Navi Needs Heart Surgery

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Ryan Coyl and Krystal Ruiz-Rocha are organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello everyone, we are trying to raise money for our 1-year-old cat named Navi who needs heart surgery due to a very rare heart condition called "Cor Triatriatum Sinister." Without this life saving surgery she is expected to live for only a few weeks to a few months.

Cor triatriatum sinister is a rare heart defect in cats that causes heart failure and lung congestion leading to a buildup of fluids in her lungs making it hard for her to even breathe without proper treatment.

Link to Definition: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/circulatory-system/congenital-and-inherited-anomalies-of-the-cardiovascular-system/miscellaneous-congenital-cardiac-abnormalities-in-animals#:~:text=Cor%20triatriatum%20sinister%20is%20a,left%20atrium%20into%20two%20subchambers.

This news has been devastating for us, as Navi is like a daughter to us. We want to give her a chance at life and have been doing everything in our power to save her. We ask that you help us give her a fighting chance at life by contributing to this cause.

A little over a year ago, we decided to adopt a kitten. When we saw Navi, she immediately stole our hearts. Before we adopted her, she was very shy, kept to herself and was the tiniest cat in the foster home. After giving her lots of attention, love and the opportunity to flourish, she is now very vocal and strongly opinionated. Her affectionate, loving, and bubbly personality has brought lots of joy and love to our lives. We can’t imagine our lives without her.

Navi has had a hard life since the beginning. She was found along the highway by herself at only three months old. When she was rescued, she was very sick but managed to recover enough to be put up for adoption while being fostered by the non-profit organization called Critter Cavalry, based in Franklin, Tennessee.

Navi became sick again shortly after we adopted her. Upon our first vet visit, we found that she had a parasite that was interfering with her digestive abilities as well as a heart murmur. After weeks of medication and check-ups, her digestive system was in good condition and her heart murmur seemed to have disappeared.

Navi was an extremely playful, vocal and affectionate kitten as she was in her growth spurt. She was always sprinting across the apartment and wanted to be a part of everything we were doing. Although, as the months went by she started to slowly lose that. At first, she stopped jumping up to heights she could normally reach. She then slowly started to lose her appetite and also started to hide more. This eventually led to her not wanting to play with her best friend Boo, our other cat. One day we both got home and noticed that Navi was breathing heavily and making harsh sounds as she tried to catch her breath. She was barely one year old at this time. We knew that something was wrong and took her to the vet.

Upon arrival, Navi was extremely stressed out, which made her symptoms a lot worse. Upon x-rays, they found a very concerning amount of fluid in her lungs and told us that she had heart failure. She was referred to the emergency clinic and was sedated to keep her stress levels as low as possible during transport and treatment.

After 2 days of hospitalization, she was doing much better and was ready to be sent home to recover when we received the devastating news from the cardiologist that she had an extremely rare heart condition that their clinic has never seen before. We were told that Navi requires heart surgery to combat a heart condition called Cor triatriatum sinister which comprises only 0.4% of congenital heart diseases and less than 0.1% of clinically diagnosed cardiomyopathies. This was incredibly hard news for us to handle. The only place relatively near us that does this kind of surgery is Auburn University in Alabama which is a 5-hour trip from where we live.

We are willing to do whatever it takes for Navi to live a wholesome life. This sweet girl does not deserve the hand she has been dealt and deserves as much as anyone to live a life full of happiness and love.

We are very quickly becoming overwhelmed by her hospitalization and medication costs. Thus far we have spent over $5,000 in medical bills. On top of this, we are also trying to raise money for her surgery which will run anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 and the hospitalization costs which we anticipate costing about $5000 as she will need to be hospitalized for a week after the surgery. After the surgery, she will be able to live a healthy, active and fairly normal life without any restrictions. We both don’t make enough money to pay for her current medical bills we have maxed out our credit cards and can’t afford any of the additional costs.

Any help whatsoever would be appreciated to the greatest extent. All proceeds will go to Navi's treatment, medication and any dietary needs that she may need after surgery.