Support for Belly's Medical and Memorial Costs

Belly was born on March 7th, 2023. His mother Mochi and his father Lucas welcomed 6 kittens that day: Belly, Chacho, Drizzy, Bart, Beetle, and one who passed away from Fading Kitten Syndrome early on.

Belly was the first kitten to begin exploring our home at barely 3 months. He would follow our other cat Lucy all over the place. Once he realized he could follow her outdoors, he did just that. He was a natural-born leader to his brothers, often followed by them everywhere new he decided to explore.

Almost every day, Belly would greet us either outside as we arrived home or he would come into the house, meowing loudly until he was greeted. He always made sure we mutually acknowledged each other.

Belly's favorite place to take the day in was in a dry patch of grass in the backyard under a tree. He would lay there in the shade, observing his brothers, the birds in the trees, the butterflies flying by, and enjoy the day.

When our cat Lucy had kittens, Belly stayed by her side, watched over her kittens, and often napped with them while Lucy fed them. He became a leader for them as well once they reached their time to explore and spent a lot of time with them as well.

On July 19, 2024, we arrived home from running errands to find Belly in distress underneath a parked car. He was meowing in a way we had never heard, unable to hold his body up, and unable to walk on his hind legs. Due to Belly's history of being an explorer and lively cat, this was concerning for us. We rushed him to the emergency animal hospital, hopeful it would be something treatable, although we knew it would be costly.

After running blood work and x-rays, we were $1,722.05 in debt and had no clear answer what was going on. The vet stated his symptoms were consistent with head trauma, but only a $4,000 MRI could tell us for sure. We decided to bring him home against medical advice and hoped he would somehow improve.

Unfortunately, the next day he did continue to worsen. He continued to be in distress and meowing in a way I could only assume was indicative of pain. He refused to eat or drink, could not make it to the litter box or walk, and could not even hold his head up.

We knew that Belly was not going to improve, and the Belly we knew would hate this quality of life. We decided to humanely euthanize him and cremate him.

Belly has since come home and we now have his ashes in our home next to his father, Lucas. However, the euthanasia added another $248 to our already existent veterinary debt, and the cremation added $140.

I have searched for grants to provide financial assistance in these cases but all the ones I have found require for the veterinary care to not have taken place yet or for your pet to have a good prognosis, meaning they cannot help us.

Funds from this fundraiser will be used to repay the debts to vet and the crematorium.

Any donations will help us significantly as our only option in the moment was to pay for these bills with a credit card.