I never thought I'd have to make one of these posts.
My name is Dominique Brooks. I live in Cary, North Carolina. I've been underemployed or just straight-up unemployed for the last two years. And I own three cats and a dog, all of whom are wonderful.
I almost lost one of them, Al, today.
Two years ago, Al had a bladder infection. It was pretty straight-forward; they flushed his bladder, gave him some steroids to reduce the inflammation of his penis, and sent him home. It was short, to the point, and while he was in discomfort he wasn't in any real pain. He went to an emergency vet, which was very expensive, but he was fine after that. It made me hyper-aware of Al's urination habits, though, and I always kind of hover over him when he uses the litter box to make sure he's all right.
Two nights ago I noticed Al was trying to go outside of the box, but in weird places like on a piece of paper on my roommate's floor or in Hachi's food bowl. When he attempted to go in Hachi's bowl, only a few drops came out. I decided to take him to the vet the next day, either before or after class. It didn't work out that way, and I almost skipped class to take him but my history teacher kind of has a thing about missing class time and I was afraid of making her angry. Al was behaving like himself, he was eating and playing with Hachi and Dizzy, and I mistakenly thought I saw him use the litter box successfully, so I decided that if he somehow seriously declined I would take him to the emergency vet after I got done with class at 9:30.
I went to my classes and came home. Al was curled up under my bed, which he does sometimes. They all do, actually, even Hachi when he has room to crawl under. I fed the cats, and he didn't come out like he usually does. I took a look at him under my bed and got the carrier down just in case. He kind of fussed when I tried to move him so I decided to leave him be, and just take him to the vet first thing in the morning.
I got up this morning and took him to the vet as I said I would. I left him there, because my vet's awesome and I knew he was in capable hands. About an hour after I dropped him off, I got a call back from them. Al's bladder was swollen and they were unable to manually express it, so they needed to perform surgery on him to insert a catheter and relieve him. This made me concerned, because last time wasn't like this. Last time they flushed it, and he was fine. They also warned me that it was going to cost $500, which was basically every penny I had. I told them fine and to do it because I'm not letting him suffer if he's obviously uncomfortable. I called my mother, and she went to the bank to give me some money to help out with the expense.
I go to class, I come home, I tried to busy myself with things like hugging the other animals and doing my math homework. Around 3:00 I got another call from the vet telling me that Al was waking up, that she had some things to discuss with me when I came in at 5:00, and that he needed to go straight to the emergency clinic to be monitored at least for 24 hours. I kind of faltered at this, mostly because that didn't sound good for Al but also because emergency vets are expensive and I'd already spent all of my money. But again, it's my cat and he's worth it.
I killed more time but I finally couldn't wait anymore and went to the vet to get him at 4:45. I had to sit and wait a little while, but they finally sat me down first to talk to me.
Al almost didn't make it through the surgery, and he almost didn't wake up from the anesthesia. He was slow to respond, and his blockage was so bad they almost had to just completely remove his penis all together. (I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but cat penises are extremely disproportionately small compared to their body stature. Cats are also prone to urinary tract problems in general.) Of course when they told me this I immediately began to cry because he's my cat and the thought that he almost didn't make it is horrifying.
I managed to collect myself, and that was when they brought him to me. One tech was carrying him, the other was carrying his carrier and urine bag.
The urine in the bag was maroon. It was filled with blood.
I started to cry a second time, the techs were very reassuring and gave me all of the information to take to the emergency clinic. They arranged Al in the carrier with his bag for me, and I carefully took him to my car. I immediately took him to the emergency clinic, where they greeted me at the door. My vet had called them and told them the situation in advance.
They took Al from me to get him situated in the back and I filled out the relevant paperwork. The vet for the emergency clinic came out to talk to me after speaking on the phone with my regular doctor. She also gave me an estimate in case he needed to stay there the entire weekend. She said she would do everything to make sure that didn't happen, and told me she'd call me as soon as his blood work came back.
