What do you do when a feral needs $2,000+ surgery?

moxiewild

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Just looking for other people’s experiences. What decision you made, and why. Or what you plan to do if the situation comes up.

We have a sick feral we recently trapped. He’s FIV+, and we’ve been treating several infections.

One of the infections resolved enough to allow our vet to finally see that he has an inflammatory polyp in his ear that will require surgery.

The places that are equipped to do this surgery here are limited, and the first place today quoted $3,500-4,000 (which I am fairly sure is above average unless there are other complications about his specific case they didn’t tell me/I didn’t understand). We have an appointment with another place on Wednesday.

I’m just struggling. Our own cat is also about to have a very complicated surgery with a dental surgeon that will be in the thousands. And we have ~20 cats we’re trying to spay/neuter and doing this surgery will almost certainly force us to put off TNR for 6+ months even with CareCredit.

We’re not able to adopt this cat ourselves (as we’d planned/hoped) due to the FIV either, which means I need to find a home for him (once socialized), which will of course be far more difficult with the FIV.

We love this cat. He’s the first cat in our original colony and we’ve been after him for so long, but this is so hard and we’re not really sure what to do. I’m just so sad.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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I am so sorry Moxiewild, emergency situations always seem to come at the worse times. This is true whether you own indoor kitties, or have outdoor kitties or both. Is there any discount vet you could look into? For discount vets, I am willing to travel wherever, as long as they have a decent reputation and I truly get a discount. As long as I am financially able, I will go the extra mile for them. I have in the past went under payment programs, and got the bill paid off over time. Is there any rescues in your area you could work with? Maybe they can allow you to take your colony cat to their vet and you could benefit from the discounts they get from their vet or maybe they can do a courtesy crowdsourcing/fundraiser for you. You could do a go fund me yourself and see how that fare's out. I hope you find the answer to getting the funds for this emergency situation. Poor kitty, I hope everything works out.🙂
 

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How old is the cat? What do you think his overall prognosis is and life expectancy? If the cat is not in pain or at risk, I would continue to look for a more reasonable price. I hate to say that might be standard but years ago I paid $1000 for removal of skin cancer deep in an ear which necessitated the removal of the entire ear and part of the scalp....if I fast forward to 2020 I bet that the same surgery is no longer $1000. How risky is this, or complicated, and how qualified does a vet have to do to perform the surgery? Inflammatory sounds as if it is painful; if it is not, can the cat continue on with it for a while? Cancer? Not all polyps are.

This is a miserable, sad situation. If you had said that the cat had, for instance, liver failure I would have said to put him to sleep. The fact that it is the ear made me hesitate.

Having said that, there is no disgrace or disrespect in letting an animal go, especially an older one who might face many more illnesses, because the cost is prohibitive, you have many more animals, or you need to eat and pay the utility bill.
 
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moxiewild

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I am so sorry Moxiewild, emergency situations always seem to come at the worse times. This is true whether you own indoor kitties, or have outdoor kitties or both. Is there any discount vet you could look into? For discount vets, I am willing to travel wherever, as long as they have a decent reputation and I truly get a discount. As long as I am financially able, I will go the extra mile for them. I have in the past went under payment programs, and got the bill paid off over time. Is there any rescues in your area you could work with? Maybe they can allow you to take your colony cat to their vet and you could benefit from the discounts they get from their vet or maybe they can do a courtesy crowdsourcing/fundraiser for you. You could do a go fund me yourself and see how that fare's out. I hope you find the answer to getting the funds for this emergency situation. Poor kitty, I hope everything works out.🙂
I could do CareCredit (or find a vet who accepts it) and pay it off that way. That’s actually the only way I can afford both surgeries anyway.

But even with monthly payments, it will still stretch our budget enough that I won’t have the funds for TNR for a long while. We were already stretched pretty thin before this, as we just had one of our personal cats hospitalized and then euthanized and cremated a few weeks ago.

I’ve contacted several community cat organizations in the two major cities nearest me that I know keep emergency vet funds for colony caretakers. The problem is that they usually require or specify that you’re a city resident to receive aid.

So I’m hoping they take pity/make an exception.

The problem with this cat in particular is that he has four very major strikes against him, making it virtually impossible to get a rescue to step in.

1. He’s older - about 6-8 years old.
2. He’s feral (and given his age, the final outcome of socialization is a crapshoot that I can’t guarantee to any rescue)
3. He’s FIV+
4. He requires a very, very expensive surgery (even if discounted)

I’m already doubtful that a feral-specific rescue will even give him a chance with so many significant strikes against him.

Crowd sourcing is an option, but crowd sourcing also does very poorly with cats like this.

People want to feel that they’re contributing to a happy ending they’ll be able to witness. So they’ll help fund the surgery so long as it ends in kitty getting a home soon after.

For this cat, people are going to think, “well he's feral, so he can’t be adopted/it’ll take forever for him to become adoptable” + “he’s nearly senior and FIV+, so he will probably get sick again/die soon anyway + no one will want to adopt him” etc.

