Help Lily with Theo's Emergency Vet Bills

Hello, my name is Lily I'm currently a graduate student working on my MSW full time while working at my local library part time. The cute orange cat in the cover photo is my cat Theo. Theo is around 7 years old and is a sweet, friendly, and goofy little guy. I adopted Theo in 2021 and he has been my best little buddy ever since. He originally was a street cat that the local shelter got in a trap, neuter, release situation, but he was so friendly they put him up for adoption. I was lucky enough to bring this guy home. He loves to follow me around, yell at birds he sees outside, and play with his multiple banana toys that are filled with catnip.

A few weeks ago Theo had to go to his normal vet as he was having difficulty when urinating. He spent the night there so they could get a sample and came home the next morning. He was found to have crystals forming but no blockage of the urinary tract so they had me start to change his diet over to a prescription food for urinary tract care that helps break down the minerals that cause the crystals in his bladder.

Fast forward a few weeks and he seemed a little off energy levels wise so I was keeping a close eye on him. I noticed he started to strain in his litter box and wasn't producing anything. As I was getting ready to call the emergency vet hospital in town, it was a Sunday afternoon so his regular vet was closed, he tried again and this time came running up to me crying after and visibly upset. After giving the emergency vet my information I put him in a carrier and brought him in.

The vet found that he was in the early stages of blocking his urinary tract, to the point what should have been an hour long procedure of inserting a catheter took over 2 hours because they had to break through multiple plugs that had started to form. I had thankfully caught it before he would need major surgery and before his kidney levels had been impacted. However, he still required an over night stay, sedation for catheter insertion, IV drip for hydration and medication to help with pain and other issues.

Theo was able to come home the next day and is slowly recovering. I am medicating him for a few weeks and keeping a close eye on him as it's not uncommon for cats (especially male cats) to have this issue flare up again a few weeks after the initial incident. I'm unsure if the emergency vet situation was the flare up or if there might be another in his future, but I'm hoping he will continue to be okay. Between the initial vet visit, emergency vet visit, and follow ups it added up to a lot! Below I am giving a general summary of the current costs for each and I am asking for a bit more for follow ups I know he will need as at minimum he will need multiple urinalysis performed to see if the crystal count is going down and staying there.

Initial vet visit ~ $500

Emergency vet visit ~ 2,000

Asking for a bit more to help with his follow up as well as for fees that gofundme takes out. Anything beyond the goal will also go towards Theo's care likely in the form of helping pay for his prescription food as it's very expensive.

If you'd rather use venmo or paypal that's also an option, just contact me for those!

Thank you for donating and/or sharing. Theo and I appreciate it!