Hi my name is Maria Kaps. Many of you already know that Shana and I rescue cats and have been for many years now.

Our mission was brought to light when we started feeding cat colonies on our cabin property and saw a neighbor with our own eyes shooting cats and burning them. The local Sheriff refused to do anything so we stepped in.

Our fear escalated and what cats remained we starting capturing, getting them fixed and bringing them indoors and to our home in Blackshear for safety. Some of these cats were already pregnant.

In all my life I’ve never intended for all these cats but they needed us. Our home soon became a cat sanctuary converting rooms to secure outdoor spaces for fresh air, making a workshop a safe haven and purchasing a camper that stays on the property for warmth for some of them.

The amount of cats has grown to a full time job in addition to our professional lives. Shana and I wake up early every morning and do hours of chores feeding, changing litters, cleaning, administering medicine and doing laundry for the cats.

We have had cats mysteriously show up sick on our porch that are near death that we’ve saved. Where we live in the country most people treat cats and other pets as garbage so if you’re thinking “why don’t they just adopt them out” it isn’t that easy here.

We take care of all the food, supplies and medical costs out of our own pocket and often times go without for the cats. It does require sacrifices but we feel this is our God given mission.

One of the cats we rescued, Matthew James, came daily for feedings and we noticed he could hardly walk. We were able to capture him and bring him to a vet. The vet determined he had a bullet lodged in his leg. After surgery the doctor was able to remove most of the bullet, minus some debris and with heavy antibiotics he would be okay just living with a limp walk.

Over the summer Matthew became very ill and could not urinate. We brought him to our vet, Dr Hodges, in Brunswick and she was able to unblock him. Unfortunately he had to have this surgery twice within a month because he has an abnormally small urethra.

This past week we noticed him struggling to urinate again and he also stopped eating. We quickly brought him back to the vet. Dr Hodges was unable to get the medical instruments thru his urethra this time because the urethra was swollen shut. Without this surgery Matthew would loose his life. We were told to immediately pick him up and take him to Jacksonville to the ER.

Matthew is now at First Coast Veterinary Specialists in Jacksonville. The doctors also could not get the instruments thru his urethra. They told us they needed to perform a reverse obstruction surgery going thru his abdomen now and coming out the urethra. This surgery was also unsuccessful.

We were called as Matthew lay on the surgical table and as the doctors called it they needed to do a “Hail Mary” surgery as a last resort. This surgery normally is only done after the cats urethra is unblocked. It is called a Perineal Urethrostomy otherwise known as PU surgery.

A perineal urethrostomy creates a new urinary opening that decreases the length of the urethra and allows urine to bypass this narrowed region. This surgery can decrease the likelihood of recurring obstruction. Less commonly, perineal urethrostomy may be performed on cats with severe urethral trauma.

The costs of all of these surgeries, medicine, 24-7 hospital stay for at least a week will cost us approx $11,700. I don’t think any parent is prepared for this but his life means everything to us. The reason we did not put him down is because he is only 4 years old and has great blood work. He has a chance at life.

Although the PU surgery was successfully performed, the doctors have described him as still in a very critical state and the worst case they have ever seen. We are taking his recovery minute by minute and are living on a prayer for our baby Matthew.

He will be in the hospital at least another week where he will hopefully fully recover and come home to us where he will never face this adversity again.

Shana and I would never in a million years think of asking for a penny towards our mission but we need your help with this one. Any little bit will help us and if you can’t or don’t want to give we completely understand and ask you to share this Go Fund me and pray for Matthew.

If you don’t feel comfortable donating directly to us thru the platform I’m sure the First Coast Veterinary hospital would take a donation towards his bill. He is there under the name, Matthew James Meulman.

I realize the holidays are upon us and there is never a good time to ask for help but if you’ve read this far into our story I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Please help us with Matthew James.

Sincerely,

Maria