Ace's Lifesaving Medical Bills

Hi!

My name is Nikki, and I wanted to try fundraising a bit of money for my cat, Ace. He was my first cat ever and is now 18 years old. Out of nowhere, he recently caught a URI. We aren't exactly sure how -- there is a sick stray that has been hanging around our porch, and it's likely that we brought the infection inside on our clothes or something. He was generally healthy before he caught the infection, but things went downhill quickly once he started sneezing.

We first took him to the animal hospital on a Sunday -- he was suddenly sneezing, stuffy, and having trouble breathing. He definitely wasn't acting like himself -- he refused to jump up onto the bed as it seemed he didn't have the energy to -- he just curled up on the floor. They gave us an antibiotic and sent us home.

Between Monday and Tuesday, things started to look up a bit, kind of? It seemed like the mucus was moving, as it was now pouring out of his nose like a faucet. On Tuesday, he seemed to be breathing better. He was still eating a bit.

By Wednesday, however, things started going in the opposite direction. It seemed like the mucus was now dripping down the back of his throat constantly rather than out of his nose. He was swallowing all day, trying to get the mucus to go away, but it just kept dripping. He couldn't drink very well, he refused to eat, and he was having trouble breathing again.

On Thursday morning, I decided to take him to urgent care. They gave me a different antibiotic and did a PCR test to confirm what he actually had. We still do not have the results back yet. They also did bloodwork, and it was mostly good aside from his white blood cell count being elevated, denoting infection. When we got home, I quarantined him and gave him the new antibiotics, hoping it would help. They also prescribed an appetite stimulant to encourage him to eat.

He did not eat.

On Friday, it had been three days of him not eating, and I panicked. I brought him back to urgent care. They gave him fluids, gave me a second appetite stimulant to give him, and sent us home. They'd said that if he wasn't eating by Saturday, we'd have to bring him in for hospitalization so they could feed him through an NG tube. Once we got home, I gave him all of his medicines, and between all of the days combined, I'd tried every single thing under the sun to get him to eat.

Once again, he did not eat. In fact, he didn't seem better at all.

On Saturday, I brought him in the morning to the vet so they could hospitalize him. They kept him there the entire day. They told me they couldn't do an NG tube because it would bring the infection to his stomach, and they weren't comfortable with doing the other type of feeding tube, which would stick out of his neck. Instead, they kept him on fluids the entire day and gave him his meds. When we went to pick him up, the doctor sat and talked to us for a while. He wasn't sure why Ace wasn't responding to the medication, and he was worried. He said we could either take him to the actual animal hospital tomorrow so he could be given a neck feeding tube and treated there, or we could try adding on an antiviral and antifungal medication to his routine. I asked if I could syringe his food, and the doctor said that would work. So, since there was absolutely no way I could afford hospitalization and neck tubes and all that, we decided to try the extra medication to see if something would work. At this point, Ace was on death's door, and we weren't sure he'd even make it to Tuesday.

We took him home and got his new meds into his system, and I tried syringing him some food. A friend then told me about a high-calorie paste I could try, which I swiftly bought and attempted to give to him. He didn't have much energy on Saturday night, but by Sunday, it was as if a switch had been flipped and there was now significant improvement! He seemed to be breathing better, and he was interested in the high-calorie paste, so I let him eat as much of that as he wanted. By Monday, the change was even more dramatic and noticeable. He was now eating on his own!!! He sounded way less congested and was breathing normally. He had much more energy.

Cut to today, and he hardly seems like he's sick anymore! He's purring again, he's sleeping like a baby (he'd had issues sleeping until now), he's eating and drinking, and he'll jump up to greet you whenever you come in the room. We are SO lucky that one of these medications worked, and we are so grateful for it. It is honestly such a relief to see him back to his usual self. I can only hope he continues to improve and doesn't take another turn.

I know this is a long shot and that plenty of people need help with things, but I figured I would give it a try. These funds would go directly to all of his vet bills that I charged to my credit cards. There is no obligation to help me, of course, but I would sincerely appreciate anything and everything anyone could give me! Thank you so much for reading my story! <3