Please Help Fix Xion's Heart
Donation protected
I have five cats with five different personalities. Xion is my newest and my youngest. She's about 5 years old, and I adopted her from a shelter about 2 1/2 years ago. As far as personalities go, she's a very sweet, very laid-back kitty. She has an inexplicable obsession with the bathroom (including playing in the toilet and sleeping in the sink). I call her "mama" owing to the fact that, before she was adopted, she had a litter of kittens and that maternal instinct never fully went away (she constantly cleans and moms two of my other cats, Namine and Roxas).
As far as ages go, she's still pretty young. Last night, around 9:30-10:00-ish, I noticed that her stomach was contracting a bit as she was breathing. She was perfectly fine otherwise; no coughing, she didn't seem to be in pain. I reached out to pet her and she started purring. So other than her stomach looking a bit strange, she seemed okay. It wasn't until later at night (maybe 1 AM) that my anxiety-ridden mind started thinking worst-case scenario, and I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I would wake up to a dead cat.
I panicked, had a complete breakdown and eventually brought her into an veterinary emergency room. Xion was placed in the ICU in an oxygen cage because she was struggling to breathe, and I was put in a waiting room to wait for the vet. Over the course of nearly three hours, and a series of x-rays, blood draws and examinations, this is what I learned.
Xion's heart is far bigger than it should be for a kitty her size. The walls of her heart are pressing against her ribs, and it caused her lungs to fill with fluid. The pulmonary edema (fluid in her lungs) could have been caused by asthma, but the edema combined with the oversized heart told the doctor that we're most likely dealing with a cat with congenital heart disease. Unfortunately, to get a definitive answer (about what exactly is wrong with her), she needs an echocardiogram. The echo alone is around $400, and that isn't including the hospital stay, any medications and oxygen she'll need, any other tests they'll need to run, as well as the actual treatment they'll start when they do have a definitive answer. The total cost that I was quoted was around $1600, and that isn't including anything that comes AFTER I get answers. That $1600 is just the start to a very long journey.
If it's asthma, they'll want to keep tabs on her, but it's mostly a manageable thing on my own. But if it's a heart disease (which, at this point, it's more than likely that instead of asthma), she'll need daily medications that can range from $10-20 a month to hundreds a month, depending on the severity of what's wrong with her.
In short, my cat is incredibly sick right now, and I don't have a spare $1600 to get her diagnosed and initially treated, plus the almost $500 I had to put down for the ER trip last night that I also didn't have. I could get the echo and find out she's got asthma, which is ideal because asthma is so much less terrifying than a potentially fatal heart disease. I could find out she has a heart problem that can be treated and managed with a couple of medications twice daily. Or, most likely, I'll find out that she has a serious heart problem that needs multiple medications to treat and manage, and if I can't afford it, I'll have to consider putting my baby down, and I don't want to do that.
To some people, a pet is just a pet. But my cats are my babies, and I love Xion with my whole heart. I don't want her to suffer or be in pain, I don't want her to struggle to breathe because I can't afford to take care of her. I am scared, my baby is scared, and I need help.
As far as ages go, she's still pretty young. Last night, around 9:30-10:00-ish, I noticed that her stomach was contracting a bit as she was breathing. She was perfectly fine otherwise; no coughing, she didn't seem to be in pain. I reached out to pet her and she started purring. So other than her stomach looking a bit strange, she seemed okay. It wasn't until later at night (maybe 1 AM) that my anxiety-ridden mind started thinking worst-case scenario, and I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I would wake up to a dead cat.
I panicked, had a complete breakdown and eventually brought her into an veterinary emergency room. Xion was placed in the ICU in an oxygen cage because she was struggling to breathe, and I was put in a waiting room to wait for the vet. Over the course of nearly three hours, and a series of x-rays, blood draws and examinations, this is what I learned.
Xion's heart is far bigger than it should be for a kitty her size. The walls of her heart are pressing against her ribs, and it caused her lungs to fill with fluid. The pulmonary edema (fluid in her lungs) could have been caused by asthma, but the edema combined with the oversized heart told the doctor that we're most likely dealing with a cat with congenital heart disease. Unfortunately, to get a definitive answer (about what exactly is wrong with her), she needs an echocardiogram. The echo alone is around $400, and that isn't including the hospital stay, any medications and oxygen she'll need, any other tests they'll need to run, as well as the actual treatment they'll start when they do have a definitive answer. The total cost that I was quoted was around $1600, and that isn't including anything that comes AFTER I get answers. That $1600 is just the start to a very long journey.
If it's asthma, they'll want to keep tabs on her, but it's mostly a manageable thing on my own. But if it's a heart disease (which, at this point, it's more than likely that instead of asthma), she'll need daily medications that can range from $10-20 a month to hundreds a month, depending on the severity of what's wrong with her.
In short, my cat is incredibly sick right now, and I don't have a spare $1600 to get her diagnosed and initially treated, plus the almost $500 I had to put down for the ER trip last night that I also didn't have. I could get the echo and find out she's got asthma, which is ideal because asthma is so much less terrifying than a potentially fatal heart disease. I could find out she has a heart problem that can be treated and managed with a couple of medications twice daily. Or, most likely, I'll find out that she has a serious heart problem that needs multiple medications to treat and manage, and if I can't afford it, I'll have to consider putting my baby down, and I don't want to do that.
To some people, a pet is just a pet. But my cats are my babies, and I love Xion with my whole heart. I don't want her to suffer or be in pain, I don't want her to struggle to breathe because I can't afford to take care of her. I am scared, my baby is scared, and I need help.
Organizer
Cassiandra Jade
Organizer
Fall River, MA
