Anyone who knows me knows that I’d likely give my own life for an animal in need, especially my own.

I’ve dedicated so many countless years helping others with their animals, never once asking for help with my own. Well, now I’m at a crossroads and I admittedly need help.

The story of Omen:

Omen was my very first “on my own” pet that I’ve ever gotten. My very first foster-fail. I’m a huge sucker for a black cat in need. 

It all started when I would regularly partake in my own little TNVR (trap, neuter, vet, release) mission, for a colony of cats that showed up at my grandma’s house. Truthfully I lost count of how many cats that we pulled to spay/neuter and how many kittens we rescued. One day circa 2018, my mom found a scrawny little black greasy “kitten” roaming around the trash by my grandma’s colony. It’s no question that he was dumped there, as he was estimated to be about 5/6 months old. My mom raved about how sweet he was, and how he’d let you pick him right up and purr louder than any other cat you’ve ever heard.

We managed to trap him and I brought him in to be neutered and fixed up at my clinic on my own dime, as I regularly did. It was only then that I realized he had some.. issues. Likely riddled with parasites, oral lesions, weird mannerisms and possible uri symptoms—this little guy required some extra TLC when he first came into my life.

He was first dubbed “Pico de Gato” at the clinic. He lived there for the first few months of his rescuing, and stole a bunch of hearts, including my own.

But I was not able to take on a cat of my own with my living situation. Still, I took care of him daily, even coming in on weekends and days off to care for him, until he was strong enough to be neutered and adopted out.

Several adopters came and went, and he even stayed overnight in several homes to do a “test run”.

In every instance, somehow something would go wrong. After a meet-and-greet, the first potential adopters got into a fender bender on the way home. Then a fire was accidentally started at one potential adopter’s home when he was spending a trial night.

It was as if his presence was a… bad Omen.

After months of trying to find this little greasy long boy the perfect home (admittedly I was also very picky). I eventually realized that he was coming home with me, one way or another.

I renamed Pico to Omen, and he officially became mine.

After some major convincing, he went to live with my mom and her own cats until I was able to take him on my own.

Several years later - he finally got to come home to Aaron and I.

Not long after we had him, he went in for a routine shave-down of his notorious greasy, wild matted coat. It was then that we realized he had a heart murmur.

I promptly brought him for an echocardiogram at Orchard Park Veterinary Medical center, where he was tragically diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) at just 5 years old.

Of course from then on out I committed to every 6 month scans to monitor the disease’s progress. (Can you believe I got insurance for him just months before this happened? Beyond thankful for that). 

Being that he has HCM, we regularly tracked the size of his heart’s left ventricular walls, and the efficiency of the heart’s ability to pump blood from his mitral valve.

I of course knew it was inevitable that one day he would progress, as there is devastatingly no cure for HCM. (Eventually you see the heart start to get worse and start on medications to slow it down).

Well after two years of consistent scans with barely any progression.. this past August we saw mild-to-moderate thickening of his left ventricular walls. It stung to know the progression had started, but I was fully committed to getting him medicated and continuing to stay as healthy as possible.

We began Omen on medication to slow his disease progression on August 8th.

I never imagined we’d be where we are just two short months later.

This past Monday, October 20th, Omen wouldn’t eat breakfast. If you know this cat—you know that this meant bad, bad news. He NEVER skips a meal (so much so that he was on a strict diet the past 6 months).

We then recounted that he had been hiding more and jumping / playing less over the past weekend. He’s a VERY playful cat, so it was odd that he wasn’t running around for several days… but sometimes he just doesn’t and I don’t think twice about it. In hindsight, I wish I had. 

I decided to schedule an appointment for 4:20pm that evening, “just in case.”

We didn’t make it to that appointment.

A phone call at 1pm from Aaron left me terrified and frantic. Omen was lethargic and “coughing”.

Heart disease + coughing = nope.

I knew that this was bad news right away.

Thank god for my team at work, as I was able to leave work early, scoop him and bring him promptly to my vet.

…And then I embarked on the most traumatic car ride of my entire life.

I got caught in horrible down-to-one-lane construction for almost 10 minutes. At that very moment I realized that Omen had then progressed into coughing fits, crackling, and open-mouth breathing. I could see his tongue turning grayish blue.

I screamed frantic pleas out my window and begged every diety I could think of to let him live long enough to just get him to some oxygen.

I think I went 90 miles per hour down Transit road when I finally cleared the construction. I’m not joking.

