Help us say goodbye to Bella

UPDATE:

After speaking with the vet today, we have made the decision that humane euthanasia is the kindest option for Bella. We would like to be able to give her the most stress free & peaceful passing we can, & we also want to have her privately cremated & purchase an urn & other memorial items. There are many companies that provide these services but we are looking at thekindestgoodbye.com and their cremation partner edenhills.com.au. If you have the capacity to help us send Bella across the rainbow bridge with peace, love, dignity & reverence, we would really appreciate your help.

Initial description:

My name is Kara. Myself & my sister Elissa are trying to raise funds to help our beloved family member, ragdoll cat Bella.

Bella has been in perfect health (based off a senior cat blood test last year), & continued to be playful, energetic, sharp of mind & young at heart until age 13. Even becoming somewhat of an adoptive mum to our younger cat Binx a couple of years ago. Bella is very loved by us & our other cats, & she is a big part of our home.

Bella very suddenly developed a blood clot in her right front paw last week. This is a serious condition that required urgent treatment. She spent time in hospital & is now home with us being nursed while she recovers from the pain, stress & trauma.

Our difficulty lies in determining the cause of her blood clot to understand prognosis & treatment options. Initial tests have ruled out heart disease, which is the most common cause of a blood clot in cats. A mass has been seen on her lung, but to properly diagnose this & work out what to do next requires a CT scan, which is estimated to be $3-4000. It might be cancer, but it also might not be.

Complicating matters is that the blood clot has prevented blood flow to her paw for too long, & the vet believes that amputation of her paw will be needed in future. However, without knowing her diagnosis regarding the cause of the blood clot, it is difficult to know if we should put her through this surgery.

We are currently trying to make Bella as happy & comfortable as possible at home. We know we might have some difficult decisions ahead of us, but without a real diagnosis/prognosis these decisions can only be made by guesswork & how her quality of life appears. We would really like to be able to make the most informed decision about what is best for Bella, based on a complete diagnosis & understanding of her prognosis & treatment options.

Initial treatment, hospital stay, transport & testing has come to over $5000, that our Dad has kindly helped us with. Any money raised here would be put towards further diagnostics (such as the CT scan), potential treatment, the possible amputation, reimbursing our Dad some amount if we can, & if it came to it, a dignified & peaceful euthanasia at home. If this devastating possibility occurred sooner rather than later, we would donate any remaining funds on to other animals in need.

If you can help us out at all, or otherwise share this with others, we would be incredibly grateful.