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LONG SAPPY POST

TL;DR we REALLY need help($)

My partner and I just had one of the most stressful weeks the beginning of May, getting our cat Stickers his full mouth teeth extraction to save his life on Friday May 2nd. Knowing that he was in kidney failure and had a heart murmur made the surgery more risky. So we were STRESSED to say the least. I’m blessed to work at a vet and be able to pay my bill over the next two weeks, but I feel like I still haven’t been able to take a breath yet because the cost for Stickers surgery cost more than I had anticipated because of the number of teeth he had (really thought my guy had lost more of them but most broke at the gumline and were severely painful/inflamed from his stomatitis. Aaand we had to rush to get it done because his stomatitis got so severe so quickly he couldn’t eat and it was life threatening. We were definitely pushing our financial budget to the limit with such short notice. (Side happy note: Stickers surgery went well and he’s recovering amazing so far!)

BUT to top it all off on Tuesday 5/6, we woke up to a huge puddle of blood that looked like throw up, plus 4-5 additional smaller areas of the same bright red bloody vomit. I freaked out and my partner Ariel freaked out, by the sheer amount of it. We knew it wasn’t one of our two dogs since they were in their crates. Out of our five cats, we were originally worried about Stickers since the surgery was only this past Friday. After investigating of our cats seemed normal except for Ash.

Ash was in the bathroom curled up on the rug and didn’t come to greet me like usual. No meows or pawing up at me for loving. He’s normally the most vocal out of all of my cats, and he is usually the one to be most persistent for meal times especially! But he didn’t come for breakfast at all.

At this point, we still weren’t 100% sure it was him that did all the bloody vomiting horror show, but when I came home for my lunch break, Ash hadn’t moved from the comfy rug in the bathroom and again did not come to greet me. I went to put him in the carrier to bring him to my work to be evaluated, and found a small patch of dried bloody vomit on his tail. So that kind of confirmed we found the right cat at least.

I brought him back to work with me for an emergency vet visit. One of our veterinarians graciously squeezed him into her schedule. On exam, nothing obvious was noted besides he was more cooperative than usual, even without his usual gabapentin dosing for vet visits. We did a small blood test PCV/TS in hospital that came back low end of normal. We sent out a larger diagnostic bloodwork panel to try and see what’s going on.

On 5/7 Bloodwork came back normal but a repeat PCV/TS showed his values dropped by 10. Which likely showed a GI bleed, recommended abdominal ultrasound. We were able to raise money for an ultrasound at a different vet who also squeezed us in as an emergency thankfully.

When we got the ultrasound report back, it showed a possible foreign body that was just outside the stomach in the first part of his intestines. We were instructed to crate Ash for 12 hours overnight for another fast that we would know for sure he couldn’t have eaten anything foreign even with him not wanting to eat regular food. (We had to do this only because he has a history of PICA and is on fluoxetine for his anxiety to help with that already) But basically fasted again for another ultrasound to see if the obstruction is moving through.

We were able to get help for another ultrasound on 5/8. Unfortunately again, the ultrasound showed the blockage had not moved so fully blocking his intestinal tract and recommended emergency lifesaving surgery.

We are just tapped out, but want to do what is best for our babies.

If anyone is in a place to help us financially, it would be greatly appreciated. All donations are beyond helpful, no matter how big or small. Each action adds up! Please please share. All shares are so appreciated as well!

update as of 5/8 830pm: Ash is at my work overnight on fluids since he hasn’t been eating, we need him hydrated for surgery tomorrow. Fingers crossed we find something he ate and get it out so he can get back to being himself! I’m just praying that there’s no necrosis or anything that would keep my sweet young boy from waking up from surgery.

Current bill is at $2400, but not finalized.

Ash’s surgery will be another $1000-$1300 depending on the medications and how bad his gut is from how long it could have been there without symptoms.

Thank you for reading and sharing.