This may be the sweetest GoFundMe ever created: The daughter of an incarcerated woman in Texas is trying to raise money to save a very sick orange cat who’s been keeping one of them going.
Orange Julius, or OJ, is a cat suffering from a kidney infection and urgently needs veterinary treatment, according to the fundraiser.
The GoFundMe from someone identified as “Kitti Reed” says the senior cat has “been very very sick with a kidney infection, and has been unable to walk without falling over, straining to pee, and desperately needs treatment!”
The exact prison is unclear but the GoFundMe states: “My mom has someone taking him to Coryell Veterinary Clinic in Gatesville, TX for her, as inmates aren’t able to take their emotional support animals to get care themselves.”
The GoFundMe drew wider attention after being shared Wednesday night by ProPublica journalist Keri Blakinger, who said it stood out from anything she’d seen before. Blakinger covers criminal justice with a focus on prisons and told The Barbed Wire she’d been sent the link by a woman at the prison.
On Thursday the fundraiser ballooned to more than $6,000, from 237 donations meant to give the aging cat a chance at recovery. All but two of the donations came in the hours after Blakinger shared the post.
“I have never seen a GoFundMe quite like this,” Blakinger wrote on X. “The women at one Texas prison are trying to pay for a vet for one of the stray cats that they clandestinely take care of at the facility.”
OJ belongs to a woman who is currently incarcerated, according to the fundraiser, and he has become her emotional support and lifeline during that time.
Someone outside the facility is bringing Orange Julius to Coryell Veterinary Clinic in Gatesville for treatment.
According to the fundraiser, OJ has helped his owner “not lose her hope or her spark” during incarceration.
“Anything is greatly appreciated,” Reed wrote.