Hello folks, I have a personal post here today, and I am asking for a little assistance if anyone is so inclined. I have started a ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/nightforestbooks

I had initially envisioned as a place to perhaps receive tips to support this blog, and I have plans to print and sell a little zine/chapbook thingy I wrote last year. These are still in the works, but for the moment I have had to pivot to requesting donations to support the work my mother and I do to care for 12 rescue cats.

I had been thinking about doing that for awhile as well, just to help defray the costs of the general upkeep of feeding and caring for 12 cats. But I have finally gone ahead and set it up now, because my mother and I could really use some assistance right now.

In the span of about a month, we had three different cats develop medical issues, that have continued to compound.

First, Erasmus got sick, and developed a severe bladder issue, resulting in crystals forming in his urethra, blocking it, and causing a major infection. He was in the care of the vet for four days, had to have all kinds of procedures, catheters, meds, etc. But he seemed to have made a full recover when we finally brought him home.

Then, Freya developed a fever and vomiting, and when we got her checked out, we discovered that she is starting to develop kidney issues due to her age, that might result in kidney failure. She’s on a medication for that now, and a diet change, but we have to monitor it carefully to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

And THEN, our old man Grady stopped eating. We already knew he had hyperthyroidism, and he’s been on meds for that for about six months, so we assumed this was a sign that his thyroid was worse and we needed to change his medication. But it turned out a lot of his teeth had gone bad. He had to have nine teeth surgically removed, which was not a cheap procedure!!!!

 And THEN, Erasmus got sick again. We took him back to the vet, and the crystals have already reformed after only 3-4 weeks, which means it is a chronic issue that is going to require a very serious major surgery. 

He is scheduled for the surgery on Friday. I have had to take out a $4500 loan to pay for that. And for all the vet visits and procedures of the past month, my mother and I paid somwhere around $3-4000 in total.

AND we are going to have to shift to prescription diet can food for all three of these cats, so the budget of their general care is going to go up as well.

Long story short (too late, I know!): we need all the help we can get. Any help at all is greatly appreciated. If you are so inclined, you can donate at the ko-fi link here: https://ko-fi.com/nightforestbooks and you can also see a full “Cat Roll Call” with photos and descriptions of all 12 cats we currently take care of. Thanks everyone!

(And don’t worry, there will still be an actual book-related post on Saturday as scheduled.)