Hi, we're Robin and Edie, and The Boy is our sweet orange cat. He is one year old and he loves to snuggle with our other cats, Juniper and Masha, and roll around with his fluffy belly in the air!

We are starting this fundraiser to try to recoup some of the money that we've had to spend on The Boy's medical bills. We have had to take a large chunk of money out of savings in order to pay for everything. Even yet, the total just keeps rising, and it's becoming more than we can handle. We don't expect to have The Boy's bills fully paid for by this fundraiser, but we were hoping to at least get a little help to pay down the vet bills that are on our credit card.

Two years ago, in February 2023, our kitten Anakin fell suddenly ill. We encouraged the vets to do whatever they can and we spent over $6,000 trying to save her, but her little 10-month-old body was too weak to recover and she passed away after spending about five days in intensive care. We are determined to do whatever it takes to keep The Boy healthy. We just can't go through that trauma again.

--The Story--

In December, unknown to us, The Boy ate some magnetic tape from a microcassette. We took him to the emergency vet because he was ill and throwing up. They told us that he has a urinary blockage and kept him overnight while they provided him with fluids, a catheter, and other care. They sent us home with some medicine and we thought the whole experience would be over.

However, because they misdiagnosed him, The Boy's condition didn't improve. He wasn't eating and was very lethargic, so we took him to our regular vet. They treated him for nausea, screened for parasites, ran bloodwork, and gave him an x-ray. None of the tests or the x-ray showed anything unusual. Thinking that the boy was just recovering slowly, they prescribed a hunger stimulant and sent him home with us.

When his health continued to deteriorate, we went back to the vet. They recommended an ultrasound, so we scheduled an appointment with a specialist. However, before the ultrasound appointment, The Boy started pooping out the cassette tape, revealing the actual problem. Magnetic tape does not show up on x-rays so it was not detected until he started passing it.

Now that the problem was identified, we went back to the vet and they performed surgery. They removed the tape from him in several pieces, having to make many different incisions in his small intestine. When he came home from surgery, he seemed to be improving. He was behaving a little more normal and would eat some food. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

We gave him some time to recover from surgery, but because he still wasn't getting better we eventually took him back to the vet. He was diagnosed with Hepatic Lipidosis (Fatty Liver Disease), which is caused by an extended period of malnutrition. Basically, because he was refusing to eat for so long, his liver was now suffering. His skin was starting to appear yellow with jaundice. They ran more bloodwork and took a new x-ray, and the results of both of those confirmed that his liver was the issue. They sent us home with prescriptions for his liver, fluids to keep him hydrated, and instructions to force feed him if he did not eat willingly.

By this point, he had lost a third of his body weight, going from 11 pounds to only 7.5 pounds. We gave him daily subcutaneous fluids (injected under the skin), four different daily prescriptions, and daily force-feedings because he would hardly eat anything on his own. After a few days of this, he threw up, and the vomit contained more magnetic tape. He didn't get it all the way up, so we had to trim the end of the tape that was hanging out of his mouth to prevent him from choking.

With the knowledge that there is still tape inside him, we returned to the regular vet and they directed us to go back to the emergency vet so that The Boy could get an endoscopy. We took him to the emergency vet, and they recommended a feeding tube and ultrasound in addition to the endoscopy.

I'm writing this now as The Boy is receiving treatment at the emergency vet. I'll provide updates as soon as I have them.

Here is the running total of expenses we've paid for The Boy's care:

Total paid so far: $9,470

In addition, we have been quoted prices for the treatment that The Boy is receiving today, which is $1,200 for continued hospitalization and emergency care, $3,400 for the endoscopy to remove the tape that is still in his stomach, and possibly over $7,000 for a feeding tube and nutrition.