Here's the text on the GoFundMe webpage.
Hello Everyone,
This page is for the sole purpose of humbly asking anyone who reads this, to please help our kitty, Nightmare. Nightmare has a severe wound on her upper right thigh and needs surgery. It is a very tricky procedure because the wound is very close to the anus where a lot of sensory and motor nerves are present. The wound itself is almost 2 inches deep and 1 inch wide. Furthermore, we will need plenty of antibiotics after the surgery to make sure the wound does not get a bacterial infection due to it's close proximity to the anus.
This situation happened two months ago in the middle of December 2012. My girlfriend and I came back to our apartment from work to find some gross puddles on our bed comforter. One of our cats has a hobby of chewing plastic bags or scotch tape and ultimately puking it all out. So naturally, we thought the smelly puddles and splotches were just cat vomit. Two days later we noticed Nightmare walking away from us with her tail raised. It was then that we saw the large gash. We rushed her to the nearest veterinary to get it checked out and the main doctor there said that it was most likely caused from her sitting on a sharp object. I can tell you right now that my girlfriend and I have looked everywhere and we have still yet to find anything sharp laying around, especially because we had just moved into our apartment at the time and most items were still packed in boxes. If we did not do the surgery to close the wound, then it would most likely get much worse because the wound would get bigger and infected. We got Nightmare the surgery of having her stitched up, which cost us about $550 for everything. We're not very well off by any means and so I was forced to max out my credit card for this bill. 5 weeks later Nightmare's wound finally looked healed and we thought we had put this behind us once and for all.
Fast forward to 3 days ago Feb 18th.
We came home from work and saw the same stains again, but this time on the carpet. I immediately checked Nightmare's wound, even though it was supposedly healed. I noticed that there was a small hole the size of a Cheerio. It wasn't deep and it looked like it was a scrape more than anything. Since the vet was closed at the time, we decided to wait until the next day to get her to the vet for a check up. The next day when the vet took a look at her wound, the previous large wound had completely opened up again. The doctor reassured us that if it is the same wound, then we would not have to pay for the procedure again. After taking Nightmare back and examining the wound further, a nurse came into the examination room to give us a new estimate. It was $550. We questioned her on why we had to pay the same price again for the same wound that was supposedly "healed". She told us that they fulfilled their responsibility in healing the previous wound, therefore this is a new wound probably caused from Nightmare sitting on a sharp object again. My girlfriend and I did not buy into this. We left for a second opinion at another veterinary. To be honest, we are not very savvy when it comes to animal injuries and what types of vets to go to. We needed to find someone who could give us better explanations of what had caused this injury and how to prevent it from happening in the future. This has been a very traumatizing experience for us all and we really don't want Nightmare to have to go through something like this again.
Anyway, the second vet that we visited referred us to an animal surgeon at the Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital. This surgeon specializes in injuries similar to Nightmare's gash.
At this current veterinary, we immediately felt more comfortable because the nurses were asking lots of questions and even the front desk was run much more professionally. Our animal surgeon told me that this wound was most likely caused from a cat fight that coincidentally involved Nightmare's anal gland. The anal gland must have ruptured (causing the smelly puddles) and caused the wound to get bigger. He assured me that if this is indeed the case, then it can be fixed and healed. The only problem is that it would cost an estimated $3,000 with meds and supplies included, as well as the over-night stay for monitoring.
Here's a brief Bio of Nightmare. We had adopted her back in 2002 from an animal hospital. Her previous owners had de-clawed and spayed her. We don't know how it happened, but the animal hospital had found her in the streets and took her in. Nightmare has always been a wary but considerate and obedient cat. Because she was on the streets for awhile, she was in "survival mode" for most of her life with us. It took many years of loving before she finally started to act all cuddly. I know she's an old kitty now but we just can't imagine losing her or even seeing her in pain. Nightmare is one of those "talkative" kitties. Every morning when I wake up, she and I would have a nice conversation... and to be honest, it's a better motivator than morning coffee. When we go to sleep, she'll jump on the bed right away and nestle by our feet. This might sound mundane or even lame, but to us, it is a simple delight that we do not take for granted. Please help us bring Nightmare back to health so that she can continue to have wonderful conversations with us and continue to bring us the best joy anyone can ask for.
Thank you all for reading this page.
Here are some pictures. I'm a terrible photographer and it was really hard to get a shot of the wound. I also apologize for the bad quality.