I basically drove home while crying hysterically, walked through my front door crying hysterically, and sat on the couch crying hysterically. I didn't, and still don't, understand this. He went through this exact same thing before and was fine. Why is he so much worse this time? Did I not do something? All I can do is blame myself for this, which I am doing in spades right now. I just don't understand. Yes I joke that he's evil but he's my tiniest cat. He's barely four years old. I don't know what I'll do, I really don't.
The vet called with the results of his blood work and his...I don't honestly know what specifically is wrong with him, except that it's so high the vet can't even read it. And that she can't tell me that he'll make it through this because she honestly has no idea. A guarded prognosis, I think is what she said. I was busy trying not to lose it again, which I did once the phone was hung up.
This also means that he has to stay at the clinic until Monday.
Here's where the never thought I'd have to do this part comes in. The estimated charges for his hospital stay are $1248.
I don't have this kind of money, and my parents were struggling with the $500, so I can't really ask them for this on top of that.
I know things are hard right now for everyone, I know it's near the end of the month and bills are coming due. But please, if you can spare anything at all, if you could send it to my paypal at StarryFire@aol.com, please I will never be able to thank you enough from the bottom of my heart. I'm also making this post public in case anyone wants to repost it.
Here is the information for the clinic if you think I'm making this up and you want to call and verify that Al Brooks is there as a patient:
Animal Emergency Clinic of Cary
220 High House Rd.
Cary, NC
919-462-8989
I sincerely appreciate you reading Al's story. Thank you in advance to those of you who offer help.
Edit: Al's urine is clear now, and he is resting after a surprise second round of surgery. However, his kidney levels are still quite high, which means he has to stay on IV fluids indefinitely. This means that he can't come home tomorrow, which is increasing the cost of the vet bills. I don't have a new estimate yet, as during the day tomorrow he will be back at the regular vet for observation and fluid pushing. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far, I sincerely appreciate all of your help. Unfortunately, it's not over yet but hopefully soon.
Edit: I'm pretty sure I've made enough to cover his projected expenses. For the time being, I am no longer accepting donations. I'll let you guys know if anything changes. Thank you so very much for all of the kindness the last few days, I'm overwhelmed and deeply full of gratitude.
Edit: Unfortunately, there is a 50-50 chance that Al won't make it. He has to stay in hospitals over night and I decide on Wednesday if his kidney levels are still elevated how to proceed.
I almost lost one of them, Al, today.
Two years ago, Al had a bladder infection. It was pretty straight-forward; they flushed his bladder, gave him some steroids to reduce the inflammation of his penis, and sent him home. It was short, to the point, and while he was in discomfort he wasn't in any real pain. He went to an emergency vet, which was very expensive, but he was fine after that. It made me hyper-aware of Al's urination habits, though, and I always kind of hover over him when he uses the litter box to make sure he's all right.
Two nights ago I noticed Al was trying to go outside of the box, but in weird places like on a piece of paper on my roommate's floor or in Hachi's food bowl. When he attempted to go in Hachi's bowl, only a few drops came out. I decided to take him to the vet the next day, either before or after class. It didn't work out that way, and I almost skipped class to take him but my history teacher kind of has a thing about missing class time and I was afraid of making her angry. Al was behaving like himself, he was eating and playing with Hachi and Dizzy, and I mistakenly thought I saw him use the litter box successfully, so I decided that if he somehow seriously declined I would take him to the emergency vet after I got done with class at 9:30.
I went to my classes and came home. Al was curled up under my bed, which he does sometimes. They all do, actually, even Hachi when he has room to crawl under. I fed the cats, and he didn't come out like he usually does. I took a look at him under my bed and got the carrier down just in case. He kind of fussed when I tried to move him so I decided to leave him be, and just take him to the vet first thing in the morning.
I got up this morning and took him to the vet as I said I would. I left him there, because my vet's awesome and I knew he was in capable hands. About an hour after I dropped him off, I got a call back from them. Al's bladder was swollen and they were unable to manually express it, so they needed to perform surgery on him to insert a catheter and relieve him. This made me concerned, because last time wasn't like this. Last time they flushed it, and he was fine. They also warned me that it was going to cost $500, which was basically every penny I had. I told them fine and to do it because I'm not letting him suffer if he's obviously uncomfortable. I called my mother, and she went to the bank to give me some money to help out with the expense.
