Baxter's Surgery Fund

I'm Janet, and I'm doing something I could never envisage only two weeks ago - hoping for your generosity - every £5 or £10 will genuinely help the burden we are under. So far, Baxter's vets' bill is £3539.90, with more costs to come in soon.

 

Tim, my husband, myself, and seven cats live by an exceptionally quiet rural no through road in the far north of Scotland near John o Groats. On 19 April, our 1 year old Maine Coon boy, Baxter was knocked off his feet by a car. In many respects, he was lucky - apart from bruising, he had a broken femur (back leg). Unfortunately, it was broken in a couple of places, with shards of bone displaced, and we had a 6 hour journey down to Fife to East Neuk Vets for orthopaedic surgery to save his leg. He now has almost £500 worth of stainless steel rod, plate and screws in his leg, apart from the cost of X rays, anaesthetic, surgery, hospitalisation etc. after. We returned to Fife a few days later to collect him, and he now needs two months' cage rest, with intermittent walks on his harness before he has further X rays to check on his progress. East Neuk Vets have been superb, and they believe he should make a good recovery.

 

We have had cats all our lives (jointly for more than a century!), and have always coped with unforeseen vets' bills - dental, spaying, bits and pieces over the years. We used to have pet insurance but have grown fed up paying for years, only to discover that we received almost nothing back for a claim when a pet gets 8 or 10 years old. We pay our vets as we go, but this has hit us hard - even the journey and B&B accommodation have significantly added to the cost, but we do it because we love them.

 

Sadly most of our other cats will lose their freedom as we intend to "catify" the garden as soon as possible to avoid such an event ever happening again. Again, this is a considerable cost we haven't budgeted for or considered in such a rural environment, so it will be genuinely appreciated if you feel you can help us. Baxter might save his appreciation until he can get out and about on his own without human assistance!

Update - 8 May 2022:  Baxter had his staples removed six days ago, and allowed to be "cone free" four days ago.  He is healing extremely well and only has a slim but very long scar on his leg.  His fur is already growing back and he has been able to wash properly for the first time in two weeks.  Although he had "bed baths",  he was unimpressed at human attempts and has since sorted things out himself!  He is now much brighter and starting to trash his kitten pen.  He will get so bored and it's going to be a very long six weeks waiting for his leg to heal.  He is facing a window for entertainment and we also have a shopping trolley on loan which we've temporarily converted to a carriage to take him outside with us to watch the world.  We can also have him safe around the house with us without holding a very short lead and  trying to predict what he will try to do next!

Financially, the vets bills are now £3795.04 and will rise with his X rays in another six weeks to check that all is well.  Hopefully we should manage to stay within £4000, but the overall cost of this situation looks like it will be in the region of £6500.  People are being very kind with wishes and all donations, no matter the value, are truly appreciated.

Update - 2 June 2022:  Only 2 more weeks till Baxter gets his review X rays and given his progress we anticipate that East Neuk Vets will say he's able to get back to running and jumping.  He does get rather fed up in his kitten pen, but his half sister, Evie, keeps him company on top or beside him!  He gets a few walks on his harness and lead outside - the first one of the day is usually at 6 am!  His shopping trolley has proved invaluable because we can have him with us in the garden or in the living room so he doesn't miss out on anything - he's always wanted to be centre of the action so nothing's changed there!

Update - 16 June 2022: Yesterday (15 June) was a major milestone with Baxter as he was at the vets for his 8 week x-rays  which had to be sent Fife.  I had to record some video footage of him walking so the specialist vets could check on his progress.  Try and have a look on Tim's Facebook page for one of the videos as I had difficulty uploading to GoFundMe. 

Things are progressing really well – he’s not fully healed but given the complexity, the vets are very pleased with his progress.  Baxter appears totally unconcerned and would like to resume real life very soon!  He’s now allowed to be free round the house – phew – Evie, his sister, is so happy!  We’re not allowed to have him free outside yet, but that will never be on the cards again anyway.  Medically, it’s still harness walks till he’s seen in another 4 weeks.  After seeing his implants which are really extensive, our vet confirmed that we definitely did the right thing in taking him to East Neuk Vets as the surgery would have been too complex for our local practice.  Again “phew”! 

We’re starting to “catify” almost the whole garden with tall wire and net fencing with overhang.  This means that all 7 cats will have nearly ½ acre to themselves.  As our garden full of plants and has vast shrubs and hideaways, they’ll be able to spend plenty of time alone, never seeing each other if they don’t want to.  The fencing is going to be a vast expense and a huge labour undertaking which will take a few months to do, but at least we’ll know they will be safe from the road.

Once more, a very big THANK YOU to everyone who has given us support - it has really helped our finances and very importantly our morale!