My name is Daniel Fuentes, and the pictures are of my 8 month old kitty, Smokey.
I picked Smokey up as a stray when he was about 3-4 months old. He had something happen to his leg sometime before I brought him home. The vet told me that maybe he got his leg caught on something, or something tried to eat him. Roughly half of his left hind was gone, but he seemed to be adapting to it well, and it looked to be healing. Recently, however, I noticed Smokey was meowing in pain and backing into things, then I noticed that the some of the bone in his leg was poking through the wound. I took him to my vet, who suggested the remainder should be amputated.
The size of the bill was breathtaking. I was so afraid that I would not be able to have the surgery done. Being substantially short of the required amount of money for the surgery, and not being approved for a credit line; I was faced with the fact that I would likely have to have Smokey euthanized. But I was so lucky, that one vet still had Hope Funds left, and enough to make it possible to for Smokey to have his surgery. I cannot begin to express the depth of emotions that I felt at that moment, when I knew I would be able to continue caring for this cat who had such a traumatic start in life. I am so grateful to the donors who made this possible, and to the founders of this great charity.
Our most sincere gratitude,
Daniel & Smokey