help tara & candice

Update as of May 28th:

Sunday night we heard a cat crying outside in the alley that runs beside our condo. We grabbed flashlights and the cat carrier and found this precious bean huddling beneath a dumpster. Originally christened Taco Of Indeterminate Gender, they spent the last 36 hours in my bathroom as Monday was a holiday and the vet was closed. However we took them today to the local GoodVets and learned the following:

Cat is female, approximately 1 years old, very healthy. Tested negative for Feline Leukemia and FIV, and despite having no chip does not appear to have been altered yet also does not appear to be pregnant. She has now been vaccinated for rabies and given topical anti-flea treatment.

We still need to get them spayed, and see if they are compatible with household cats before we could consider adding them to the clowder. But Taco has been rechristened Sylvie Scardeysdottir because of her markings and temperament.

We have kept her isolated in my bathroom, and taken turns sitting with her. She has been quiet as a mouse but incredibly affectionate, purrs like a lawn mower, and is already slow blinking, flopping, and pineappling. In a unique experience for me, the cat grabbed my head and pulled it down to hers this morning, and booped my nose.

Whether or not she becomes a permanent member of the household depends entirely upon how well the cats take to her presence. We're going to give her another day or two to settle and then start doing supervised visits via the pop-up kennel with the other cats to see how they react.

Today's vet bill was approximately $500 which luckily I was able to cover. However anything you could kick in to help cover vet costs would be greatly appreciated.

Update as on 5 February, 2024:

One of our cats had to have emergency surgery at 2am, and both Candice and I have been unemployed for over a year. In my case much longer. Blessedly, my sibling was able to put the $8000 deposit on their credit card so that Shadow could have the surgery she needed to most likely save her life.

But we need to pay them back and cover the entire bill which we do not have a total for yet plus any medications she will need.

So things at Chez O'Shea-Velasco right now are a bit crazy. We are elated that she came out of surgery and is in recovery, we are exhausted from being up all night worrying and not being able to be with her yet. And in the wake of no new job leads, we are once again passing the hat.