Help Lieutenant Dan (aka Dany) Get Leg Amputation

ATTENTION! Lieutenant Dan (the cat on the right) needs to get her leg amputated after a misleading adoption, and we need your help.

 

Hi, my name is Jessey, and I'm in a challenging situation with my newly adopted cat Lieutenant Dan, or Dany for short.

Dany is the darker-faced ragdoll with the bandaged foot and the cone on her head. The other cat is her son, Peter - my roommate's kitty. They love each other already, as you can probably tell from the photos.

Here is the story of what happened and what needs to happen moving forward to give Dany the best possible, most comfortable life:

 

On January 15, I visited a Ragdoll breeder to check out the cats for adoption. It wasn't long until little Dany came hopping along with her missing foot and rolled around at my feet. I knew right then and there which cat I wanted to take home. Dany lost her foot in a cat toy incident under the breeder's supervision. When we saw her that day, the wound was exposed and bleeding. I asked if I could take her home that day, and the breeder said I should wait until her wound had healed up before adopting her. I thought that was fair as I had never handled a situation like this before, although I found it very odd that she wasn't bandaged up at the time or wearing a cone. I didn't feel good about leaving her like that, so I called a vet that very day and explained the situation. The vet encouraged me to try and see if I could take her sooner and bring Dany to get checked out. I asked the breeder, and she said, "No, I will bandage her up and get her fully healed before I give her to you." I ended up leaving her with the breeder and checked up every so often to see how she was recovering. My roommate ended up adopting Peter, her son, a few days after I met Dany (the kitten shown in the pictures).

 

On February 21, I received a message from the breeder saying that Dany was ready to be picked up if I was still interested. She would still need bandaging for a while, but she was apparently making great progress. When I showed up at the house to adopt Dany, the breeder walked me through how to do the bandage change. Her foot was revealed during the change, and the wound hardly looked any different from when I first saw her back in the middle of January. I was caught very off guard since I was told this accident took place at the end of December. Her injury still looked very poor. I knew I needed to get her out of the house and to a vet.

 

I brought her to a local Vancouver vet that my roommate had been going to. When they saw her foot, they were super concerned, and they felt that the best course of action for Dany to live a happy life moving forward would be to amputate her leg. We were furious and confused about the whole situation, as were the vets. The vet took pictures and sent all the information to a specialist to ensure that this would be the right decision. After the specialist saw her foot, they confirmed that she needed an amputation to prevent chronic pain in her future - and if a specialist were to operate, I would be looking at spending $5-6K, which I simply don't have right now. My roommate and I started phoning around to different vets and clinics for pricing and dates to make the appointment, and we found one that could do the surgery for about $2.2-2.6K. I don't have a confirmed price yet, but I will be sure to update the GoFundMe as the details get solidified. Dany also needs to be taken to the vet every three days for bandage changes until she gets the surgery. This cost is $50 per visit. 

*The estimated $3500 I am trying to raise goes towards the surgery, as well as the vet visits leading up to the surgery and post operation care. 

 

One more thing I learned after visiting our local vet in Vancouver and obtaining the records from the vet clinic that the breeder was taking Dany to before I adopted her - she lost her foot back in October when she was pregnant. So it has been five months since the accident, and she has still not recovered.

 

I am asking for your help. I want to get Dany to the point where she can live a comfortable life filled with all the love in the world, but I sadly cannot afford these steep surgery prices right now. She is currently adjusting to a new home with my roommate and I (we've both already fallen in love with her), along with the company of her beautiful son Peter. Despite her foot condition, she is thriving in this environment the best she can given the circumstances, and we can only imagine how much happier Dany will be once she gets this 5-month long problem taken care of once and for all. We appreciate you taking the time to read this crazy story. Thank you so much for sharing and showing support for this GoFundMe to help give Lt. Dan a fresh start. She sends her love as well. Cheers!