I don’t think we’ve ever had a bigger challenge than the one we’re facing now with this cat.
 
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moxiewild

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How old is the cat? What do you think his overall prognosis is and life expectancy? If the cat is not in pain or at risk, I would continue to look for a more reasonable price. I hate to say that might be standard but years ago I paid $1000 for removal of skin cancer deep in an ear which necessitated the removal of the entire ear and part of the scalp....if I fast forward to 2020 I bet that the same surgery is no longer $1000. How risky is this, or complicated, and how qualified does a vet have to do to perform the surgery? Inflammatory sounds as if it is painful; if it is not, can the cat continue on with it for a while? Cancer? Not all polyps are.

This is a miserable, sad situation. If you had said that the cat had, for instance, liver failure I would have said to put him to sleep. The fact that it is the ear made me hesitate.

Having said that, there is no disgrace or disrespect in letting an animal go, especially an older one who might face many more illnesses, because the cost is prohibitive, you have many more animals, or you need to eat and pay the utility bill.
Our primary vet estimated 6-8 years old.

I forgot to ask the specialist today what he thought, so I will ask this next vet what he thinks.

Obviously aging a cat is an imprecise science, but I actually think he’s younger.

When he first came to us, he was short haired, and now he’s medium-long haired. He first showed up in winter too, so the change wasn’t seasonal, and he looked very healthy at the time otherwise.

I’d been guessing he was about 3 years old because of that (which isn’t much better adoption-wise, but it would help). Also, cats with inflammatory polyps are apparently usually young, like 2-3 years old or younger, which is also consistent with that suspicion.

I suppose his life expectancy would be on par with any normal symptomatic FIV+ cat, so not much less than average. Our primary vet ascribes to the old school “FIV+ = euthanize or keep in an FIV+ Only home”, so I can’t rely on her for questions like that.

Inflammatory sounds painful to me too, although from the research I’ve done, it’s never explicitly mentioned. The symptoms listed (and that he had most or all of) appear to indicate pain though.

I also asked my vet about pain management in the meantime and she readily prescribed onsior, which reinforces that suspicion further. From what I’ve read, it also seems like it probably already ruptured his ear drum. Our vet also said it’s not uncommon for polyps to cause much deeper and harder to treat infections beneath the polyp.

So to me, all signs point to pain.

Plus, it seems like dizziness, disorientation, and nausea are common, and that alone makes this urgent to me.

Alternatives to surgery are steroids, which he’s currently on. This will slow growth somewhat obviously, but it likely won’t do anything for other symptoms (nausea can be treated, but things like dizziness are much more difficult).

Risks if he doesn’t have or we wait for surgery are that if it hasn’t already, it could rupture his ear drum. There’s also a possibility that it could grow into the nose or mouth and cause breathing/swallowing issues. And the longer it’s there, the greater the risk of cancer later in life.

He’s already had this for at least a year. I really don’t want to prolong his suffering either way.

Supposedly the surgery is very specialized and requires special equipment.

There may be a small chance that he could still be a candidate for a more minor procedure, however. I say that because my primary vet already tried it, so clearly she thought there was a chance and maybe she didn’t succeed because she’s not as experienced or her tools aren’t as sophisticated (which she more or less admitted).

This other procedure isn’t complicated and MUCH cheaper (our vet didn’t even charge us for it, which is not a thing they usually do......). Downside is that there’s at least a 50% reoccurrence rate, whereas the expensive surgery is only a 2% reoccurrence. It would at least buy us some time though, and give us more time to financially prepare.

I just realized from researching again that it seems likely he will retain a permanent head tilt, altered balance (no stairs, cat trees/shelves, etc), and deafness in at least one ear. So in addition to the FIV, that would make him pretty severely special needs.

Now I’m wondering if the fall risk associated with permanent altered balance + the FIV would lead to increased infection overall.....

I’m getting ahead of myself.

It just sucks. This is our favorite feral and always has been. We were really hoping to adopt him. And he’s had such a hard life and I just wanted him to finally have a happy ending.

We’ll wait for another vet opinion or two or five. We’re going to keep trying and searching for any possible solutions. We’re not giving up.

It’s just one of those low points of being a caretaker right now.

Here he is in the bathroom with his catnip wall (excuse the puppy pads, he made a mess that day 😂) -

ECE64EC4-13BC-4940-A773-3CE599D7411B.jpeg


2D2757D2-5074-4BA2-A9FC-EB99B1CB12A7.jpeg
 

CatladyJan

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Just looking for other people’s experiences. What decision you made, and why. Or what you plan to do if the situation comes up.

We have a sick feral we recently trapped. He’s FIV+, and we’ve been treating several infections.

One of the infections resolved enough to allow our vet to finally see that he has an inflammatory polyp in his ear that will require surgery.

The places that are equipped to do this surgery here are limited, and the first place today quoted $3,500-4,000 (which I am fairly sure is above average unless there are other complications about his specific case they didn’t tell me/I didn’t understand). We have an appointment with another place on Wednesday.

