Photo: GoFundMe
“I heard a ‘meow’ [and] I looked and saw that pitiful little orange cat just hobbling around. When I went out on my porch, he started rubbing against my leg,” she told the news outlet.
“The injuries were more than I could afford,” Phillips discovered, after calling around to local vets.
Phillips said she reached out to her neighbor Jennifer Miller, who proceeded to set up aGoFundMefor the wounded cat’s surgery on the condition that Phillips would adopt Apollo.
Miller described Apollo as the “most loving cat ever,” despite the fact that he was “dragging his leg, super skinny, and had some serious infections to boot.”
Because multiple doctors realized that Apollo would need pins and plates in his front left leg, the new cat mom was forced to find a specialist to perform the surgery.
That’s when Phillips turned to Dr. Al Henry – a vet located over an hour north of Danville in Lynchburg.
The vet graciously performed Apollo’s surgery (and neutering) at a discounted rate on Christmas Eve.
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“He [Apollo] actually required more than we thought,” Phillips shared. “He ended up having a plate with six screws and a pin in his left leg. He [Henry] discounted me several hundred dollars, which was amazing.”
The discounted bill for Apollo’s surgery and vet visits totaled $2,669, which was $600 more than what was raised via theGoFundMe, so organizer Miller graciously offered to cover the rest of the bill.
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“Our community has been generous this Christmas, helping this cat live his best life,” said Miller. “The biggest thing everybody was in complete amazement about was how in the world this cat had gotten the strength to crawl to somebody’s house.”
Now at his new home, Phillips said her dogs Juno and Luna have welcomed Apollo into their furry little family.
She said, “They love Apollo and Apollo loves them.”
source: people.com
