A long-haired Maine coon cat named Oreo is the focus of a GoFundMe campaign after barely surviving being lost for more than a month.

Oreo, who is a year and a half old, was an orphaned kitten after his mother and a couple of siblings were hit by a car, said Kristine Maas Truedson, of Lewiston.

The Truedons were living in Lenore at the time, and a friend who found the surviving kittens called and asked if they could take one of the kittens.

“My husband didn’t want more kitties,” Truedson said. The family had recently lost a beloved cat and “he was heartbroken.”

The friend, however, was insistent, so the Truedsons finally agreed.

Ironically, Oreo got attached to her husband, Shawn, first, Truedson said.

“My husband was his mommy cat,” she said. “He nuzzles and we all just fell in love with him.”

Living in a caring home, Oreo thrived, although he was “needy,” Truedson said, and stayed indoors most of the time.

Last summer, after a death in the family, the Truedsons moved from Lenore to Lewiston to live with her mother, and they of course brought Oreo along.

“He loved it here but he would go out of the yard and go look around but he always came back before night,” she said.

One night in early May, Oreo didn’t come home. Truedson said she panicked, even though Oreo had a tracking collar with the family’s address and phone number. Her mother suggested that, because he was a male and had not yet been neutered, he probably was just off sowing his wild oats.

But when day followed day and Oreo failed to return, the Truedsons’ worries grew worse.

“We were beside ourselves,” Truedsons said. “I put pictures up asking for help to find him, but nobody saw him.”

When a recent story came out in the Lewiston Tribune about a woman who had been caring for more than 40 cats in her home, the Truedsons sent Oreo’s picture to the investigating agency to see if perhaps he’d wandered over there.

“But nothing,” she said. “He wasn’t there.

“So at that point we thought: `He’s gone. He’s dead somewhere.”

A neighbor found some BB pellets in his yard from someone else who had been shooting cats in the neighborhood and the Truedsons assumed “somebody must have killed our kitty.”

Then in the early morning of June 5, “My husband was going to work and he opens the door and there’s our cat,” Truedson said. “Our cat comes in and he just falls. We couldn’t believe he was home. It was more than 30 days.”

Oreo was alive but not in good shape. His fur was dirty and matted and he was emaciated. So, not knowing that overfeeding a starving animal can actually kill it, the Truedsons tried to fill him up with food and water, which he ate ravenously.

The next morning Oreo started having seizures. His paw was in his mouth and his teeth were clamped shut.

“We thought he was dying,” Truedson said. “I called every vet in this town but it was Sunday and nobody would take him.”

Instead, the Truedsons rushed Oreo to the Washington State University veterinary hospital

“They said he’s bad,” she said. “He was emaciated, he was going into cardiac shock, his blood pressure was low and they didn’t know if they could save him. But they did. I couldn’t believe it.”

Oreo was finally stabilized earlier this week and the Truedsons brought him home Wednesday with strict orders to feed him only minimal amounts of food and water. Truedson said it amounts to not much more than a teaspoon or two a day. Oreo seems hungry, she said, but they were warned not to get him any more than the prescribed amount of food.

“They said he’s definitely not out of the woods but he’s fair-to-good,” she said.

On Thursday, however, Oreo seemed to have a relapse. Truedson said they rushed Oreo back to WSU, where he was treated for fever and an infection. They were there for about seven hours until Oreo was finally released.

“We got home about midnight,” she said. “He’s in such a critical position at the moment that we’re just taking it day by day.”

Meanwhile the family faces mounting veterinary bills. They paid WSU the $1,800 they had on hand but the total bill is about $3,000. Daily visits to the Lewiston Veterinary Clinic, where Oreo will be monitored, are expected to add up as well.

Truedson said she was hesitant to open a GoFundMe page but was encouraged by friends and others who have been following Oreo’s saga. One woman who used to live in Orofino but now lives in Texas donated $1,000 the first day the fund started.

“We were just shocked that someone who used to live here donated that $1,000 to Oreo’s care,” Truedson said. “Now we talk every day. I’m going to get a friendship out of this, as well.”

She said the family also appreciates the smaller donations and she’s been trying to keep people posted about how well Oreo is getting along.

Truedson said she has opened a Facebook page for people who want to stay updated on her cat’s condition. The page is called Oreos Journey.

Anyone wishing more information about the GoFundMe page may visit bit.ly/3NYh6vb.