Support Peanut's Fight for Health

Hello,

My name is Sydney, and I am a huge animal lover. At the end of April, my boyfriend and I decided to adopt a cat from our local shelter, and this is the moment our sweet Peanut entered our lives.

Peanut was a stray for her whole life prior to being brought to the shelter, however you would never know considering the amount of trust, love, and snuggles that she has given us since day 1. As soon as you come in the door, she greets you by circling your feet hoping for some love and snuggles. When you get up and leave the room, she is right behind you following you to wherever you go. As soon as you sit down on the couch or get into bed, she is right there with you getting ready to cuddle and take a nap. She will snuggle up to you, or sleep on a pillow next to you for the entire night when it is time for bed. All the while during anytime she is within your presence, she is purring the entire time. Peanut is not just a cat or just a pet, Peanut is a bestfriend and a soulmate. Peanut is apart of my family and has the purest, kindest, and most loving heart.

When we adopted Peanut, she already had a chronic respiratory infection which she was being "treated" for, and the shelter supplied us with a couple weeks supply of "medication" to take home and continue giving to her until our first exam visit with the vet. Come to find out this wasn't actually "medication", it was simply an immune system support supplement. We immediately made an appointment with the vet to get her in for her first checkup, and to hopefully get some prescriptions to treat her respiratory infection, but we unfortunately couldn't get in to see the vet any sooner than a month out. We ended up running out of the supplement and ordered more, however Peanut was without it for a few days before it was delivered.

Ever since then, Peanut has progressively gotten sicker. Her personality and daily habits have changed drastically over the past couple weeks. She slowly went from being a cuddly, social, and playful kitty to being heavily lethargic, sad, and sitting in the same spot all day every day. She was also eating and drinking less and less as the days went on until she completely stopped eating and drinking all together, and thankfully at this point her vet visit was only a couple days away.

This brings us to Monday, June 3rd 2024 when we finally brought her to the vet for her appointment. At this point she was insanely weak, dehydrated and did not want to move or be handled at all. The vet noticed she was severely dehydrated and anemic. They took her blood and urine for testing, and gave her an antibiotic shot as well as an anti nausea shot. They also gave her subcutaneous fluids to rehydrate her, provided us with an ointment to make her hungry so she would eat and drink, and gave us a prescription wet food diet that is jam packed with nutrients to help her build up some strength. The vet had us bring her back home with us, because he was afraid that she would become severely stressed if they had kept her overnight, ultimately making her condition worse.

The following day (Tuesday), I received a call from the vets office with her results. They saw in her blood test that her white blood cell count was very high (which is consistent with fighting an infection), and her red blood cell count was dangerously low. They also saw blood in her urine, which tells them that her red blood cells are being attacked and destroyed, and that she may need a blood transfusion. We scheduled a follow up appointment for this Friday, but in the mean time he recommended we either bring her to emergency where she would stay for multiple days in a row resulting in a bill that would be thousands and thousands of dollars, or someone stay with her 24/7 the next few days to nurse her and ensure she is eating, drinking, and not getting any worse. He also said that when we come back for the follow up on Friday, that he will want to start her on Prednisone shots. At this point I was losing it, and immediately left work to come home and be with her to take care of her. Since then, I have stayed home with her 24/7 to nurse her and take care of her. She has been eating and drinking more, however she is still super lethargic.

Peanut's initial vet visit was just under $700, and although I bought pet insurance immediately after this visit, it will not cover any of the expenses from that visit or any others going forward regarding this issue because it was a "preexisiting condition". So as I result, I am left no other choice but to ask for financial help from the public and our community. I have no idea what the expenses will look like going forward or what additional treatments Peanut will need, but I am certain she will probably get Prednisone shots and may also need a blood transfusion due to her being severly anemic, and this isnt including any of the additional treatments she may need to treat the respiratory infection.

I am heartbroken to see my sweet and precious Peanut struggle so much, she truly is one of the best cats I have ever come across, and I would be devastated to lose her. Any funds that are not used towards Peanut’s medical bills will be donated to our local animal shelter.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Peanut. Any and all donations are immensley appreciated.

- Sydney

This picture was taken at the shelter when we first met Peanut. She immediately snuggled into her Daddy's lap, telling us she was ready to come home.

Here is Peanut snuggling up on a pillow next to her Dad, ready to go bed for the night.

Here is Peanut on her first day home. She was so happy to have a cozy and warm blanket to snuggle up and nap on after a long day.

Peanut napping in some silly positions.

Peanut snuggling with her Daddy.