I’m just struggling. Our own cat is also about to have a very complicated surgery with a dental surgeon that will be in the thousands. And we have ~20 cats we’re trying to spay/neuter and doing this surgery will almost certainly force us to put off TNR for 6+ months even with CareCredit.

We’re not able to adopt this cat ourselves (as we’d planned/hoped) due to the FIV either, which means I need to find a home for him (once socialized), which will of course be far more difficult with the FIV.

We love this cat. He’s the first cat in our original colony and we’ve been after him for so long, but this is so hard and we’re not really sure what to do. I’m just so sad.
So sorry to hear this. Ultimately you have to make the final decision. There is a white cat that my neighbors threw out some years back, he is missing his jaw and has a compound fracture. I have been trying to trap him for months to euthanize him. I've got my own pets plus the feral cats I'm dealing with. I'm far from well to do so euthanizatia is the best option to take away his pain and suffering.
 
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moxiewild

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Okay, this is Pretty Kitty (PK) around when he first showed up (In winter, looking healthy) -

55F483BB-00CC-4CDE-A8AA-BA78D600BA3E.jpeg

5EDC0A8A-F15E-484C-B913-7FB430B5445F.jpeg


And since then -

2C0116E9-C820-43DE-A03A-DA8F0E06A724.jpeg

FAD4D3DE-AF14-4F18-8BB3-FCA08EFF152B.jpeg


I admittedly have limited experience with how longer haired cats age within the first year or so, but the only two other times I’ve seen a transformation like that is when the cat was very young to start with.

Our cat Elvira being one of them.

6 months old (also in winter) -

90E89C8C-8B2D-474E-B150-A8A9982B50F5.jpeg

DBCF7400-3214-49F2-AE59-9C7265910AA0.jpeg


1 year old -

A15F22F8-FD61-4CA1-92B6-CA3FBB4B702B.jpeg


Anyone else know or have any ideas if/how/why that would happen other than than being fairly young to begin with when the fur was shorter?
 
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jefferd18

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Our primary vet estimated 6-8 years old.

I forgot to ask the specialist today what he thought, so I will ask this next vet what he thinks.

Obviously aging a cat is an imprecise science, but I actually think he’s younger.

When he first came to us, he was short haired, and now he’s medium-long haired. He first showed up in winter too, so the change wasn’t seasonal, and he looked very healthy at the time otherwise.

I’d been guessing he was about 3 years old because of that (which isn’t much better adoption-wise, but it would help). Also, cats with inflammatory polyps are apparently usually young, like 2-3 years old or younger, which is also consistent with that suspicion.

I suppose his life expectancy would be on par with any normal symptomatic FIV+ cat, so not much less than average. Our primary vet ascribes to the old school “FIV+ = euthanize or keep in an FIV+ Only home”, so I can’t rely on her for questions like that.

Inflammatory sounds painful to me too, although from the research I’ve done, it’s never explicitly mentioned. The symptoms listed (and that he had most or all of) appear to indicate pain though.

I also asked my vet about pain management in the meantime and she readily prescribed onsior, which reinforces that suspicion further. From what I’ve read, it also seems like it probably already ruptured his ear drum. Our vet also said it’s not uncommon for polyps to cause much deeper and harder to treat infections beneath the polyp.

So to me, all signs point to pain.

Plus, it seems like dizziness, disorientation, and nausea are common, and that alone makes this urgent to me.

Alternatives to surgery are steroids, which he’s currently on. This will slow growth somewhat obviously, but it likely won’t do anything for other symptoms (nausea can be treated, but things like dizziness are much more difficult).

Risks if he doesn’t have or we wait for surgery are that if it hasn’t already, it could rupture his ear drum. There’s also a possibility that it could grow into the nose or mouth and cause breathing/swallowing issues. And the longer it’s there, the greater the risk of cancer later in life.

He’s already had this for at least a year. I really don’t want to prolong his suffering either way.

Supposedly the surgery is very specialized and requires special equipment.

There may be a small chance that he could still be a candidate for a more minor procedure, however. I say that because my primary vet already tried it, so clearly she thought there was a chance and maybe she didn’t succeed because she’s not as experienced or her tools aren’t as sophisticated (which she more or less admitted).

This other procedure isn’t complicated and MUCH cheaper (our vet didn’t even charge us for it, which is not a thing they usually do......). Downside is that there’s at least a 50% reoccurrence rate, whereas the expensive surgery is only a 2% reoccurrence. It would at least buy us some time though, and give us more time to financially prepare.

I just realized from researching again that it seems likely he will retain a permanent head tilt, altered balance (no stairs, cat trees/shelves, etc), and deafness in at least one ear. So in addition to the FIV, that would make him pretty severely special needs.

Now I’m wondering if the fall risk associated with permanent altered balance + the FIV would lead to increased infection overall.....

I’m getting ahead of myself.

It just sucks. This is our favorite feral and always has been. We were really hoping to adopt him. And he’s had such a hard life and I just wanted him to finally have a happy ending.

