Meet Cash & Luna!

Cash (aka Cashew, Mr. Mengz, Señor Cashman) was my first baby. He broke into my apartment in the West Indies and chose me. He has micrognathia (congenitally small lower jaw) and couldn’t hunt, so I fed him nightly until we were evacuated in 2020. In the US, he got surgery to remove his lower incisors which were ulcerating his hard palate and was doing well. That is, until recently. Over the past year, he began developing urinary obstructions. It was determined he had crystals that were blocking his urethra, so we changed his diet, increased his water intake, and started him on medication. Despite this, episodes became more frequent and severe. On 5/27/25 he was brought into the ER with another obstruction. This time, the catheter was difficult to progress, and he developed a urethra tear. He was kept in patient with the catheter in place. We were left with no choice - he needed a perineal urethrostomy. In layman’s terms, a surgery to shorten and widen his urethra to allow the crystals to pass without causing obstruction.

Luna (aka Looney Tooney, Loondies, Night Terror Demon) came into our lives with her sister, Mook, as a temporary foster. She was approximately 2 years old and un-neutered. Her owner became homeless unexpectedly, and the cats were living out of a car in the winter, so we offered to house them while the owner got on their feet. When they arrived, we were told not to worry about Luna's teeth - she had been kicked in the face by the owner’s former partner. The owner laughed, saying she was being so annoying, but he probably shouldn’t have kicked her with steel-toe boots. Needless to say, we were horrified, and after some time and discussion, the cats were surrendered to us. We quickly got Luna neutered. In the process, some of her damaged teeth were able to be extracted. However, she still needs her lower left incisor removed in a separate procedure. It is bent outwards, browned, and broken. Thankfully, she has not shown signs of pain or infection, but it’s only a matter of time.

For Cash, his hospital stay and surgery total approximately $10000. For Luna, her surgery is estimated at $2000. While we were originally focused on Luna, the unexpected emergency costs incurred for Cash’s care and surgery have put us in a position where we have no choice but to reallocate the funds we’ve received so far. That said, Luna still needs her surgery, so I’ve combined the two. This is a staggering cost, but any support you can offer would make a huge difference. Thank you for reading, and thank you for donating if you’re able!