Author Topic: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...  (Read 6048 times)

Shenku

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A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« on: September 20, 2015, 03:52:59 AM »
Reposting this here, against my own personal objections of asking people I don't know for money cause it makes me feel like a worthless bum... But at this point, I'm a touch beyond desperate...

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.kroschel.9/posts/435724336632379

You can read my whole Facebook post linked above if you want, but to summarize, my cat, Rigby, is very sick, and I'm currently under difficult financial circumstances which prevent me from getting her the care she needs...

Since pretty much all of you live no where near me to give me money directly, I kindly ask that you please purchase a copy of my one of or both of my first two books instead to help support me in my last ditch attempt to save her.(plus, you get an entertaining story out of it...) I won't be able to use that money right away, but it will help with the debt I'll otherwise inflict upon myself as I try to save her by any means at my disposal...

If you don't want to help, that's okay. I'm honestly a little skeptical that my attempts to gain the finances to save Rigby will succed, and there's no garuntee that even with the money she will be... But I just don't want to give up hope yet... I can't help it, I love the little fur-ball...

The links to purchase the booms are in the above linked Facebook post, but for those of you who don't like Facebook, here they are again.

Physical copies, more expensive, and take a while to be printed before they actually ship:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KevinKroschel

Digital copies, cheaper, but require a Kindle or smart phone/tablet with a Kindle App:
Book 1 for Kindle[url=http://[url=http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Shadows-Black-Dawn-Wars-ebook/dp/B00YD83B7O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442714556&sr=8-2&keywords=Kevin+kroschel]Book 2 for Kindle]

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Shadows-Black-Dawn-Wars-ebook/dp/B00YD83B7O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442714556&sr=8-2&keywords=Kevin+kroschel]Book 2 for Kindle


And again, like I said in my Facebook post, but think it needs repeating for those who don't read it, this is not me exploiting my cat's illness to profit on my books. My books are just the only incentive I have to try and sell to people to raise the money at present, short of selling off some of my slightly more valuable worldly belongings(previous generation game consoles), which I might have to do so anyways...

Any help in this, no matter how small, is appreciated... Thank you for any and all support, even if it's only prayers, and thank you for taking the time to read this post if nothing else.

P.S.
I developed most of my current writing style while working on fan fictions for City of Heroes back when the servers were still up and my SG's fan fiction forums were still frequented, so portions of my books may come off as having a similar feel to that of City of Heroes, even despite the fantasy setting... Just thought I would throw that out there...

P.P.S.
Forgot to mention it here, but I have basically until Monday to come up with the money just for the tests to find out what's wrong, and am not even sure how much the actual treatment will cost... At best, this whole thing is a long shot, at worst, I just wasted my time trying... :(

Blackout

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2015, 01:51:31 PM »
Very sorry to hear, I can manage to throw in a little bit of support though and I hope others will do the same. I was looking to get back into reading anyway so I suppose its a bit of a win win.
Hope everything goes well with Rigby :)

Blackout

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2015, 02:19:13 PM »
Bit of an update and something of a warning of everyone ordering via Amazon; apparently within the past few hours Amazon released an update that apparently broke the delivery system. For some reason all addresses are now being treated as though they are incorrect regardless of whether or not they are genuinely valid.

Just thought I'd post this to let people know. And to let Shenku know that the reason some people may not order is because Amazon just broke itself :(
Still planning on ordering myself as soon as Amazon fixes itself :)

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2015, 02:36:41 PM »
Bit of an update and something of a warning of everyone ordering via Amazon; apparently within the past few hours Amazon released an update that apparently broke the delivery system. For some reason all addresses are now being treated as though they are incorrect regardless of whether or not they are genuinely valid.

Just thought I'd post this to let people know. And to let Shenku know that the reason some people may not order is because Amazon just broke itself :(
Still planning on ordering myself as soon as Amazon fixes itself :)

I just noticed myself about a half hour ago that their KDP site (The vender's area for the Kindle part of their site) was having trouble loading (And is now apparently down for "maintenance".), so I guess this is related to that, but didn't know the reason, so I guess their update might be effecting their whole site. Thanks for the heads up.

ukaserex

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2015, 04:17:02 PM »
Can you be more specific? What is wrong with your cat? Can you give me the name of your cat and the name and address of your vet?

