Help Jacob the Cat Fight Kidney Disease!

Back in September, our beloved cat Jacob was diagnosed with kidney disease. His sister Satsuki had been diagnosed for the same thing over a year earlier so we thought he would bounce back just like she did. And he did. For a little while. His weight went up, he responded well to meds, and he was acting like a normal goofball again.

A little over two months later (last week) he unfortunately started getting worse again. We brought him in, got him on new meds, and for a few days he was good. Then Tuesday night he stopped eating. He didn't eat anything on Wednesday. Late Wednesday night, his face started swelling. Thursday we brought him back to the vet and got him on more meds and wet food. He'd lost half a pound in less than a week. Thankfully the swelling had gone down but facial swelling is never a good sign. We decided that since it was going down, we wouldn't jump straight to worst case - our vet said we'd do X-rays on Monday if his face was still swollen then (and hope it's not cancer).

That night, the steroids and pain medication really seemed to help and he ate dinner like a champ. The next morning he seemed to bounce back. Eating all his food, taking treats, being a menace to the dogs, yowling for pets. The swelling had decreased more. I was so relieved. At 3 in the afternoon I gave our vet an update that he was doing great and we'd update again on Monday.

About an hour after that, things went downhill fast. I had just packed up my car, ready to go on a weekend writing retreat, and was in the entryway saying goodbye to Jake when Jacob walked slowly into the hall and fell over. He couldn't walk straight, his back legs couldn't hold him up, and he was extremely lethargic. I immediately called our vet who told us to go to the EV.

Jake and I dropped everything and drove him in. They took a lot of blood, hooked him up to fluids, and put him in an oxygen kennel. His potassium was dangerously low along with his kidney values, so they decided to hospitalize him overnight. Thankfully, and much to my relief, they told me I could stay here with him - they actually had a pullout couch and everything!

He's doing a little better with just them pushing fluids and potassium. He's been yowling at the nurses, making an absolute mess of eating all the wet food and treats they're giving him, and he's been very angry at me for not letting him out of the kennel. Normal Jacob things! I wrote most of this from that pullout couch in a back room with Jacob sleeping snuggled in my lap.

As you can imagine, the last few months he has been one very expensive cat. And with two people with very sporadic paychecks, this has meant we've maxed out both our credit card and our care credit and tonight we had to take out half of what was left in savings to cover this EV bill. We are in dire straights. Tonight we've already spent $3500, on top of the last few months of appointments. Since the beginning of September, we have spent close to $5k just on vet bills alone and with more upcoming appointments already made for him, it's going to just keep getting higher. We need help.

Jacob is a special cat. If you've had the pleasure of meeting him, you know this. He's a lover without a mean bone in his little body. Never bites, never scratches, just wants to be loved. He's always gentle and polite and everyone easily falls in love with him - he's beloved at our vet for being the easiest cat any of them have ever worked with. He's a charmer. Most of all, he's my familiar - my partner in spellcraft. Every witch needs a good cat to watch her back and that's what he's been for me since the day he waltzed into my house 13 years ago. I don't know how I can face the world without him by my side. And I hope I won't have to learn any time soon.

We've made this GoFundMe to help cover what we've already spent on Jacob's vet bills. If we raise more money than that, it will continue to go to vet bills because we all know this unfortunately won't be the end of it for an older cat. But it'll help a lot for right now.

Any amount, even $1 is meaningful. And if you can't help financially, sharing and just sending your love and good thoughts is very much appreciated and welcomed. Our community has helped us before and I'm so grateful to still have so many of you in our corner.

Thank you so much, friends.

Nikki, Jake, and the whole Jikki family.