Help Oswald Get Across The Rainbow Bridge In Peace

We are raising money to make final arrangements for our cat, Oswald, who was unexpectedly diagnosed with Feline Leukemia last month. 

Everyone says they have the best cats, and it’s true. Every cat is the best cat. And in our case, it happens to be especially true. 

We fell in love with this little guy from the moment we saw his picture on the pet rescue page, despite not being able to actually adopt him until weeks after that moment. When the time came and he was still available, we excitedly prepared our apartment for our first cat, and drove down to pick him up from his foster home, and from that first moment we met him, we knew he was a special cat. Some cats are cats. Some cats are dogs. This cat is people. 

When you look at him, he looks back. When you call his name, he responds. He has the most expressive meow, and tells all the stories, whether you ask for it or not. He is a master cuddler, and I dare you not to melt when he presses his head into you and closes his eyes when you offer your hand. He has given us so much more than we ever could have hoped for, and now we are trying to return it in his hour of need. 

As it turns out, kittens can have false negatives on leukemia tests, and since he was found outside and tested so young, it was not known that he was a carrier of this incurable and contagious virus. The virus gave Oswald no problems until the beginning of April, when we discovered that he had become anemic and lost more than 1/5 his body weight. The only solution was an immediate blood transfusion that cost $1200, which we thankfully were able to make happen by opening up a line of credit that covered half of it. It was about 4 days later we were told his diagnosis: FeLV. It was later that same day we found out it had been transmitted to our other little guy, Yoshi, who luckily hasn’t exhibited any troubling symptoms as of yet. 

Sadly, though we hoped the transfusion might help, it seems that his body isn’t able to combat the virus as well as we hoped it might. He hasn’t been himself, and it is absolutely breaking our hearts.

This past month has been a complete roller coaster. We thought we would have so much more time with him, and it feels completely unfair to have him taken away from us like this, but it is what it is, and our primary focus now is to ease his suffering.  

We have explored a few different options regarding what we’d like to do for him. Ideally,  we just want to make him as comfortable as possible during this process, and we feel that using Laps of Love is the best way to make that happen. 

Laps of Love is an organization that provides in-home animal euthanasia services, as well as postmortem arrangements. In addition to being recommended by many relatives and friends who have used the service, it also gives us peace of mind to know he will be where he is happiest, with his people and his brother. 

Neither of us has gone through this before, and both of us feel embarrassed to even ask our friends for help, but we have found ourselves in an extremely tight financial situation. With the transfusion, vet visits, random sickness keeping us from going to work last week,  and other life things, we are just barely making ends meet, and the cost of utilizing Laps of Love comes in at around $550, due upon services rendered. This would be for an in-home vet visit/consultation with all necessary medicine, private cremation including a wooden urn with an engraved name plate, a clay paw print, and a lock of hair for keepsakes. 

Very few of you actually know him. We’ve only had him for about a year and a half, so sadly not many of you have had the chance or the pleasure, but I cannot express to you just how much this cat touched our lives. If we haven’t talked your ears off about him, you probably haven’t spoken to either of us in a while. We both love him with everything we have, and have been completely broken over this entire situation. He’s our guy. 

Please consider donating to help Oswald be at peace. We are beyond thankful for any and every bit of help you can offer at this time. Much love to all.