Kitties Need an Angel!

  Thank you for taking the time to read our campaign.   My name is Toni, and my family and I were adopted by a starving, bony little orange tabby kitten  stray  (approx. 7 months old).  

  Our four year old son shared his milk one recent evening with this scrawny, sad little thing and named it Wilbur.  The next morning,  Willy revealed that he was in fact a very thin and very pregnant female.  We began to feed her kitten food and call her Willow; a fitting name for one so young and thin.

   She was very humble and grateful for our care, and we immediately fell in love.  She tried chasing off our other cat (and dog) once she discovered her food source.  Willow would do anything to protect her kits and has claimed this as her home.

  A week later she was nesting in a box in our garage and, over the course of the next five days,  delivered seven premature kittens.  #3, #4 and #7  were the only kittens viable and were the size of my thumb at birth.   In her malnourished condition,  it's a miracle any of the kittens survived. 

The kittens seem to be growing well and appear to be rather well adjusted; the two girls are calico manxes and their brother is a light cream color manx.  And the mama cat is the nicest cat I've ever met, she's so appreciative to have food and shelter and is extremely social, following us around and enjoying our company.  She is also growing well and steadily putting on weight.  However, she seems very ill.  She has developed a chronic cough, and also has a gravelly sound to her purr that makes her sound like a coffee percolator.  The cough is terrible and sounds like something is rattling loose but nothing comes out (and sounds somewhat like pneumonia). 

This, coupled with crusty eyes, has us all very concerned for our new kitty friend and of course her newborn kittens,  who have already been through so much. 

Upon research and discussion with a vet,  diagnosis and treatment for Willow on average goes for $850.  If she has an obstruction,  that will require surgery in addition to medication at additional expense.  She also will need to be spayed.  If she has lungworm, heartworm or some bacterial infection,  her kittens will also need additional treatment as well as their standardized care.  

We are a single income blue collar family,  and we simply do not have the resources to adequately care for this darling kitten family.   We adore them and want them to remain with us,  and do not want to separate them and give them up.   However, if we cannot raise the funds we need for their care and shelter,  we will have to surrender them to the local shelter... These kits are all so precious and beautiful, and they deserve the best lives possible. 

  Please consider helping us get Willow the care she needs, with haste.   These kittens, and our family,  are humbled by your generosity and reaching out to you in hopeful anticipation. 

May God bless you and your families. 


Gratefully Yours, 
The Campbell Family