Charlie H’s Love Story

“We are beyond grateful and super excited to get our sweet Charbaby back—happy, healthy—alive! You have saved my kids from so much suffering. I can’t put into words the relief, joy and gratitude I have for you fund and all the kind people who support it.”
– Charlie’s Mom

Whoever says cats are aloof sure doesn’t know our Charlie! She has been our “nanny cat” since she entered our lives at 6 weeks old. From day one, she has been patient and tolerant and will play with the kids for hours.

My Mom found her in the middle of traffic on Wilmington Pike and couldn’t just leave her to get hit. As is often the case with animals, even though we thought we were rescuing her, it’s turned out quite differently.

We are a blended family with four daughters and three sons (ranging from 17-5 years old). My sons Chandler and Chase insisted that our new fur kid have a “CH” name. Hence our girl kitty became Charlie.

Charlie joined our family when our youngest, twins, were 6 months old. Lana and Charlie bonded immediately and strongly. She slept with her every night. In fact, as time went on, she started giving everyone a turn. Now she rotates through each child’s bed at sometime during the night. Unless someone is feeling poorly. Then she stays and ministers to them.

Our girl comes running if we’re crying. But she also makes us laugh. She loves to play fetch but she’ll only bring the item of interest half way back to us. So who’s playing fetch with whom? Oh, and she always waits by the shower, lying on her back & reaching toward us to pet her. Then she hops up and licks the shower clean. In general, she is super social. Her post is by the front storm door so she can lick the hand of everyone who enters in friendly greeting.

I can’t imagine our lives without Charlie. So when she started throwing up green/brown fluid every hour, we were beside ourselves. The vet suspected she had something obstructing her bowel. She wanted to do an x-ray but we couldn’t afford it. So they gave her fluids in hopes it would dislodge and sent her home. By Sunday night she was obviously dying. So we spent most of our life savings to take her to the emergency clinic. No way could we afford the needed surgery so we looked at the other terrible option. But we couldn’t even afford to euthanize her.

The kids were going to be devastated. I started calling our vet once a minute until they opened on Monday morning. They got her right in. That’s when they contacted Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund. Next thing I knew we were on our way to the surgeon. He removed some tread from a lego tire! She loves to steal those tires from the kids and strut around with them. They’re too big to swallow so I thought they were safe. Who would’ve ever expected her to chew one apart?

We are beyond grateful and super excited to get our sweet Charbaby back—happy, healthy—alive! You have saved my kids from so much suffering. I can’t put into words the relief, joy and gratitude I have for you fund and all the kind people who support it.

–Charlie’s Mom