Mabel's ongoing vet bills

Hi, my name is Jade and I have a 3 year old tortoiseshell rescue cat called Mabel. I truly believe in adopting pets rather than supporting breeders - there are so many beautiful animals in rescue centres already needing homes and it's not their fault they've ended up there. Whenever I've adopted, I've preferred to choose the perhaps overlooked cats who might be slightly older or have medical issues. I adopted my last cat Tiggy, 11 years old at the time with some behavioural issues, from Pepper's Pet Rescue in Halesowen in 2020. My beautiful Tiggy heartbreakingly passed away from a rare aggressive cancer just two years later. I had expected to have Tiggy in my life for years to come.

After losing Tiggy I decided I couldn't live without a cat for long and I saw Pepper's Pet Rescue posting about a little 1 year old tortoiseshell cat called Mabel who had been brought in off the streets. The next update was that Mabel had tested positive for FIV and would need to be an indoor only cat. Poor little Mabel had had a rough start to life living on the streets and had had at least one litter of kittens. I decided I could give Mabel a nice indoor life in my flat and on a visit back to the Midlands, I brought her back from Halesowen with me to Cornwall without even meeting her first. The little girl hid for two days before letting me give her a fuss - once she started enjoying a fuss, she went from hiding behind the sofa to cuddling up on my lap within a week. She was instantly the most loving cat I've ever known!

FIV+ means that Mabel has a compromised immune system, and over time she's had allergies due to this and a URI over the first Christmas I had her - apart from that, she's been a happy little girl. For the majority of the time I've had Mabel, she's always liked drinking a lot of water. I had mentioned this to the vets a few times but they showed no concern based on Mabel's age and that she appeared to be in good health, not showing any other symptoms. In April 2024 I came back from a two week holiday and Mabel wasn't quite herself for a while - I thought she was just grumpy that I'd left her. I also noticed that she'd started getting a bit fussier with food, not quite finishing all her meals like she always had done. I took her into the vets to get her teeth checked in May as I was also concerned they were causing her pain. I was becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of water she was drinking so I made an appointment to have a dental and have blood tests beforehand. I was heartbroken to find out I was right and Mabel was diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease, at the age of 3. My world fell apart. Because I've been through kidney disease with our old cat Tilly, I knew what it would involve. Kidney disease is not curable and will be terminal.

Since her kidney disease diagnosis in June 2024, I've been spending the majority of my earnings ordering Mabel various renal diet food and supplements almost every week (and barely any money on myself). The renal diet foods cost a huge amount more than standard supermarket food which she used to eat, and I've been recommended various supplements which have all been adding up. To add to the stress of the kidney disease, Mabel came down with a UTI at the beginning of July and it's been recurring ever since, having to try different antibiotics and pain relief. I've had to book various vet appointments (including an emergency overnight appointment) for check ups, blood tests and countless urinalysis'. On top of it all, Mabel wakes me up various times throughout the night so I'm not sleeping properly any more. This has all happened in such a small space of time and I feel like I'm going to have a mental breakdown most days!

I have so far been using my future house savings to cover Mabel's expensive vet bills, but as a single person living on my own, I'm really struggling. If you could spare even just a few pounds to help cover Mabel's ongoing bills, I would so appreciate it! She is the sweetest, teeniest little girl who doesn't deserve any of this and I will do anything I can to help her x