Hi guys. I don’t often come on here asking for help, but I need whatever help I can get from y’all right now. If you know anything about me, you know that my cats are my whole world.

This past Tuesday, I woke up to one of the babies, Julien, showing very serious signs of something being wrong. He was very lethargic and had soiled himself in the night, with some visible blood around his neck, chin, and mouth. When I got him out of his hidey to further assess the situation, he couldn’t even stand on his own. He was responsive but not at all himself. At this point, I got him in his carrier, and off to the emergency vet we went. This was a perfectly healthy and happy cat the night prior, showing no signs of anything being wrong, still playful and energetic.

When we arrived, they took his vitals, which all came back fine. They looked him over for injuries, finding out the blood came from a broken toenail. Upon further investigation, we also found that he cracked his tooth in half during the night as well, and somehow scratched his eyebrow up pretty good. All things that aren’t a huge cause for concern relating to his immediate health, but I knew by how I found him and how he was acting that there was something we were missing. A broken tooth and nail don’t explain why my boy had soiled himself, or why he could barely move on his own when I found him hours prior. And what caused all of this to happen anyway?

The vet insisted he seemed fine, just beat up from a rough night, and wanted to prescribe some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication for his toe and tooth. She asked to take bloodwork before prescribing medication to assess his liver and kidney values; this is a standard thing that they usually do to be sure the new medication won’t affect the organs in a negative way. She came back in the room after about an hour to tell me that the machine couldn’t read two out of three of his liver values, but the one she could read was completely normal, and asked to do another sample. It wasn’t reading either because of how high the levels were, or because of an issue with the machine. So, another hour wait. At this point, I had to leave him there because I couldn’t get a cover for my shift, which was in less than an hour.

I get a call from the vet as I’m about to walk out the door for work, and she tells me that it’s unfortunately his liver causing the issue, then starts asking me a bunch of questions: any medication he could’ve gotten into? Any foods or plants around he could’ve ingested? Based on which of his values were so high, she said something suddenly caused this and it was not an over-time issue. I was quite stunned hearing this as we’re super careful about what is left out or unsupervised around the pets, and couldn’t think of anything. I searched the house from top to bottom, not a clue.

Harrison picked him up shortly after and spent an hour or so talking with the vet trying to figure out what could have caused this, coming to the conclusion that it’s possible he choked sometime in the night, which would explain both the internal and external injuries. Our dog Jazzy has scheduled mealtimes and doesn’t always eat it all, which Julien takes advantage of the leftover kibble (he likes to think he’s a big dog). We’re not 100% sure that this is what happened, but it’s the only thing making sense.

He’s doing much better right now. They prescribed him antibiotics, pain meds, and a liver pill that’s supposed to hopefully help heal the damage. I’m just worried about what his future looks like if the meds don’t work, and also worried about the expenses that will come along with these appointments. Which brings me to my main point; we’ll need to get him in for a follow-up appointment to make sure the liver is healing and not getting worse, and get him scheduled for a dental extraction (which will also have a follow-up appointment). As most of you know, I moved somewhat recently and struggled finding a bartending job when I got here. I’m just getting back on my feet and stressed out about how much this is going to be altogether. I’m not eligible for CareCredit or ScratchPay; I’ve tried multiple times to apply with no luck due to lack of credit history.

If some of you beautiful people would be willing to donate even as little as just a few dollars to Julien’s upcoming vet bills, it would mean the whole world. Things are tight right now after the holidays/bills, and while I think I’ll be able to manage the costs myself, I’m going to be struggling tremendously after footing those appointments. The follow-up appointment for his liver values will probably be around $500, and the tooth extraction will be at least $1000. So, I’m setting the goal for $1000. I don’t expect anything, but would be so grateful for even a little bit of help. If by chance I meet my goal and somehow have funds left over (doubtful), then it will be put aside for any future emergencies that may arise, god forbid.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read if you made it to this point, and thank you so much for whatever help you are willing to give. It means the world to me, as you all know I’m not one to ask for help but now is the time. Thanks again, and have a blessed and beautiful day :))