Help Bring Leo Home

Hello, my name is Megan and this my cat Leo!

I recently adopted Leo a few months ago and he’s completely changed my world. My partner and I love him very much and everything that comes with him :)

From what we heard from his previous owner, he was being bullied by his cat roommates and was in need of rehoming due to this. When we got Leo he was scared, shy, and had signs of high anxiety. It took a long time for us to reach through to him, but now he’s a very happy and curious cat.

We do our best to keep a safe environment for Leo, but we were not aware of how severe his anxiety truly was. Since we are first time pet owners, we’ve been extremely careful and doing our due diligence to learn. We were even in the process of getting him insured.

Unfortunately, before we could finish our paperwork he began acting strangely. On Thursday morning he was low energy, unable to eat, having difficulty urinating, and having bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. We thought he was showing symptoms of a UTI, so we set an appointment up with his vet for the very next day. On Friday morning when we awoke, he was just as bad if not worse from the night before. Once at the vet, we learned that this was an emergent situation.

After hearing this, we rushed him to an emergency veterinary center where it was confirmed he had a severe urinary blockage that required surgical intervention. They also informed us that his bloodwork revealed potassium levels that were too high, putting him at risk for cardiac arrest.

He is doing much better now thankfully, but had to stay for two days in the emergency center while they kept close monitoring of his urinary catheter output, as well as continuing to administer intravenous fluids to ensure the blockage was properly flushed. The veterinarian informed us that feline idiopathic cystitis, idiopathic being in the name, has no known causes but that stress can be a main contributing factor. Because of Leo’s tendency to be anxious, this was the likely source of this crisis.

This is now the part we dread. We didn’t think we’d have to ask for support because of how unexpected this was, but since we hadn’t yet signed up for pet insurance we’ve been left with a high bill. Unfortunately, my savings has been drained in this process due to paying out of pocket. We were told to cover 75% of his total care in order for him to be treated which came out to $4,145. We are now being asked to pay the remainder of the bill in order to take him home tomorrow which is an additional $1,316.

If you have anything, $1 or even just sharing Leo’s story, we would be eternally grateful. We are young college students working towards graduation and starting our first career jobs, so every cent counts. Thank you so much for reading, sharing, donating, or even just interacting. Leo means the world to us and so does your support. Leo has brought so much joy and learning into our home, we just want to bring him home safely.