In my case, I'd sooner just contact your vet directly and leave my CC info for a fixed amount. Others might prefer doing the same. ( I should, but I don't read books very often, unless they are historical, political or recipes)
Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2015, 05:08:49 PM »
Update: I have enough money from some friends to at least test the cat now, and have been given some alternative options from a co-worker's friend, no garuntee I'll be able to treat her, but I can at least get a diagnosis now to find out IF anything can be done.

Can you be more specific? What is wrong with your cat? Can you give me the name of your cat and the name and address of your vet?

In my case, I'd sooner just contact your vet directly and leave my CC info for a fixed amount. Others might prefer doing the same. ( I should, but I don't read books very often, unless they are historical, political or recipes)
The cat, Elenor Rigby, yes as in relation to The Beatles (I didn't pick her name, I just stuck with it), has not been eating for about a week, and drinking very little. She's still urinating, but I've yet to see her do her other business, so I'm inclined to think the vet was right with one of their assumed possibilities of what's wrong, that being she's blocked up and not passing food right, which will most likely need surgery to correct. Another possibility, since she only ever eats dry food(I've tried numerous times to give her wet food when I first got her, she never touched it) is a kidney infection or something related to her diet.

I'm still working out the details on which vet I'm going to take her to for actual treatment, as I don't really know which is the best option just yet. This is all so sudden in general, that I'm scrambling to look up information about local clinics and animal ER hospitals to figure out which is best, and more likely to be affordable.

Currently looking up information on treehouseanimals.org, they have a wellness clinic in Chicago, a bit of a drive, but a friend of a co-worker suggested it might be worth checking into. I'll let you know when I have more information than an "I don't know yet"...

ukaserex

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2015, 06:21:50 PM »
I'm feeling badly for you and Eleanor. I am no vet, but have owned cats, finicky ones at that. (As if there were any other kind. )

Since Eleanor is eating dry food, my first thought is dehydration. Without wet food, you'd think a cat would just drink more water. This is not always the case.
Sometimes, it's just a cat being a cat. They stress over the tiniest things - as we see them, but to them, it's stressful, whatever it may be. I've read that with a diet of dry food, that's only a small fraction of liquid that a cat requires. Something like 10%. So - get her a bowl of water - place it in an area where there's not a lot of foot traffic. Know where that level is. If she's not drinking any, that may be cause for some concern.

A cat of mine would sit in the litter box hours at a time. My vet said she was stressed. I've still got no idea why that occurred. Three days later, she was back to normal. This may be the case with your cat as well. We all show stress differently. Why should a cat be any different?


Now, I want to encourage you to be more clear when asking for help like this. People with surplus funds are in general, happy to help, but that assistance comes at a cynical premium. At least it does with me.

On the one hand, in skimming over your initial plea for help, I read that the vet said your cat needed surgery. This was my fault for not reading your post more carefully, but I find it odd (the aforementioned cynicism) that you want help for a vet bill and you haven't even deduced that your cat requires any treatment at all, for certain.

If you are legitimately concerned for your cat - call your vet and make an appointment, and then ask how much an appointment is. My guess is $75 to 85 bucks. Ask if there are payment plans if your cat requires something serious like surgery. A constipated cat normally would not require surgery, but that would depend on the cause of the symptom.

I am fairly confident that the CoH community can help out a little here and there provided all the information is up to date and relevant, and most importanly, verifiable.

I.E. - I'd want to be able to call the vet and ask for confirmation of the cat's diagnosis and what CC they accept before I give said CC# information.

Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2015, 02:08:06 AM »
Sorry if there was any confusion.

My initial post was made after consulting with a vet first, and finding I had insufficient funds to afford the tests needed to narrow down exactly what the cat has.

I just got back from the vet again today, and ruled out a few things at the very minimum, but the root cause is not really known, and the vet said it's really difficult to know, and probably a waste of financial efforts to persue with what we know so far being enough to start treatment.

