Marcel is my best friend and has been in my life longer than most anyone at over thirteen years.

On January 17, 2026, he started to become lethargic and lost his appetite after a trip to his general vet. On January 18, 2026, he could no longer stand up on his own and I woke up to his water bowl spilled. His face, which was hanging over the edge of the bowl, and his arms were soaking wet and I was so glad the bowl had slipped and he hadn't drowned. He was also pooping out a bloody mucus which I learned is uncommon and highly alarming in cats.

We rushed him to the ER where he was seen quickly due to his condition by immensely kind staff.

The doctor who saw him, eyes welling up, said he was in bad condition but they could not figure out what exactly was going on. They had run an X-Ray and his organs were inflamed and his stomach was huge. They wanted to run an ultrasound with the tech the following day, while also keeping Marcel stable via fluids, NG feeding tube, and monitoring his vitals as his heart-rate was also going crazy. She said if we had not brought him in or if we took him home that night, he would not be with us any longer. The decision to hospitalize him in the ICU was obvious.

He stayed over and got his ultrasound which showed there was no blockage, just extreme irritation. Eventually, they explained what likely happened was a thyroid storm. Marcel had been at the vet on January 16, 2026 where he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. The general vet also gave him an anti-nausea med...for reasons unbeknownst to me, especially as it was an off-label dog medicine. While the medicine certainly did not cause the issue, I think it knocked Marcel off-balance enough where his entire body went into overdrive due to the only recently diagnosed hyperthyroidism whose prescription had not even been filled yet. (I had done some anecdotal research and it seems the off-label capsule version of this medicine (not the intravenous version) can send cats with hyperthyroidism and/or CKD (which Marcel also has) to the emergency room. I wish I had researched it more prior, especially as the 'for dogs' label gave me significant pause, but I trusted the vet.)

Marcel had to stay at the emergency room for three nights. I missed him so much and looked forward to the check in calls every day while also dreading the updated invoices. The estimate at one point was $18k, but settled to under $15k. You can view the invoice breakdown here.

The payment was made on three lines of credit: Two Care Credit cards, and one ScratchPay. I have no clue how I'll pay them back, especially as I'm in the middle of a job search during one of the worst job markets in US history. Thus, I've made this fundraiser in hopes of making at least a dent in this mountain of debt.

Any amount is truly appreciated. Even a dollar makes a difference, really!

I will also be doing scheduled fundraising streams at twitch.tv/yourcoolunclemarisa - I'll be streaming mods, videogames, and structured chats! Please join if you like!

Thank you for reading all this, contributing, sharing, etc...It really means a lot.

x Marisa