Kodlak

That’s Kodlak! He’s adorable! Yes?

Kodlak is seven months old and lives in Ohio with Lauren and Mike.
Kodlak has histoplasmosis and he needs a lot of medical care so he can vanquish that nasty fungal infection. Mike and Lauren are hardworking kids, a little younger than our nieces and nephews. The veterinary bills are already high and are going to continue to be significant as treatment will take several months.

Tonight Lauren and Mike launched a fundraising page for Kodlak over on Indiegogo. I had been hoping they would and as soon as I saw Lauren’s Tweet I made a modest contribution.

Kodlak reminds me of our cat Rory. Rory was a small, all black stray who found his way to us many years ago. He was ever so sweet. We called all the neighbors to see if he belonged to anyone. The elderly man next door said that he had been feeding the little guy, but that he couldn’t take him in. So we did. We took him to our wonderful vet who gave him a good check up, vaccinated and microchipped him. Unfortunately, little more than a week later, Rory was having trouble breathing. We rushed him back to our vet who ordered an X-Ray. That showed Rory had a very large infection in his chest. The doc speculated that while Rory was out in the wild he was in some sort of fight and was wounded in his side. The skin had healed over but the infection was growing inside and pressing on his lungs. Without the X-Ray there would have been no way to tell what was happening. That was why Rory passed his well-kitty check-up with flying colors only a week before.

Our vet ran an IV with fluids and handed us the X-Rays. We bundled Rory up in a blanket and I held him in my arms, with the IV bag in the air, while Chuck drove us to Tufts University Veterinary Hospital in North Grafton, Massachusetts. Our vet had called ahead so they were expecting us. They examined Rory immediately. The doctors told us they would have to perform surgery to drain the fluid and deal with the infection. They also asked for a substantial payment before they could operate. We handed over a credit card and well over a $1,000 was charged. They told us it could be closer to $2,000 when all was said and done. We didn’t have $1,000 to spare, but we knew we had to do all we could for Rory.

We drove home worried but hopeful. Surely, Tufts would be able to help. Shortly after arriving home we got a call. The doctors had Rory on the operating table and they didn’t believe he could be saved; the infection was too great; his body too severely compromised. They were calling us to get permission to suspend the emergency life savings measures they were performing. So we had to let Rory go. The next day we drove back to Tufts and picked up his body. We buried him under the crabapple tree.

Maybe it’s because Kodlak reminds me of Rory. Maybe it’s because I am familiar with what Lauren and Mike are going through with the backing and forthing to the vet and trying to administer medicines at home. Maybe it’s because Lauren is fierce and funny and does not suffer fools gladly and I admire her feistiness. Most likely it’s “all of the above” and that’s why I wanted to help.

I hope you will too. Here is their fundraising page: Help Kodlak Kick Histoplasmosis.

Even if you can’t donate right now, do click through to see some more cute photos of Kodlak on the “gallery” page.