So, to narrow it down to what I know she does have, she has irritated intestines, the vet thinks from not eating, her kidneys are starting to fail and her liver levels are up, also from not eating and noted by the yellow tinge to her skin beneath her fur and in her gums, and she has a large amount of fluid in her lungs which which the vet thought is odd because she doesn't appear to be struggling much to breath. Plus, as you already infered from the not eating, she's dehydrated from not drinking much either. Although I did see her drink water yesterday briefly, it was very little and not quite enough on its own to help.

As far as the final suggested treatment, the vet thinks it would require aggressive treatment, in-hospital with a feeding tube and constant 24-7 attention, for at s minimum of 3 days, and she "might" pull through. Personally, I think she could, but the vet gave me an estimate of between $1500 and $3000 to give her the treatment she needs... As much as I'd want to ask for you all to help with that so I can keep her, that's more money than I'm confortable with asking for no matter the cause...

Tomorrow, barring some sudden miracle, I'm thinking I'm taking her to a no-kill shelter in the area where they'll hopefully be able to help her, and find her a new and loving home. If nothing else, I want her to live a long and happy life, even if it's not with me.

ukaserex

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2015, 01:37:07 PM »
Wow. Poor cat. I always marvel how animals can be so sick, yet you look at them you can't tell. Some may not appreciate your pragmatic view, but I applaud it. I know it's not easy, but I think pragmatism is under-appreciated when people see it.
Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese

Ironwolf

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2015, 03:10:43 PM »
Most dog and cat food is terrible for pets. Try buying some called 4 Health brand.

It is one of the best made.

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2015, 03:32:31 PM »
Most dog and cat food is terrible for pets. Try buying some called 4 Health brand.

It is one of the best made.

I actually tried buying two different kinds of cat food last night to try and coax her into eating at least a little after having some small success with getting her to eat a few very very small handfuls of cat treats that a friend gave me to try. Started out giving them to her one piece at a time to eat right out of my hand, and it worked briefly then she stopped eating those too.

She won't even touch either of the two kinds that I bought last night either... I guess she's in the shelter's vet's and god's hands at this point, I've done about all I can... Taking her to a shelter this afternoon, and hoping for the best...

Ironwolf

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2015, 07:47:49 PM »
I actually tried buying two different kinds of cat food last night to try and coax her into eating at least a little after having some small success with getting her to eat a few very very small handfuls of cat treats that a friend gave me to try. Started out giving them to her one piece at a time to eat right out of my hand, and it worked briefly then she stopped eating those too.

She won't even touch either of the two kinds that I bought last night either... I guess she's in the shelter's vet's and god's hands at this point, I've done about all I can... Taking her to a shelter this afternoon, and hoping for the best...

I grew up on a farm and while I have a slightly different view on most animals - pets can rip your heart out. I had a malamute live to be 15. Oldest one the vet ever saw and had to have her put down because she started having mini-strokes.

I didn't want another dog again. Then 2 years later a guy gave me a 1 year old malamute that someone abandoned in a bankruptcy. He has turned out to be just what my heart needed. I will never forget my old girl - but the new dog is a lot of fun and is a big goofy dogasaurus.

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2015, 03:04:37 AM »
So apparently I'm an idiot, and my cat is being forced to needlessly suffer while I stumble around like a drunken bull in a china shop at night trying to figure out what to do...

So to explain, the shelter I tried taking her to today, didn't open until 4pm in the afternoon, and instead of calling ahead of time to check (which I can't because my phone is turned off for failure to pay the bill because of all this stuff with the cat... Bad timing all around...), I waited until 4 and went there with Rigby, only to be told the shelter was full, and they didn't have the staff/proper facilities to treat a cat this sick... Unfortunately, because it was so late in the day already, I had to leave for work shortly after that, and did not have any time to find an alternative shelter or care facility...

So now I can't do anything until tomorrow, and will have to rush to find a place that will actually be open(a lot of these vets have really inconvienient hours and days of opperation...), AND be able to help her...

I'm starting to lose hope that I can save her, and it really feels like no matter what I do, she's just slipping further away... Sorry to have dragged any of you emotionally into this, I try not to broadcast my personal problems usually because it's generally not welcome to begin with in many communities, but I'm just such a wreck right now that I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore...

Ironwolf

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2015, 12:46:49 PM »
Slow down and think it through.

