Update for march 8- as of the 6th we were able to pay his massive $2700 bill thanks to all of your help. I have been able to spoil Ned a bit with fancy royal canin prescription food and a plethora of vitamins for his kidney disease + age. He has been getting so many treats and a ton of love <3

I will try to keep this short and sweet. It'll be difficult because I have a lot to say, but in summary, my boy Ned has a big eye tumor. It wasn't visible or identified until a few months ago and has grown exponentially fast since :( The pics of him without it were from just 3-4 months ago, and in the more recent ones, you can see its progression in his right eye. He keeps it shut most of the day.

At this rate and with the bills already stacking, I don't have any options. I'm scared that it's growing so fast now that I may not be able to act quick enough :( I am desperate for help, and literally any donation amount, even advice or kind words of encouragement, is all I can ask for. It makes things worse as of last week I am in between jobs after uncovering my boss stole our wages over time. Icing on the cake, I have a used car payment after me and my partner's car was struck in traffic last November. Blow after blow, and we are still here, but I hope the high heavens to get my Ned taken care of before I lose another family member.

As for a due introduction and onto more story:

I'm Zach, this is my cat Ned, and my partner Jubilee. Ned is 16 years old and shares the same birthday month as me. Matter of fact, he was born 1 day and 10 years earlier than me. It’s meant to be! My mom's sister adopted him for me from the humane society when he was a 2-month-old orange cotton ball! I was only ten. Lol, mom wasn't super happy, but he was irresistibly cute, and to this day, we love him.

Ned has one of the biggest personalities I've ever seen in a cat and also the cuddliest. He sleeps under the blankets with us every night right in the middle. He's the type of cat to fetch a toy and walk around with it in his mouth. He will also ferociously bite your ankle if he knows you're holding out on his favorite treats. He loves his kibble and is a healthy 10lb.

Unfortunately, Ned has a big eye tumor that has been quickly getting out of hand. He has already had a very extensive medical history with hyperthyroidism and daily medication, regular vet check-ups, among other health issues, and lots of bills which have been up to this point semi-manageable with help from my partner and my parent. His annual medical expenses come to around ~$2500 (+/- $500) pre-eye tumor. With him being constipated too now and the surgery estimates plus the massive ER expense, things are going to be around about $4000 for this last year's vet bills. Except I haven’t been able to go forward with surgery because I don’t have that other $2,000 lying around. It's been a very costly year for us, and I was being shorted wages at work for seven months (hence I am searching for different work). Just a really tough time for all of us.

Me being 26 in a world where me and my partner's combined income can't even buy us a house… it has just been really heartbreaking and scary to hear that he has a tumor when we are barely making ends meet with what we have.

It took several trips checking on his eye (it was getting gunk and required wiping it daily for the last year). I woke up for my job a couple of months back, and his eye was bloody for the first time. Just a small amount around the lid. I stayed home and rushed him to the pet ER where finally we found out it was a tumor :(

We give him a steroid eye drop and also are trying to figure out why he is constipated (just more vet expenses to worry about, but he takes the priority when it comes down to it…. I just can't physically afford it.) Makes things worse, I took on my first car payment right before this news because of a car accident the other driver was responsible for. I have the help of a single parent that is raising children, and I can't justify continuing to fall back on my mom…. so desperate for some kind of help to be able to get my boy into surgery and get that tumor taken out… or worse, they suggest his whole eye It makes me cry because I love him so much, and he has been the best cat in the world.

Please, if you can help, it means so much to us, and I hope we can continue our small family with our boy for many, many more years… that someday we will look back and remember this moment, and it will seem far away.

Being no stranger to grief and loss, it makes it all the worse just being in my situation thinking about how helpless I am to my son :(

Thank you for even taking the time to read this overdue sob story as it tears me up and has been really difficult since getting the news, not getting sad every time I see him and think about how helpless I feel.