Help Bring Ekko Home

Hi everyone, My names Brittany and this is about a very sweet and loving 1 year old cat named Ekko aka “Kitten”.

 

It’s very hard asking for help. We pride ourselves on being able to afford our animals vet bills and care. But sometimes things just don’t work out and we’re having to move out of our comfort zone and ask the help of many to save our cat.

We’ve spent the last few months trying to treat his urinary crystals with medication, a prescription diet, changing the cat litter we use and even the style of litter boxes. We’ve given him urinary support supplements and even Feliway pheromones. Everything we could do, we did. But we still haven’t been able to find out why nothing is working.

The vets don’t know why nothing is working either, why the crystals aren’t getting better. But we’re willing and want to help him as much as we can and with the help of some kind people, we’re hoping we can save him.

 

On 9/13/2021 we brought our boy Ekko back to the Milford Veterinarian and he came home that night with a new prescription diet and meds. He ate his dinner and took his first round of meds and cuddled up with us purring the night away.

On 9/14/2021 at around 5pm we thought something wasn’t right. We called our vet (they close at 5:30pm) and set an appointment the next day. Our once bouncy and loving kitten went from playing and willing to eat (his favorite thing) to refusing to eat even dehydrated beef liver (his favorite treat) or do anything but cuddle with me and sleep.

On 9/15/2021 we brought him back to his primary vet (Milford) to see what could have caused his sudden change in behavior. We had just seen them, just started the next round of meds. We were hopeful. But then the news that he had developed a blockage quickly dampened what hope we had left. If you’ve ever had a male cat, you know the fear of a blockage. I’ve worked with animals for years. This has been my fear for years from the time we adopted our first male cat.

He’s been with the vet since the 15th and he’s been very touch and go. He’s far from out of the woods.

He defecated and pushed the first catheter out on the 16th, they let him have it out for the day and he went to the bathroom all by himself which we wanted to see! I had newfound hope that maybe he’d be okay and he could come home within a day. But that night I received a call as I was leaving work that he re-obstructed. His blood work shows he’s almost completely back within normal levels which is good. But now it’s an issue of him re-obstructing again and again. The put another catheter in and so far he has kept it in. They were able to get his bladder to drain again and found mucous within his bladder. They have sent out another full panel blood test to a different lab for a more advanced look into what else could be going on.

Plans are still in the air as to what we can do. A possible solution is a Urethrostomy surgery but they’re expensive. This would remove a section of his penis to allow a wider exit for urine meaning he wouldn’t be able to develop an obstruction. But it doesn’t take care of the crystal problem or tell us why nothing we’ve done has worked to fix it.

Our emergency vet fund is gone. We have been able to pay for everything up until now. Even the most recent bill was 1600$ on the low end, which we were able to pay half of. And does not include his stay through the weekend, the possible surgery we may need to do or any care after.

Prior to the most recent vet visits with Ekko we had to say goodbye to one of our beloved dogs very suddenly.

On 8/22/2021 we lost our senior dog Molly Mae, our 13 year old lab mix who has been with me since I was 11 years old.

The loss of her is fresh and painful. The thought of losing our one year old cat not even a month after losing my best friend is devastating.

 

Our whole family would appreciate any help or support, even just a share. I know to some people he’s “just a cat”. But to me he means so much more.

He has the best personality, he loves belly rubs and hunting his feather toys to “extinction”, proudly carrying his pseudo prey around the house. He’s a feign for catnip and loves stalking his siblings and wrestling with his big brother Ben which usually ends in Ben forcing a bath onto Ekko. He loves our big dog Appa and is always so willing to greet strangers with a purr. He only responds to Kitten even though his name is Ekko. He’s a funny, affectionate and special cat. And he deserves the chance to get better. To come home. To be with us again. We are the only family he’s had. And we love him so much.

 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. This is one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through. Our companions mean more to me than anything else.