$1,823 Raised so far
14% Of $12,854 goal
134 Verified Donors
28 Days Remaining
$11,031 Still Needed

My cat doesn't even look like a cat anymore. And I have barely any time to save her.

A stray dog destroyed my cat's face. The vet bill is $12,854. And I am completely out of options.

i opened my back door at 11pm and luna was just lying there on the patio.

Not sleeping. Not resting. Lying there in a way that cats don't lie when everything is okay.

 

I took one step toward her and just froze.

 

Because I genuinely did not recognise her. And that fact alone broke something in me that I still have not fully recovered from.

 

I have had Luna for four years. I know her face better than I know my own. She sleeps on my pillow every single night. 

 

She headbutts me awake every morning. She is the first thing I see when I open my eyes and the last thing I check on before I sleep.

 

And I did not recognise her.

 

Her face was so destroyed, so swollen, so completely wrong that my brain could not process it was her. I stood there for what felt like forever just staring.

 

Then she moved. This tiny, exhausted little movement. She dragged her chin along the concrete trying to do her headbutt thing against my hand.

 

And that is when I completely fell apart.

 

I dropped to my knees in the dirt and just sobbed. Like ugly, full body sobbing. 

 

I was shaking so hard I could barely pick her up. Her right eye was bulging outward in a way that eyes are not supposed to bulge. Her left eye was completely matted shut with blood. 

 

Half her face felt wrong under my hands, soft in places it should not be soft.

 

And through all of that she was still trying to comfort me. Still trying to be my Luna.

 

A stray dog had gotten into the garden and done this to her. My garden. The place she had been safe every single day for four years.

 

I wrapped her in a blanket and drove to the emergency vet at midnight. Crying so hard I could barely see the road. Shaking so hard I could barely hold the wheel.

 

I thought that was the worst night of my life. Then I walked into that waiting room.
 

THE WOMAN IN THE CORNER

The waiting room at midnight smells like antiseptic and fear. I know that now.

 

I was sitting there still in my pyjamas, still shaking, Luna's blood dried on my hands because I had been too frantic to even think about washing them. Just staring at the floor waiting for the vet to come back out.

 

That is when I noticed the woman across from me.

 

Older. Grey cardigan. Cat carrier on her lap. She was not on her phone, not reading anything, just sitting completely still and staring at nothing. The way people sit when they are trying very hard not to cry in public.

 

I recognised that feeling. I was doing the exact same thing.

 

After a few minutes I asked if she was okay.

 

She looked up and said: "He's not mine. I found him under my car two hours ago. I couldn't just leave him."

I looked at the carrier in her lap.

 

Inside was a ginger tabby and I want you to understand that what I saw through that carrier door made my stomach drop completely. His back right leg was at an angle that legs are not supposed to be at. 

 

His breathing was fast and shallow like every single breath was costing him something. He was absolutely skeletal. You could see the shape of every bone in his tiny face.

 

No collar. No chip. Nobody coming.

 

The vet came out and gave her the full picture. The leg had been broken 3 to 4 days minimum. He had been dragging himself around on it this entire time. Infection already spreading through the bone. Respiratory infection untreated for weeks. Without surgery that night he had 48 hours.

 

Then the vet said the part that stopped me cold.
 

"If nobody takes financial responsibility for him tonight we have to put him down in the morning. We cannot hold him without a guarantor."

 

The woman started crying. She was on a pension. She had called her daughter on the way over and her daughter couldn't help either. She kept saying "I just couldn't leave him there" over and over.

 

Nobody said anything for about ten seconds.

 

Then before I had even fully thought it through I heard myself say: "I'll cover him. Add him to my bill."

 

I don't fully know why I said it. I just looked at that little ginger cat and he started purring. Barely audible. Terrified and broken and dragging himself around on a shattered leg for four days and still trying to reach out to the humans around him.

 

I could not let that be the last thing he ever did.

 

So now he is my responsibility. His name is Rusty. And I am sitting here with $12,854 in vet bills, completely out of money, and I genuinely need help.

 

LUNA AND RUSTY

Luna. Female. 4 years old. Mine.

 

Deep corneal scratch that requires a specialist surgeon, otherwise it becomes permanent vision loss. 

 

Torn ear. Deep infected bite wounds requiring ICU monitoring. 

 

She is on strong IV antibiotics right now but that is just buying time.

 

She crawled to the back door so I would find her. 

 

She did not give up. 

 

She waited for me.

 

Luna's surgical and ICU treatment: $3,450
 

Yes, I Want to Save Them Both

Rusty. Male. Stray. Around 2 years old.

 

Complex leg reconstruction or amputation. 

 

Lung scarring from untreated pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy. 

 

Body consuming itself from severe malnutrition.

 

He has never had anyone. 

 

Not once in his entire life. And he is still purring at strangers.

 

Rusty's surgical and ICU treatment: $4,860

 

Post-op specialist care, X-rays and meds for both over 12 weeks: $2,844


Emergency buffer for complications: $1,700

 

Total needed: $12,854

 

Every penny goes directly to their care. 

 

I will post every single receipt publicly because I want you to trust me completely on this.

 

Custom Amount

Custom Amount

Tax Included.

