Brother, the newest rescue from the psycho’s hunting ground, turns out that he has a possible either trick knee or a broken kneecap. He was the first to the vet. I wondered about him, because ever since rescuing him, he walks low to the ground and kind of slinky-like. He seemed to have an off gait, so I finally took him in on Weds and they believe that he either has a knee that slips, or that he might have a fracture. He wouldn’t let them really examine him and they didn’t do films. Unlike dogs, when cats have this condition (crucate ligament) they don’t jump into surgery. it is 6-8 weeks cage rest and medication before they will re-examine him and determine if it is fractured or not. The estimate for Brother’s surgery should it happen is $832.00.

About seven months ago, one of our tuxedo kitties Mercedes vanished. She has been her over fourteen years, she is an inside, outside kitty. She came back all of a sudden on Thursday night! I saw her at the feral feeders and did a double take. She left here weighing 14 pounds, she now weighs four! I don’t know where she has been or what has happened, and when I brought her inside, she lay down by her food dish, dabbed her paw into the canned food and licked her paws. She couldn’t eat normally. I had to wait until morning to take her in and it was discovered she has 3 badly abscessed teeth that will need to be removed if the antibiotics and steroids don’t take down the swelling and inflammation. Her estimate:$658.50  praying the meds work.

Then Mike comes home today. he is very weak, he is very pale but he is on oral meds with home health care workers to come in and change his dressings daily. Cooper was outside in the backyard, and I opened up the patio door to call him inside. He came in at a dead run. We have four rather stout wooden stairs before you get to the door- and Cooper leapt onto the stairs. He slipped, his back legs slid underneath the spacing between the stairs. He panicked- flipped on his back, thrust his legs up at an angle (they were still trapped in the small space) I heard this horrendous crack and he screamed unlike any dog I have ever heard. he was screaming, trying to right himself and I rushed down the stairs to help him untrap himself and when I touched his back, he bit me hard. Now you had not only a dog screaming, but me too. Somehow he got himself free and when he scrambled into the house, I saw his back left leg wrapped at a weird angle around his right one. He was screaming all the way. I followed him, got him to at least lie down- grabbed a blanket and went to wrap him up and get him in the truck, but I minute I went near him, he lunged at me to bite me again. 🙁  I jumped back which scared him and he ran three legged to his cage. I shut his door. Dragged the huge cage to the truck and with Mike’s help got the cage lifted up and in the truck. He screamed the entire way to the vet.

He has broken his left shaft leg bone and completely broken his femur, The head to the femur is jammed into his upper leg bone and his surgery will be on Monday morning first thing. He’s at the vet on happy drugs and he finally stopped screaming. His estimate for this intensive surgery is $1,500.00 🙁  CATS still owes on the original vet bill $812.00- so adding these two possible surgeries and then Cooper’s surgery- the bill is again going  in the OMG range.  I can’t catch a break this week- no pun intended. If someone is just sitting there with $5.00 and doesn’t know what to do- could you send it our way? I am hoping the meds will kick in for Mercedes and her dental won’t be necessary- but Brother, his knee is quite painful and I don’t believe it is a “trick” kneecap. It keeps popping out of place even when he is on cage rest.

Thank you for anything you can send and please pray for Cooper on Monday morning- the surgery is going to long and difficult for dog and vet.

And just to clarify- any monies received within this 6-8 week confinement would only go on the cats. Cooper is our dog, we love him so much and he is our financial responsibility to handle. It would be unethical to use CATS money in this way and would never be done. I went to see him this morning, and I had to leave quickly because he was so glad to see me I was afraid he would fracture his tail he was hammering it so against the small confines of his cage. That’s all I need, for him to break yet another bone!