Kitty Versace Surgery Fund

I'm Kathy Jentz, a garden writer/speaker, and I maintain the Cats in Gardens blog. I have two kitties that I adore and the vet bill to save the life of my little guy, Versace, is a big financial strain, but I'd do it all over again. We have a special bond and he is my sweetie boo.

Long Story:

My Versace was feeling very poorly.  He is only six years old and is always a very good eater, scrappy, and playful. I woke up to the sounds of him crying out in pain in the bathroom  and called our house-call vet who came out and looked him over and thought it was likely a bowel obstruction. A day later, he was still in serious distress and not eating, so I called the vet again and she said take him to the animal hospital.  I rushed him there on Saturday afternoon and they took x-rays and ran tests. Nothing showed up as an obstruction, but some fluid was sitting in his stomache region and they were very worried. He was scheduled for surgery that night and the triage vets gave hime 50-50 odds as his blood pressure was low, he has a heart murmur, and he was so listless/weak. They had me sign DNR papers and say good-bye to him -- just in case.

The vet surgeon called me at midnight to say they were going in and that he suspected the worst and gave him 10% survival odds. I was distraught.

About 2am, the surgeon called back with the fairly good news that he survived the operation. He needed blood transfusions and extra meds to maintain his blood pressure. They found his small intestine had burst, but couldn't locate a cause. There was an infection (the fluid they saw) and he feared sepsis and liver failure(followed by the other organs.) He warned me not to be too hopeful.

I visited Versace every day during his stay and recovery. The first day he was hooked up to several machines and he was so out of it that I was sure that was my last time seeing him.

The next day, he was on one less machine and he looked up at me as I came in the critical care unit and tried to get up!

The following day, he was ready for snuggles and head-butts and on one less machine!  The critical care vet said she was amazed that his blood pressure was stabilizing and he would be able to go home soon.

When they checked him out that next day, I was given a long list of medications and instructions. He has a feeding tube in and I was given liquid food. The cone-of-shame he was supposed to wear lasted only an hour before he started fighting it so badly that I thought he would injure himself. That went in the trash.

The next day he was eating so much the liquid food was dropped and his strength had returned enough for him to attempt several jail-breaks from his confinement in my upstairs bathroom. I expanded his domain to two more rooms in the following days and that is still not enough for his satisfaction!

I want to say a BIG Thanks all who asked after him and all your thoughts and prayers.  He is having a miraculous recovery and the vets and surgeon are astonished. It has been less than 2 weeks since he went to to the Animal Hospital... Now he is running around like nothing ever happened, refuses his pain meds, and is eating up a storm.

He still has the neck tube in (for medication), which comes out Monday, and a shaved belly with ugly surgery scar that is starting to grow back in --  it makes him look like a bit scruffy and ungroomed in that hipster-ish kind of way.

We still have a little while to go before full recovery. The pathology report and biopsy are so far inconclusive and no one can tell me exactly what caused this, which is the most distressing aspect of all of this ordeal, since I don't ever want to have him or any other kitties (and their owners) go through this again!

Now, I face the hefty vet bills of a bit over $12,000 when all totaled up --  most of which I put on my credit cards. I am reaching out to those friends who said they would like to help out with a small donation towards Versace's surgery fund. I don't expect this GoFundMe campaign to approach paying off the full amount, but anything that will chip away at it would be a big help at this point. Thank you to all who can give even a little bit and hug your fur-babies for me!