STRAY CAT URGENT SURGERY TO REMOVE 2 DECEASED KITTENS

Stray cat Pandora’s debt from a caesarean to remove two deceased babies

Hi, my name is Farah Begum and I live in Birmingham, UK. I feed the stray cats in my area on a daily basis and leave food out for the feral cats as I cannot get too close to them. The strays in my area tend to live in cat colonies. When living up north in West Yorkshire, I worked with vets and volunteered for rescues, fostering and hand-rearing kittens, looking after pregnant cats and fostering cats and kitten with complex health needs. I moved down to Birmingham less than a year ago so I’m just getting used to and learning about the new community and rescues. I used to work as an auxiliary nurse in A&E and in human hospitals before my admin job from home.

Now about this particular stray beauty, Pandora (Dora). I was wondering if anyone could kindly help please? This stray pregnant cat was abandoned and followed me home in early October 2024. She gave birth to 3 kittens upstairs and after 3 days, I suspected that she had more kittens in her so I took her to a daytime vet and paid £457.49 for a consultation and an x-ray (I only had £500 to my name). The vet said that the x-ray showed 2 dead and decomposing kittens that looked like mush so an emergency spay could be done or a c-section for £1,000-£2,000. I didn’t have that kind of money and I was not expecting to take in a pregnant stray. All of my own 6 bengal cats are neutered, chipped, vaccinated, delflead, dewormed and insured and I don’t normally face this kind of unexpected financial situation.

The daytime vet said that if it was a weekday, they would have done the emergency spay on her but it was on the weekend. The cat was bright, alert, eating, drinking and passing stools fine. The deceased kittens still inside were in for 3 days now so she needed them out asap. She rejected the 3 living kittens on day 2 and I am still hand-rearing these 3 kittens. Hardly any rescues were picking up unfortunately. I rang 50+ vets in and around Birmingham and no one is willing to do a spay as it’s cheaper.

They scanned this cat all over at the vets and no chip. She was previously owned by someone locally. Apparently, she was imported and he couldn’t deal with her vocalising so he threw her out. I’m new to Birmingham and have been here for under a year and I’ve always known her as a stray. I was so shocked to see her and her daughter as strays as this particular cat is pedigree, and no ones even taken her off the streets too! She’s got one surviving adult daughter who gave birth roughly 2 weeks ago and keeps giving birth so there are plenty of part Siamese stray cats and kittens in this area. My plan was to spay her after this litter as she looked pregnant on the streets but she didn’t let me get close to her until she followed me home. I believe she followed me home as she knew she needed help.

PDSA were closed and one outside of Birmingham said they can’t help. RSPCA said they would euthanise her. Vets say they won’t help with costs due to being in debt from strays.

The out of hours vets in and around Birmingham have said that they’ll only do the spay if I get a c-section which is 1-5k and then the spay on top brings it to 2k. They’re saying 2k or euthanise her. My daytime vet said not euthanise her as she doesn’t meet the criteria.

I rang all the rescues that I could find online in Birmingham and the surrounding areas and most are not picking up and some that did said 2k is too much for them, to ask for donations. In the end, I called 360 vets, charities, rescues, rescuers and fosterers but they couldn’t help until I found a vet on my 360th call, that was willing to do a c-section for roughly £1,500 maximum. They said I could pay £500 that night and then the rest the next morning. I applied for an overdraft of £1,000 and was approved for this. I then have borrowed £400 from my eldest sister. Dora’s emergency c-section/spay was done that same night of her x-ray and advice from the veterinarian. At the vets for her emergency c-section/spay the bill came to £1,369.98. This figure along with the £457.49 spent earlier the same day to diagnose Dora, comes to a total of £1,827.47. I have set the total figure to £1,900 due to cuts that will be taken from the donations. The remainder of the money from this fundraiser will go to feeding the stray cats.

I’m drowning in debt now and I have got further debt from hand-rearing the babies and buying their kitten formula, taking them to the vets as they struggled to fight any infections and kept falling unwell, blankets, paper litter, pretend mummy teddy, soft tissues for toileting them and so much more. I’ve got absolutely no way of paying this debt off. From my salary this month, I’ve only got £50 left and that to pay for taxis to take a stray cat to the vets in 2 days time. My family and friends are now buying the kitten formula as I’ve got insufficient funds. I also have borrowed more to buy the stray cats their food throughout the month.

Pandora lives separate to her 3 living babies (which has been a huge challenge to keep alive for 5 weeks as they’ve always experienced ill- health from the start). Dora and her 3 babies are doing very well.

If there is anything that you could donate, we love you forever and we will be grateful, no amount is too little. Thank you♥️

***update 08/10/2024***

Dora (Pandora) is doing very well. She’s got a dressing on her Caesarian wound and she is so much happier than before. She is beyond grateful and is doing extremely well on her metacam and Synulox. Her recovery is going well.

The kittens are now 6 days old and are being hand-reared by myself. They are also doing well, gaining weight and getting bigger.. and feistier each day, which are all good signs! they are now thankfully flea free, have seem to be overcoming their cat flu (so quickly and I’m so proud of them!) as they’re no longer sneezing consistently and they’re not sneezing at all, so under the vet’s instruction, I can start with the Frontline. Panacur will have to wait until they’re a bit older but overall they’re doing well. Please keep them Dora and babies in your prayers♥️

To all donators and helpers, thank you so very much from the absolute bottom of my heart!♥️ I will never in my life forget your help and kindness! You’ve all got pure hearts and hearts of absolute gold! You’re all very beautiful and Dora definitely knows somehow that you’ve all helped her and made this happen because she’s now very affection and grateful to strangers, even at the vets with absolutely everyone when she went to get her wound checked after the donations! We love you all our amazing and wonderful friends/family♥️xxxxxx