I go to class, I come home, I tried to busy myself with things like hugging the other animals and doing my math homework. Around 3:00 I got another call from the vet telling me that Al was waking up, that she had some things to discuss with me when I came in at 5:00, and that he needed to go straight to the emergency clinic to be monitored at least for 24 hours. I kind of faltered at this, mostly because that didn't sound good for Al but also because emergency vets are expensive and I'd already spent all of my money. But again, it's my cat and he's worth it.
I killed more time but I finally couldn't wait anymore and went to the vet to get him at 4:45. I had to sit and wait a little while, but they finally sat me down first to talk to me.
Al almost didn't make it through the surgery, and he almost didn't wake up from the anesthesia. He was slow to respond, and his blockage was so bad they almost had to just completely remove his penis all together. (I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but cat penises are extremely disproportionately small compared to their body stature. Cats are also prone to urinary tract problems in general.) Of course when they told me this I immediately began to cry because he's my cat and the thought that he almost didn't make it is horrifying.
I managed to collect myself, and that was when they brought him to me. One tech was carrying him, the other was carrying his carrier and urine bag.
The urine in the bag was maroon. It was filled with blood.
I started to cry a second time, the techs were very reassuring and gave me all of the information to take to the emergency clinic. They arranged Al in the carrier with his bag for me, and I carefully took him to my car. I immediately took him to the emergency clinic, where they greeted me at the door. My vet had called them and told them the situation in advance.
They took Al from me to get him situated in the back and I filled out the relevant paperwork. The vet for the emergency clinic came out to talk to me after speaking on the phone with my regular doctor. She also gave me an estimate in case he needed to stay there the entire weekend. She said she would do everything to make sure that didn't happen, and told me she'd call me as soon as his blood work came back.
I basically drove home while crying hysterically, walked through my front door crying hysterically, and sat on the couch crying hysterically. I didn't, and still don't, understand this. He went through this exact same thing before and was fine. Why is he so much worse this time? Did I not do something? All I can do is blame myself for this, which I am doing in spades right now. I just don't understand. Yes I joke that he's evil but he's my tiniest cat. He's barely four years old. I don't know what I'll do, I really don't.
The vet called with the results of his blood work and his...I don't honestly know what specifically is wrong with him, except that it's so high the vet can't even read it. And that she can't tell me that he'll make it through this because she honestly has no idea. A guarded prognosis, I think is what she said. I was busy trying not to lose it again, which I did once the phone was hung up.
This also means that he has to stay at the clinic until Monday.
Here's where the never thought I'd have to do this part comes in. The estimated charges for his hospital stay are $1248.
I don't have this kind of money, and my parents were struggling with the $500, so I can't really ask them for this on top of that.
I know things are hard right now for everyone, I know it's near the end of the month and bills are coming due. But please, if you can spare anything at all, if you could send it to my paypal at StarryFire@aol.com, please I will never be able to thank you enough from the bottom of my heart. I'm also making this post public in case anyone wants to repost it.
Here is the information for the clinic if you think I'm making this up and you want to call and verify that Al Brooks is there as a patient:
Animal Emergency Clinic of Cary
220 High House Rd.
Cary, NC
919-462-8989
I sincerely appreciate you reading Al's story. Thank you in advance to those of you who offer help.
Edit: Al's urine is clear now, and he is resting after a surprise second round of surgery. However, his kidney levels are still quite high, which means he has to stay on IV fluids indefinitely. This means that he can't come home tomorrow, which is increasing the cost of the vet bills. I don't have a new estimate yet, as during the day tomorrow he will be back at the regular vet for observation and fluid pushing. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far, I sincerely appreciate all of your help. Unfortunately, it's not over yet but hopefully soon.
Edit: I'm pretty sure I've made enough to cover his projected expenses. For the time being, I am no longer accepting donations. I'll let you guys know if anything changes. Thank you so very much for all of the kindness the last few days, I'm overwhelmed and deeply full of gratitude.
Edit: Unfortunately, there is a 50-50 chance that Al won't make it. He has to stay in hospitals over night and I decide on Wednesday if his kidney levels are still elevated how to proceed.