Helping with Finnegan's medical costs.

 

Finnegan is a 1 year old Minuet neutered male. On November 6, he had a urinary blockage, and almost died due to the idiocy of a veterinarian assistant.
Fortunately his vet (who was not in the office when he was brought in the first day) got right on it the second day, he was catheterized but had suffered a bit of damage to his bladder wall and had wonky kidney values but they stabilized.

On November 18, in the evening, he showed symptoms of blockage again (see the video). His regular veterinarian was out of town for a few days, and she told me to rush him to the local Veterinary ER hospital.

He had to be anesthetized and catheterized. He is on IV and bladder catheter right now. I am waiting for the doctor to call me around noon.

To get him treated, I had to put down $1,200 that I borrowed from a friend for a very short term - a day, as it was 11 pm and I had no way to do anything else. Then the next day I was able to go to one of those payday type of lenders to get the rest of the estimated amount.

The doctor there told me that if this happens a third time, he will have to have a surgery to practically cut off his little penis and enlarge the urethra do avoid further blockages.

In medical terms it's called a perineal urethrostomy (sometimes referred to as a PU) and it's a surgical procedure that is most commonly performed on male cats with a urinary obstruction.
This procedure removes the narrowest part of the urethra (the tube that transports the urine from the bladder to the exterior of the body), allowing easier urination with a lower risk of re-obstruction.


Urinary blockages are life-threatening for cats, as the urine builds up in the bladder and backs up in the kidneys, and the bladder can rupture and the kidneys can suffer irreparable damage.

This is Finnegan on his second blockage. I managed to tape him and send the video link to his regular veterinarian, who was out of town and told me to get him to the ER asap.

I am on a small disability income, and after paying for his first visit (with many many thanks to people who donated for him), I really need your help.

I lost my dog Whisper to liver cancer in August. I'm still not fully recovered from that, emotionally. I don't know how I would be able to cope with losing Finnegan.

Due to the fact that I am on low disability income, I do not qualify for Care Credit. And most of the veterinaries in my city (including the ER clinic) do not accept any pet insurance.

I managed to borrow money to save his life but if I don't pay the loan back by Dec 18 I will have to pay huge interest fee.

Please help me. At the bottom of this post I am uploading the expenses paid for Finnegan both during his 4-6 November 2020 veterinary visit and his end of November veterinary ER hospitalization.

The visit in the beginning of November was fully covered by what I had and what people so graciously helped with.

For the ER hospitalization, I did receive $200 by direct Paypal donations and $223 are to come from the GoFundMe. I can do about $200 by myself with a bit of budgeting so my main worry is $1,400 or so.

You can see Finnegan's little life stories here
Finnegan Facebook page

Note:

I tried doing a GoFundMe page but I guess those people now are crooks too. The daily withdrawals there are set for a week after the money are donated, and then every day, for every withdrawal, I got an email from them about "unsuccessful withdrawal", every day I went to the campaign and surprise, only the bank routing number was there, all other information miraculously disappeared, every day I would update it and the next day the same. And, of course, the respective day's withdrawal would be scheduled for another week later. They're just trying to use the money that are donated for a longer time than they should.

ER hospitalization and follow-up veterinary visit with his regular veterinarian:

 

 

His Nov. 4-6 veterinary visit

Note: Finnegan ended up having urethrostomy surgery at the end of December. But for that I managed to get a Scratchpay loan and find a good surgeon that took Scratchpay. It was $3,000 total, but I can pay it in monthly payments over two years. It's this amount I'm struggling with, the loans I made for his care prior to the surgery. 

 

Steampunk journal cover

The live broadcast tutorial on how to make a steampunk journal cover was made into several parts, as I can't sit on a chair for longer than 1 1/2 hours without getting in really bad pain.

I have put together a list of materials that I either used during the tutorial or can be used instead if you don't have those specific materials.

1. Polymer clay - it's up to you what brand you use. I used plain Premo black clay

2. The antiquing for faux copper:

For the oxidized part, you can use either:

a. Franco Garcia Artisan Powders in Marquise Blue and/or Trianon Patina. You can find them either at Polyclayplay or on my Amazon Influencer Store in the Powders and Pigments board.

b. Chalk Pastels found either on Polyclayplay or on my Amazon Influencer Store in the Powders and Pigments Board.

c. PanPastels in turquoise-ish hues  found either on Polyclayplay or on my Amazon Influencer Store in the Powders and Pigments Board.

d. Regular cheapo acrylic paint in a wash (that means the paint is very diluted, and you apply several layers to obtain a proper effect). I suggest you get those wherever you find them the cheapest. I usually get my acrylic paints at Walmart, and get whatever is on sale for under $1 a bottle. But you can also check my Amazon Influencer store in the Paints section. Use any turquoise-is color, there are many depending on the brand (and the brand doesn't really matter either). But I strongly advise you to also look for the DecoArt Peacock Pearl in the Dazzling Metallics line.

For the "metal" part:

a. The ArtAlchemy waxes - for copper, the Rich Copper from the Metallique line or the Fire Ruby/Red Amber of the Antique Brilliance line; for German silver look, the Vintage Gold from the Metallique line; for the Iron look, Brushed Iron from the Metallique line. They can be found at Polyclayplay or in my amazon Influencer store in the Waxes section.

b. Mica powders - I recommend using Perfect Pearls as you won't have to seal them, they bond with the clay during baking. You can find them on Polyclayplay or in my Amazon Influencer store in the Mica Powders section.

 c. Simple cheapo Acrylic paints. Advice as for the oxidized part. I personally prefer to use either colors from the Dazzling Metallics of DecoArt or the Extreme Sheen of DecoArt.

For a more detailed tutorial  you can watch my Youtube video on how to obtain super realistic oxidized metal (metal patina) using just acrylic paint here:

As for charms, embellishments and anything else used in the broadcasts, please check my Amazon Influencer Store. I have it organized nicely in sections so it shouldn't be hard to find what you're looking for.

Polymer clay painting miniseries

I started yesterday a miniseries on painting with polymer clay. I am using journals to begin with.

We did get a bit distracted on making the back of one journal nicely antiqued, which will become a steampunk journal cover, but next time we'll get back to the painting one.

The creation of the background sky and water skinner blend is a bit difficult, but I show all the steps.

When is it not required to condition polymer clay?

If for regular projects, conditioning polymer clay is an absolute must - that is, if you want pieces that are at the same time hardy and flexible and don't break or crumble at the slightest stress, there are cases in which conditioning your clay is not required - actually, it's not even desired.

Whenever you want to make crystal points, use Pardo translucent right out of the box. Cut your long "crystal" wands then do a few oblique cuts at the ends to create the "point".
The other case, if you want to make druzy-type small "crystals, you can use any hardened translucent. Simply chop it finely, bake it on a piece of paper then use liquid clay to get it to stick on a base. Of course, bake again.