Meowstro's Medical Care
Donation protected
Summary: Meowstro became deathly ill recently after 5 years of excellent health. After many emergency trips to different vets requiring lots of tests, hospitalization, and treatments, he was diagnosed as having contracted Bordetella Bronchiseptica, Mycoplasma felis, and Feline Herpesvirus, which resulted in respiratory infections and extensive inflammation and lacerations of his nasal passages and airways. He is recovering, but is on a strict regimen of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, and has to be fed via a feeding tube for the next few weeks. The vet bills came out to over $7,000 so I would be very thankful for your help to cover Meowstro’s hospital bills.
Meowstro is the sweetest cat you will ever meet. I adopted him after answering an ad on Craigslist. The woman who rescued him found him as a kitten, hiding inside a tire from some stray dogs. When I first went to see him after, Meowstro literally jumped into my arms after being chased from his hiding place under the bed. He has been my best friend and greatest companion ever since.
Despite how he came into the world, Meowstro has been healthy cat his whole life. But he recently experienced a health emergency. It all began on January 8th when Meowstro started to sneeze and cough. It sounded like he was going to expel something, without success. Concerned, I took him to Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital for a check up on January 9th, where he mysteriously stopped coughing during the exam (probably due to stress from the car ride). Because of this, the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him so we returned home thinking he was going to be alright.
On January 10th, I was woken up at 4:00 a.m. by the sound of a much stronger, louder cough and wheezing. Meowstro was now coughing every 10 seconds. I rushed him to the SF SPCA where the vet did a really cursory exam and advised taking an x-ray. The x-ray showed a vague formation in his chest, but without any further examination, the vet quickly prescribed steroids and sent us home.
Unfortunately, the steroids had no effect and Meowstro’s cough continued to worsen throughout the day. He completely stopped eating and drinking water, and by evening his breathing seemed to become erratic and his movements were very limited and lethargic.
On January 11th, I rushed him back to Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital. The vet noted Meowstro now had a 103 degrees fever and also had some white spots on his tongue and gums. Another set of x-rays revealed inflammation in the lungs. The vet suspected pneumonia or asthma, and I agreed to hospitalize Meowstro so he could receive continuous care. The vet later called to say that they had to place him in an oxygen tent while putting him on an IV. It broke my heart to see my best friend so vulnerable and weak. They also were giving him antibiotics and steroids to treat the inflammation. This stabilized his condition, but after three days of hospitalization, his condition had improved only a little. I was so broken that nothing had helped him so far. I was so afraid I was going to lose him. At that point, the vet recommended I take Meowstro to see an internal specialist, so I took him to VCA Bay Area Veterinary Specialists in San Leandro on January 13th.
Dr. Funes at VCA started treating Meowstro with different antibiotics. He required more oxygen because his condition had deteriorated quickly during the short drive from Berkeley to San Leandro. Because he hadn’t responded to the steroids, she strongly recommended doing an endoscopy to try to identify the actual cause of his illness. We waited a day for his condition to stabilize and the endoscopy revealed severe inflammation and lacerations in his airways. Dr. Funes took some swabs for DNA testing, rinsed out his nasal passages, and inserted a feeding tube as the inflammation was so severe that it was preventing Meowstro from eating and drinking.
As it turned out, the DNA test came back positive for Bordetella Bronchiseptica, Mycoplasma felis, and Feline Herpesvirus, which were the causes of Meowstro’s respiratory distress and internal lacerations. The vet prescribed different antibiotics to cover for these specific pathogens, so Meowstro is now finally on the road to recovery. He even got to go home the next day. Meanwhile, I have to continue feeding him via the feeding tube and keep him on a strict regimen of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs for the next few weeks.
As you can imagine, all the exams, multiple days of hospitalization, and treatments have been very expensive, adding up to over $7,000 over just a few days, but I was willing to do anything to save my best friend. Meowstro means the world to me, and I’m forever grateful to Dr. Funes at VCA because she saved Meowstro’s life.
