As many of you already know, back in 2006 my beloved pup Lulu was diagnosed with bone cancer. This lead to leg amputation, chemo, and a $10,000 bill from the vet. Luckily the financial blow was lessened thanks to amazing friends who helped make the “I ❤ Tripods” shirt and a ton of supporters who bought it. This adorable fashion statement not only covered Lulu’s vet expenses, but continues to help other loyal pet owners.

Whenever our unofficial charity sends much needed funds to an animal (and owner) in need I like to post about it here so everyone who’s bought a shirt (or is thinking of buying one) can see where their hard earned money goes. Well, recently a lot of you were able to help beautiful Ozzie!

Ozzie came into the Blanchette’s life last October. “We rented a cabin for a fall family weekend,” Jessica Blanchette tells Pawesome. “The owners of the cabin had two kittens that were left at their door. They hinted that they would really love for a nice family to take a kitten.” Despite not being a cat man, Jessica’s husband Mark, along with the rest of the family, including their dog Sniffy, fell in love with a little orange tabby.

On the 45 minute car ride home the family threw possible names back and forth. “The Wizard of Oz is one of our favorite movies so we named him Oz but it turned in to Ozzie and some times his name is Bad Kitty (after the series of books by Nick Bruel).”

Over the past 10 months Oz has become one of the family. He and Sniffy are best pals, constantly battling over who gets a particular spot on the couch, and, says Jessica, “I think my husband, the former cat hater, loves him the most!”

Because Ozzie loves the outdoors so much, the Blanchettes let the little kitty have the freedom to go outside as he pleased. This summer he started spending nights outside, always returning in the morning for breakfast. “We were very nervous when we went two days without seeing him,” Jessica recounts. Then, he came home limping. He had a very small wound, but nothing else that Jessica could see. “I thought he got into a cat fight,” Jessica explains.

“When we brought him to the vet we were told that he had two serious injuries, a dislocated hip and a broken leg very close to a joint. When the vet first said ‘amputation’ I was in shock. We simply did not have the money for the surgery but could not see putting Ozzie down after only one year of life. We humbly asked my husband’s father to borrow the money, planning on paying him back a little (very little) at a time. Now thanks to your generous donation we can pay him back half of the money!”

“Ozzie has healed very well and can get around fine. He can maneuver stairs and still jumps up on the window sill. He is getting more love than ever. The hardest part seems to be his desire to go outside. The only time he meows is by the door.” Sorry Ozzie, you may need to be an indoor cat from now on.

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