Help save Arcane the Kitty!

Hi. My name is Kelleen Thaxton. I often am raising funds for others’ pets in need, but this time it is personal. My daughter’s companion and best friend for the past 10 years, her cat Arcane, had to go to the Emergency Vet tonight because he had stopped eating or drinking and was struggling to breathe. His little body is filled with an unknown fluid, his white blood cell count is off the charts, and he’s suffering a high fever.. They don’t know yet if it is a terrible case of Pneumonia, a cardiac issue, cancer, or some other mystery infection. Just to get him stabilized and hospitalized on oxygen and get all the fluid drained from his body cavity so he can breathe again, and start diagnostics on the fluid to try to figure out the cause, is costing $2,800 - $3,500. We definitely don’t have that kind of money saved up, but we have to do it, praying that it will be something that can be treated successfully to let us have him in our lives for all the rest of the years he deserves.

This is going to sound like one of those “Woe is Me” sob stories, but it is all true: I have been off work from my full time job since mid-July, because my 84-year-old mom needed a bypass surgery and I needed to be there for her during surgery, hospital stay, and a long recovery—and then at the end of August I went in for my own major surgery, a total hip replacement, which I’m still in recovery from. And my daughter Honey, (Arcane’s fur-mom) who is helping me at home during my recovery, is now not working either. AND our rent was just raised another $100 last month! Ugh! This is the absolutely worst time for emergency vet bills, but we’ll do what we can.

Some background: Arcane is the heart of our pet family, and started me down a path of animal rescue just by being the incredible being he is. About ten years ago, my daughter brought home a small 3-legged all-black “teenager” kitten, despite me saying we didn’t need a cat as a pet (we already had a dog). She named him Arcane and he immediately took over both of our hearts.

Neither of us had ever had a cat, and Arcane started it all. He is such a wonderful, loving, laid-back, snuggly companion cat who always wants to be with his person. Seeing the love between him and my teenage daughter encouraged me to adopt a kitty Juniper for myself. Soon we had added two other 3-legged rescue kitties, and I I was hooked. I got a job at Kitsap Humane Society shelter working with feral cats, and since that time have dived headfirst into pet rescue, especially for homeless cats. All started by Arcane’s wonderful little soul.

Our family has also since added more cats, including BMO, Arcane’s “little sister” (pictured above), who loves him fiercely and always wants to be snuggled up to him. We don’t want her to lose her bonded Big Brother!

If we can save Arcane’s life, we have to try. Please help if you can, and please share this fundraiser wherever you can, too. Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for any help you can provide!