Ask a veterinarian what you can do - is there any way you could clean the office, walk the dogs, clean up the poop or whatever for a month and pay for it? Tell them you are short on cash but long on motivation.

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2015, 09:54:56 PM »
Slow down and think it through.

Ask a veterinarian what you can do - is there any way you could clean the office, walk the dogs, clean up the poop or whatever for a month and pay for it? Tell them you are short on cash but long on motivation.

Believe me, I considered it. The vet even told me at one point on Saturday when I first took Rigby to them that the even though I couldn't at the time afford the radiogram (which I later managed to raise the money for and get done on Monday), she would have been willing to do it for free, but she'd get fired for it. I get the feeling that she would be willing to make such arrangements with me herself for Rigby's treatment cause she really does seem to care about the animals, but it sounded like her bosses would be less inclined to think that it was okay, and I wouldn't want to get her or anyone else fired over this...

I suppose I could in theory try other vets in the area, but there's dozens of them around here, most halfway across the Chicago suburbs from me, and most don't even have much information about their facilities on their websites to give me an indication of if they could even handle this severe of a case to begin with.

In the mean time, I setup a quick GoFundMe campaign (https://www.gofundme.com/y54u8u98) to see if maybe by some miracle I can raise the money to get her treated myself, since my other options seemed to have all fallen through.

For the sake of transparency though, I have to be blunt. Even if the campaign does somehow raise enough money, I'm not sure it'll be in time to save her, let alone would I be able to access it in time... I guess I'm just trying anything at this point, comfortable with the idea or not...

Ironwolf

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #15 on: September 24, 2015, 05:28:43 PM »
If you are in Chicago, try a country vet in the nearby area.

I live in a small town and the local country vets are less than 1/2 of the price of the city vets. They have to be as country folk either don't have the money or are used to animals dying and so if it costs too much they will just let the vet put them to sleep.

You may have a 2 hour drive but save yourself hundreds of dollars.

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #16 on: September 27, 2015, 02:46:40 PM »
Just posting to let you guys know, despite my best efforts, I exhausted my options and was forced to take her to the vet yesterday to put Eleanor to sleep. As much as it pained me to do, I just couldn't bare to watch her suffer anymore, and it was becoming more obvious every day that she was indeed suffering.

She's in a better place now, and no longer in pain. Our paths may have diverged for now, but we'll see each other again some day.


Sadly, as if this last 2 weeks weren't already bad enough, I found out last night that one of my Uncles passed away on Friday, and now I have to go to his wake today...

Nyghtshade

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #17 on: September 27, 2015, 09:01:46 PM »
Shenku, please know I am so sorry to hear of your losses.    My condolences to you and to your family.

Paragon Avenger

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2015, 02:23:28 AM »
They say to go right out and get another pet.
We usually did that, but the last time we lost a dog we didn't get another one.
Some years later, I still have dreams about that stupid dog, and wake up calling it.

So either way is good.

Shenku

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2015, 03:20:44 AM »
They say to go right out and get another pet.
We usually did that, but the last time we lost a dog we didn't get another one.
Some years later, I still have dreams about that stupid dog, and wake up calling it.

So either way is good.

I'm still finding myself glancing over towards her usual spots half expecting to see her, or expecting her to come into my room when I leave my door open... Heck, I came home from work tonight, and almost caught myself looking to see where she was to say hi to her...

But honestly, at this point, I've been through too many cats over the years (Charlie, Cuddles, Freedom, Daisy, Simon, Pepper, and now Rigby), I'm just not sure I could go through all that again... At least, not for a long while... Some day, maybe...

Aggelakis

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Re: A desperate plea to help me save my cat...
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2015, 07:14:24 AM »
When my PITA died, I thought I'd get along with one cat. Then I realized my one cat was depressed and had to get a second one for him. Then a few months ago, I fell in love with an adoptable kitten being fostered at the pet store I get their food at... well, she had to come home, too. Luckily, I'm at max-cat-capacity for our condo association, so I can't actually complete my ascension to Crazy Cat Lady.

All this to say ... you may be surprised.
Bob Dole!! Bob Dole. Bob Dole! Bob Dole. Bob Dole. Bob Dole... Bob Dole... Bob... Dole...... Bob...


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