Mei is my 13-year-old ginger cat and she and I need help. She has been with me since I graduated college, through everything. She is my girl. At the end of June, I took her to the vet thinking she just had an upset stomach due to stress as we had recently moved and ended that appointment with a diagnosis of a diaphragmatic hernia. What is that you ask? It is a hole in the diaphragm. This has led to parts of Mei's intestines traveling up into her chest cavity around her heart and lungs. When looking at an x-ray her heart is not visible as her guts are in the way. She is having some minor trouble breathing.

My regular vet let me know that the only way for this to get better is with surgery to move everything where it belongs and that it would require a more specialized vet. As this is usually something that happens after trauma and my cats are all indoor, we are not sure how this happened or how long this has been going on.

After a surgery consultation, the estimate is starting at $6,000 to $7,000 for surgery and an overnight stay for observation. I'm looking to try to raise half but any help would be greatly appreciated. The vet will go in and move her organs back into place and repair the hole in her diaphragm. This surgery is more then I was expecting as it requires a little more care due to its complexity. One of the main concerns is her lung reinflation after everything is moved as they have not been able to fully expand and we don't want this to happen too quickly. I'm going to be honest that I could use some help to cover this. At the same time that this started my cat with IBD issues had a flair up that required a vet visit and medication adjustments and my car started to have some minor issue that need to be repaired so it continues to run. The universe just threw everything at me at once.

Surgery is currently scheduled for Wednesday July 30th. Any help is greatly appreciated no matter how small. Mei and myself truly appreciate all of you and your support. She is my special girl (ok she's special to me, but also only about 20% of ginger cats are female so she is a little special in that way) and I would like her to be around for a long time.