We’ll wait for another vet opinion or two or five. We’re going to keep trying and searching for any possible solutions. We’re not giving up.

It’s just one of those low points of being a caretaker right now.

Here he is in the bathroom with his catnip wall (excuse the puppy pads, he made a mess that day 😂) -

View attachment 352321

View attachment 352320

The University of Missouri will work out a plan with people as long as they think the cat is young enough, (four, or five) to have a quality of life. Maybe the colleges in your state can help you.
 
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moxiewild

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So sorry to hear this. Ultimately you have to make the final decision. There is a white cat that my neighbors threw out some years back, he is missing his jaw and has a compound fracture. I have been trying to trap him for months to euthanize him. I've got my own pets plus the feral cats I'm dealing with. I'm far from well to do so euthanizatia is the best option to take away his pain and suffering.
I’m so sorry. I hope you post here if you haven’t already.

I’d been after this cat for years. I’d like to say I finally got him and give you some magical advice, but the truth is the stars finally aligned one day, and several things fell perfectly and unexpectedly in place for it to happen. A trap wasn’t even involved.
 
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moxiewild

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The University of Missouri will work out a plan with people as long as they think the cat is young enough, (four, or five) to have a quality of life. Maybe the colleges in your state can help you.
Yeah, I looked at one university already that had similar age requirements, which is another reason I’m hoping another vet will re-age him (younger, hopefully 😆).
 

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Yeah, I looked at one university already that had similar age requirements, which is another reason I’m hoping another vet will re-age him (younger, hopefully 😆).

Oh, it's impossible to accurately age cats. They can do a real young cat, or an old one, but in-between is difficult. I would just say he was four. ;)
 
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moxiewild

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Oh, it's impossible to accurately age cats. They can do a real young cat, or an old one, but in-between is difficult. I would just say he was four. ;)
I know! And even then, they’re sometimes off.

I had one cat where the vet said 7-12 years old. Next two were like “No, he’s definitely 16 at minimum” (the latter two were right).

I just need a younger age to be reflected on his records (or A record 😆), since right now they all say 6.
 

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He is a beautiful cat....as is Elvira. I hope that something comes through for you that will help him to get some treatment since it sounds as if he might have a chance if he did. Some of these cat situations are so incredibly complicated......
 

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moxiewild moxiewild my heart breaks for you. :alright: Over the years we've run into several TNR like what you're going through...most not involving quite so much money....but as Whenallhellbreakslose Whenallhellbreakslose and fionasmom fionasmom both echoed...things like this never seem to come at a good time. Altho there’s never a good time for most of us when it comes to $ I think - - probably since so many of us care for so many things.(I've often said I almost wish I didn't care so much - it'd be cheaper!).

It's late, and I've just stopped work for the night. So I could be a tad loopy and have missed something already being answered, or misunderstood something - - I apologize in advance! :sleep:

I'm glad you're getting some ideas - - this IS a tough one. A few years ago we started seeing an orange feral male that we named Harry (named for an SNL skit that I wouldn't want to describe - - but it was the only thing that made us smile when we saw Harry). Initially we only got small glimpses at him from a distance, but after a month or so, we realized something wasn't right. Eventually he found our feeding station, and one day I heard my husband say "Oh my god - - - you need to come down and see something NOW!" We were able to get a good look at him at the feeding station, and that was when we could see this poor guy had a very large wound on his side (it was about the size of a large recipe card - and it looked raw and deep - in other words, we had no idea how he was alive). We started to try to trap him to see if he could be helped and maybe even neutered (which was, looking back, ridiculously optimistic, or at least put the poor guy out of his misery). We've trapped alot, but Harry stumped us. I can't even remember how long it ended up taking (I know it was definitely through at least one winter!) - - - but during the course of trying, we came to find out by talking with neighbors, that he'd looked like that for something like 2 years?!?!?!? I have no idea how he survived. We did eventually trap him, and needless to say, all that could be done was to put him out of his misery (the vet said he shouldn't have survived a week like that - - - as an indoor house cat - - let alone a feral cat). I will say that talking to one neighbor resulted in learning of another cat-friendly neighbor, and so on and so on. I also at the time was going into an office (I'm a freelance graphic designer) and would talk with anyone who had an animal photo on their desk. Multiple people ended up offering to basically split the cost between all of us if he could be saved with any type of surgery. So while the connections we made didn't help Harry, they did end up helping us cover a few other issues that have come up ever since (and giving us a few sources for finding new homes for socialized kittens). None of that may be an option for you - - but I guess I'm trying to say, the moral for me (and I hate asking for help - esp monetarily) was that reaching out to friends - and neighbors and co-workers who became friends - can be worth it. I didn't beg.....I just talked.

