Help me pay for my best (fur)friend's dental surgery!

Update: Kitty's surgery is scheduled for December 30th! I've paid a $500 deposit, and it's unclear what the surgery proper will cost. I'm currently seeking approval for a Care Credit card, but donations would help me repay the credit card debt.

Hi, my name is Sarah. The beautiful lady in the cover photo is my best friend, Kitty. I adopted Kitty when I was 15, and she's been a wonderful companion in the 10 years since then. At 15, I felt that I knew just about everything I needed to know about taking care of a cat. And I did know a lot, but Kitty has surprised me over the years. Something I never anticipated was that she'd get sick or ever need veterinary care beyond routine check-ups and vaccines. But several years ago, she was diagnosed with a heart murmur during a pre-operative appointment for dental cleaning.

Kitty's heart murmur isn't severe, and I'm eternally grateful for that. However, I want her to live the longest, fullest life possible, which means keeping on top of her health with regular echocardiograms. Echocardiograms are basically ultrasounds of her little heart, and alongside EEGs, can observe the flow of blood and electricity through her heart. The vet uses these to monitor the progression of the murmur, so that someday, when she does need medication, she gets it quickly. For now, the main complication with her heart murmur is that the presence of one makes anesthesia dangerous—for both animals and people. And Kitty needs to be under anesthesia for a much more serious medical complication—her teeth.

Something I also wasn't aware of as a teenager was how important it is to brush your animal's teeth. I'd never seen an adult brush an animal's teeth before and didn't think much of it until a vet noticed the plaque build-up on Kitty's teeth and recommended a dental cleaning. At the time, they thought she might need a few extractions but weren't too worried, and during the operation, didn't remove any teeth at all. I thought she was doing great!

Turns out, she had some serious dental issues that either hadn't been explained to me by the vet or hadn't even been noticed. After a long wait to get a repeat echo and a second dental cleaning (unfortunately, due to the working conditions veterinarians experience, there aren't many around, and the wait time for specialists is very long), I was informed that she needed most of her teeth removed. Imagine my shock! I saw a dental specialist for a second opinion, who finally explained the condition of her teeth to me thoroughly. Her upper canines have been grinding into her lower jaw, which over time has caused erosion of the gums and lower teeth. Some of her teeth have experienced or are experiencing dental resorption, which means those teeth are being slowly broken down. One or two seem to have broken at some point. Cats are very good at hiding pain; while I didn't notice Kitty expressing pain, it's very likely these teeth are hurting her and will only hurt her more as time goes on.

I want Kitty to be pain-free and happy, so I am planning to get this dental surgery for her. However, dental surgery is expensive, especially when it involves extractions, and so many of them. Due to her heart murmur and the severity of her teeth, she also needs to see a specialist, rather than her primary vet, who admitted to feeling unqualified to perform the procedure. The initial estimate given to me was $3.5-5.5k.

Before I could book her surgery, I had to have a repeat echocardiogram performed, in order to ensure her heart can tolerate the anesthesia. This was performed today, and she received clearance for the dental surgery! The echocardiogram, however, cost a whopping $1k already—more than I expected. And I am anticipating her surgery will cost the high end of the range.

I am seeking out any assistance in paying these medical bills for my best friend. I will get her the surgery anyway, but I'm not currently equipped to take on so much debt. Any amount towards these bills is an amazing help.