Help us cover medical costs for our kitten, Veda!

Hi, my name is Ceci De Leòn! My partner, Victor Mendoza-Garcia and I recently adopted a kitten named Veda less than a month ago. We were in the middle of pet insurance planning when she got into an accident that dislocated her elbow. We need help from our friends and family with her appointments, medications, and surgery costs. Please see below for more information about Veda, her accident, and the rationale for the fund amount!

Background on Veda:

We saw Veda for the first time on a FB post created by her previous owner, who found Veda as a small kitten in the streets of United Arab Emirates. Because the owner was unable to keep Veda, they first asked locals in the UAE if they wanted Veda; however, it seemed that no one wanted to adopt Veda because she was seen as an undesirable stray cat and not a fancy cat breed. And so, the previous owner turned to FB to see if anyone in Chicago wanted Veda, as they were going to stop by at O’Hare airport first before heading back home to another state. Victor and I came across Veda’s post and decided she’ll be a great companion for us and our other cat, Mixi (me-shee)! We coordinated logistics with the previous owner and received Veda at no cost to us.

Since then, she has been our favorite black cat! She's smart, inquisitive, athletic, and energetic. She's a very great companion to us and especially Mixi, who never really had a buddy of his species before. They are both kittens (roughly the same age, 7-8 months old) and ever since they were introduced they have been inseparable. Mixi never stopped following her and cried during the first few days when they had to be separated. Now they're always sleeping, cuddling, playing, and grooming with each other. Before Veda, Mixi liked biting us to get our attention and we would feel bad to leave Mixi all by himself whenever Victor and I weren't able to work from home. Hence why we got another cat.

What happened to Veda:

Because she requires a lot of stimulation, we were leash-training her on our backyard porch and sidewalk. She was eager to walk around the area. But unfortunately, she got spooked by one of our neighbors who came out behind us to take out the trash and freaked out in a way we’d never seen before: she was jumping off the walls and doing flips. She then got loose from the leash and ran away. After two hours, we found her nearby; however, we immediately noticed a limp, she wasn't putting any weight on her front left paw, and decided to take her to the emergency vet that same night at 9 PM.

After taking Veda and consulting with the vets at several different times throughout the night, the veterinarians informed us that she had a dislocated elbow and would potentially need surgery. Once we clocked out with Veda the following morning, we received an unexpected bill of $941. We were then told to return for a $198 surgery consultation. Lastly, the surgery will be the most expensive. Victor and I were given two surgery options with different price ranges, so we went with the cheapest of the two: $2500 to $3500.

In total, we expect to pay $3639 out of pocket at minimum. We only want to recover what we are paying to the ER veterinarian hospital. If we can get enough to cover the first two bills, it would be a huge financial relief.