When your (furry) support system gets seriously ill

 This post is a bit of an emergency post that is taking precedent over several other posts that are in the works.

Bela in his cat tree

Meet Bela, my younger cat.  He's about four years old and I adopted him when he was a little thing.  My friends found him in a restaurant parking lot and took him in, but their cats weren't thrilled with a kitten in the house.  The funny thing is that we all thought that he was a she, and my friends named the kitten Bella, after a character in Twilight.  I found out that the kitten was a neutered male at the furbaby's first vet visit, but just decided to alter the name by one letter since the kitten responded to his name (besides, there are famous Bela guys in the world, like Bela Lugosi and Bela Karolyi).

This weekend, Bela was just acting a bit off.  We weren't sure what was going on other than he seemed to have more nose & eye mucus than usual and he was lethargic.  He wasn't climbing to the top of his cat tree, and we kept finding him in weird nooks in the house (including the dryer...not one of his usual hidey-holes).  Last night we agreed to call the vet and get him looked at today.  My partner agreed to take him in so I could go to work (I've missed enough work because of my spine as of late, so I really can't afford it with impending surgery).

Bela perched on my back, photo circa 2009?

We found out that Bela is in critical condition because of a really high white cell count (the highest his vet had ever seen) and liver issues.  He's been transferred from his usual vet to one that can do an ultrasound and provide 24/7 care, but we still don't know what's going on.  We still don't know if it's contagious (meaning that we have to keep an eye on Serenity, my elder cat.  We also don't know how much this is going to cost, other than his care in the past 3 hours has already hit almost $400, the new vet required a $1,500 deposit, and will likely skyrocket with the ultrasound & the more intensive veterinary care.

All I ask is that you keep him in your thoughts, prayers, or however you keep vigil for beloved things in your life.  If financial contribution is an option, I will not turn anything down as this is all happening just days after I found out that I have to have spinal fusion surgery.  I'm going to put referral links at the bottom of this post to help fund this....so if you have online holiday shopping, please consider clicking through the links so I can afford his care.  If financial contributions aren't possible, but still want to help, check the "about me" page for different rewards programs...InboxDollars gives a referral credit just for signing up (and it's a cash credit), and Swagbucks is how I've been getting a cat pheromone diffuser through Amazon.  If anyone knows any other fundraising options, let me know.

Happy healing thoughts of r'fuah shlemah for my little guy are also helpful.  He's been my little emotional support cat through all of my spine-related travails, from cuddling up by the the fracture in bed to laying on my hip snuggling with me through pain spikes.  I can't imagine life without him.

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