Help remove Sheba's mammary cancer.

Hello and thank you for considering donating for Sheba! **Her vet records are attached at the end**

I first adopted Sheba in 2021. She's a rescue who has been passed around by irresponsible owners who neglected her. Her last owner sold her because her boyfriend didn't like cats.

I fell in love with her cuteness and knowing that it's extra difficult for black cats to get adopted and knowing she has two missing teeth, I decided to adopt her.

Sheba is the sweetest and most loving cat I've ever met (I might be biased, but can you blame me?..) When we got her, she was in bad condition—football-sized hard tummy, dry flaky skin, declawed and extremely anxious with abandonment issues and had scabs on different parts of her body.

We also noticed she would lick certain areas of her body until it was bloody, mostly her belly. We spent a lot of money on her to make sure that she was healed and well taken care of. The vet did a food allergy test and Sheba was put on a special diet for her allergies.

Soon she became playful, lost weight, was happier and settled in. She became friendly and started approaching people because I and my roommate gave her so much love, attention and toys. We both had cats all of our lives and are big cat lovers.

Out of all of the foods, she seemed to like beef more. We also use only hypoallergenic and dust-free litter, we have a humidifier to help her dry skin, use omega-3 in her food etc. Even though her coat and tummy recovered, the excessive licking continued to come and go. We had to keep her in a cone 2 weeks out of 4 in a month and use vet-prescribed medicine on her self-inflicted wounds. Our vet informed us that stress from being declawed could be the cause, so we tried our best to give her the best of everything. Everything was going perfectly minus the licking. We checked her body meticulously to monitor her case and did everything the vet said. We even had an extensive cleaning session for her teeth with a vet dental specialist, as she also had severe hard plaque causing gum issues and we fixed that also.

In December 2023, we first noticed a tiny lump on her right shoulder. But because her previous owner told us she was microchipped, we assumed that's what it was. I changed her insurance company to Fetch just before her annual examination was due in December 2023. While waiting for the 15-day waiting period to be over, I found that she had a lump on her belly which was small but firm. I made a vet appointment immediately, but the earliest available date fell in the 15-day waiting period.

The vet took a sample and sent it for biopsy which didn't bring any result. At first, the vet told us to reach out to their other chain location for a more accurate result. Suddenly she developed a 3rd lump on her right hip while waiting for a reply from the chain location and we took her for a 2nd consultation. The lump on her hip was too slippery to get a sample, and the one on her belly was slowly growing. The vet then referred us to VEC. We went to VEC on 8th Feb, where they did a biopsy of her shoulder and hip lump and histopathology of her bell lump. After 2 weeks the results came out to be mammary carcinoma.

Fortunately, the other 2 lumps turned out to be a benign lipoma. Unfortunately, the carcinoma has steadily grown with smaller ones forming around it. As per the vet, Mammary carcinoma in cats tends to be quite aggressive and if left untreated can burst through the skin creating a smelly and infected ulcer.

As VEC is an emergency veterinary clinic, we understood that the surgery there would be too costly. So we took her to another veterinary clinic to get a second opinion and estimate. After much consideration, we decided to have the surgery done on VCA Rosedale as we heard back from them and the cost was slightly less than VEC.

Dr. Mary has been incredible in handling Sheba and explaining everything from the procedures to the aftercare and risks to expect. Her x-ray and ultrasound test results came out normal, but the blood test showed signs of Stage-2 kidney disease. Weighing all the Pros and Cons, we've decided to have the cancer removal surgery and give her time to heal from it. We will also need to put her on a special diet to aid with her kidney disease.

As for myself, I am an international student, paying my tuition fee without any help from my family back home because of personal reasons. I decided to adopt Sheba because of loneliness, and have not spared anything to give her the best life she deserves.

As it is financially impossible for me to bear the cost of this surgery, I am asking for your help so that my Sheba can have cancer removed and lead the rest of her life without pain.

If you can donate anything no matter how much, it will be of great help.