Big Sam the rescue cat's ongoing expenses

This giant orange fluffy stray cat started visiting my backyard around June 2021. I've fed him, made him shelters in the winter and failed to coax him indoors on multiple occasions. He preferred to lay in piles of mud and dirty leaves and wouldn't come near me.

Here are some photos of him in the wild, refusing to be trapped.

In October 2022 he started squinting his left eye and I thought he should see a veterinarian in case he needed medicine, so I borrowed a cat trap from some friends. I tried -and failed - to trap him for nearly 6 months. He had previously been TNR'ed and seemed to know what the trap was and refused to go near it.

By March 2023 his eye was looking much worse, so I contacted a woman from a local cat rescue who loaned me a large drop trap. I finally caught him on March 30th. He was not happy about being trapped but he was a mess. He had burrs embedded under layers of mats and his eye looked so gnarly I don't think he could even see out of it.

On March 31, 2023 he finally went to the vet, was sedated, shaved, scanned for a microchip (he didn't have one), vaccinated and treated for fleas & ticks. Besides his eye and enourmous dirty fur coat, he was surprisingly healthy.

My vet said he is between 5 to 7 years old and he weighs 18 pounds. He's HUGE and freakishly strong and muscular. I set him up in a a cozy 3-person tent in a quiet part of my basement.

I don't know if he ever slept in a warm place on soft blankets before. He didn't know what to do with cat toys.

I had always assumed he was feral, I couldn't get within a few feet before he'd run away let alone pet him. But after a few days of recovery, this giant orange cat started giving me head-butts and kisses. I was shocked!

So I named him Sam and he's been living in the tent in my basement since March 31, 2023. I leave the tent open 24/7 so he can roam around the basement. I work with him every day trying to help him learn how to be a cat and trust humans again, but he's still very fearful and startles easily. His left eye has never fully healed.

I've given him oral antibiotics, Terramycin eye ointment and daily eye cleanings to try and clear up his eye. A second trip to the vet last week (without sedation) determined he has entropion and needs corrective surgery to permanently fix his lower left eyelid.

Entropion is a painful condition where a cat's eyelid rolls inward causing their fur to scratch the surface of the cornea. This causes discharge, squinting, conjunctivitis, cloudy cornea and ulceration.

I really want to fix poor Sam's eye. It's going to take time in order for Sam to trust humans again and he may never be a lap cat, but I think he'll be much happier if he can see properly and isn't in pain.

My veterinarian quoted me between $600 to $700 for the surgery. I've spent almost $2000 so far in extra expenses caring for this guy between supplies, food, litter and vet care. Earlier in April, some friends donated about $400 to me via Venmo (which was extremely helpful and appreciated!) but the ongoing expenses are getting expensive.

I'm hoping this GoFundMe will raise the funds to pay for his surgery, plus some extra funds for his ongoing expenses to help me continue his recovery and rehabilitation over this summer. I post updates about Sam obsessively on social media so I will post updates in here now and let y'all know how he's doing.

Thank you in advance for sharing and/or donating!