Baby Nettles has been with me for fourteen years as of 11 January 2021. I found her in 2007 as a tiny, shivering, half-starved kitten crying outside my window at night in the middle of a raging blizzard. Over the last fourteen years she's become the best thing in my life. She's been with me through two moves (and about 7,500 miles of driving) and been the one good thing left in my life after my father's death in 2013. She's a certified 'Prescription Strength' emotional support cat who, without any training at all, knows when I'm upset and will demand cuddles and lap time while I sob my heart out.

She's still very high energy, sprinting through the house and yowling to her heart's content despite being a senior kitty. This last year I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with some horrific resorptive lesions in her teeth. (This part is really difficult for me to discuss.)

Feline resorptive lesions (FRL) are caused by the body attacking a cat's teeth, eroding them and breaking them down. This is an extremely painful process and cats are very good at hiding pain. They don't really get cavities like humans, and the only treatment that is viable is removal of the affected teeth. In Nettles' case, she had lesions in almost every single tooth and the vet and I agreed that removal of *all* teeth was the best option as it would prevent any further lesions and a second round of surgeries. There's no way to predict whether a cat will be affected by FRL. I have another cat of fifteen years whose teeth are perfectly fine. There's also no way to prevent them, not that my brain hasn't guilt-tripped me for it ever since. Watching her go through this process was hard for me and there was a lot of crying while she had to take antibiotics and pain medication.

Her initial vet bills were about $3,600. I've managed to whittle it down by a few hundred thanks to using my mother's care credit card, but the promotional no-interest period is ending on Feb 15th and at the rate I'm able to pay it off it could be a couple of years before I'm able to clear the $3,000-something that still remains. I am gainfully unemployed as a live-in caregiver for my disabled mother, living on a limited income so that she can stay out of a nursing home and enjoy her freedom. This is the only significant debt I have.

She can still eat dry food if it's small kibbles but she prefers wet food. I give her high-quality grain-free food which can run up to $3 a can. I've set the amount requested to $3,500 to cover fees and interest; anything over the vet bills will be used for litter, her favorite canned rabbit food, and hopefully some set aside for future vet bills and supply needs for her and my other cat.