A CATastrophe and a Request for Support

Last Sunday I returned from Toronto after losing my dad. Devi was very happy to see me. I was very happy to see him. On Monday, in celebration of our reunification, Devi ate a sizable chunk of a foam yoga block. Needless to say, he did not feel well. In an attempt to ease his tummy ache he went into my studio and ate thread from my straw braid sewing machine. His licking his chops as he exited my studio was the tip off. The broken thread was the evidence.

He has a history of eating non edible items, phone chargers being a particular favourite, but it had been a while and I thought he had outgrown this behaviour. In the past, he managed to expel the foreign objects from his body, but this time seemed different. I took him to the vet where they discovered the thread was wrapped around his tongue. A $500 X-ray revealed a large unidentified foreign body and the possibility that the thread was pulling on his intestines. This is incredibly dangerous. After cutting the thread, the vet recommended we drive him to an emergency clinic in Halifax. I asked my local vet if she could estimate the cost of surgery. She guessed $2000. I was absolutely panicked, but could not imagine losing my tyrannical fur ball. We got to the clinic and I was asked if I would first like to do an ultrasound for $800. Grief and panic really don’t make for good decision making and I was completely overwhelmed. It finally occurred to me to ask how much the surgery itself would cost before adding an ultrasound….$5600. I asked for my cat back, paid the $100 bill for talking to them and we went home. After a good trauma filled day, Devi curled up in his little basket and slept peacefully, but I didn’t. The next day I called every vet to compare costs. The low end was $2500, the high end was $7000. After much stressing out I booked the surgery at my local vet ($2600) but also had to then pick him up and drive him for overnight care in Halifax ($780 plus $200 for pain meds).

This was Devi as we waited one hour, post surgery, in the waiting room of the overnight vet. It was surreal, but he was and still is very stoned, so I don’t think he’ll remember much. His surgery went well. He was able to remove his cone of shame while completely high. The vet techs were very impressed. As of today, he is a little, affectionate purring machine and if you are ever wondering how to get a pill down a cat’s throat the answer is butter.

So, before I get to the gratitude part of this story, I want to let you know that there is a pink “buy me a coffee” button on the side of this page. On a phone you need to scroll down and it’s underneath the YouTube video. I was thinking of starting a go fund me, but I just couldn’t go there. As horrible as this is for me there is much worse happening in the world and when so many are struggling I just can’t (directly) ask people for help with my vet bills. So, I’ll ask indirectly instead.

There was a time not that long ago when a person could choose a humble, simple, creative life, have a dog, a cat, a kid, and while perhaps not having much money for extras could at least have enough to pay their bills. Perhaps this is still possible. While I haven’t given up hope, I haven’t yet figured it out. So, here I am, asking for your support. My favourite way of being supported is by making you hats, but I know that there are only so many hats a person can own (well, maybe). If you enjoy my writing, my videos, the sharing of my process, the fact that I live this ridiculously slow life in a fast world, or if you just like knowing there is a woman making hats on antique sewing machines in a charming Nova Scotia town and you want to help me continue doing what I am doing while still having enough money to cover my cat’s vet bills, then I would be so grateful for a small, occasional donation. It would mean the world to me and Devi, too. Thank you! If you can not, don’t give it another thought. I am happy you are here. Sharing my post or letting people know about me is also support.

OK, speaking of thank you….your comments on my last post meant so much to me. I was really touched. There’s something beautiful about the universality of loss. I felt the love from you all. I am particularly grateful to my neighbours, Vanessa and Micheline for our walks and their ears, for my neighbour, Cheryl, for coming with me to the vet and for Wenda who cooked for me, drove me to Halifax and helped me design a post surgery kitty apron, so that Devi can’t get at his stitches. I’m also grateful to my husband Tony who has patiently had my back as I have been unable to work, shop or make dinner for the past few weeks. I’m happy to report that this morning, with kitty quietly tripping out on his pillow, I woke up calm, rested and amazed at how caring this community is.

As always, knitting has been my salvation. I just finished my Super Quilter sweater. I had so much fun designing and knitting this. It’s the first sweater where I cast on a new one before completing the first. Something to do with putting colours together and lots of meditative plain knitting.

This next one is knit in my naturally dyed yarn. The green was first dyed with Indigo and then over dyed with Marigold. It is the embodiment of Spring and rebirth. Appropriate, I think. My goal is to have the pattern written out and graded by the fall. Grading means doing the math for all the sizes. This terrifies me, but my dad would be so proud, so here I go.

Before life took a sharp turn, I had been working on several things to share with you. This is one of them. These little flowers are really fun to make. If you click on the photo above there are listings to purchase the pattern with video tutorial and there are also kits if you don’t have access to wool felt. The pattern and kits are sold separately. 100% wool felt is really important for achieving a natural look. As of today, there are still no tariffs for US customers on purchases under $800, though what will be in the future is anyone’s guess.

I also wrote a post about my latest version of Flora Fedora. You can click on the above photo to read all about her.

This is a straw braid hat that I had the honour of making for Laura. I videoed the process and am currently editing it for my latest YouTube series, A Hat and a Walk. The first of this series is on the side or bottom of this page. (Depends on what device you are using to read this.)They are short and sweet little videos. I hope you enjoy them.
As always, thank you for spending time with me and for all the support you have already given over the years.

xoxo Anna

p.s. Lots of people are having trouble finding the button. It’s probably confusing because it’s a rectangle. Here’s a screenshot. It’s the little rectangle that says, Buy me a coffee. It will either be on the right side or you’ll need to scroll down. Thank you all so much for this outpouring of kindness!!!