I burst into my old job at All Creatures, and rushed him to the back. Side note: I’m eternally grateful for everyone who met me in the back to get him set up for radiographs and oxygen. (Sunny, you are a hero).

My worst fear was confirmed moments later. Just over two months after his first “progression” of his HCM, and at just seven and a half years old… Omen was in congestive heart failure.

His heart’s insufficiency to adequately pump blood had resulted in pleural effusion of his lungs, and he needed intense oxygen therapy and a diuretic to relieve the fluid/pressure that was making it hard for him to breathe.

I left him for several hours.

Time felt like it was standing still. I will forever be grateful for that time he spent on oxygen and on medication to drain some of the fluid. It no-doubt saved his life.

I made all the calls I needed to, and finally at 6pm that day I embarked on another TERRIFYING ride to Orchard Park. 40 mins with a cat that could relapse at any moment. I don’t even remember that car ride.

Orchard Park was fantastic about meeting me in the lobby and taking him back for oxygen therapy immediately.

Omen ended up being hospitalized there for several days. He was slowly weaned off of oxygen, introduced to another medication to prevent blood clots, had repeat X-rays and an ultrasound of his heart, and put on a medication regimen and plan going forward. We also found out his kidneys took a hit with all the meds thrown at him, but I’m hoping in time this can resolve.

Three days later—he’s home. He’s on three different heart medications, but he’s home. We have a long road ahead of us. He goes back for more scans and repeat lab work in 3 weeks.

At this point I’m coming to terms with the fact that my seven year old heart cat is likely not going to see double digits.. and it’s quite-literately heart breaking. I can’t imagine my life without him. I can’t imagine laying down and night and not having his bowling-ball body crawl on top of me like a weighted blanket. I can’t imagine not being greeted every time I go upstairs or come out of the bathroom with his frantic cries for food. 

 I strive to do everything possible to help him live as long and comfortable of a life as possible, given the fact that genetics dealt him an EXTREMELY (sorry, for lack of better words) shitty hand. He’s always been a mess, but he’s MY mess. My GOOD Omen.

There is one crucial thing I want you to take away from this story.

GET. YOUR. PETS. INSURANCE.

I intend to be extremely transparent about funds. I spent $5000 over this endeavor, but I will be getting a significant amount reimbursed by his insurance.

I spent about $600 at my old clinic, and about $3300 at Orchard Park. Not counting medications and continued echocardiograms / X-rays / bloodwork.

Here’s the sad reality for me though—even though pet insurance is reimbursing me about 85-90% of it all… I do sadly have a cap. And given that he has already used up a portion of my allotted yearly allowance back in August… well, that cap is QUICKLY approaching.

Out of pocket prior to this I have paid $250 for a deductible, and $70 for the portion of the bi-annual echocardiogram that I anticipated. Insurance covered $700 there.

Out of pocket I will only have to pay $60 of the $600 from the hospitalization at my primary vet.

Out of pocket I will only have to pay $330 of the $3,300 for the hospitalization at Orchard Park.

I anticipate another $800-$1200 for continued scans next month.

I only pay 90% for any of his medications

Out of Pocket cost thus far, since August: ROUGHLY $710

What insurance has covered this year: Roughly $4600

I can’t imagine what I’d do without insurance to be honest.

But the harsh reality? Unfortunately I stupidly brought Omen’s premium down to $5000 yearly. Back when it was year two of his heart showing promising updates, and no progression. Back when he was completely healthy and you never would’ve known something was even wrong. How could I have known what would come later this year?

That means we only have about $400 to cover the additional scans in November…. And any others going forward, until his premium re-ups in May.

So this is where I admit it…

As prepared as I tried to be, I never could have imagined that HCM would try to take my boy so quickly. I need help. I need help caring for him.

If you could spare anything at all, even a share… I’d be eternally grateful.

Heaven knows that I tried to be prepared enough to handle this all on my own financially, but you and I both know the state of the world right now.

Note: I am also going to be selling some personal items off to pay for his upcoming scans / medications. We canceled our upcoming vacation weekend getaway to save money and spend the time caring for our boy.

I will do ANYTHING possible for my animals.

But I also need to be able to feed and care for my other ones too… and god knows my CareCredit is hurting.

Please think of our Omen and us in the coming months. It’s going to be a tough road to whatever “recovery” is going to look like for him.

Thank you for taking the time to read Omen’s story today, if you got this far. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for even caring enough about my boy to get here. ‍⬛