Help Me Take Care of My Cat
I think everyone I've met over the course of my Tumblr tenure has seen my cats or at least saw me talking about them. For those of you who've followed me since I was RPing on Ienzo/Zexion back in the good ol' days, you have definitely heard about Vincent.
Vincent is my oldest cat. We adopted him in 2012 when I was flunking out of grad school, had no direction in my life, and was at one of my lowest lows. He was about a year to a year and a half old then, and two or three adoptions had fallen through for him by the time we showed up. Before that, he was found by a river, abandoned by his original owners. So, when he instantly clung to my husband and me, we knew we had to bring him home.
This cat is one of the biggest reasons I'm alive today. I am not exaggerating.
When I took this picture on May 21, it was two days after he had a seizure. It scared the ever-loving shit out of my husband and me, and we all but rushed him to the Emergency Vet. They put him on the same anti-epileptic I'm on, an antibiotic for suspected toxoplasmosis, and sent him home. We then scheduled a follow-up with his regular vet for this month, and we were hopeful he would improve.
Three days ago, he was breathing heavily, and we think he had at least one more seizure. Neither of us saw it, but we noticed he wasn't responding to us, and he was breathing heavily. We rushed him back to the Emergency Vet, and they upped his anti-epileptic while asking us to monitor him.
On Sunday, he started declining more. I could barely get him to eat for two of his scheduled feeding times, and he refused food for feeding #3. His breathing stayed heavy, he was cold to the touch, he was barely moving, and he had a very scary vomiting incident. My husband and I both thought we were losing him. We got him back to the Emergency Vet that night, and the prognosis wasn't looking great.
These are the X-Rays taken that night. He had pleural effusion: fluid around his lungs. The vets put him in an oxygen chamber to help him breathe, and it was barely helping at that point. It only started to help after a couple of hours, and they decided to keep him there until Tuesday morning (today) while they did blood tests and further monitoring.
We did not get to sleep until after 1AM that night. The emotional rollercoaster we've been on has been intense. 0/10 do not recommend.
The picture above is from Sunday night, right before we left. After we took this photo, he perked up and immediately started asking for pets.
The Emergency Vet staff did a great job with him, and they were able to confirm congestive heart failure. Once he was breathing better, they were able to remove 60 cc of clear fluid from him, and he improved more. He started eating again, asking for attention, and earning the adoration and amusement of every person who encountered him. He's home now with a new medication schedule, and he's still doing well. He drank a lot of water, followed me around the apartment a little, and is now sleeping in the office while I work.
All of this care comes at steep costs that, quite frankly, my husband and I can't afford. We had to take out a loan to make sure he gets proper care, and he will need more as time goes on. My husband and I currently live paycheck to paycheck with very little wiggle room, which is why we've created a GoFundMe for Vincent to make sure he gets care, and we can pay off his emergency vet bills.
Now, because this GoFundMe is associated with my personal information, including my full legal name, I am extremely hesitant to share it on this post. What I am going to do instead is ask for this:
If you can help, whether that be by donating or sharing the GoFundMe with others who can help, please message me privately via here or Discord (fatedefied). I will be checking here every day, and I have Discord open 24/7.
Reblog and/or otherwise share this post. If you follow me on other Instagram, Threads, and/or X, I have also posted the GoFundMe there. My username is the same across the board.
Keep this baby boy in your thoughts and prayers.
I really wish I could come onto Tumblr with better news. I even considered posting about how I got my Master's degree last month, but I held off because I wanted to be done here. However, that want is outweighed by Vincent's needs, and his health is important to both my husband and me.