Surgery window closing fast
Urgent
-- Days
:
-- Hours
:
-- Min
:
-- Sec
€
Minimum is €10
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Visa
$1,823 Raised so far
14% Of $12,854 goal
134 Verified Donors
28 Days Remaining
$11,031 Still Needed

I HAVE NOTHING LEFT

I need to be honest with you because you deserve that.

 

That first night I emptied my savings account without even thinking twice. I cancelled a trip I had been saving up for months. 

 

I have been living on pasta and toast. I sold some stuff. I called my mum.

 

I have nothing left to give. I am completely at the wall.

 

I am not a charity. There is no team behind me, no fund, no corporate sponsor. It is just me, a completely normal person with a normal job, who opened her mouth in a waiting room at midnight and said yes before her brain caught up.

 

And now I am asking you to say yes too.

 

Because Luna's eye gets worse every single day we wait. And Rusty's surgery window is closing. We are not talking weeks. We are talking days.

 

Rusty is not dying because he is too broken to save. 

 

He is dying because nobody wrote his name down before it was too late.

I wrote it down. Now I just need help finishing what I started.

 

321 people giving $40 = both saved.
64 people giving $200 = both saved.

 

$25 = one week of Luna's specialist eye drops
$50 = two weeks of Rusty's pain medication
$150 = major contribution toward Luna's eye surgery
$250 = a full week of Rusty's ICU oxygen recovery
 

Yes, I Want to Save Them Both
$1,823 Raised so far
14% Of $12,854 goal
134 Verified Donors
28 Days Remaining
$11,031 Still Needed
3.2M Cats Enter Shelters Every Year
530K Killed Because Nobody Came
72hrs Average Time Before Euthanasia

PLEASE DON'T SCROLL PAST THIS

It is 1am and I am sitting on the floor of my spare room.

 

Luna is asleep next to me with her cone on. 

 

Still swollen but she let me stroke her ear tonight for the first time since it happened. Rusty is in a carrier next to her. Two cats who nearly did not make it, keeping each other company.

 

(image of Luna and Rusty sleeping near each other)

 

People who have already donated said things like: "the purring thing broke me completely" and "my whole family donated after seeing Luna's face." A vet nurse messaged me to say "every penny of this goes to real treatment, what you're doing matters."

 

We are getting there. But not yet. And time is the one thing we do not have.

 

If you can help anything at all, please click right now. Not later. Right now while you are still feeling this.

 

If money is tight, share this. Your friend who sends cat videos at 2am. Your mum who cries at rescue reels. Someone in your phone right now would donate if they saw Luna's face.
 
Don't let Rusty's purr be the last sound he ever makes.

 

Yes, I Want to Save Them Both
$1,823 Raised so far
14% Of $12,854 goal
134 Verified Donors
28 Days Remaining
$11,031 Still Needed

Questions & Answers

Every single penny goes directly to Luna and Rusty's veterinary care. Surgery costs, post-op medications, ICU monitoring and 12 weeks of recovery care. We post every receipt publicly so you can see exactly where your donation went. Nothing goes to salaries, offices or overhead.
Completely understandable question. We share real vet documents, real receipts and real recovery updates with every sponsor. You will receive a digital certificate immediately after donating and regular photo and video updates throughout Luna and Rusty's recovery.
Every donation collected goes toward their care regardless of whether we hit the full goal. If we fall short we will cover the remaining balance ourselves. No donation is ever wasted. Luna and Rusty are already in our care and we are not giving up on them no matter what.
Immediately after donating you receive a personalised digital sponsorship certificate with Luna and Rusty's names on it. Throughout their recovery you get real updates, photos and milestones. When Luna's eye opens. When Rusty takes his first steps. You will know exactly what your donation made possible.
Yes absolutely. There is no donation too small. $25 covers a full week of Luna's specialist eye drops. $50 covers two weeks of Rusty's pain medication. Small donations from a lot of people is exactly how campaigns like this work.
Luna comes home with me permanently. She is my cat and always will be. Rusty will be carefully rehomed with a vetted, loving family once he is fully recovered. We will share his adoption story with all sponsors so you can see the happy ending your donation helped create.
Yes completely. All payments are processed through Shopify's secure checkout which uses industry standard SSL encryption. Your card details are never stored on our end. You can also pay via PayPal if you prefer an extra layer of protection.
Because donations go directly into Luna and Rusty's active treatment fund we are unable to offer refunds once funds have been allocated to their care. If you have a concern or something feels wrong please contact us directly before donating and we will answer every question you have.
You will receive a confirmation email immediately after donating. From there we send personal recovery updates at key milestones, Luna's first post-surgery check, Rusty's first steps, discharge day, and finally Rusty's adoption day. These are real emails written by me, not automated newsletters.
Sharing this page costs nothing and genuinely saves lives. Send it to one person in your phone who loves cats. Post it on your Instagram story. Share it in a Facebook group. Every share puts this in front of someone who might donate. If even one person in your network gives because of your share, you are part of the reason Luna and Rusty made it.

Still have a question?

✉️ fightforpaws@outlook.com

Written at 1am with Luna finally sleeping next to me

C
Christian Lucero Founder, Fight For Paws

P.S. The vet just messaged. Luna's eye inflammation is spreading faster than expected. Every hour matters right now. Please do not wait until tomorrow.

Yes, I'm in. Save Them Both →