Monika Kennedy and David Alton with their cat Citra.
Laura Marie Rivera
Citra, a 15-pound ball of fluff and love, has been fighting for his life and his pet parents are hoping that cats do truly have nine lives.
When the temperatures were rising in June, Monika Kennedy took Citra for his annual summer “lion cut” to keep him cool. This year, they noticed a small lump on his hip and went to get it checked. Unfortunately, the biopsy results showed that it was cancerous.
The long haired Norwegian forest cat has a rare and aggressive form of injection site sarcoma, likely as a result of a chronic inflammation from an injection. Their treatment options were invasive/elaborate/dramatic and expensive. They decided to amputate his leg to give him the best chance at survival. And they are waiting to find out if he will also need chemotherapy.
Citra, also fondly known as Citra Pants, is currently nine years old and his mother lived to be 19 or 20. Kennedy has strong hopes and a lot of love for the cat she has had since he was just nine weeks old. “I got Citra in 2015 when I was going through a really hard time. He was a renewed hope for me,” Kennedy said. She knew she would do whatever she could to save him.
After calling around to find a great cat oncologist, they landed at the Veterinary Specialist of Seattle, located in Lynwood. Now Kennedy and her partner David Alton are trying to figure out a way to pay for Citra’s care. “I love animals and thought maybe I could do Rover” in addition to her full time HR job at HydroPeptide, Kennedy said. And Alton decided to sell some of the records from his extensive collection. But it still wasn’t enough. So Kennedy’s best friend, Andie Lewallen of Portland, set up a GoFundMe and Seattle’s beer community really stepped up.
Alton is a sales rep for Urban Family Brewing Co. His coworkers posted the flyer and the response has been overwhelming. They have received donations from old friends and complete strangers. “The outpouring of love and support has been really heartwarming in this difficult time,” Kennedy said. People that wish to help can make a donation at www.gofundme.com/f/help-citra-beat-cancer.