To be frank here, I’m not normally the kind of person to do this, to go online and ask things of total strangers. Normally I try to figure out an answer on my own, but this time things are beyond me. I need help and I’m hoping that this might circulate enough to help me find it.
The sweet darling you see above is named Roberta. She has been with my mother for over three years now, and she is an absolute darling. Roberta is known to find those she is affectionate toward and curl up in their laps, on their chests, or across their shoulders for loving. When my mom sleeps at night Roberta slips over to her, crawls under the blankets, and sleeps on her chest. This cat is pure affection, and beautiful to boot… Until the combination of her returning medical condition and Hurricane Sandy combined to put my mother into an untenable situation.
Unfortunately, as you see in the last two pictures, Roberta is not well. That red you see? That isn’t cotton, that is a polyp growing in her ear. It bleed frequently and contact with it creates serious bleeding. The pain and irritation have driven Roberta batty, and she eats less, pulls out her fur, and refuses to let the other cat or the dog in the house get near her because they try to lick her ear to make her better, but only make it bleed. Roberta has lost two pounds since Sandy and while she’s a small cat she looks and feels like flesh and bones. I can’t pet her without feeling every vertebra distinctly, and she is feather light to pick up now. As for the medical condition, well… Here is a bit of information my mom has provided about the condition of our lovely Roberta.
"I have been searching desperately for help or advice concerning my "rescue kitty" Roberta. She has chronic polyps that grow inside her ear canals and the one pictured is particularly fast-growing. The only option for her (aside from euthanasia) is surgery to remove her ear canals. Surgery will leave Roberta deaf, of course, but she’s a much loved and pampered indoor-only kitty and I would rather have her deaf and comfortable as opposed to putting her down so she doesn’t suffer.
Roberta has already had two surgeries to remove the polyps but they keep growing back. The vet recommended removing the ear canals and I agreed it was best. Before the surgery was scheduled, Hurricane Sandy came along and destroyed the house I was renting, all my possessions, my savings account, and my credit.”
My mom had only been living in New Jersey for a few months before Sandy hit. Pretty much every single possession she had with her was destroyed or ruined. While things survive from being in storage back in Ohio as her move hadn’t been completed, Sandy has ruined her as it has ruined many lives. But, despite it all, my mom had come through it with both of her cats. It was enough to have that and her family. Unfortunately the situation was stressful and by taking almost everything away from her, they took away what money my mother had been setting aside to help Roberta.
That was, as we all know, over a year ago. My mother has been having trouble with jobs, with hours, with minimum wage, and getting back into a real home is now a far more pressing need than helping her cat. Which is why she is searching for something to help her.
The surgery Roberta needs has been estimated at nearly $4000. My mother and I are not asking for that. Not yet. We’re desperate but we haven’t reached the point of begging stranger for money for Roberta. Instead what spare time my mother has is put toward research. She searches for organizations, funds, vets, vet schools, anything that can help her help Roberta at a lower cost.
What do my mother and I need? Information. Advice. Someone to point us in the right direction. If you can provide us information on any of the following please send me a message here, reblog this with an answer, send me fanmail, or just send me a message to ask me for contact information for me so we can have a longer conversation or exchange websites or anything else like that.
We are looking for:
My mom closes her e-mails to the various organizations she contacts with this, and I feel it works here too.
"Roberta truly is a darling little kitty and she has been such a wonderful companion, especially since Hurricane Sandy took our relaxed life away. She deserves to live out her life in comfort."
Please help us if you can. I ask you for my mother. I ask you for Roberta. I ask you for my memories of terrible fevers made easier by having the most affectionate little ball of fluff curl up on my pillow and purr so loud that she woke me out of horrifying fever dreams.
Please, help us, even if it is only a reblog to try and reach users in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Thank you.
izzy806
amandla
romaincrisis
stormborns
kianamaiart
vaporwave
dailybridgerton
