Truncated Version:

Dear friends,

I am reaching out during some challenging times and I am asking for, if you feel so called to, thoughts, prayers, shares, and donations to help Daisy get better and stay better, and to keep us in our current home.

Our sweet Daisy has been diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma from a spherical tumor found centered and underneath her tongue. She has lost half her body weight (12 lbs --> 6 lbs) steadily over the last few months due to challenged ability to eat food and drink water. After much investigation and consideration around pathways forward, Creature Comfort Holistic Veterinary and I are working on a palliative and cancer-preventative (possibly even cancer-regressive) plan detailed here in the GoFundMe.

Due to health & safety hazards, as well as ethical misconduct from upper management at work, I needed to quit my job after many dismissed grievances. This occurred not long before Daisy was first taken to the hospital after more concerning symptoms of more suddenly reduced eating and thick bleeding from her mouth. I am grateful now for my ability to provide around-the-clock care for her, and at the same time I acknowledge this is a financial obstacle to (1) keep us housed and (2) afford to keep up with her cancer treatments for however long we'll need to do that.

We appreciate any and all forms of care you can extend during these times. It truly means so much to hear her purr again and to see her be her cuddly, playful, and nurturing self. Thank you.

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Full Version:

Introducing ourselves...

Hi, my name is ȷᥙᥒі⍴ᥱr and I am raising funds for my sweetheart kitty-cat, ∂αιѕу, and myself as I support her through ongoing palliative and therapeutic treatments to address an aggressive oral cancer we discovered on Thursday, November 6th.

Before cancer:

After cancer:

Some of you may know Daisy, but for those of you who do not...

I adopted ragamuffin Daisy at her youthful yet mature age of 2-1/2 years in 2016. Although I went into the SPCA with every intention of adopting an all black cat to save them from harm around the end of October, I could not leave without taking home Daisy. I remember the first time I met her, and how she stole my heart instantly. Among all the cats, she knew exactly how to maneuver straight into my life. Apparently she had been abused and also highly neglected before being rescued by the SPCA, but I would have never imagined this if I were not informed.

Within the first hour of bringing her home, I thought there must be something off with her "purr box" because, even clear across the room, I could hear her purring so loudly. After investigating this further, the only rational conclusion I could come to is that she had really found herself at home--comfortable and secure. I have a funny story about the next 3 days that followed, but that's for another time.

Per her dental checks, I estimated her birthday to be on May 18, 2014. That would have made her a Taurus, and it shows. Her favorite activities include:

Our journey...

Daisy and I have been through a lot in life together. I adopted her in Texas, and we would be living together and traveling between California and Texas over the course of 9 years.

The only time Daisy was not in my possession was during my first 12 months of houselessness when I did not have a shelter to tend to her in. She stayed with my dear friends in Texas, but it was a very hard year to be without her. She has been emotionally supportive through my most trying times, and to be without her as I was learning how indifferent the world is to people lacking proper shelter--I only got through because I believed in reuniting with her.

She would join me in 2019 as we drove home a Ford E-350 extended passenger van from Texas. This would be our mobile dwelling space for the next year. I somehow was faced with even more discrimination and harassment once living in a van. People passing by would throw trash at our van, and some people aggressively banged against the metal shell demanding that I come out of the van even though I moved it every 72 hours per city ordinance. People would leave nasty notes on the van, threatening me if I did not move my "little home down the block, or better yet to a different neighborhood".

Ironically, I was working full time but I just did not have enough money to afford a place for us. There were so many times I was convinced that I needed to end things, but Daisy kept me strong for the both of us. She told me, in her ways, that it would always be worth it to stick around.

We were given an opportunity to escape houselessness during the onset of the pandemic, and we took it. The housing was not the best at first. We lived with a dangerous landlord for the first year, and then in an oddly-functioning art house the second year housed. We moved lots as we navigated our place, and we continued our visits between California and Texas all the while.

One visit in Texas, Daisy became lost overnight. I lost her for days and would not give up or leave Texas until I found her. A women I had called who had search dogs attempted to convince me not to hire the search dogs because it would be highly unlikely Daisy survive after 3 days around the area we lived. Because of her leaving amidst the continual flow of daily life, I realized how critical it was that I personally not give up.

After 8 days and over 100 locally posted flyers in the Texas heat, my friend and I found Daisy running the sewer systems a few blocks away, beyond a busy major street. I had never been more relieved in my entire life, realizing that my baby had survived. Her love for food, her aptitude for sourcing water and coolness, her primordial pouch, and her willingness to keep yelling for me until she was found brought her back to me.

Her cancer...

