As much as we hate to be asking for donations, especially right now when so many are in need, the smallest member of our family desperately needs help, and he cannot wait for us to slowly save up for treatment. Kona is a little six-pound cat who hasn’t even reached his first birthday yet, but now he’s in a fight for his life.

We’re begging you to help if you can. He turns one on April 23rd, and with treatment and if all goes as planned, he can enjoy a long, happy life. Kona just needs assistance to do it!

The quick version of what’s happening: Kona’s health has been going downhill for the last month, and this week we finally got our answer: Kona is ill with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which is a potentially fatal illness). FIP is a mutation of feline coronavirus, and in Kona’s case, it’s the neurologic form—putting his brain under extreme pressure, changing the consistency of his spinal cord fluid, and stealing his coordination. FIP has compressed Kona’s brain out of physical shape, pushing his brain outside of the space it’s meant to occupy right now. Before we started treatment, he was no longer able to walk without falling down—that’s how bad it had gotten prior to a formal diagnosis, though his first course of meds is already making a huge difference.

The treatment has a very good chance of working, but it is extremely expensive. Already, the path to diagnosis and his first round of treatments/medicine have cost about $6,300 in vet bills (including the cost of an MRI), and we’re just at the beginning of the fight. This is already a heart-stopping number for us, particularly since all of these tests and dianostics and treatment occurred in a span of only three weeks, without any advance warning. With these bills alongside expectations of continued treatment, testing, and potential relapse, we’ve set a goal of $13,000. Every and any amount will help, though, going directly to Kona’s care and the bills related to his treatment!

We know it’s a lot. We really do. And we wouldn’t be asking if we felt we had any other choice. But we’d go to the ends of the earth for this baby of ours, so we’re just hoping others will see the magic in him and be willing to help out, if only a little bit.

He is the glue of our family, beloved by us humans as well as our other cats and our two dogs. He came to us when we were lost in a cloud of grief over losing two much older cats, and he chose us. Simply put: Back in August, I sat down in a room of kittens, and Kona trundled out of a little cat house and into my lap, and refused to move. Even when my leg fell asleep and I shifted sideways, even when I moved from floor to chair, even when they moved him around to read his microchip and see which kitten he was, he clung on and told us: I belong with you. Please take me home.

So, we did. He was a three-month-old cuddlebug who was clearly meant to be ours. And now he needs our help. We’ll also post more about Kona and his journey toward this diagnosis, as well as his fight and a breakdown of where funds are going, in future updates.

For now, whether you’re a friend or just an animal lover, thank you for taking the time to read about Kona’s fight and consider donating! Please, share if you can’t donate.

And wish us and Kona luck.