I started this GoFundMe to ask for help in paying back the cost of his treatment. I don’t usually ask for help from strangers, but this is for Meowstro. It will be very difficult moving forward to pay off these expenses, but I would greatly appreciate any help and donation of any size. Copies of some of the vet bills are attached at the link below:
https://imgur.com/a/b6AAv
Thank you for your consideration and for taking the time to read his story—Meowstro thanks you too!
Meowstro is the sweetest cat you will ever meet. I adopted him after answering an ad on Craigslist. The woman who rescued him found him as a kitten, hiding inside a tire from some stray dogs. When I first went to see him after, Meowstro literally jumped into my arms after being chased from his hiding place under the bed. He has been my best friend and greatest companion ever since.
Despite how he came into the world, Meowstro has been healthy cat his whole life. But he recently experienced a health emergency. It all began on January 8th when Meowstro started to sneeze and cough. It sounded like he was going to expel something, without success. Concerned, I took him to Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital for a check up on January 9th, where he mysteriously stopped coughing during the exam (probably due to stress from the car ride). Because of this, the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him so we returned home thinking he was going to be alright.
On January 10th, I was woken up at 4:00 a.m. by the sound of a much stronger, louder cough and wheezing. Meowstro was now coughing every 10 seconds. I rushed him to the SF SPCA where the vet did a really cursory exam and advised taking an x-ray. The x-ray showed a vague formation in his chest, but without any further examination, the vet quickly prescribed steroids and sent us home.
Unfortunately, the steroids had no effect and Meowstro’s cough continued to worsen throughout the day. He completely stopped eating and drinking water, and by evening his breathing seemed to become erratic and his movements were very limited and lethargic.
On January 11th, I rushed him back to Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital. The vet noted Meowstro now had a 103 degrees fever and also had some white spots on his tongue and gums. Another set of x-rays revealed inflammation in the lungs. The vet suspected pneumonia or asthma, and I agreed to hospitalize Meowstro so he could receive continuous care. The vet later called to say that they had to place him in an oxygen tent while putting him on an IV. It broke my heart to see my best friend so vulnerable and weak. They also were giving him antibiotics and steroids to treat the inflammation. This stabilized his condition, but after three days of hospitalization, his condition had improved only a little. I was so broken that nothing had helped him so far. I was so afraid I was going to lose him. At that point, the vet recommended I take Meowstro to see an internal specialist, so I took him to VCA Bay Area Veterinary Specialists in San Leandro on January 13th.
Dr. Funes at VCA started treating Meowstro with different antibiotics. He required more oxygen because his condition had deteriorated quickly during the short drive from Berkeley to San Leandro. Because he hadn’t responded to the steroids, she strongly recommended doing an endoscopy to try to identify the actual cause of his illness. We waited a day for his condition to stabilize and the endoscopy revealed severe inflammation and lacerations in his airways. Dr. Funes took some swabs for DNA testing, rinsed out his nasal passages, and inserted a feeding tube as the inflammation was so severe that it was preventing Meowstro from eating and drinking.
As it turned out, the DNA test came back positive for Bordetella Bronchiseptica, Mycoplasma felis, and Feline Herpesvirus, which were the causes of Meowstro’s respiratory distress and internal lacerations. The vet prescribed different antibiotics to cover for these specific pathogens, so Meowstro is now finally on the road to recovery. He even got to go home the next day. Meanwhile, I have to continue feeding him via the feeding tube and keep him on a strict regimen of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs for the next few weeks.
As you can imagine, all the exams, multiple days of hospitalization, and treatments have been very expensive, adding up to over $7,000 over just a few days, but I was willing to do anything to save my best friend. Meowstro means the world to me, and I’m forever grateful to Dr. Funes at VCA because she saved Meowstro’s life.
I started this GoFundMe to ask for help in paying back the cost of his treatment. I don’t usually ask for help from strangers, but this is for Meowstro. It will be very difficult moving forward to pay off these expenses, but I would greatly appreciate any help and donation of any size. Copies of some of the vet bills are attached at the link below:
https://imgur.com/a/b6AAv
Thank you for your consideration and for taking the time to read his story—Meowstro thanks you too!
Organizer
Michael Kohr
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
