My name is Harley and as many of you know, I rescued a kitten in April. I named the little guy Spoon; he was there for me as I went through some of the biggest changes of my life and became my rock. I had always wanted a cat, and the distribution system chose me with him.

Over the months, Spoon became my best friend. Between cuddles, purrs and playing, I really did feel like I'd found my soul cat. Being that I can't have kids due to medical issues, he became my son.

On November 21st, Spoon started to get a little sedentary, but he only presented symptoms of, at most, an upset tummy from food change, so I kept an eye on him.

On the afternoon of November 24th, I noticed that Spoon was breathing extremely heavy, wheezing and not moving around much. Concerned, I took him straight to my vet, only to find out he was in critical condition. He has pus filling his thoracic cavity-- his chest cavity-- which is crushing his lungs and eventually heart.

After five hours of crying, I moved mountains to get him the healthcare he needs, going out of my own realm of financial stability and with the help of an amazing friend, I was able to get him in for surgery, scheduled November 25th.

However, this surgery and the associated care is projected to be ten thousand dollars. I don't expect to make that all back by any means, but I was encouraged to set this up as a means of helping to pay off the medical debt I've accumulated in his name.

I don't regret it for a single second. He's my baby and when the alternative was putting him down, there was no way in hell I was going to pursue that unless I had no other choice. Spoon's road to recovery is going to be a long one, but he's nine months old. And I want him to live to see nine years, then nineteen.

UPDATE

Spoon had surgery on the 25th of November, and they found that his left lung was partially collapsed, with an old puncture that fused to his rib. As far as they can tell, this happened a while ago, and the surgeon assumes it was from playing a little too rough with his siblings. When they cut off the fused portion and stitched him up, the collapsed part slowly began to work as normal.

On the 26th, Spoon came home. He is recovering in bed with his dad Chaz, on a month of no play with 5 daily medications. He's a fighter ♡