Please Help Stanley the Cat!
Donation protected
Hello! My name is Michelle Riechers. I’m a full time graduate student studying Trumpet Performance at the University of Michigan, and I’m the proud mom of Stanley the cat. I adopted Stanley from the Humane Society of Huron Valley in Ann Arbor, MI about a year and a half ago, and he’s been my best buddy ever since. Unfortunately, Stanley has fractured his femur!
It’s really hard to tell how it happened, but I have a tall bookshelf that he likes to sit on top of and I believe he may have fallen off of it or had a bad landing from a jump while I was away for the day. He’s an indoor cat only and is very healthy otherwise. I noticed him being pretty lethargic for a couple of days and he wasn’t eating much, so I took him to the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Ann Arbor yesterday morning (Sunday, May 6). He was unfortunately misdiagnosed at first with either a possible foreign object in his abdomen or a slowing of his GI tract. I was sent home with a handful of medications after blood tests and X-rays.
I returned home that evening and saw that he seemed to be in a lot of pain and had a horrible limp that I hadn’t noticed before. I took him back to the ER and they found that he had fractured his femur near the hip joint and it was a couple of days old at least. (Cats are masters of hiding their pain for as long as possible). There was nothing they could do at the ER, so they sent me home with pain medication after another series of X-rays and recommended a call a few animal orthopedic surgeons in the morning.
I was fortunately able to get him scheduled for surgery for this morning (Monday, May 7) at Advanced Veterinary Care Group in Canton, MI where they performed a Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) on his right leg. This is a surgical procedure that removes the head and neck of the femur. During Stanley’s recovery, a false joint will form and if all goes well, he will be back to normal in a couple of months. The doctor called me this afternoon and the surgery was successful and Stanley did very well. He will return home tomorrow afternoon.
This is where I need your help:
After two separate visits to the ER and the surgery, plus medication and future follow up, I have some vet bills that have added up to a large sum of money. These were the expenses:
1st ER visit: $571
2nd ER visit: $147
Surgery and follow up: $1,255
Other aftercare expenses (large dog crate for 1st week of recovery, flatter litter box for ease of use): $75
Total: $2,048
Being a full time college student, I am not in the financial place to handle this full burden. I work as a host at an Indian restaurant and perform and teach trumpet as well, but I am still finding it extremely challenging to cover this unexpected expense. I wanted to take all of the right steps to help Stanley recover fully. He’s 2 years old and has a lot of life ahead of him and I want him to be as comfortable and happy as possible for the rest of his life. Stanley has been by my side and has helped me through so much, including the passing of my mother a year and a half ago. We’re best pals and he means so much to me.
I want to thank everyone who considers donating to help me cover Stanley’s Vet bills. Any amount of assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much and please spread the word if you can.
Love,
Michelle and Stanley
It’s really hard to tell how it happened, but I have a tall bookshelf that he likes to sit on top of and I believe he may have fallen off of it or had a bad landing from a jump while I was away for the day. He’s an indoor cat only and is very healthy otherwise. I noticed him being pretty lethargic for a couple of days and he wasn’t eating much, so I took him to the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Ann Arbor yesterday morning (Sunday, May 6). He was unfortunately misdiagnosed at first with either a possible foreign object in his abdomen or a slowing of his GI tract. I was sent home with a handful of medications after blood tests and X-rays.
I returned home that evening and saw that he seemed to be in a lot of pain and had a horrible limp that I hadn’t noticed before. I took him back to the ER and they found that he had fractured his femur near the hip joint and it was a couple of days old at least. (Cats are masters of hiding their pain for as long as possible). There was nothing they could do at the ER, so they sent me home with pain medication after another series of X-rays and recommended a call a few animal orthopedic surgeons in the morning.
I was fortunately able to get him scheduled for surgery for this morning (Monday, May 7) at Advanced Veterinary Care Group in Canton, MI where they performed a Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) on his right leg. This is a surgical procedure that removes the head and neck of the femur. During Stanley’s recovery, a false joint will form and if all goes well, he will be back to normal in a couple of months. The doctor called me this afternoon and the surgery was successful and Stanley did very well. He will return home tomorrow afternoon.
This is where I need your help:
After two separate visits to the ER and the surgery, plus medication and future follow up, I have some vet bills that have added up to a large sum of money. These were the expenses:
1st ER visit: $571
2nd ER visit: $147
Surgery and follow up: $1,255
Other aftercare expenses (large dog crate for 1st week of recovery, flatter litter box for ease of use): $75
Total: $2,048
Being a full time college student, I am not in the financial place to handle this full burden. I work as a host at an Indian restaurant and perform and teach trumpet as well, but I am still finding it extremely challenging to cover this unexpected expense. I wanted to take all of the right steps to help Stanley recover fully. He’s 2 years old and has a lot of life ahead of him and I want him to be as comfortable and happy as possible for the rest of his life. Stanley has been by my side and has helped me through so much, including the passing of my mother a year and a half ago. We’re best pals and he means so much to me.
I want to thank everyone who considers donating to help me cover Stanley’s Vet bills. Any amount of assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much and please spread the word if you can.
Love,
Michelle and Stanley
Organizer
Michelle Riechers
Organizer
Ann Arbor, MI
