All right guys, I know this is a long shot because I don’t have many followers, but please, hear me out.
This is my cat Freddy. She is an 11 year old calico that has one of the sweetest, most adorable dispositions of any cat I have ever met.
We got her 10 years ago, and she has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. I was the one who picked her out when we went to the humane society, I named her, and I am the reason we got her in the first place (I had a dream we got a kitten named Freddy and viola!).
However, shortly after getting her we discovered something the humane society workers hadn’t told us: she wasn’t litter box trained. Because she was over a year old, it was nearly impossible for us to train her to use the litter box like our other animals. Much like dogs, cats are very hard to train after passing a certain age, usually around the year mark. We tried every method, but to no avail.
After she had ruined the carpet in one room, forcing us to replace it to avoid mold issues, we brought her to the vet in the hope that they could help us. However the vet only gave us three options. Endure the stink and mold problems caused by her lack of training, euthanize her, or train her to be an outside cat. Appalled by the idea of putting her down because of something like not going to the bathroom in the right place, we chose to put her outside.
Now, before you guys scroll past and shout abuse, please hear me out. We have boxes with blankets outside for her to use, we feed her twice a day, leave water bowls outside and we bring her inside when it gets below 32 degrees or over 75 degrees. This has worked for ten years, and we were always careful. In fact, we were proud of the fact that she was in pretty good shape for those ten years, for an outside cat.
But I live in Minnesota, and these past few weeks have been some of the harshest I have ever seen. Granted I’m only 18 years old, but still. There were nights when it was -25 degrees outside with wind speeds of 30 mph. We waited for her to show up, to bring her inside, but for some reason she didn’t.
Two days later, she showed up, and the top halves of her ears were stiff.
We’ve had her inside for two weeks now, since the temperatures have been fluctuating so much, and we didn’t want to risk her getting worse. But yesterday, January 25th, the frostbit parts of her ears fell off. That’s what you can see in the photos above. There were literally parts of her head on the floor, separated from her body, that I had to pick up and throw away. Imagine doing that to an animal you love.
Now that you have read this far, and I beg that you have, please listen to me. I know I don’t have many followers and many people don’t have money to spare. But we have to take her to the vet, and soon. She has a skin problem that needs to be treated, she is dehydrated from winter and she has frostbitten ears that have already fallen off. The only available vet that we can afford is still really expensive, going in for a normal check up already around $100. We just finished treating a horrible skin infection with our dog, who is a Shih Tzu/Bishaun mix and has eye problems that led to a skin infection on her face.
I don’t have many skills, but writing is a hobby of mine, so if anyone would like a commission for a fan fic then I would be willing to talk about it. That’s how desperate I am.
Even if this donation made $10 that would help. I know the chances are slim, but please, every cent counts. This cat has been in my life for as long as I can remember, and I don’t want to lose her just because we can’t afford our stupid vet’s ridiculous medical bills. I don’t want her to be miserable because we couldn’t afford to help her. If you have a pet, than you understand how much they can mean to you.
