When my husband and I began our adoption journey, we weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into but we knew as soon as we saw the sweet gray cat rubbing against the bars in his isolation cage that we were taking Hippo home. What was initially thought to be a simple upper respiratory infection that could be treated with antibiotics turned out to be a much more complex (and costly) matter.
Hippo was adopted from the Bloomington Animal Shelter on January 6th, 2024. This was the first cat my husband and I adopted together and we immediately fell in love with him. We were sent home with multiple medications to administer at home to treat Hippo’s upper respiratory infection. He sounded like a wheezy, stuffy little kid and we hoped the medicine would do the job.
After being looked at by a local veterinarian, it was determined that Hippo had a visible polyp in his ear. The Animal Shelter was very accommodating and set up an appointment to have the polyp removed. After learning more about the possibilities with polyp removal and types of polyps in cats, we realized we may be spending a bit more than the (very reasonable) $90 adoption fee we had planned for. After several trips to a local vet for polyp removal and recovery appointments, weeks of Hippo wearing a cone, days of syringed medications, and a not so happy kitty we determined that the initial surgery had not resolved the extent of Hippo’s issues.
We reached out to several specialized surgery centers in Indianapolis to find that the costs for the next surgery were estimated around a few thousand dollars depending on the extent of the procedures needed. My husband and I knew we could not afford to go through with these procedures and pay the cost but recommendations from each consultation indicated that this would be required if we wanted our cat to have the best quality of life. Enter Stacy and Lil Bub’s Big Fund. After being put in touch through the Animal Shelter, Stacy was more than willing to help support us through coverage of our surgery expenses. We were able to go through with all planned procedures with the help of Lil Bub’s Big Fund being fully confident that the cost of the surgery bill could be covered no matter what needed to be done during the procedure.
The day Hippo got home from his surgery my husband and I noticed a change… we weren’t sure where Hippo was because we COULDN’T HEAR HIS BREATHING! No more wheezy breaths, no more stuffy nose, our sweet boy could just breathe. I could tell Hippo slept so well that first night and every night since. He likes to lay right between my husband and I in bed each night and sleep in each morning. Hippo is currently polyp free and we hope it stays that way. I’m sure if he could speak he would tell us how grateful he is to Lil Bub’s Big Fund for helping him breathe no matter what position he is in (pictured evidence below) and we cannot thank Stacy enough for helping us get the care we needed to give our new member of the family his best life. Lil Bub made such an impact on the Bloomington community and we are glad to see the legacy live on through supporting other kitties and pets in Bloomington live their best lives.
Thank you Lil Bub!