As far as his being FIV+ - - the idea of an FIV+ cat not being able to live as long as an FIV- has changed (we had one come into the shelter recently - the owner died - he was 15 and FiV+!!!!). FIV+ kitties do need to be monitored health-wise more closely (which obviously can make some people nervous from a monetary standpoint). And the thinking that FIV+ kitties can't live in a household with any other cats other then other FIV+ cats has been really changing in the past few years. I'm not a vet (nor do I play one on TV :)), but I've done alot of reading on the subject and had alot of discussions with specialty, high-end vets as the shelter I currently volunteer/foster for had a large influx of FIV+ cats a few years ago, and many people there at that time thought they needed to be euthanized for fear of transmission. That thinking is changing, as we now know transmission is primarily through deep bite wounds. So he'd need to be placed in a home with only cats he could get along well with (and obviously would need to be introduced VERY slowly into a new home with other cats. You might look at some pages from very reputable places - this is a good place to start:

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine on FIV+ Cats.

I have to say - regarding his coat - are you SURE that's the same cat (I'm sure you know if it is or isn't - but that's REALLY odd!)? He's gorgeous - short or long hair - but wow. I've had lots and lots of long-haired cats of my own, not to mention cared for many at the shelters I've worked at, and I've never ever seen that happen. I've seen tails plume out quite a bit as they age - - - but nothing like him! If you'd shown me a pic of him at 6 weeks and then now, then I'd understand, but that's really odd? I'm going to have to ask my vet on that one (I see her later this week). I'll take the pics in! I'm stumped!

I have to believe there's a chance someone out there who'd take him on. Some people are drawn to the "not-'perfect'-but-perfectin-their-eyes" kinds of kitties. We have a CH cat (like your guy, she was one of our TNR ferals - - and now a very super sweet lap cat!). She wobbles and lifts her back feet like she's got scotch tape on them.And the litterbox was initially a challenge, but we managed! And we love her AND all her wobbliness with all of our hearts. Your story made me think of a shelter cat from a few years ago. He was found with severe frostbite (he ended up losing most of both of his ears, and several of the pads on his feet), he'd had a broken leg that was never fixed so he had a rough limp (like your guy, he couldn't do steps, or even go over the sides of a litterbox), he was about ½ the size and body weight he should have been for his age, and to top it off, he was FeLV+ with perhaps a year left if cared for. And just to top things off, because of the FeLV+ he had a constant nasal discharge (which is putting it nicely). But he was sweet, and adorable, and after posting him on social media for weeks, putting flyers at vets' offices, and reaching out to every FeLV+ shelter w/in a 120 radius, we found a cage-free, no-kill FeLV+ focussed shelter that would take him if we could drive him there (and pay an $800 fee to help cover his lifetime expenses). We somehow raised the money, and the WEEK before we were set to drive him out there, a young couple came in, fell in love, and adopted him on the spot!!!!! We got weekly pix of him - - and he couldn't have been happier (nor could they!). He had another 2 years of living a very loved and pampered life.

So I guess I'm saying - - - try not to give up - - - if you can, keep reaching out to shelters that might take him. If they can't/won't -- explain you just need suggestions. Any suggestions. And try specialty organizations geared towards cats with 'issues.' Even if they can't take him - - they very likely might have suggestions. And I wouldn't be afraid of crowd funding (the $ raised for animals I wouldn't ever have dreamed would get a dime sometimes blows me away!). I'd also really use your own social media - and the social media of any of your friends who agree to it. He's SOOOO eye-catching - a VERY big positive on the crowd-funding sites and on personal social media!!! You just never know!!!!!! And know that if, in the end, you can't afford the surgery or find anyone to help monetarily, etc. - - please know that you've given this guy your heart and made his life so much better already. We can't always fix them.....but knowing you did all you can do should help a bit.

And in the meantime - - - keep posting here. Sometimes someone comes up with a completely new source or thought. And if nothing else - - -we're all good at listening. He's very lucky to have found you.
 
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moxiewild

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moxiewild moxiewild my heart breaks for you. :alright: Over the years we've run into several TNR like what you're going through...most not involving quite so much money....but as Whenallhellbreakslose Whenallhellbreakslose and fionasmom fionasmom both echoed...things like this never seem to come at a good time. Altho there’s never a good time for most of us when it comes to $ I think - - probably since so many of us care for so many things.(I've often said I almost wish I didn't care so much - it'd be cheaper!).

It's late, and I've just stopped work for the night. So I could be a tad loopy and have missed something already being answered, or misunderstood something - - I apologize in advance! :sleep:

