Help Save Ruffles The Cat

Hi my name is Devin and I am the proud owner of a beautiful 1.5 year old British Shorthair cat named Ruffles. I am writing this to ask for any little bit of help you can provide to help me bring my little buddy home♥️

Last Friday out of nowhere, Ruffles was rushed to the emergency room with severe breathing issues. After two invasive procedures to drain his lungs, three painful hospitalized nights, and six thousand dollars later, Ruffles was tentatively diagnosed with Septic Pyothorax. I was told he was stable, and therefore he was discharged by the vet to come home with me and was given strong medicine to help him slowly recover while I closely monitored him.

However fate had other plans. On Wednesday night, I noticed Ruffles’ breathing issues had returned. I rushed him to a Specialist ER for urgent care. Within minutes of him arriving, he began to rapidly deteriorate and was placed in emergency care to install tubes in his chest to help him breathe as the only chance of him surviving the night. During this procedure, he fully stopped breathing at one point, but the doctor was able to save his life with mechanical breathing. The specialist doctor was shocked that Ruffles had been discharged by the other vet in his state, and that he should have been immediately given the correct medical treatment instead. Fast forward to today and he is being treated under specialist care.

The good news is they think he will make a full recovery. The bad news: this last minute life saving procedure and the following treatment has been estimated at up to fifteen thousand additional dollars, bringing the total estimated cost of care to twenty-one thousand dollars ($21,000), an eye-watering bill that is being paid for completely alone by my partner and I, without insurance. I am grateful to every single person who has worked to save Ruffles’ life, but the cost of having had an incomplete diagnosis and incorrect treatment plan from the first 4 days of care has made this financial cost significantly higher than it would have been if he had been diagnosed correctly and properly treated immediately.

In the vet's words, Ruffles could not have been any more unlucky with what has happened. This condition is extremely rare in healthy young indoor cats like Ruffles. Additionally, the original vet’s lab results were supposed to take 1-2 days, and unfortunately the full results ended up taking almost 5 days, during which time he wasn’t correctly diagnosed. Now, even with the correct diagnosis and the best treatment possible, Ruffles requires a long time in hospital to recover, which costs over 1000$ each additional day.

Ruffles loves every single person he meets, and everyone who meets Ruffles loves him back. He brightens every room he is in, and every doctor we’ve spoken to has told us how sweet, kind and brave he has been to them while he is going through this painful treatment. I am broken watching little Ruffles go through this. Thank you so much for reading, and every little bit donated helps. All I want for Christmas is to bring my best friend home.