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Barn Cat Lady Saving community cats one barn at a time.

10/13/2026

I have to make a really tough decision about Tom and I need a bit more help. 🙏

We either have to euthanize or insert a temporary feeding tube and stitch up his mouth again. That'll be about $600-800 more.

I know, it seems insane for "just a barn cat". But he's been with me for years and he's everything to me. He's the whole reason *I* keep fighting for all the cats dumped here every time I want to give up.

With this whole debacle, I'm uncertain I trust it was stitched right to begin with. 😭

That's literally the only two options we have now. He wouldn't eat again today and his blood sugar dropped low enough he's definitely in danger.

There's also no guarantee they can fix the issue in his mouth and he won't know unless they try.

The vet isn't worried about infection being an issue or even the stomatitis. Apparently, it's the lack of nutrition and the tissue in his mouth healing too slowly with the steroids making this worse.

And he admitted the feeding tube should have been considered and offered earlier. Like days or longer earlier.

The vet requested I come see Tom again and decide. Very carefully not pushing me in either direction as he's been listening to me crash out over decisions all day and my regrets and knows I'm considering Tom and QOL.

I took a friend with me to visit Tom.

Tom is still fighting and meowed, got frustrated and fought to get on my lap, and purred.

I already have so many regrets over not getting a second opinion earlier and trusting that I'd be called if Tom wasn't eating or something!

I am getting a temporary feeding tube and having his mouth repaired by this new vet. Tom can come home and be medicated with a feeding tube. My friend agreed that I should try because I'd always wonder "what if" and tried to make me feel better by pointing out that no one would expect a vet to just let a cat deteriorate and not do anything or inform me.

It might work. It might not. But it'll buy time to let him heal while NOT starving and keep him comfortable while we hope it works.

Or we'll lose him and I'll know nothing more could be done.

Please, if you can help, they accept direct vet payments (PM me) or check out my linktree for options.

If I personally pay any more, I won't eat for 2 weeks and I'll have to beg for cat food.

I'm just very lucky the fix isn't $15k or something crazy and it's POSSIBLE if a couple people chip in with me.

I'll post begging for help again tomorrow morning or update if I hear anything about the feeding tube tonight.

I visited Tom at the hospital last night. He looks better already.I don't usually do that because I feel like it makes t...
10/12/2026

I visited Tom at the hospital last night. He looks better already.

I don't usually do that because I feel like it makes their stress worse to see me and get them excited they're going home, then leaving them again, over and over again.

But Tom was SO bad when I picked him up from my vet clinic and brought him there (and hasn't been home in WAY too long), I wanted him to realize I wasn't leaving him and he IS coming home.

I also gave him a pep talk about how he went from pink blood and such terrible blood work when he was diagnosed with FIV, they immediately assumed it was end stage and recommended euthanasia.

I decided to try stronger antibiotics.

He recovered and stayed healthy for years with no other issues. We got him a dental to keep him healthy once it became evident he wasn't getting sick again.

He's defied vet expectations for years!

He's the strongest cat I know.

And he is eating at the vet and tried to attack chicken pieces. He's NOT failing.

But not eating is terrible on healing too!

And if he was ANY other cat, we would have tried different antibiotics weeks ago. Sometimes an antibiotic just doesn't work well, especially Convenia, and we switch! Hell, Clauvamox was still working for Tom before the dental.

But Tom's FIV makes vets always jump to FIV causes, even the one time he had a minor head injury and bloody nose! And they just don't want to even try because "he's going to die anyway".

It makes people assume the worst.

When vet medicine doesn't even know that much about the condition anyway!

Yes, he is, just like any other cat will! And immune compromised doesn't mean he's dying of incurable cancer and I'm just torturing him for a few months more.

It's infection and that CAN be fixed. And if it turns out he's continually getting sick over and over again, I'll re-evaluate then. But I'd like to give him a chance to beat this.

He's a cat with a stubborn URI that my OTHER colony cats have been fighting that antibiotics don't completely knock out and antivirals didn't work for, Tom just gets it worse. And I'm going to bring one in for a respiratory panel to figure out WHY.

And ONE spot in his mouth that's healing but extremely slowly and extreme pain and my vet didn't address any of that and basically just left him to barely eat all week.

I want to have this new vet repair the issue in his mouth, if possible. This incident makes me doubt my vet's attempts at doing so. I'm going to discuss it with them and get an estimate.

But I'll definitely need more help to do that if anyone can chip in.

10/11/2026

There IS some good news. My most feral cat Winter is back, looking much better than when I glimpsed her a week ago. AND letting me pet her again.

I could have sworn she was gone. I had a trail camera and traps and not a SINGLE sign after seeing her with blood on her head for an entire week. VERY abnormal for her. She hangs around untouchable sometimes, but nearby most of the time for like over a year or longer.

I always tell people to not give up and keep looking. But damn, she was bloody after being missing two days and then disappeared again for a week with no sign.

I was just resigning myself to her loss and picking up the useless traps and she showed up a couple hours later, looking fine.

Cats stress me out, man. This is why I had indoor cats my entire life until I moved to Louisiana and found myself surrounded by feral and semi-feral barn cats and cat dumping.

I brought her in to make sure she's okay and she was hiding again. She escaped outside again. *sigh* Looks like maybe a cat scratch on her face or something.

10/10/2026

I just picked up Tom and I am SO upset that I'm taking Tom into the 24 hour vet at 4 today.