I'm glad you're getting some ideas - - this IS a tough one. A few years ago we started seeing an orange feral male that we named Harry (named for an SNL skit that I wouldn't want to describe - - but it was the only thing that made us smile when we saw Harry). Initially we only got small glimpses at him from a distance, but after a month or so, we realized something wasn't right. Eventually he found our feeding station, and one day I heard my husband say "Oh my god - - - you need to come down and see something NOW!" We were able to get a good look at him at the feeding station, and that was when we could see this poor guy had a very large wound on his side (it was about the size of a large recipe card - and it looked raw and deep - in other words, we had no idea how he was alive). We started to try to trap him to see if he could be helped and maybe even neutered (which was, looking back, ridiculously optimistic, or at least put the poor guy out of his misery). We've trapped alot, but Harry stumped us. I can't even remember how long it ended up taking (I know it was definitely through at least one winter!) - - - but during the course of trying, we came to find out by talking with neighbors, that he'd looked like that for something like 2 years?!?!?!? I have no idea how he survived. We did eventually trap him, and needless to say, all that could be done was to put him out of his misery (the vet said he shouldn't have survived a week like that - - - as an indoor house cat - - let alone a feral cat). I will say that talking to one neighbor resulted in learning of another cat-friendly neighbor, and so on and so on. I also at the time was going into an office (I'm a freelance graphic designer) and would talk with anyone who had an animal photo on their desk. Multiple people ended up offering to basically split the cost between all of us if he could be saved with any type of surgery. So while the connections we made didn't help Harry, they did end up helping us cover a few other issues that have come up ever since (and giving us a few sources for finding new homes for socialized kittens). None of that may be an option for you - - but I guess I'm trying to say, the moral for me (and I hate asking for help - esp monetarily) was that reaching out to friends - and neighbors and co-workers who became friends - can be worth it. I didn't beg.....I just talked.

As far as his being FIV+ - - the idea of an FIV+ cat not being able to live as long as an FIV- has changed (we had one come into the shelter recently - the owner died - he was 15 and FiV+!!!!). FIV+ kitties do need to be monitored health-wise more closely (which obviously can make some people nervous from a monetary standpoint). And the thinking that FIV+ kitties can't live in a household with any other cats other then other FIV+ cats has been really changing in the past few years. I'm not a vet (nor do I play one on TV :)), but I've done alot of reading on the subject and had alot of discussions with specialty, high-end vets as the shelter I currently volunteer/foster for had a large influx of FIV+ cats a few years ago, and many people there at that time thought they needed to be euthanized for fear of transmission. That thinking is changing, as we now know transmission is primarily through deep bite wounds. So he'd need to be placed in a home with only cats he could get along well with (and obviously would need to be introduced VERY slowly into a new home with other cats. You might look at some pages from very reputable places - this is a good place to start:

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine on FIV+ Cats.

I have to say - regarding his coat - are you SURE that's the same cat (I'm sure you know if it is or isn't - but that's REALLY odd!)? He's gorgeous - short or long hair - but wow. I've had lots and lots of long-haired cats of my own, not to mention cared for many at the shelters I've worked at, and I've never ever seen that happen. I've seen tails plume out quite a bit as they age - - - but nothing like him! If you'd shown me a pic of him at 6 weeks and then now, then I'd understand, but that's really odd? I'm going to have to ask my vet on that one (I see her later this week). I'll take the pics in! I'm stumped!

I have to believe there's a chance someone out there who'd take him on. Some people are drawn to the "not-'perfect'-but-perfectin-their-eyes" kinds of kitties. We have a CH cat (like your guy, she was one of our TNR ferals - - and now a very super sweet lap cat!). She wobbles and lifts her back feet like she's got scotch tape on them.And the litterbox was initially a challenge, but we managed! And we love her AND all her wobbliness with all of our hearts. Your story made me think of a shelter cat from a few years ago. He was found with severe frostbite (he ended up losing most of both of his ears, and several of the pads on his feet), he'd had a broken leg that was never fixed so he had a rough limp (like your guy, he couldn't do steps, or even go over the sides of a litterbox), he was about ½ the size and body weight he should have been for his age, and to top it off, he was FeLV+ with perhaps a year left if cared for. And just to top things off, because of the FeLV+ he had a constant nasal discharge (which is putting it nicely). But he was sweet, and adorable, and after posting him on social media for weeks, putting flyers at vets' offices, and reaching out to every FeLV+ shelter w/in a 120 radius, we found a cage-free, no-kill FeLV+ focussed shelter that would take him if we could drive him there (and pay an $800 fee to help cover his lifetime expenses). We somehow raised the money, and the WEEK before we were set to drive him out there, a young couple came in, fell in love, and adopted him on the spot!!!!! We got weekly pix of him - - and he couldn't have been happier (nor could they!). He had another 2 years of living a very loved and pampered life.

So I guess I'm saying - - - try not to give up - - - if you can, keep reaching out to shelters that might take him. If they can't/won't -- explain you just need suggestions. Any suggestions. And try specialty organizations geared towards cats with 'issues.' Even if they can't take him - - they very likely might have suggestions. And I wouldn't be afraid of crowd funding (the $ raised for animals I wouldn't ever have dreamed would get a dime sometimes blows me away!). I'd also really use your own social media - and the social media of any of your friends who agree to it. He's SOOOO eye-catching - a VERY big positive on the crowd-funding sites and on personal social media!!! You just never know!!!!!! And know that if, in the end, you can't afford the surgery or find anyone to help monetarily, etc. - - please know that you've given this guy your heart and made his life so much better already. We can't always fix them.....but knowing you did all you can do should help a bit.

