This, as a lot of you know is Julia. For those of you who don't know us yet Julia is the best friend and teammate of Terri (me) an OTR truck driver. We live the majority of the year on the road together in an 18 wheeler. However, when we are not on the road we reside in Fenton, MO. We visit Torrance, CA several times a year to see family. We drive there in our truck. This April we went to rest and vacation and on April 16th Julia got outside. I chased her all over and she disappeared. I looked for her for 5 more days and then had to leave to go to work. Family, friends and an ARMY of people looked for Julia for the next 8 weeks and 4 days. Complete strangers put up flyers before I found a company to flyer. I paid Facebook to bump up her page in that area 10 different times. I paid pawboost and any service like them to distribute her information. I created emails and phone numbers for her. I ordered and shipped a humane trap, special food and catnip. I would not stop. In the end it's a good thing I found a way to come back when I did...she was not going to come out for anyone else.

Finally on June 7th I was able to come back for one night. I found her!!! It was crazy I was so happy. She was very very thin but seemed to have energy and not knowing any better I let her eat until her heart was content. Little did I know that I almost killed her doing that. You can look into refeeding syndrome to check that one out.

The next day she was so sick and with the absolute shock of finding her after 51 days clearing up a bit. I knew she was very sick. We discovered she had gone from 14.2 pounds down to 6.8 pounds. We went to the vet and upon examination were told the initial workup would be $1,850.00 due prior to any further treatment or examination. Thankfully I had that. There have been many times in my life I absolutely wouldn't have been able to do that. 

The results were a mixed bag. The worst of it is she has developed hepatic lipidosis from her body breaking down its own fat, cats livers just can't take it. The solution is usually a feeding tube but that's $900.00 a whack and the vet agreed that since Julia is willing to eat we can try to just feed her for a little bit. The issue with that is that she has to build up eating slowly. Only 6 grams of food every 6 hours until day after tomorrow we go up to 9 grams and keep adding every two to three days. She seems to be doing okay so far this way but we need to repeat all of the lab work every 5 to 7 days until we are sure the total bilirubin count is coming down. It's currently 5.7 and is supposed to be 0 to 0.5.

We drive for a living and that is not a normal job. I would dearly love to take Julia home for a little while. I'm hoping that we can get home on day 7 get our tests and then get a test 7 days later and head back out. However, "if the wheels aren't turning. I'm not earning. " The approximately $3,400.00 I've already spent out of pocket (not including days already missed from work) means we cannot go home.

The amazing outpouring of assistance and love we received while searching was tremendous. I am asking for your help to get her healthy and to have a minute to decompress and heal at home instead of on the go the way we are.

I appreciate each and every one of you!

Humbled by the generosity and genuine care we have received.

Sincerely,

Terri