Our beloved kitty, Zelda, age 10, has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism while we were traveling on our boat through the Turks and Caicos Islands. She had been misdiagnosed all along our journey from New York to the Caribbean - every vet along the way believed she was simply seasick or overheated because she was vomiting and (frighteningly enough) panting on occasions. This was not the case, she is a true seafaring fluff ball and has adapted to life at sea better than we have, to be honest.

We finally encountered a vet in the islands that caught it, and she was put on methimazole. Unfortunately, she had an adverse reaction to this medication and it began attacking her liver. About three weeks into the treatment (we were by that time back in New York) she started to appear jaundis, with a yellowing effect to her skin and eyes. We went to an emergency clinic in Brooklyn and they kept her in the hospital for three nights. They informed us that there was a good chance the damage to her liver was irreversible and that we would have to come to terms with losing her if that was the case, but that they would do everything possible and we should remain hopeful.

Thankfully, she is a little warrior, and after $6000 of treatments, which we put on credit cards, she is home and recovering. The yellow tone is gone, and even though she lost a lot of muscle tissue, she pulled through and is feeling better.

We are not out of the woods yet. Since she can’t take the medication, there are limited options available to treat her condition.

Surgery is one option, although she is still very weak, and sedation is dangerous. Besides, the success rate is not ideal.

There is a miraculous new method, iodine radiation treatment. No anesthesia is needed and it doesn’t hurt, but she would have to be in a special hospital for 5 days. We are not happy about being apart, but obviously if it will save her life, we are on board with it.

This treatment is one injection and has a 97% success rate. The radiation basically makes the thyroid inactive. We will not be allowed to touch her the first couple of days after she comes home, because of the radiation, but after a few weeks we can cuddle her again.

Zelda is a very special cat: truly irreplaceable. She is also a YouTube star and has lived on a boat for the last two years during the pandemic. We documented our journey (although we are woefully behind with the editing) and included some pictures and clips of her adventures.

She loves meditative music, yoga, spirituality, travel and just wants to be with us.

We would sell the boat to pay for her treatment, however it just wouldn’t happen fast enough. We have already maxed out our credit cards for the first emergency visit. We are trying to make as much money as we can, but the problem was that we came back to New York because we had depleted our funds. If we could get enough to restore the credit, we can put the second treatment on the credit cards again.

If you can’t donate, we totally understand, but please share this and send good energy. Zelda is a sweet little kitty and wants to keep living her best life, so we are extremely hopeful we can pull this off and spend many more years with her. Thank you for reading this.

With love,

Jimmy, Eva and Zelda