Give Rutherford More Beautiful Days

Jeanne Wang is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Beth Varro.

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How Beth, The Fairy CatMother gave Rutherford a home

During COVID, Beth started fostering cats. She nicknamed herself “The Fairy CatMother,” because she said, “my job is to take these cats in and clean them up, give them somewhere safe to hang out, and help them get dressed up for the ball to find their forever homes.”

In April 2021, Beth began to foster Rutherford, the sweetest friendliest kitty in the Cativerse. The rescue estimated him to be about 2 years old. He won her heart right away as an unusually doglike cat with an adorable face that has been described as looking like he was caught eating a jar of peanut butter. He is the rare magical cat that kisses strangers to greet them, actually likes belly rubs, and politely gazes up at visitors asking if he can sit in their lap.

As time passed, Beth and Rutherford developed a unique bond. Beth realized she didn’t want to let him go. There was just one problem: Rutherford had been diagnosed with a rare, fatal congenital heart defect. On average, cats with this type of diagnosis live 6–18 months.

Heart Trouble in Catland

Part of Rutherford's heart is growing the wrong way, causing it to be unable to work as well as normal. This leads to congestive heart failure, where fluid builds up in the chest surrounding the lungs. The condition is fatal. The question is when? It could be a month, or perhaps a few years if he’s very lucky. Getting his treatment right has been a high-wire balancing act between Beth and his University of Minnesota Cardiology team. They need to give enough medicine to reduce the fluid around his lungs so he can breathe, but not so much that it damages his kidneys. Repeated chest taps (manually removing the fluid around his lungs with a needle), heart scans, and other procedures to find out what's going on, without giving him trauma.

But if you know Beth, you know that there's no one else in the world who will work harder to make sure he gets everything he needs.

Hope for Rutherford

His veterinarians all agree that Beth's care has extended Rutherford's life and continues to make it a good one. At some point, she will likely have to make a heart-wrenching decision about his quality of life; the most likely end for him is suffering from fluid buildup that they can’t control, or suffering from kidney damage caused by his medications. But Beth doesn't want to make that decision based on the cost of Rutherford’s care. Not before he's ready. His life is filled with love, snuggles, friends, neighbors, and cat tv looking out windows at trees full of birds and squirrels, and yard theater watching all the bunnies and critters a kitty could over dream of from the safety of his kennel.

How to help Rutherford

The cost up to now finding the right balance in his treatment is a lot for a Fairy CatMother to handle. This is a preexisting condition, so pet insurance isn't an option. In the year since his adoption, Rutherford's heart-related medical needs have cost nearly $7,000. And it's not over yet. More scans and tests will be needed as his vets continue to evaluate the best way to care for him, and he is likely to need more chest taps when his disease progresses.

To that end, Rutherford and Beth are looking for some support from their community. They are so thankful and appreciate all support, including any amount of donation, sharing of this fundraiser with other people, and your prayers and good thoughts.

Here are some approximations of costs until now, just to give you an idea.

$800–$1200: Emergency room visits for dangerous declines

$450: Echocardiogram/heart scans to check on his condition

$400: Chest taps to remove fluid from around his lungs

$200: Check-ups to make sure medications aren’t damaging his organs

$130: Five kinds of medicine (monthly)

$50: Appetite stimulant to counteract medication (monthly)

Please help Beth give Rutherford more beautiful days!

Rutherford and Beth THANK YOU, and want you to know that ANY amount of help is greatly appreciated

For every $300 reached we will share a photo or video from Rutherford,

right here on his GoFundMe page.

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