Luka's Kidney Failure Help Fund

This is Luka, my best buddy, and vet-proclaimed "medical mystery."

I desperately need help paying for his medical needs, and I hope that even if things don't turn out okay, his case can be studied in detail to help other kitty's in his similar position.

Luka and I have been together for almost 3 years. My furstborn fluffy son was showing signs of loneliness after I started working longer and longer hours to provide for the family, and we finally made the decision for my 20th birthday that he needed a friend for when I'm not around.

This was him, and this was the look he gave that made me fall in love.

When we brought him home we had been told he was a 9-year-old short-hair. He was obviously underweight, but we had been told he was perfectly healthy. While I was skeptical, he had already stolen my heart with his loud meowing and constant headbutting of the plexiglass.

We tried to get his background from the humane society. All they could tell us was he had a hard life before me, grew up in a hoarder house, which was pretty obvious by his food insecurities. He would eat and eat till he made himself sick for the first few months. We had to teach him that food wasn't limited and that he was safe now...

Little did I know that I would end up with an 18-pound 'definitely-not-9-year-old' all these years later.

Luka grew like a weed. His hair grew to a long majestic mane, he almost doubled in height, and he was thriving. He became a lap cat who greets you at every door, clings to you like superglue, and won't let you use the bathroom without support.

Then, about 5 months ago now, Luka began to act... different. He had a few accidents outside his litter box, seemed less interested in treats. At first, we didn't think it was incredibly serious, but we scheduled him for a vet visit.

Due to my health issues and availability from the vet, we couldn't get him in till August 28th, and on that day my heart was broken. Luka had been diagnosed with kidney failure.

I was so lost at what to do. My vet at the time told me it was due to a urinary parasite. They said he could have gotten it from eating a worm or something that had eaten a worm, like the lizards that manage to make their way into the house. I was in shock... How did I not know? How could my baby boy be suffering and I didn't know? It didn't make sense.

They set us up with fluids, a dewormer, and let us go home to retest him in a few months. Then, Hurricane Helene hit, and while our family was lucky to have not lost our house entirely, we had damage to our roof, windows, my bedroom was flooded with water from the roof, ruining my bed and clothing. We were out of power for a week, but I was most worried about my boy being hot and dehydrated.

We had to wait until life had returned back to "normal", and it wasn't coming fast enough. His next appointment was on 11/27, and in the month following the hurricane, his appetite changed. He wasn't eating his favorites or his prescription anymore. I knew something was wrong, but I kept telling myself it's only a few days more till his appointment. The vet wasn't contacting me back. I kept asking questions and they brushed me off. They did so well with him the first appointment, I trusted them...

On 11/17, I got home at 5:00 pm and I walked in. He was sitting in the kitchen, no meowing, no excited tail wiggle, just laying and looking at me with this exhausted expression. I offered him his favorite churu, he gagged. I could not bear to watch him suffer, so I took him to the emergency vet.

I sat and cried for what felt like forever as I waited for his test results, and when the vet came back into the room and got down on her knees, I knew I was going to hear things I didn't want to hear.

His levels had spiked, he was worse than he was before. His BUN levels spiked from 89, which was already high, to 130; creatinine from 5.5 to 8.3; and his phosphate levels tested at 10.2. Why was this happening to him? I thought it was going to get better with the dewormer! I promised him we would get him better...

Now, here I am. I have a vet tech telling me it was time to start thinking about end-of-life care. I broke down on that poor nurse. If she's reading this, I'm sorry.

I know my cat, and he's part of my soul, and if he's anything like me, he is a fighter.

We brought him to a new vet, one a very close friend of mine had raved about. I looked up the doctor and it was just what I needed, someone who specializes in kidney care.

So I called, and they got me in for the next day. We went in and the doctor was so thorough and patient. Then after the exam, we talked, and just like me, the doctor doesn't believe that this is a cut-and-dry case.

Most cats in his fluffy shoes are suffering, struggling. Luka is jumping, running, playing; he's acting like a normal cat. No signs of pain, nausea is being managed on medication, so what is it? That's what we need to find out. They did a basic ultrasound of his kidneys, and they see something interesting. The lining of his kidneys seems abnormal from an average cat.

It was explained to me to think of it as a watermelon. There's the green rind, and the white inner rind, then the fleshy red. Well, it appears both his 'watermelon rinds' are not separated like a normal kidney, so possibly he was born with this, and it is MANAGEABLE!

I'm running out of funds. I'm already $2000 in credit card debt for him alone, and I'd do it all over again, but I can't get any more wiggle room. I've tried.

His next appointment is a full-blown ultrasound of the kidney, and the estimate is already sitting at $682.50, and I can't pay it on my own, that's why I'm here.

I need help as much as it pains me to ask, but I will take the embarrassment any day over losing such a smart and wonderful cat. He knows tricks for christ sake! He's freakishly smart and may as well be a dog. He is everything you would ever want from an animal and more!

I will take any help I can get, even if that is advice or input from experienced owners or vets. I will be so eternally grateful. Please help my boy, he deserves to live a longer life than this after everything he's been through. I want to give him a fighting chance, and if he makes it through this, I would be honored to post continuous updates and videos of him on this journey.

He really is something special, you won't regret it. Thank you for listening, it means the world to me that there are people out there who care as much as I do. Please repost anywhere you can.