And in the meantime - - - keep posting here. Sometimes someone comes up with a completely new source or thought. And if nothing else - - -we're all good at listening. He's very lucky to have found you.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply.

Crowd funding -

The biggest problem I always run into with crowd funding for these guys, is that I honestly have no network to speak of.

I’ve lost most friends over my rescue work, I have essentially no social media, and locally, I try not to bring attention to what we do, for legal and HOA-related reasons.

TCS and some semi-local online rescue Facebook groups my only real networks (my boyfriend is my only friend on the Facebook account since I use it exclusively for cat/dog/wildlife rescue and health issue groups).

I’ve been waiting on an appointment we have tomorrow with a cat vet (who wrote the book on feline health that’s taught in many vet schools) to really formulate a plan. We trust him more than most, and we bring all of our complicated/special cases to him.

Depending on what he says, we’ll start officially seeking help and advice from our local online rescue network. We just wanted a better idea and more reliable sense of what we’re looking at financially before doing so.

FIV Status -

I talked about this in another thread recently. We almost exclusively take in special needs animals, and we used to take in FIV+ cats when we never had more than 6-10 cats total in the house.

The problem is that we currently have 16 cats (down from 17 as of this weekend, yay!). At any given time, it’s usually between 10-20 cats, and the cats and dynamics are frequently shifting.

Our home simply is not stable enough for an FIV+ cat. The cats not here for health and/or age related reasons are here for behavioral issues, of which fighting and deep bites are often one of the problems (I should know, I’ve been to the ER enough times now after being on the receiving end 😂).

It’s just too big of a risk in this house, and it’s a challenge to educate other people about it. This will be the first FIV+ cat that I adopt out without rescue assistance, so I’m a little nervous about that.

Pretty PK! -

As far as his coat, we’re 100% sure it’s him. We watched it grow out over a period of months.

We have some medium-haired ferals who fluff up and grow a mane and bushy tail during winter months and lose it in the spring summer (we call it the “Feral Bloom” 😆), but PK is floofy all year round now.

Like I said, it happened with Elvira too and she was 6-7 months old when we took her in. She’s still listed as DSH on her vet papers because we haven’t had to bring her to the vet since her fur grew out.

One 4 month old kitten we were able to adopt out was returned to us after about 6 months, and when they returned her, I was like, “That’s not Sophie..?”

She had been short-medium haired when she left us, and was a big beautiful floof when she returned 😆

So I just always thought it was just somethig that sometimes happens with younger cats who will eventually grow up be long haired?

But you’re right, the one thing PK really has going for him is that he has a relatively less common, “fluffy Siamese” type look to him.

I’m really hoping he’ll be a socialization success story to improve his chances even more, but we haven’t made any leeway whatsoever yet, which has me a teensy bit concerned.
 
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moxiewild

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Updates:

The appointment -

There was still a lot of... gunk... in both of PK’s ears, so the vet had to flush them to evaluate the polyp (and while PK was under, the vet neutered him. Yay!).

However, flushing the ears meant he couldn’t try the minor procedure because the ear needs to be dry to do so, so he rescheduled us for today to try it out.

The bad new is, the vet said that if he couldn’t extract the polyp with forceps, then PK would need a CT scan (which he wanted to do today if it came to that).

Since PK has a head tilt, it’s indicative that surgery will be necessary.

The CT is $1,000. The surgery itself is an additional $1,500-2,000.

Since a CT was likely today, we decided to postpone the appointment to focus on crowdfunding and reaching out to rescues.

((As a side note, I’m glad we postponed. This last trip seemed to be a lot for him this time. Not sure if it’s because it takes us an hour to get to this vet, or because of the neuter, or both, but he’s been spending time laying in his litter box ever since 😭

839A3108-4F4F-4F9D-A4EB-930ED593489C.jpeg


So I think going back two days later would have been too hard on him. Going to increase the frequency we monitor his urine/stool output and food/water consumption in the meantime.))
 
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moxiewild

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Crowdfunding -

For now, we’re only taking donation pledges since we have a pretty lofty goal and we have no idea if we can feasibly reach it, so we wanted an idea of how much we can raise first.

On one of my local rescue Facebook groups, we’ve got 12 pledges in less than 24 hours. Yay!

Unfortunately, most of those people are not naming an actual amount, so I don’t know what dollar value that translates to (at least $75 between the three who did), but it’s something!

The rescue Facebook group I’m most involved with, that has 5x the members, and does the donation pledge thing more often, for some reason, keeps automatically eating my post, and admins haven’t gotten back to me about it yet. It’s been over 24 hours since I first tried posting, so I’m a little frustrated about that.

The third group I’m heavily involved with just recently decided to narrow their focus and updated their rules to limit posts to be about animals in a very specific town now apparently. Bummer, but I kind of saw that coming.

Rescues -

11 have already gotten back to me and unsurprisingly couldn’t help (mostly because he’s feral).

