Hello everyone! This is Fancy. She is a ~12-13-week-old dilute tortoiseshell kitten my girlfriend found on the street while delivering pizza. Her long coat makes it hard to see how thin she is, but she is very thin. Her bones are so prominent that we have to cuddle her wrapped in a towel or she can’t get comfortable. (Yes, that is exactly as heartbreaking as it sounds.)
In addition to being dangerously underweight, she is suffering from an abscessed bite wound and some sort of problem with her tail, as well as a heavy parasite load that is giving her runny poop issues and sapping her energy. She is too small to even have the shots given to babies half her age.
Despite all this, Fancy is heart-meltingly sweet. She loves people. She talks a lot and even vocalizes softly while purring herself to sleep. She is alert but she tires easily because she has no energy reserves and right now she basically only sleeps, eats, poops, sleeps, cuddles, talks about everything she does, eats some more, and sleeps.
She looks rough now but with some TLC she will be a beautiful cat with a nice, low-maintenance medium-length silky coat and vibrant lemon-lime eyes. We want to find her a forever home, but we can’t do that until she is healthy enough!
We took her to the vet on Monday, July 30 and she has been wormed, treated for earmites, and tested clean for FeLV and heartworms, and her abscess has been cleaned out, which is all good, but she has some challenges.
The vet says that at 3.6 lbs. she is ½ to ¾ of a pound underweight, which is a big difference when you are as small as she is. Imagine being 30 lbs. underweight. That’s scary. This is the biggest hurdle right now. The odds are absolutely in her favor, this is a problem we can fix, but she is still severely malnourished and that presents a very real risk.
Also her tail doesn’t work so great. She can only move the first inch or so closest to her behind, and sometimes it’s hard to get it out of the way when she uses the litter box. If it doesn’t improve as she gets stronger the vet wants to take X-rays to see what’s causing it and what needs to be done.
She has a checkup in 10 days but right now we cannot afford to take her to it, let alone pay for any more unexpected urgent treatment, because today’s vet appointment blew through everything we had saved back.
I’ve set a goal of $700 to cover what we had to pay today for testing, wound treatment, and medication, and the things we had to get to take care of her (piddle pad crate liners, her own toys, some special food to get her weight up, baby wipes to clean up her bottom, all that sort of thing) plus some extra for her next checkup, her shots, and some extra for imaging or in case something unexpected comes up (most likely another abscess, a respiratory infection, or gastritis). We have other cats, one of whom has kidney disease and needs specialized food that costs kind of a lot, so this is putting a big strain on us financially.
Keep spreading the link! We reached our first goal and I’m bumping it up to cover future expenses and surgeries. She also needs to go in to see the vet sooner than I thought because she’s having a little trouble with the abscess.
I will update later tonight with a link to a wishlist for supplies that would help us take the very best care of her we possibly can. She had nothing, she didn’t even have a name. Now she has a name, a blanket, and many, many people on the internet who care about her and want to help her get better and spoil her. You are all rock stars, you’re amazing.
We can now cover imaging for her tail and begin covering treatment that I strongly suspect will wind up being an amputation. She has no feeling in the tip at all, and if she can’t use it for balance or communication and can’t move it out of the way of things like feet, doors, other cats, and so on, it will need to come off as it will only pose a risk. I hope that won’t be necessary.
Also, it’s too early to do it now, she’s too weak, but someday she will be a grown-up girl and will need to be spayed. We’d also like to microchip her. We want to make her as safe and as strong and as healthy as she can be.
Thank you so, so much. Look at this sweet little face. Look at those bright little eyes. That’s what a survivor looks like. She’s a little fighter. Thank you for giving her a chance. We’re gonna make it a real, real good one.
Just over two years ago, we lost Ta, my much-beloved stepfather, to Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. It was incredibly sudden, and there wasn’t anything they could do but make him comfortable. With future research, maybe there will be something more that can be offered to people like Ta than palliative care.
I am taking part in The March Charge with Cancer Council. Please sponsor me today to support my challenge! Your donation will help our local Cancer Council support those affected right now and fund world changing research to help more people survive. Thank you for your support.
