Help Huxley Breathe: Urgent Vet Care Needed

My Sphynx Huxley has been by my side the past 9 years and I don’t have the means to pay for his veterinary care.

He’s been having breathing issues since the end of May, and the vets didn’t think that he would have much time, but he’s still here, and I’ve spent most of my expendable income on the few appointments he’s had so far.

On 6/27, he goes in for an echocardiogram that hopefully goes well and gives us answers on how we can manage his condition until it’s time to say goodbye. Worst case, he goes into cardiac arrest during the process, and we need to put him to rest, but that also comes at a cost, which I don’t currently have.

I’m hoping that isn’t the case and that these funds don’t need to be used for his euthanasia and cremation, but the vets have made it clear that even if the chances are unlikely, there have been instances of animals in his condition being put over the edge even in non-invasive diagnostic procedures.

Huxley’s Medical history timeline:

On May 26th, Huxley started breathing in a laborious manner.

On June 2nd, he saw his vet at Quail Animal Hospital, and they did x-rays and found fluid in his chest and abdomen. They extracted some fluid out of his chest, and his breathing got better for a few days. It seems to be heart disease or cancer, but they recommended a cardiologist to see him and perform an echogram to be sure and sent some referrals a few days after. (This appointment cost $697.56)

On June 9th, I called a few of those cardiologists, and they didn’t have any availability for an appointment for weeks out. They advised for Huxley to go into the ER because his condition was too critical to wait and that he would be able to get an echo sooner.

My mom took him to Blue Pearl, and they wanted a $1,500 deposit and quoted $3-10k for the diagnostics and also wanted us to sign a waiver saying that we acknowledge that he could go into cardiac arrest.

This information scared me, so I decided against it and wanted to take him home. I was in LA commuting to Irvine to the appointment while he was there, and once I got there, they suggested euthanasia because they said he was “basically slowly drowning” because he wasn’t getting enough oxygen and that he probably only had 3 days left in him and gave me a number for at-home euthanasia.

They didn’t do any testing on him; they gave him some meds that he was already on to help release the fluids in his body, some pain medicine, and had him on oxygen until I got there to pick him up. (This appointment cost $778.81)

On June 19th, I took him back to his vet at Quail Hill, hoping that he could just put him on heart medication because Sphynx cats are prone, but the vet didn’t feel comfortable without the echo. He did a panel of bloodwork to make sure Huxley’s kidneys were strong enough for heart medication, a test for elevated protein that would indicate heart disease, and drained 2 cups of fluids from his abdomen. Huxley was very chipper after getting all that fluid drained out of him and was zipping around the apartment and playing with Poppy. If he didn’t exhibit the desire to live anymore, I would have said goodbye already.

Huxley’s bloodwork came out normal but did test high for the heart disease protein. We got a hold of a cardiologist who comes to Quail Animal Hospital as a mobile vet that will perform Huxley’s echo tomorrow, 6/27. (This appointment cost $698.64, and the echo on 6/27 will cost $850)

The total cost for all of Huxley’s care will come out to $3,025.

This isn’t including the cost if we need to say goodbye.

I know there are so many horrific things going on, and life has been financially aggressive for everyone, so thanks for whatever you can chip in.

It means a lot.