I've got $400 left outside my regular vet clinic, but if I hospitalize at the 24 hour vet, it's going to be at least $700.

To whomever donated the whopping amount to my vet: thank you!

Anyone else want to chip in for Tom...

I'll explain later once I'm not so upset.

(This video is old. I REFUSE to video as he is right now.)

Tweety whenever people on the internet want to argue that a cat "doesn't deserve to suffer in a barn".Some cats are just...
10/08/2026

Tweety whenever people on the internet want to argue that a cat "doesn't deserve to suffer in a barn".

Some cats are just not indoor kitty material and they definitely aren't suffering.

Shelly's home and it looks like the sweet girl will need to retire from her beloved barn if she doesn't regain her abili...
10/08/2026

Shelly's home and it looks like the sweet girl will need to retire from her beloved barn if she doesn't regain her abilities or stops the minor neuro symptoms. She can't jump properly and has back end weakness.

It's too early to tell if it's permanent and being unable to do xrays...

So she may need an indoor home, hopefully with a catio because she's already sad.

I decided to spare you the graphic tail photo because FB is totally going to hide it and it's pretty yuck. I'm going to have to get out the cone or figure something else out. She's bothering it. But on her tail, a cone may not be that effective if she figures it out.

Tom's still at the vet. 😭

10/06/2026

Shelly here got injured on Saturday and I absolutely failed at finding any help to get her into the ER vet.

Because I suspected head injury, I kept her confined and she was stable and slept. She ended up escaping while inside, my own fault the crate wasn't latched fully, but with as freaked out as she was she wasn't letting me get her again. Fiesty girl when scared and injured.

I noticed a tail laceration when I finally was able to get her back into a carrier for a trip to my vet.

She was SUPPOSED to get tail x-rays and wound cleaning, but putting her under sedation led to neurological symptoms, so the vet nixed those, got the wound cleaned and shaved and is keeping her overnight because of the neuro symptoms and aborted sedation.

She got antibiotics and stuff and we're just going to have to keep monitoring her for now.

Tom Update: he's being kept at the vet again. *frustrated* The vet doesn't suspect infection. 🤦‍♀️ I'm TOTALLY getting a second opinion at the cat clinic maybe.

I want to thank everyone who chipped in for Tom yesterday. 😭 We ended up with $600 or so, depending on what was put on my vet account. That's a HUGE help and the reason I was able to get Shelly seen too.

I'd thank everyone by name, but I'm still trying to find the feral that may have something wrong and work to do.

But I wanted to post before I forgot.

I'm picking up Shelly tomorrow, don't know about Tom yet, so I'll update more then.

10/05/2026

Just dropped Tom off at my vet for them to look at his mouth and antibiotics.

His mouth appears infected and his URI is having problems and I keep complaining I need stronger antibiotics. *sigh*

I do need a lot of help with the vet 🙏 and stuff, but I can't link anything or the algorithm hates me.

Poor Tom. He was doing so well again.

And if we have to say goodbye, I'll need help too. I pray not. He's my bestest boy and the only reason I'm still going.

Direct vet is available if you message me or find barncatlady on apps.

10/04/2026

Tom is getting sick now and I'm probably going to have to say goodbye. I can't do anything anymore.

I've got one missing feral cat that has something wrong with her that I'm trying to find/trap before she dies preferably, one injured cat with a head and tail injury, and Tom needs IV antibiotics and his mouth rechecked preferably with a different vet.

None of which I can pay for or do anything to get them to a vet. I've got just $150+ in the cat fund and that's not even an office visit if I go to an emergency vet.

Oh, and I can't log into Tiktok because my phone screen died and I'm borrowing one because I can't even get my phone repaired/replaced.

And every single time I ask for help online, the algorithm hides my posts.

I'm stressing out and upset and about to just give up on everything.

Now if I let ChatGPT write BS manipulation posts so people feel bad, I could maybe get somewhere like those stupid fake scam posts do or if I make a video crying and crashing out on the internet, which I refuse to do. I meltdown privately and doing it publicly is against my nature. But even if it's a truthful meltdown, would still be manipulation if I did it online.

So what do you do?

At this point, I'm going to the ER for myself because I can't deal anymore. I'm tired of 120% of my income going to cats and just getting so far in debt I can't even function. I have a few people who help, yes, but it's very few and I'm forever grateful we got as far as we have, but one or two people helping just isn't enough.

I'm not even bothering with a photo. The only photo I have is graphic tail injury and the algorithm will hide anyway.

Can't link anything because the FB only let's you post 2 links a month unless you want to pay premium now. And link posts get hidden in the algorithm too.

I might be back, I might need a break. Losing Tom because I can't afford his care is going to kill me.

10/03/2026

Need Help ASAP!

Cat with possible head injury needs a vet. 😭 This is NOT Winter, from my previous post, but a young girl I TNRd last year. I don't know exactly what happened, I do know it was an accident caused by the cat and it JUST happened.

We heard the crash.

She then tried jumping up a railing afterwards to run away in fear, but was very uncoordinated and disoriented and scared. Luckily, I was right nearby and she trusted me enough to get just close enough to catch her by the scruff before attempting another jump to escape.

I had to grab her by the scruff just to catch her and get her calm and into a carrier so she doesn't hurt herself more.

I literally can't do anything else without help, guys. Except keep her safe.

If you can help, please do. If you can't, sharing and caring helps too.

WTF, when it rains it pours, but this is ridiculous.

😭

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