Hey, after losing one of our dogs last September our other pup got in to some really dark chocolate this Saturday and we had to get him to the vets and it’s totally cleaned us out money wise. Any tiny amount helps, or share if you can. We’re offering knitted hats or gloves or handspun yarn to any donations over $50.
Thanks everyone.
We’ve started this because after Pip’s end-of-life treatment in September and the family of three stray cats microchipping, desexing and registration from March to July last year, we’re looking at our third major vet expense in under twelve months. Anything will help, and if you can’t donate, please signal boost.
Reblogging to say thank you SO MUCH to those who have donated so far, you have no idea how much it means to us. There were actual tears earlier when I saw people had helped out, both by giving money and by signal boosting. Dougall is home and is doing well. His bloods were great, and apart from being super anxious, exhausted and hoarse from barking for his whole hospital stay, he’s fine. Right now, he’s sleeping it all off in our bed (a very special treat) with Emma.
Dougall is doing better today. I was able to transfer the money from PayPal to my account so we can pay back the loan part of the vet bill. This is huge. Thank you all so much.
We’d still love to be able to replenish the savings enough that I could get the brakes fixed on the car and get a hair cut. My hair is starting to get too long for me to be able wash without my shoulders sublaxing and I’m not well enough to cut it myself right now.
So if you could share the fundraiser we’d be grateful.
We are super close to meeting our goal! You’re all incredible. You have no idea how important to me it is that we’ll be able to pay my mother back virtually straight away. Dougall is more like his regular self today. Still a little quiet and wanting to stay close, but relaxed enough that he’s sleeping back in his bed and doesn’t freak out if we leave the room. Still getting lots of hugs and treats, though. 🙂
Please share, if you haven’t already, and help us get to the goal!
Hey, after losing one of our dogs last September our other pup got in to some really dark chocolate this Saturday and we had to get him to the vets and it’s totally cleaned us out money wise. Any tiny amount helps, or share if you can. We’re offering knitted hats or gloves or handspun yarn to any donations over $50.
Thanks everyone.
We’ve started this because after Pip’s end-of-life treatment in September and the family of three stray cats microchipping, desexing and registration from March to July last year, we’re looking at our third major vet expense in under twelve months. Anything will help, and if you can’t donate, please signal boost.
Reblogging to say thank you SO MUCH to those who have donated so far, you have no idea how much it means to us. There were actual tears earlier when I saw people had helped out, both by giving money and by signal boosting. Dougall is home and is doing well. His bloods were great, and apart from being super anxious, exhausted and hoarse from barking for his whole hospital stay, he’s fine. Right now, he’s sleeping it all off in our bed (a very special treat) with Emma.
Dougall is doing better today. I was able to transfer the money from PayPal to my account so we can pay back the loan part of the vet bill. This is huge. Thank you all so much.
We’d still love to be able to replenish the savings enough that I could get the brakes fixed on the car and get a hair cut. My hair is starting to get too long for me to be able wash without my shoulders sublaxing and I’m not well enough to cut it myself right now.
So if you could share the fundraiser we’d be grateful.
Hey, after losing one of our dogs last September our other pup got in to some really dark chocolate this Saturday and we had to get him to the vets and it’s totally cleaned us out money wise. Any tiny amount helps, or share if you can. We’re offering knitted hats or gloves or handspun yarn to any donations over $50.
Thanks everyone.
We’ve started this because after Pip’s end-of-life treatment in September and the family of three stray cats microchipping, desexing and registration from March to July last year, we’re looking at our third major vet expense in under twelve months. Anything will help, and if you can’t donate, please signal boost.
Reblogging to say thank you SO MUCH to those who have donated so far, you have no idea how much it means to us. There were actual tears earlier when I saw people had helped out, both by giving money and by signal boosting. Dougall is home and is doing well. His bloods were great, and apart from being super anxious, exhausted and hoarse from barking for his whole hospital stay, he’s fine. Right now, he’s sleeping it all off in our bed (a very special treat) with Emma. Click here to support Help Emma Pocock and Ruth Faraday pay Dougall’s vet bill