Our beloved boy Fiorello (Fio) was recently treated for pancytopenia by the incredible doctors at The Royal Veterinary College. And because of the brilliant care provided there, we have been able to bring him home after an agonising week in hospital. We are spectacularly grateful to the veterinary staff at the RVC, and at referral hospitals across the country, who have so tirelessly worked to save our little feline friends from this terrible, mysterious disease.

We are also very aware of how privileged we are to have been able to afford the care that our boy needed, and have been heartbroken by the stories of other cat families, who have not been able to afford the life-saving transfusions and other treatments that may have saved the lives of their furry loved ones.

And we suspect we're not alone.

So we have set up this page to give people like us the opportunity to support families who cannot afford the care that their cats need. We have done this with the involvement and support of Vicky Winchester (who was the first to discover the possible link between these mysterious illnesses and the foods that were being fed, and who created and administrates the Pancytopenia in Cats Awareness Facebook group) and our plan is to use ALL donated money to help offset the costs of transfusions and hospital stays at the Queen Mother Hospital for Small Animals at the RVC - care that can add up to several thousands of pounds.

UPDATE:

We did not originally intend to be the administrators of these funds. Our initial plan was for this to be handled by the Royal Veterinary College, to help cover the cost of blood transfusions (the most expensive treatment that pet families are facing in these cases). However, as the RVC rightly advised - given the cost of a blood transfusion is usually somewhere between £4k and £5k - we could make the most impact and help the most families if we focused on first-opinion practice care (or local vets/local animal hospitals), which tends to run into the hundreds of pounds, rather than the thousands. As you all know, time is very much of the essence in these cases, so supporting families with front-line care, such as antibiotics, steroids, possible overnight care, fluids, and other treatments might actually save more lives. We will, of course, also contribute toward hospital bills if needed; we are just not going to be ring-fencing this money for blood transfusions or the RVC.

So our plan now is to offer up to £500 per family in need. We have set up an email address: pancytopeniahelp@gmail.com, and ask anyone who is in need to please send:

- Yours and your cat's name

- Your vet's details

- The estimate and/or bill provided by your vet/animal hospital

We will contact the vet practice directly (and keep you posted as we go), and arrange to make the payment directly to the vet/hospital once funds have been released from JustGiving. Unfortunately, we have just learned that it can take up to 3 weeks for JustGiving to get the funds into our account so we can begin making payments, though we have asked them to please waive these timescales, as many vets require up-front payment to treat these animals.

So if you are a cat owner, a cat lover, a family who has been traumatised, as ours has, by this spike in pancytopenia, or anyone with a soft spot for furry things... we hope you will consider giving whatever you can to help traumatised families afford the care that their feline family members need.

Thank you so much. From Hillary, Emil, Vicky, Delilah, Darcy, and of course... Fio.

P.S. Please watch this video which will explain how and why we have arrived at our decision to handle first-opinion care (with local vets), rather than going through the RVC or other national charity. Please rest assured, this is the best way to make the funds go as far as possible and to help as many families as we can. We will keep meticulous records of all requests and expenditures, and the account will be monitored by both myself and Vicky.