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SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The moment you discover you accidentally threw something valuable in the washing machine with your dirty laundry can be heartbreaking, which was especially the case for Stefani Carroll-Kirchoff from Minnesota, who discovered her 1-year-old cat Felix soaking wet and barely breathing after surviving a 35-minute wash cycle.
According to FOX News, Carroll-Kirchoff said she was doing her laundry on Wednesday when her one-year-old cat, Felix, jumped inside the washing machine while the door was open, unbeknownst to her.
"I must have turned my back for a few minutes folding clothes and he apparently went in there when I wasn't looking," said Carroll-Kirchoff.
After Caroll-Kirchoff discovered the cat inside the washing machine, Felix was immediately rushed to the emergency vet in critical condition and was put on oxygen support with fluid still in his lungs and nearly blind from the wash.
A Gofundme account had been set up by Carroll-Kirchoff's daughter Asha Carroll McCullough hours after the incident. Caroll McCullough wrote on the page that the vet was asking for $3,000 in order to continue Felix's care.
Carroll McCullough said that Felix's recuperation required 24 hours a day in an oxygen chamber, which costs about $1,000 per day without pet insurance, which her mother didn't have.
So far, the Gofundme page has raised has raised $10,755 of its $10,000 goal, and the therapy seems to be working. Felix's vision is slowly returning and he has even started to eat again.
"I will do anything I can for him to stay alive," Carroll-Kirchoff said. "After what he's been through, I feel like we owe it to him."