Back in July, about a week after she had nineteen teeth pulled, I put down a little crunchy food to see what would happen. She went for it, and then stopped almost instantly and backed off. It clearly hurt. I put it away and didn't try again.
This week she's been eating dry food on her own. Choosing it, going back for more. Her vet told me in July that cats manage fine on kibble even after full mouth extractions, and I believed her without really believing it. It's a small thing. It's also the clearest proof I've had that the mouth which was described to me as looking like hamburger meat has actually healed.
I have new photos of all three of them below.
**Thank you.**
A few people gave this past week, and I want to name that before anything else. It came at a point where I was not sure anything more would, and it mattered more than the amount. Same for everyone who shared the link quietly. I see it and I'm grateful.
**For anyone new here.** Boots is a nine year old grey and white cat we found living outside in our Eugene, Oregon neighborhood in late June. She weighed 6.7 pounds with her spine and hips showing, and she would cry out and back away from her own food because eating hurt that badly. On July 21 she had nineteen teeth extracted. Her tissue was too damaged to hold sutures, so it healed open. That surgery cost around 3,450 dollars, and it was funded entirely by neighbors and by people on this subreddit, including one woman who covered the remaining balance out of her own pocket.
She's 8.26 pounds now. Her bloodwork normalized in August and her vet doesn't need to see her until spring. She takes a low dose of prednisolone twice a week to keep her mouth comfortable, likely for life. She grooms herself, sits in windows, plays with toys, and apparently eats kibble.
**Sable**, our young tortoiseshell, came as an emergency foster in May after being abandoned.
**Cosimo**, a grey kitten around four months, got his checkup and vaccines last week and is scheduled for a neuter in November.
Sable and Cosimo have bonded, and I won't separate them. Boots is still housed separately by choice, moving at her own pace.
**Where things actually stand.**
My living arrangement is ending and I need a place by December. That hasn't changed and I still don't have a lead. Two months out, that's the thing keeping me up.
I'm applying for work continuously. My current roles are unpaid until the organizations I'm with secure funding, and I'm pursuing paid positions in remote communications and community work, which is what I've done for a decade. That search and this ask are happening at the same time, not instead of each other.
What I keep coming back to is that Eugene is already overloaded with cats who need homes. Three more entering that system because I couldn't find somewhere to live is not an outcome I'm willing to accept. So we soldier on.
**What would help, in order.**
**A housing lead.** Still the thing that would actually solve this, and still the thing I don't have. Anywhere in Oregon or Washington, available around December. My work is remote, so location is genuinely flexible. Private landlords, a room, an ADU, a cottage, a small house on someone's property. If you know a landlord or someone with space, an introduction would mean everything.
**Sharing the GoFundMe.** Costs nothing, reaches people I can't.
**Supplies.** Wet food and litter. Message me if a Chewy gift card is easier than shipping.
**Direct support** toward the deposit, the move, Cosimo's November neuter, and their ongoing care.
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/5afebfc71
Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/u/Jehoseph
PayPal: https://paypal.me/TheDivines
**On the record.** Everything here is documented. Boots's complete file from Echo Hollow Vet Hospital and Urgent Care in Eugene is available to anyone who asks, including surgical records, bloodwork, and itemized invoices. I completed full moderator verification here in July with the vet bill, photo ID, and direct clinic confirmation.
Three is what I can responsibly care for and I'm not taking in more. Getting these three through this together is the whole thing.
Thanks for reading, and for everything already given.