My Cat is Dying: What I’ve Been Up To
I’ve been gone for a while now. I mentioned in a few posts before that I was trying to make money. Drarrytexts is a passion of mine, but passion doesn’t put food on the table. Passion doesn’t let your mum retire when she’s spent her life working multiple jobs to provide for a family of 4 kids with 3 being disabled. I finally found something I really wanted to do and I was so excited to tell you guys about it. I’m working on writing an interactive novel. I was so thrilled, I was writing a Harry Potter interactive fanfic as a test drive and I couldn’t wait to release it to you all. If it did well I was going to try and go original to sell and make some money. Who wouldn’t want to be a character in a book and mold the plot to their wishes? I’d planned on starting to do requests again too, once my first interactive fic was finished and I’d returned. But life has a way of punching you in the face when you least expect it.
Yesterday my cat vomited 5 times in the span of 12 hours. I took her to the vet and racked up over 200$ in vet bills to get an xray to see if there was an intestinal blockage. I would give fucking anything for that to be what they found. She has Peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia (warning for gore at the bottom of the linked page where they show the inside of a cat with the condition) which is just a fancy word for a hole between the abdominal cavity and the cavity where her heart is. It’s a birth defect and if it doesn’t cause any complications some cats can go their whole lives without ever being revealed to have it. Basically my cat, Luna (she’s named after Luna Lovegood), has her intestines wrapped around her heart and her liver and so on are being shoved up into the cavity. It can cause breathing complications as well as gastrointestinal issues and can result in death and seriously declined health. Luna was born 2017 September 24th, and as such is still a kitten. She still has growing to do. The vomiting is not for sure related, my vet can’t tell for certain, so I was given medication for her that would treat standard nausea. Best case scenario is the vomit is unrelated and Luna can live happily without getting surgery. Worst case scenario is I need to get her surgery or have her put down. I won’t force her to live a life where she’s in constant agony. I love her so much but I won’t force her to live a half-life for my own emotional satisfaction. As far as they can tell, right now she isn’t hurting. But things like this decline as she grows and her organs get squished even more. It’s usually safe to leave adult cats without symptoms with the defect, but kittens who are still growing can easily die from this condition.
I love her so fucking much. She’s my lil baby, my shadow. Since she was just a kitten I never knew a more needy, cuddly cat than her and I’ve known many many cats. When I got her she was underweight and scared but she warmed up so fast when she was given loving touch and care. Her previous owners had fed her nothing but cow’s milk, which has basically no nutrition. Now she’s a happy healthy kitten, nearing her first birthday. At least I thought she was healthy. Her condition is entirely hinging on whether or not the vomiting was caused by her condition. Whether or not she’ll start again once I finish the round of meds they gave me. So far she’s been doing a lot better, today she was much more active, hasn’t puked and has been eating and drinking normally. I’m not religious but if I was I’d be praying right now. Every time I hear anything that even resembles the noise of gagging I’m terrified she’s puking again. I haven’t been this stressed or scared in a long time. She’s such a good baby, she follows me everywhere I go and is always up for some cuddles. Even when she’s being so bratty she drives me to tears, she’s still so sweet. When I’m having a depression spiral she keeps me getting out of bed, even if it’s only to clean her litter and feed her and play with her. Plenty of people will say “Oh it’s just an animal” but this little kitten came into my life and made it so much more bearable. She’s a little life I was tasked to protect, regardless of whether or not she’s human. I made a commitment to her the moment I adopted her.
The surgery will cost from 2,500$-4,500$ including aftercare. (CAD, I’m Canadian) From what I’ve Googled it has a 92% survival rate. That figure is also assuming there aren’t complications which could hike the price even more. My family lives on less than 10,000$ a year, the higher range of that price is nearly half what we make in an entire year. My sister and her fiance are making a bit more than us and have agreed to help cover what I can’t if it does come to surgery. I’d just have to pay them back. I’m just praying it doesn’t. If Luna doesn’t keep puking, if she doesn’t develop breathing issues, this could all be okay. She could live totally find with the condition. But I can’t see what else could have caused the puking. She never pukes. I’m fucking terrified. I will gladly max my card if that is what it takes to save her life. I’ll be in debt until 2019 I don’t give a shit. A price can’t be put on her life. Whatever it takes, I’ll do. That brings us to why I’m making this post in the first place.
