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Help with Princess the Cat's Vet Fees

  • Last Update! Donation to Lonely Miaow

      24 June 2022
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    Thank you once again, from our whole hearts, for your generosity towards helping us buy the time to care for Princess with the hopes we could bring her home with us. While that was not the outcome we got, and we are still grieving the loss of our beloved little tabby, your generosity means we are able to do something good in Princess's memory.

    Princess's care cost just on $13k in vet bills (including the MRI and CT scan) and her pet insurance covered just under $9k of that, leaving a $4k bill. Your donations, once Givealittle had taken their operating fees, came to us as a sum of $5300. Because of this generous help, we were able to cover the outstanding $4000 of vet bills and Princess's cremation. However, this meant we had $1300 left over.

    My family has donated this amount to the cat rescue charity, The Lonely Miaow. The Lonely Miaow rescued Princess (then Hazel) when she was homeless, heavily pregnant and absolutely worm ridden. They helped her deliver her SEVEN kittens, they dewormed her and helped her heal up as best she could. When her kittens were weaned and departed for furever homes, Princess (Hazel) was put up for adoption as well: and this is how she came into our lives. Not only did Lonely Miaow save Princess and bring her into our life to give us three and a half years of joy with her, they were there for us during this whole ordeal when we reached out, because they have so much love for the cats that pass through their care. They gave us advice, support, and since one of the LM volunteers was also a vet nurse at the clinic where Princess was, she went out of her way to give Princess extra snuggles. They are truly an amazing group of people who care so deeply for animals and their families.

    Therefore the remaining $1300 you gifted us to look after Princess, we donated to Lonely Miaow. We can't bring Princess back, but this is the next best thing: sending the money the people who will use it to help cats who are in desperate need, as Princess once was, so that they can go on bring joy to families, as Princess did for us.

    Thank you, once again, for your generosity. My whole family will remember it for as long as we live.

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  • One Week On

      6 June 2022
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    In the middle of the week we received Princess's remains back in a beautiful Rimu box. They even included a lovely plaster paw print which made me cry, because I was quite sad her little beans were so bundled up in bandages when she passed that I didn't get to hold her little paw again. Her ashes have pride of place in the family room beside her portrait. We are glad she's home, even if it is not in the way we hoped.

    Her medical bills totalled over $13,000 in the end. We've sent the claim off to the insurer and we'll see how much gets paid - the policy cap for vet care is $9000 though, so we are immensely grateful to have your support here to fall back. If there happens to be any money left over after all the bills are settled, it will be donated to the Lonely Miaow, who gave Princess her fresh start in life, and brought her into our family.

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  • Saying Goodbye

      29 May 2022

    On Saturday things looked quite promising with Princess, her pneumonia was getting better and she was alert, perky and very smoochy on our visit. Overnight, her condition deteriorated. The injury in her spine was causing more blood clots which was affecting her organ function, and causing her a lot of pain. We visited her and her distress and confusion were clear and absolutely heartbreaking, with no clear to path to respite or alleviation. The combination of this, the spine injury and the continuing pneumonia, and we made the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep. Princess had fought as long and as hard as we could ever ask a little kitty cat to. She went to sleep surrounded her whole family and her favourite toy, and she is now at rest, out of pain, watching skinks run around in an eternal summer garden.

    Thank you everyone for your love and support. Your generous donations have meant we were able to explore every possible option for a continued life for Princess. She was a shining bright spot in our lives over grim lockdowns and the surreality of pandemic life, and we are grateful you all helped buy us the time to be sure there was nothing more that could be done. Thank you.

    Rest easy, precious wee girl. We'll never forget you.

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  • The Diagnosis - May 26th

      26 May 2022
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    We had a long consultation with the vet surgeon treating Princess, who took us through the images they got from the MRI and from the CT scan. During the MRI they discovered Princess also has pneumonia which is why she was struggling to breathe during the MRI and why it had to be cut short.

    As best as I can understand it, at some point in the past, a part of Princess's aortic artery was pinched into her spine, and with blood steadily filling this offshoot, it eventually crushed her spinal cord at a particular point. On the CT imagining, there was a clear reservoir of blood inside her spinal column. The vet surgeon said he'd never seen it before in cats, only in dogs, though of course it was theoretically possible in cats. I guess our Princess is just that unique. This weird reservoir also occasionally releases showers of blood clots, most which pass along harmlessly.

    There is no chance of the spinal cord being repaired even if Princess were operated on to remove this reservoir and the risks are huge because it's connected to the aorta: if something goes wrong, she could bleed to death in seconds on the operating table.

    Her bladder is still a bit inflamed which they suspect is to do with the fact she held her pee for six days. Her coming home depends on it settling down and being relaxed enough for the pee to be manually expressed. However, once her pneumonia is treated, and her bladder is back to normal, she can come home. She'll need some physio and we'll all need to learn how to express her urine, and we gotta make sure there's places for her to stay safely if everyone is at work.

    But all going well, she can home next week and we'll move heaven and earth to give her a fulfilling life as a chariot cat.

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  • Princess's MRI

      26 May 2022
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    Princess went in for MRI yesterday at 1pm. We visited her in the evening and she looked much less woebegone than on our previous visit - she was off all the machines and she was using her front legs to prop herself up.

    Today we got a call from the wonderful surgeon who told us that unfortunately, the MRI was unable to be completed because Princess was struggling under the anaesthetic. They cut it short to pull her out and wake her back up. However, they do have SOME images and they'll do a CT scan today supplement those. We have a consultation with him today at 5:15pm and we'll have more news then. He also said that he has grown very fond of Princess <3

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  • May 24 - Princess Update!

      24 May 2022

    Thank you so much, from the whole family, for all your donations. We're absolutely overwhelmed and so grateful for the help. Yesterday Princess had a catheter put in and this has relieved the pressure on her bladder so she's much more relaxed than she has been. The vet staff also reported she's alert, interested in things going on around her and very smoochy, which are good signs as well as the fact she's eating. She was transferred from the Sylvia Park vet to the Mt Albert one in preparation for her MRI tomorrow.

    The MRI is kind of the 'moment of truth' in that theoretically, that's what will tell us exactly what's causing the paralysis in Princess's hindquarters, which will inform what options we have ahead of us for treatment and her quality of life. We don't know what time the MRI is but we'll update as soon as we hear that Princess is awake from it (it's always scary when they put our precious girl under) and then when we have the details from the surgeon which might not be until Thursday.

    In today's visit, Princess has been upgraded to a palatial suite cage with an impressive array of pillows and blankets. She was quite a sleepy girl, but she perked up at seeing us, especially Dad, who hadn't had a chance to visit her since he pulled her out of where she was stuck when we found her on Saturday. Dad gave her a long, gentle massage that got her purring super loud. Tigger fed her one of her favourite treats which she lapped up so fast it went all over her whiskers. I brushed her with a grooming glove just to neaten her up a little. Mum gave her cuddles and kisses. Princess drools when she's really happy and her collar covered with drool we made her so happy. The staff were so good and supportive with all our requests, like me being prima donna and asking for a little pillow for her head (because she likes little pillows!) She has the best little chirp when she's really happy, and it was so good to hear it tonight.

    Thank you everyone again for your help. You're making it possible for us to keep going forward and hopefully finding a way to give Princess a life where she has plenty to happy-drool and purr-chirp about! <3

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