Donation protected
This is the story of Bino (pronounced Beeno). A stray who survived on the streets in Campagna Italy for 3 years - until he travelled 3,000 miles over two days and came to London.
I met him whilst on holiday on 4th July 2024 and I fell head over heals in love with him. After 2 months (and much, much paperwork) I flew back to bring him back to England with me.
You'll see from his photos the reason why I couldn't just walk past him and not do something - the sweetest cat I'd ever met in my life has a horrific injury on this neck... And I took him to the vet as soon as I was able to.
Feline Leukemia
Whilst I was at the vet with him, I was told he's probably about 3 years old (we set his birthday to the day I had him microchipped in my name - 8th July. And upon initial blood tests, he was diagnosed via a SNAP test (and a week later was confirmed with a full panel blood screen) with Feline Leukemia, the condition is incurable. FeLV is a viral infection that attacks his immune system. It is not spread to dogs or humans, and the virus dies on contact with air within hours. He will still be able to live a full and happy life until his body gives up and it you meet him you will agree that he absolutely deserves all the love he can get.
His neck
No one knows what happened to his neck, the vet suspects chemical burns from a plastic flea collar. The dirty environment he's living in does not allow for it to heal. He's constantly fighting mosquito bites or ants and fleas and then scratching himself until he bleeds.
The costs just to get him home:
- €50 for his FeLV PCR test and rabies vaccine and first check
- €159 for his microchip, lab blood test to 100% FeLV, as well as liver and kidneys function check
- €29 for the passport fee
- €40 for his crate, food, and antiseptic for his neck
- €60 castration (performed 23rd August)
- €25 final vaccinations
- €18.80 Antibiotics and cream for his neck
- £37 for his travel box
- £13 for his foldable litter tray
- £16 for his body suit so he can travel without hurting his burn
- £18 for silicone burn patches to prevent his wounds sticking to his bodysuit
- £10 - litter tray liners
- £76 - Flight LGW-NAP
- £60 - Car rental 24hours
- £79 - Naples - Turin 6hrs
- £110 - Turin - Paris 6 hrs
- £65 - Paris Airbnb
- £94 - Paris - London Eurostar
- £52 - Cat food, litter, flea and tick treatment, creams, medication, travel food bowl
- £267 - Flight from Milan to Paris (due to train delays I missed my train to Paris and had to fly)
- £85 taxi to Milan airport
- £45 taxi to airbnb as I booked the airbnb to be near the trains and not the airport
- £20 fuel for car rental
- £69 fuel fee from Europcar which I'm contesting
Since I brought him home, I've also had to cover £1,600 in additional costs as he got very sick in foster care and needed emergency treatment and 6+ weeks of antibiotics. I found out his neck was severely infected and was suffering with jaundice and anemia (which have both been treated successfully).
So far Bino has cost a total of £3,036.41 (and this is not fully inclusive of his accoutrements, food, and some medical supplies).
I've raised £1,600 so far, and I would love to raise about £1,400 to try to make headway on just how devastated my bank balance has been.
Enjoy the pics, and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading all this.
Lolly and Bino ❤️
Organizer
Lolly Watkins
Organizer