A few years later, Daisy and I moved into what is our current apartment in California, our first secure housing where we could live on our own. I am now 30 years old, and Daisy is 11-1/2. Just a couple months ago, I was thinking about how life might be for me and Daisy in 10 years, God-willing she make it that long. What I did not realize is that there was a cancer that was growing steadily underneath her tongue the past couple of months.

Her weight declined slowly at first. Where she used to weigh 11-12 lbs in her prime, she was becoming more like 10 lbs and then 9 lbs, etc.. I thought it must be because of her natural aging process that her appetite was steadily declining and her weight was moving closer to what some vets have described as her "ideal". But it became apparent to me that there must have been something more serious going on when she could no longer take more than a couple bites of her food or a couple sips of her water. Before I knew it, she had a pool of thick blood dripping from her mouth. I took her to Rheem Veterinary Clinic at 8 AM that Wednesday morning of November 5, 2025. On that day, the vet found a spherical mass underneath her tongue. He thought most likely that it was fluid-filled, perhaps a ranula, and under that there could be a slight chance of a small tumor. However, when he drew the fine needle aspirate on Thursday, November 6, he found that the spherical mass was almost entirely solid. While Daisy was under anesthesia, she also received a dental cleaning and her dental seemed fine.

I was informed of this mass over the phone that evening around 6:45 PM. She stayed overnight at the hospital another day, and had a senior panel ran. I am still awaiting the results of the senior panel. I was finally able to bring my baby home around 4 PM on Friday, November 7. When I initially received her in-crate at around 3 PM that day, it was like her spirit was stripped from her. Before I took her into the hospital, she was playing wand-toy, cuddling hard, and generally a happy cat with difficulty eating. For the entire weekend after bringing her home, she produced tears from her eyes and crawled away when approached. There was no purr at all coming from her, and I struggled to syringe feed her anything substantial without her vomiting it up. She had little to no energy, and was in the worst condition I have ever witnessed.

I scheduled a vet appointment for her with a Holistic Veterinary Clinic nearby our home, somewhere I had luck with when our dear dog Theo suffered cancer (his spirit transitioned from his body earlier this year after extending his life a year beyond prognosis). An hour before her Holistic veterinary morning appointment, my friend from out of town encouraged a very soft purr from her. The anesthesia from the week prior was likely too hard on her withering body, and she was only just beginning to recover from it enough to be somewhat present. At the Holistic vet, Daisy received a full array of care. She was weighed at only 6.06 lbs. She was then administered rectal ozone therapy, antibiotics for an oral infection and subcutaneous fluids, had her FNA slide analyzed in-house (diagnosed Squamous Cell Carcinoma), and received vet-tech assisted feeding and grooming. Immediately, Daisy was feeling so much better. She had a full purr and finally seemed more like herself again.

Her treatment plan...

The next few days were not without their challenges, and they will not be for the foreseeable future as we administer the care needed to keep her cancer and its symptoms at bay (and hopefully regressing). Unfortunately, surgery will not be an option due to the location of her tumor, and radiation therapy will not be an option due to its insane cost (about $5000/session) and intensity (side effects resulting in heightened oral pain and difficulty swallowing). Thankfully, however, our Holistic Veterinary Clinic has well-equipped us with a plan moving forward, including:

Since she has been home, she has grown in comfort to resume her daily pleasures of playing wand-toy, following me closely, cuddling, and purring. She has even attempted to eat directly after being presented pure senior canned food. She can only get a couple licks of gravy, and no solids, but it is promising that her appetite has returned partially. Despite the challenge and discomfort, I am thankful for when friends and I can administer 5 mL of her puree'd mixture via syringe each setting. I am hoping that over time things can get easier, but that will not be possible leaving her cancer and symptoms unchecked and untreated.

Financial need:

In order to stay on top of Daisy's cancer, it will financially require the following monthly costs:

This total monthly cost for treatment is $1158.

The total monthly cost for rent and utilities is $1500.

The total monthly cost for my own essential needs (aside from shelter, there is food, hygiene, therapy) is $1200.

The total cost of keeping us alive/sheltered with a decent quality of life would be $3858. Accounting for the 10% that GoFundMe will keep from donations, our monthly financial goal to stay afloat is $4243.80.

I am in search of a job that is either full-time at home or hybrid with some flexibility. Until then, I am awaiting to see if unemployment can at least cover the rent portion of my expenses. I will of course update the GoFundMe if either the job or unemployment kicks in to relieve part of the expenses.

Community:

If you feel called to do so, please donate and/or share this GoFundMe. Your support means life to us, keeping us off the streets while our community addresses Daisy's cancer and quality of life for the remainder of her time here. I appreciate you for taking the time to read into Daisy's life, our journey, and our needs as we do all that we can to be safe and healthy here.