Any help, anything at all, would be appreciated if it comes down to surgery. I’ll be in debt as long as I need to, but any help would be so good. I’m not asking for money right now, because I’m still hoping beyond hope that Luna’s vomiting is unrelated. If she can just reach 1 year without any more complications, it could be totally fine. In five days if she doesn’t start vomiting again it could be totally okay. Adult cats can usually survive with this condition. But she still has months to go and she’s still growing. And I know this is begging and it probably makes me look pathetic, but I’ll gladly throw away my pride if it means my baby can get the surgery she needs. She’s apart of my family, I made that commitment to her when I got her. I love her so much. Any advice any of you have to offer would be greatly appreciated. I want to open commissions to help with the costs if it does come to surgery. I’ll gladly draw or write anything for anyone who asks. Anyone who does commissions, any advice you have would be so appreciated.
I know I haven’t been posting a while so anyone who thinks I don’t deserve this blog to voice my concerns, I get that. I get why this might annoy you. But if you had someone you loved and could help, would you just sit back and let them potentially die? Even with my sister and her fiance’s help, it’s still putting a huge financial strain on my family if surgery is necessary. I’m scared, I can barely sleep at night from the fucking fear of waking up to her not breathing. And anyone who says it’s just an animal can fuck off. She gives me love and makes me feel okay even when everything in me is screaming to just end it. She’s a little life with a beating heart and working mind. She can feel pain and she can feel emotions. She’s worth every penny to save. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure she lives a long and happy life.
To those who do care, who do understand, who may have lost a pet or had to make a hard decision, what advice do you have? I’m trying so hard to keep it together for her, but I’m terrified. I can’t imagine losing her, I can’t imagine waking up and not seeing her sleeping beside me. I just want her to be okay. I’m scared of the financial debt but I’ll gladly be broke for a long time if it means she’s okay. Have any of you had a cat with the condition? Just anything, anything any of you have to say that’s positive, I want to hear.
I’ll close on saying I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m making yet another post that isn’t drarrytexts. I’m sorry I’m posting personal shit on this blog. I know it’s a fandom blog, I know it’s for drarrytexts. And I hope to god Ellen and Anneliese don’t regret making me the third mod. But I can’t stay silent. I can’t when it’ll put financial strain on my sister too when she’s already so stressed going to Uni and trying to work jobs and so on. This blog has 25k followers, it’s my largest online following and my best chance at getting my words heard. If it does come to surgery, if even just 10% of you donated a single Canadian dollar, that’d be 2,500$ and that would take such a huge burden off my shoulders. I’m praying so fucking hard it doesn’t come to surgery. I’m hoping I can make a post in 5 days time and say how Luna is fine and well and hasn’t started puking again and is a happy kitty running around joyfully. But if I can’t then I will bury my pride and I will gladly beg for money. I’ll write anything you guys want, I don’t care if it’s the most horrible ungodly stuff full of unspeakable shit. I will write it. I’ll do pixel art commissions, I’ll put in 12 hours a day working on commissions if that’s what it takes. I want my cat to live, I want to be able to pay off my debts to my sister if I do have to pay for surgery. I’m being selfish and I know that. I know I haven’t been a good mod and I haven’t been posting. But some things are more important than how the world sees you. You guys stood by me when I had to leave for my mental health, I hope you’ll understand why I’m making this post. Drarrytexts is a community I am so proud of. And I hope you guys understand why I’m doing this.
To anyone who read the entire thing, thank you for listening. And anyone who gives advice or wants to message me my personal is hallowed-pumpkins. I appreciate anything you guys have to say. Thank you for being a great community. I don’t know how I came to be apart of such a beautiful blog, but every day I’m grateful.
TL:DR I was away from the blog working on an interactive novel/fanfic and had planned to come back when it was finished to surprise you guys with it. Discovered yesterday my cat has a serious condition that could potentially result in needing to get a 2,500$-4,500$ surgery for her otherwise she’ll have to be put down. I’m well below the poverty line and am scared shitless. Any advice anyone has would be extremely appreciated. Will be opening commissions for writing and pixel art if it comes to surgery. Also will be starting a Go Fund Me if necessary, but still hoping beyond hope it doesn’t come to that.
I’ll reblogging this for the next couple days, if you guys don’t wanna see it, blacklist ‘lunasurgery’.
