Our two special needs pets are both in need of medical care at the same time, and we would be eternally grateful to anyone who can donate to offset some of our vet bills. Scruffin McMuffin is our 11-year old fluffy black cat (the goodest boy), and Ripley is our sweet 11-year old three-legged rescue dog (the goodest girl).

Scruffin McMuffin

Scruffin came to us via the Cat Distribution System in spring of 2015 when he showed up at the back door of the house where we lived in La Mesa, CA. He was extremely skinny, dirty, covered in fleas, missing half an ear, and missing a few teeth. Although he clearly had led a scrappy life, he also had a soft side. Once we began feeding him he became extremely friendly - wanting to sit in our laps, wanting to be inside, etc. When we moved to our current apartment in late 2015, we took him with us and he adapted to indoor cat life beautifully. He's super friendly with people, with some of our friends describing him as "wanting to be all up in your business all the time." If he's not sitting on you, he's sitting next to you, either sleeping or carefully watching what you're doing. He sleeps on Mandy's pillow on top of her head most nights. He loves his people.

Scruffin is dealing with complications due to his FIV, chronic kidney disease, or both. He needs more bloodwork, an ultrasound, and several prescription medications to keep him hydrated and eating. He has rapidly lost weight since the beginning of October 2024 and we need to make sure we are doing what we can to keep him eating and comfortable. Our vet sounds cautiously optimistic that he will bounce back from this after some more tests and with some TLC since his preliminary bloodwork doesn't show any serious changes to his kidney or red/white blood cell levels. We are looking at around $2,500 in vet bills just for Scruffin to get him past this roadblock. Although he does have FIV and chronic kidney disease, he is still fairly young and was very healthy up until this point. Many cats with his same conditions can live to 15 or beyond, so we are trying to give him a shot at a few more good years.

Ripley

Ripley came to us in 2016 through California Labs and More rescue. She had a hard life before being rescued; one of the Labs and More volunteers found her chained to a tree with a broken leg. The owners eventually relinquished her, but her leg couldn't be saved and had to be amputated. We adopted her about three weeks post surgery. When we first adopted her she didn't know how to "dog." She had never slept on a bed until she was rescued and had never played with toys or gotten treats. Slowly she came out of her shell and learned to love doing tricks for treats, playing with stuffies (but never destroying them), running around on the beach, and going on walks to the corner store where the cashier gives her treats. Arthritis has slowed her down as she's gotten older, but she still loves her people and adventures.

Ripley needs eye surgery to remove two masses that are growing on her eyelids. The masses are most likely benign, but are still bothering her when she blinks. The cost estimate is around $2,000, and chance of recurrence is very low.

Thank you so much for reading our story and considering giving to our fund. We are trying to do right by our pets and give them the life they deserve after both having such a rough start.