Thrilled and humbled

As I mentioned previously here, when I first thought about catching the gravely wounded Big Mike, I realized I was asking to contend with some fairly scary medical bills to nurse him back to health. But I could not just let him wander around the bushes, leg oozing blood and pus, until he died. My heart broke for how much he was clearly suffering. So I took him in, and asked Dr. Sue to both give me a break on the costs, and also on her policy of expecting payment when services were rendered. I had no idea how I would raise the money to bring him back to health, but I knew it didn’t make good [ahem] fiscal sense to empty my own meager bank account for a kitty I just met. My own brood costs me enough as it is!

Then I learned about this terrific new website: https://www.loveanimals.org It turns out that you don’t have to be a nonprofit to do some crowd-funding on it – you can do it as an individual needing help with vet bills, as long as the money goes directly to the vet. So I took a chance, set up a campaign page for Big Mike, sent my request to some friends I knew were aware of my work… and within a day, my fund was filled! The biggest heroine: my old friend Jessica, who adopted the kittens Oberon and Ariel two years ago.
https://www.loveanimals.org/big-mike-needs-help-with-his-vet-bills.html

I seriously could not believe it. To say I was humbled by and deeply grateful for the outpouring is a vast understatement. I knew that Big Mike wasn’t the draw; it was the work itself. My work. I’m trying to let that soak in and it feels pretty wonderful.

So I’ve met Mike’s bills, and even have a buffer in case he needs a second surgery. As for the patient himself, he met the news with a contented yawn, not realizing what a lucky kitty he is. “Lucky” is not how he’d describe himself after Dr. Sue’s visit today, in which she cleaned and re-dressed his leg wound (which is getting better!) and dug around in his shoulder abscess, pulling out no fewer than FIVE foxtails, which explains why it refuses to heal up. I steeled myself to watch her work this time, so that I could become a better nurse, but when this extraction started happening, I had to take my heaving stomach in the other room. Mike, on the other hand, and despite some squirming, took it like a champ.

“You call this lucky?!”

He’s sleeping it off, and I’m basking in the fact that his needs are taken care of. It really does take a village to heal a cat, and I’m so grateful to those who have my back. And to my spirit guides for helping me be the connector for good things.