So far, there are over 20 more I’ve contacted that haven’t gotten back to me yet. Neither have the universities I contacted (really hoping A&M might be able to do something since they have a huge and prominent vet program).

One of the rescues I did hear back from, was the Feral Cat Coalition.

I was very optimistic about this option, as they have a crisis fund for caretakers for veterinary expenses. I personally know they helped other caretakers with surgeries that cost around the same as mine, so I was pretty hopeful.

But... they denied assistance.

At first, they seemed to imply they didn’t understand PK was feral, despite making that very clear multiple times in my email.

Their first response said things like “We already don’t have enough funds to help all the outside cats, so this just isn’t something we do” and “Try Daisy’s Fund, they offer financial aid for pets”.

So I clarified... PK is not a pet. He is a truly and completely unsocialized feral from our outdoor colony.

Then the reasoning changed to “Sorry, we only help cats in crisis and emergency situations”.

Apparently they don’t consider a cat at very high risk of being euthanized simply due to a lack of finances a crisis situation 🤷🏻‍♀️

Honestly, I’m really upset at how the interaction went down.

I know there have been many times where their crisis fund was too depleted to provide enough aid for other caretakers, so instead they’ve sent out emails and blasted social media to fundraise more for that specific caretaker/cat in order to cover it.

They also frequently help with socialized, friendly strays that could easily go to any other rescue.

So it’s just frustrating because 99% of rescues will not (and understandably cannot) take in true ferals, nor would it make sense for them to cover thousands in surgery for an unadoptable (Feral) and even what most consider nonreleasable (FIV+) cat. The Feral Cat Coalition is the only local resource that caters to cats like this, and they know it.

It’s just really upsetting and disappointing.

Sigh. All I can do is just keep trying.
 
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moxiewild

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Question -

I’m trying to figure out the best way of going about the donations and pledges. I’ve never had to raise this much before (we were thinking of a goal of $1,000 - $2,000 total for both the CT and surgery).

The main problem, I guess, is that we just don’t know if we can raise enough.

This is where pledges come in, but because raising what we need will take so much time, tracking down pledges at the end of it is going to be very difficult, and their financial situations might have since changed.

So now I’m wondering if I should just focus on the CT scan first. This would allow me to make a much more realistic goal of $500.

Initially, I didn’t want to do this - because if I can raise enough for the CT, but not the surgery, then there's no point.

But going for the whole amount before pursuing care just seems to have some really tricky logistical problems.

I’m thinking that if we can get the CT scan, and I can get the vet to give me a copy or take a picture of the scan, then I can use that for the second phase of fundraising.

This would both be a demonstration of good faith, and might catch some attention on its own. As horrible as it sounds, it’s kind of the reality of fundraising - imaging showing a mass in his head is more likely produce a visceral and emotive response, even if it’s not a brain mass.

What do you guys think? Raise everything in one go, or split it into two phases?
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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Question -

I’m trying to figure out the best way of going about the donations and pledges. I’ve never had to raise this much before (we were thinking of a goal of $1,000 - $2,000 total for both the CT and surgery).

The main problem, I guess, is that we just don’t know if we can raise enough.

This is where pledges come in, but because raising what we need will take so much time, tracking down pledges at the end of it is going to be very difficult, and their financial situations might have since changed.

So now I’m wondering if I should just focus on the CT scan first. This would allow me to make a much more realistic goal of $500.

Initially, I didn’t want to do this - because if I can raise enough for the CT, but not the surgery, then there's no point.

But going for the whole amount before pursuing care just seems to have some really tricky logistical problems.

I’m thinking that if we can get the CT scan, and I can get the vet to give me a copy or take a picture of the scan, then I can use that for the second phase of fundraising.

This would both be a demonstration of good faith, and might catch some attention on its own. As horrible as it sounds, it’s kind of the reality of fundraising - imaging showing a mass in his head is more likely produce a visceral and emotive response, even if it’s not a brain mass.

What do you guys think? Raise everything in one go, or split it into two phases?
Moxiewild, i am so sorry about PK's health problems and every up and down you are facing in trying to get the care that he needs and the finances for his care. I can feel how stressed you are over this.

I really wish, I had something to give towards PK's care. If I did, I would not hesitate. I think you should do 2 fundraisers. The first should be for the known expenses ( you can decide on what % you will include in this) The second fundraiser is for the remainder of the known expenses + any additional expenses incurred. If PK's bill must be paid in full at the time of surgery, than collect a little more in the second fundraiser so that you are prepared for any surprises. I got socked once with a vet dental bill that was well over the estimate, all because my cat had complications in surgery. So don't be surprised if you will need more money.

Anyway, I wish you all the best. I hope you are able to raise all the funds you need and that PK's surgery turns out well.❤
 

fionasmom

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Doing the CT scan first is not a bad idea. It does show good faith and let's people know that you are not keeping their money if the CT scan shows something surprising, or you decide not to proceed with the surgery. Does the vet know for sure that this is not reachable with forceps? I got confused at that part. You did the right thing to bring him home and not cause further stress.
 
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