[Estimate for the surgery without meds]
Hello Everyone,
This page is for the sole purpose of humbly asking anyone who reads this, to please help our kitty, Nightmare. Nightmare has a severe wound on her upper right thigh and needs surgery. It is a very tricky procedure because the wound is very close to the anus where a lot of sensory and motor nerves are present. The wound itself is almost 2 inches deep and 1 inch wide. Furthermore, we will need plenty of antibiotics after the surgery to make sure the wound does not get a bacterial infection due to it's close proximity to the anus.
This situation happened two months ago in the middle of December 2012. My girlfriend and I came back to our apartment from work to find some gross puddles on our bed comforter. One of our cats has a hobby of chewing plastic bags or scotch tape and ultimately puking it all out. So naturally, we thought the smelly puddles and splotches were just cat vomit. Two days later we noticed Nightmare walking away from us with her tail raised. It was then that we saw the large gash. We rushed her to the nearest veterinary to get it checked out and the main doctor there said that it was most likely caused from her sitting on a sharp object. I can tell you right now that my girlfriend and I have looked everywhere and we have still yet to find anything sharp laying around, especially because we had just moved into our apartment at the time and most items were still packed in boxes. If we did not do the surgery to close the wound, then it would most likely get much worse because the wound would get bigger and infected. We got Nightmare the surgery of having her stitched up, which cost us about $550 for everything. We're not very well off by any means and so I was forced to max out my credit card for this bill. 5 weeks later Nightmare's wound finally looked healed and we thought we had put this behind us once and for all.
Fast forward to 3 days ago Feb 18th.
We came home from work and saw the same stains again, but this time on the carpet. I immediately checked Nightmare's wound, even though it was supposedly healed. I noticed that there was a small hole the size of a Cheerio. It wasn't deep and it looked like it was a scrape more than anything. Since the vet was closed at the time, we decided to wait until the next day to get her to the vet for a check up. The next day when the vet took a look at her wound, the previous large wound had completely opened up again. The doctor reassured us that if it is the same wound, then we would not have to pay for the procedure again. After taking Nightmare back and examining the wound further, a nurse came into the examination room to give us a new estimate. It was $550. We questioned her on why we had to pay the same price again for the same wound that was supposedly "healed". She told us that they fulfilled their responsibility in healing the previous wound, therefore this is a new wound probably caused from Nightmare sitting on a sharp object again. My girlfriend and I did not buy into this. We left for a second opinion at another veterinary. To be honest, we are not very savvy when it comes to animal injuries and what types of vets to go to. We needed to find someone who could give us better explanations of what had caused this injury and how to prevent it from happening in the future. This has been a very traumatizing experience for us all and we really don't want Nightmare to have to go through something like this again.
Anyway, the second vet that we visited referred us to an animal surgeon at the Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital. This surgeon specializes in injuries similar to Nightmare's gash.
At this current veterinary, we immediately felt more comfortable because the nurses were asking lots of questions and even the front desk was run much more professionally. Our animal surgeon told me that this wound was most likely caused from a cat fight that coincidentally involved Nightmare's anal gland. The anal gland must have ruptured (causing the smelly puddles) and caused the wound to get bigger. He assured me that if this is indeed the case, then it can be fixed and healed. The only problem is that it would cost an estimated $3,000 with meds and supplies included, as well as the over-night stay for monitoring.
Here's a brief Bio of Nightmare. We had adopted her back in 2002 from an animal hospital. Her previous owners had de-clawed and spayed her. We don't know how it happened, but the animal hospital had found her in the streets and took her in. Nightmare has always been a wary but considerate and obedient cat. Because she was on the streets for awhile, she was in "survival mode" for most of her life with us. It took many years of loving before she finally started to act all cuddly. I know she's an old kitty now but we just can't imagine losing her or even seeing her in pain. Nightmare is one of those "talkative" kitties. Every morning when I wake up, she and I would have a nice conversation... and to be honest, it's a better motivator than morning coffee. When we go to sleep, she'll jump on the bed right away and nestle by our feet. This might sound mundane or even lame, but to us, it is a simple delight that we do not take for granted. Please help us bring Nightmare back to health so that she can continue to have wonderful conversations with us and continue to bring us the best joy anyone can ask for.
Thank you all for reading this page.
Here are some pictures. I'm a terrible photographer and it was really hard to get a shot of the wound. I also apologize for the bad quality.
[Estimate for the surgery without meds]
