Hello, my name is Bailey. I have never done a GoFundMe, but a friend suggested I try it.

On August 21st, my boyfriend and I were in Iron Mountain, Michigan, having a small vacation with our cat Copernicus at his parents' river house. One morning, we noticed Cappy straining to go to the bathroom and decided we needed to go to the vet. We called all the vets up there, and one turned us away due to us not being from the township. The next vet said they don't take emergencies, so they told us to call the next vet. It became a cycle of no's, leading us 3 hours away. We come from the north suburbs of Chicago, so we decided to leave immediately for the 5-hour drive. Before even reaching home, we stopped at the veterinary emergency group that is close to our house. Unfortunately, he had a urinary blockage and had to stay at the vet for a few days; those nights and the unblocking cost over $6000, which I had at the time. While he was there, he blocked again and had to get another catheter. 48 hours later, on August 24th, we got our boy back home; however, the chances of recurring blocking are high after the first, and since he blocked a second time while at the vet, a third time was likely. We watched him like a hawk, and again, on August 25th, he started straining to pee and was blocked. We took him back to the emergency vet and decided the best chance for a good quality of life was a perineal urethrostomy instead of constantly getting a catheter. Surgery was early in the morning on August 26th, around 5 am, and another $4,000. We got a call after the procedure was over, telling us he did fantastic. We picked him up the same day after he was cleared for discharge. They told us everything we needed to do to ensure proper healing. I wanted nothing more than to nurse my boy back to health. I had charts for meds, notebooks to track when he went to the bathroom, ate food, etc. I slept on the floor with him, waking up almost every hour to check on him.

Everything was going as expected for recovery until on August 28th at 5 am I was checking on him, making sure he was sleeping and he looked comfortable, breathing looked calm, so I went back to bed. At 8:30 am, we heard a weird groaning noise come from him, and I sprang out of bed. His breathing became very rapid and shallow; he seemed unresponsive and limp. We immediately left for the emergency vet again. Every single worker surrounded him as he became critical. As we were doing tests to gather more information, he started to arrest. They started compressions on him, but unfortunately, it was no good. Our boy is gone. He was only 2 years old and otherwise very healthy. We loved that boy like he was our own son. It became another $1000 to get him cremated and a paw print.

I spent every penny I had on him, and I would do it again if it meant he would be alive with us right now. I start school on Sept 10th, and I have no tuition money, get gas to drive to the city for school, and I am relying on my parents to help with groceries. I can't pay rent. I owe people money back for helping me with Copernicus. My soul cat is gone and I am completely devastated. Life is kicking me left and right. I just need help getting back on my feet.