On Memorial Day morning, we took our cat, Maple, to our local emergency vet. Since Saturday morning, she had been throwing up about every 2 hours, unable to keep anything down, but still in relatively good spirits. We held off on taking her to the ER in the hopes that she would be able to move past the throwing up and her stomach would settle on its own. Having been through this experience with our other cat a couple years ago, who ended up being perfectly fine, we didn't want to take her in unless we absolutely knew we had tried everything to help her ourselves.

We had several small glimmers of hope throughout the weekend where Maple would seem to perk up, be interested in food and water, and would want to play with us, just for it to take a turn and for her to throw up again.

After monitoring her in our bathroom overnight on Sunday, we woke up and decided to take her in. They immediately took her back, got vitals which showed she was stable, yet dehydrated, and had x-rays and bloodwork done to see if it showed a blockage. The x-rays were clear, as was the bloodwork, so we were right back in square one. However, the vet warned us that there could still be a blockage hiding from anything an x-ray would show if it's between her stomach and intestines.

After speaking with the vet, she told us her stomach was a bit distended with gas and fluids, so we decided the best option for Maple was to board her at the vet overnight where she can have round the clock care with 12hr constant fluids (as opposed to doing this ourselves where, if you know our cat, she would have ripped us to shreds), and repeat x-rays and bloodwork in the night. We left that night with $2500 from our bank accounts, not knowing what next steps were.

Around 1:30am on Tuesday morning, we received a call from the Dr. stating that her tummy had doubled in size from gas and fluids and she wasn't able to pass anything. They inserted a tube through her lil' baby nose to her stomach to try and drain the gas and fluids to give her relief. They also said they would be able to perform an ultrasound the next day to be able to get further imaging on her tummy and insides to be able to see if there is a blockage too hidden for the x-rays to pick up. Unfortunately, this had little effect on her and they were unable to drain as much as she wanted. We decided to proceed with the ultrasound (An additional $700) which fortunately/unfortunately showed a 1.5cm foreign object 100% blocking the beginning of her intestines, preventing anything from passing, hence the gas and fluid build up and throwing up. They did not see any perforations so far which is great, however the surgery is costing us another $4300.

We understand that not everyone is going to get why we are investing so much into a pet, but Maple has been with me since she was 3 months old, and she is only turning 7 years old on June 20th. Maple is a part of our family and we can't imagine life without her. She has no pre-existing conditions, and besides being a bit dim at times, she makes our lives so much more enjoyable and fun. I couldn't give up all the snuggles she gives me under the covers because she likes to be hidden, the drooling on us in bed because she's so happy to be with us and getting cheek scratches, or the joy she brings our other cat, Leia.

We obviously understand this is a big ask of our friends and family without truly knowing our Maple, but we are so thankful for anything you are able to donate to help with out $7500 vet bill. We truly are so grateful to have amazing families and friends who have been asking how they can help, in addition to the positive thoughts and prayers.