Please Help Nero get better

This is Nero. He is a 10 year old cat and a much loved member of our household.

TLDR - he needs an investigative procedure and then possibly follow up treatment. My insurance is now over the limit. He is otherwise healthy but something is amis in his nasal sinuses.

On Wednesday night he came in with a sore throat, and then started gagging and so I took him to the emergency vet because I thought he had something in his throat. They said he not showing symptoms of that, it more indicated an upper respiratory tract problem, but his temp was OK. She gave him some anti-inflammatories said keep an eye and take him to our local vet if things didnt improve. He went out as usual in the daytime on Thursday but came back Thu night and was not great. He probably knew the local vet was open on Thursday and didnt fancy the trip.

He was back to Out of Hours vet again on Friday evening (I had spent 30 mins outside my own vet in the morning wondering why they were not opening before remembering it was Good Friday) as his symptoms were worse, plus he had also lost all interest in food and water, and had become seriously dehydrated and was vomiting white foam for 24 hrs. They sedated him, and said nothing in throat and sent me on my way.

Saturday am he went to my local vet. He took bloods, which showed inflammatory markers, but everything else was healthy. They did a nasal flush to clear an awful load of horrible gunk from there, and potentially flush out any foreign bodies. They noticed gas in his intestines and opened him up to see if there was anything obstructive. There was not. They gave him fluids and painkillers and antibiotics. Its Easter, and so they were then going to have nobody in until Tuesday, so they sent me again to OutOfHours Vet for maintenance over the weekend, fluids, antibiotics, maybe some food.

This morning I was called by the vet. She says that its imperative that they find out whats going on in his nasal sinuses. He still doesnt want to eat, and originally they had wanted to tube feed him, but it was pointless until they determined what was going on. But they dont have an endoscope, and they dont have access to a CT scan. He would need to be referred. And the cost of that is likely to be £6K

Now I am a conscientious pet owner, I have had insurance since day one, and apart from a couple of bumps and scrapes I've never made any claims. But my insurance has a £4K annual limit, and sods law, he had to have 2 teeth removed earlier this year so thats taken its toll. I am also on means tested benefits as my work fits around my role as a carer. £6K is like asking me for the moon on a stick, plus there may well be further costs once we know whats going on.

If his bloods had shown that the foam was due to kidney, liver or heart failure, then I would have been devastated, but could have accepted that he had had a good life and I was preventing him pain and discomfort with a progressive disease.

But this feels wrong. The culprit could well be a bit of spiky grass stuck in a tiny space, and I just cant, in my good heart, face having to have him put to sleep when he could get back to his usual annoying and lovable self. It seems immoral to put an otherwise healthy cat to sleep because of a bill.

I can scrape what I can together, I can find things to sell, but whether I can raise enough for investigation, ongoing care NOW at the vets, and any treatment, its really unlikely. I am out of area for all the charitable vet hospitals, despite qualifying on financial means.

I have never asked for help, but have been urged to start this go fund me.

Please help me to give him a chance, just so we can know what we are dealing with

The money will be used for vets bills. I am grateful for anything.

If by any miracle there is anything left over, I will donate to an animal charity, especially if I am able to get some help on the way.