Help Jarvis Heal: 5th Surgery Fund

Jarvis is the sweetest, most intelligent, and most naughty boy you may ever meet! He was named for the AI program Tony Stark first uses in the earlier Ironman/Marvel Movies because he was adopted the day I saw "Ironman 3." :-)

On 3/31/24, Jarvis escaped my fenced-in yard and went missing (or, as he likes to call it, "on walkabout.") The next day he was found by a Good Samaritan, who brought him to Ocean State Veterinary Specialists, the closest ER and Specialty Veterinary hospital in Rhode Island. When he was found, his collar and name tag were missing. Luckily, he was microchipped, so the wonderful ER staff were able to find me and reunite me with my sweet boy.

Unfortunately, our story does not happily end at that point.

During his walkabout, Jarvis most likely crawled into a car engine, and suffered severe burns on over 15% of his body. (I was told that at 20% of body burn, cats cannot be saved - so my boy barely escaped with his life.) He spent 15 days in the ICU, and underwent 3 surgeries with their talented boarded specialty surgery team during that time. He was heavily sedated 24/7 as the ICU team tried to manage his severe pain. He lived with a central line (ie, catheter placed in his jugular vein), a feeding tube, and a urinary catheter in place; plus bandages on multiple limbs, his head, his tail, and his abdomen. The wonderful staff warned me that Jarvis may lose his right ear and his tail, though those were by far NOT his worst wounds.

Jarvis came home on 4/15/24. He was kept isolated from his 2 cat sisters for the first 7 weeks home as he began his healing journey. He had thrice weekly vet visits to manage his wounds and his pain for 2 months afterward; and has had twice weekly vet visits since then (almost 2 more months). He also had a 4th surgery on 4/26/24 when more burned tissue continued to die off. He lost part of his right ear, but only looks cuter without it. He kept his tail, and his hairline was altered by the surgery that repaired the top of his head.

Jarvis has had some other complications, but has mostly recovered remarkably well - until now. His right rear leg's burn wound refuses to heal - and has worsened over the last 2 months.

Jarvis's pet insurance policy (and his Mother’s savings account!) has been expended, and he now needs a 5th surgery. This time, the specialty surgeons will perform a skin graft on the stubborn leg wound (using healthy skin from the other side of his body), in hopes that it will finally heal.

Jarvis needs help in overing the costs of his 5th surgery, as well as the cost of the specialty surgeon's followup care for the following month or 2. The surgery estimate - NOT including the thrice-weekly followup visits - has a high end of over $2,700. The followup visits for wound care and medications will likely total another $1,200-$2500. Please help this sweet survivor, and contribute what you can to Jarvis's surgery and recovery.

Jarvis is such a special cat, and he has been through so so much already. I truly don't know what I'd do without him. He is bonded to his little sister, Lark - she would be heartbroken without him. Even his older sister, Akanya, now looks out for him; something I never thought would happen! Jarvis has been such a trooper, and truly deserves this chance to finally heal, and finally not be in pain any more. Please help him.

Thank you so much for helping save Jarvis's leg - and his life.

Love,

Erin, Jarvis, Akanya, & Lark

p.s. - Jarvis's middle name is Badass. (It's true. It's been listed on his veterinary records since he was a wee kitten!) And after living through this ordeal, he truly is a badass.