8k line of CareCredit which is helping as my credit cards are now maxed out, but I am anticipating more medical charges and as it is my monthly payments are already over $400 which I cannot afford.

I am not totally sure how much the room repair will cost as of right now but I'm guessing it will be comparable to Ryu's bills. I have to replace the ceiling, remove the carpet, get new flooring, de-fiberglass everything, get a new bed/bed frame/furniture/clothes/books etc and random expenses like taking contaminated furniture to the dump. I also have to drive over an hour now each way to work if I'm even able to go and potentially clear my schedule for at home intensive care for Ryu if we end up being able to get him back. I think given everything 25k will hopefully cover it most of it but I may have to adjust it if we end up having surprise expenses.

Conclusion

Those who know me know how independent I typically am. I never ask for help and it feels extremely uncomfortable doing this. I am desperate in a way I never have been before though and know I can't do this alone. I understand with the way the economy is right now that things are tough, but honestly $5 adds up or even just sharing it with a few other people. If possible please keep Ava and Ryu in your thoughts and especially send some healing energy Ryu's way.