Our cat Blueberry (Bloob, Bloobs or The Berry for short) is a goofy five year old, tuxedo, male with a white mustache who was diagnosed with feline lower urinary tract disorder (FLUTD) in May of 2025. We learned this when we had to hospitalize him when he suddenly stopped eating, drinking, urinating, and became lethargic. If you know Blueberry, you know he will do anything for kibble! Bloob has been our best friend since Kat got him in late July of 2020. Nick got to first meet him when he was still a kitten and squealed when he first saw him! Our love for Blueberry was at first sight. All of our friends know that he is 99% of what we talk about at any gathering. Thank you for putting up with our obsession with this boy!

FLUTD is caused by struvite/oxalate crystals forming in a cat’s bladder which in turn causes the bladder to irritate which makes urination painful. In the instance that it's severe enough to completely halt urination it makes the urine become more concentrated and deposits crystals into the urethra which manifest as physical blockages. Once they fully block it starts a 72 hour clock before they die from toxicity within the cats bloodstream from the buildup of urine. FLUTD is most common in male cats due to their urethra being narrower than female cats. Usually cats with this disorder can switch their diet to a prescription urinary care food that dissolves the crystals and be completely fine. Blueberry, however, seems to be a frequent flyer of blocking even with a strict diet and is a candidate for a surgery to help widen his urethra so that he can more easily pass the crystals that form in his bladder. This surgery is called a perineal urethrostomy, also known as a PU. This is the ultimate goal of our gofundme!

Blueberry first started becoming sick in late May 2025. We were concerned so we took him to UrgentVet in Carytown, Richmond, VA. They gave him subcutaneous fluids to help flush his bladder and kidneys and set us up with a prescription recommendation for a urinary care diet, which our wonderful everyday vet Jones Veterinary Care agreed with and gave the prescription for. This special food helps breaks down the crystals in his bladder. He got better for a few months until he took a turn for the worse in July 2025. He stopped eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and became extremely lethargic again. We ended up bringing him to Partner Veterinary Emergency Center in Henrico, VA after our friend, Jon, dropped everything to drive us there. Thankfully because of the vet staff and their commitment to his health they were able to stabilize him after catheterization, IV fluids, medications, and around the clock care, which cost $4500 for a 3 day stay. We immediately decided to switch from his original brand of prescription food to another since it seemed to not work for him. We went back to the same urgent care two days later because he developed a UTI due to the physical trauma of catheterizing which we were thankfully able to get under control very quickly!

Blueberry is now on a daily medication that has seen some success in preventing blockages but surgery is the best long-term solution. Unfortunately we are in a position currently that makes us unable to pay for the PU surgery on our own. We had pet insurance through Lemonade but found out when we went to file the claims that FLUTD is considered a preexisting condition since he got his first blockage within the initial one month waiting period for insurance to kick in and he won't be covered for any of the urgent care, emergency visits, medications, or his every day veterinarian appointments that pertains to FLUTD. We have wiped out the entirety of our savings trying to keep him healthy and happy but realize to keep him that way we need help from friends, family, and kind strangers. Any bit of money will help us keep Blueberry in our lives. Our ultimate goal is raising enough money to get him his PU surgery, medications, as well as cover travel expenses since we don’t have a car and need to take Uber/Lyft to get him to his appointments.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! We love Blueberry so much and want to keep him in our life as long as possible. We can't imagine him not loafing by our sides.

Please also consider donating to the Carver Vet Fund via Jones Veterinary Care (Richmond) on their website https://www.jonesvetcare.com on the tab "Carver Vet Fund" that sends you to veterinarycare.org which helps people that are the most in need to cover their vet costs. A massive thank you and an inexplicable gratitude to Dr. Jones, Rachel, Kayla and all the other wonderful vet techs (thinking especially of the vet tech that is always excited to see Bloobs on their schedule and took adorable photos with him recently) and people that have made Blueberry's life and other pet's lives in our community better. We don't know what we would've done without Dr. Jones and his amazing team as well as the friends, coworkers, and family in our lives that have supported us through this.