I am Jesika, original human mama of Milo the Cat, who had been living with my mother until she herself was hospitalized two weeks ago. We took him in temporarily, and in that time, Milo had an overly adventurous evening out of doors, when he slipped into the night, past me and the dog, and resisted any effort to get him back inside.

The next morning, Milo limped in for breakfast, unable to put weight on his rear left leg, but otherwise not visibly hurt in any way. After x-rays, Milo's vet determined he has somehow fractured the lower part of what would be considered his kneecap. No long bones are broken, and the vet says she's really never seen anything quite like it. 

The vet promptly consulted a veterinary surgeon, who can operate and pin the 'knee' for the unreservedly horrifying sum of $2,000. An alternative is amputation at the joint, which carries its own cost of upwards of $1,300. Milo has agreed he's frankly up for either, but our cumulative family finances are certainly not. 

Yes, I'm poor. I'm a single mother with two great kids. I barely get by financially, as does my mother, but we have a happy, fulfilling life with lots of love in our home, some of which certainly is to be credited to our sweet pets - an ancient (19 years old!) calico cat, Tabby, a handsome senior (~11 years old) lug of a dog, Edgar, and of course, even Milo, who is a young one, at only 1.5 years old. 

Milo is a 12 pound, all-white, floofy Yeti of a cat (or more of a Falcor type, if you prefer); he's full of mischief, insatiably curious, irrepressibly energetic, and snuggly sweet. As young cats can be. He's a character, and since his stay with us, my eldest daughter's favorite animal. He's kind of a mess, but, dangit, he's our floofy white mischievous mess. 

Like any self-respecting human, I don't want him to suffer. And like many Americans, I don't have the extra assets or savings to meet this exorbitant cost of his needed procedure (or any other ... oy). I don't want to ask for money from strangers, but Milo sure wants me to. 

To say we would appreciate any donation whatsoever that you are willing to toss Milo's way is to seriously understate what I hope is clear: my entire family loves this cat and his ridiculous fractured knee, and I'm here asking for him - not to preserve my pride or pretend this isn't an emergency that I cannot meet. It is an emergency, and I cannot meet this cost myself. We would be beyond thankful for any assistance whatsoever. Please, and thank you so very much!  

He's dosed up on pain meds for the moment, as we wait precious days to finance this thing. It's urgent, I won't lie. The sooner the better, for both his pain and his long-term odds of walking normally again - or even just being rid of the thing so he can get on with his cat life. Maybe with a peg leg, if it comes to that. 

In great gratitude, 

JE & Family