Our Story

Why Lunea Exists: The Three Cats Who Changed Everything

By Lunea's, Founder

I'm 16 years old.

I'm not a veterinarian. I'm not an engineer. I didn't design the fountain you see on this website.

I'm the person who discovered it was the only one that works—and I'm making sure families like yours can access it.

This is the story of Patch, Tiger, and Kauci. And why one of those losses was preventable.

The Beginning: Three Strays, One Family

My parents found them the week I was born.

Three stray kittens, huddled together in an alley. Malnourished. Barely old enough to survive.

My parents brought all three home. Named them Patch, Tiger, and Kauci.

I don't remember life without them.

Growing up with three cats is chaotic in the best way. They'd chase each other through the house at 3 AM. Sleep in a pile on my bed. Wait by the door when I came home from school.

Patch was calm and gentle. Tiger was wild, always getting into trouble. Kauci—white with black spots—would chirp at birds through the window and sleep in every sunbeam he could find.

They weren't "pets." They were my siblings. My childhood. My home.

I thought they'd be with me forever.

The First Loss: Patch

When I was 10, my mum found Patch in the morning. She'd had a stroke during the night. She was already gone.

I didn't really understand death yet. I just knew she wasn't coming back.

My mum explained that sometimes, bodies just stop working. That there was nothing we could have done.

It hurt. But I accepted it.

The Second Loss: Tiger

Six months later, Tiger was hit by a car.

I was home when it happened. I heard the sound.

That one, I understood. Accidents happen. We couldn't have prevented it.

The Change: Kauci After Loss

After Patch and Tiger died, Kauci stopped being himself.

He wouldn't eat. Wouldn't play. He'd just sit in corners, staring at nothing.

"He's grieving," my mum said. "Animals mourn too."

I tried everything to help him. New toys. Extra treats. I started sleeping in his favorite spots so he wouldn't be alone.

Slowly, over months, he came back. Not the same—he was quieter, more clingy—but present.

For 5 years, it was just the two of us.

He'd wait by the door when I got home from school. Sleep on my chest at night. Chirp at me from his windowsill.

He was my best friend. The last connection to my childhood.

The Third Loss: The One I Could Have Prevented

When I was 15, Kauci stopped greeting me after school.

At first, I thought he was just tired. He was 15—older for a cat.

But then I noticed his water bowl was always full. Food barely touched.

My mum took him to the vet. Blood work showed Chronic Kidney Disease. Stage 3.

"Weeks. Maybe a couple months with treatment," the vet said.

The most important thing, she told us, was hydration. "Encourage him to drink as much as possible."

We tried everything.

Multiple water bowls around the house. Wet food mixed with extra water. We left the bathroom tap running.

Kauci would approach the tap, watch it, then walk away.

My mum bought a plastic pet fountain. $89. Perfect reviews.

Kauci sniffed it once and never went near it again.

I started setting alarms. Every 2 hours: check the water. Calculate if he'd drunk anything.

I couldn't tell.

At night, I'd lie awake doing math I couldn't solve: How long do we actually have?

Three weeks after the diagnosis, I found him collapsed in my bedroom closet.

Emergency vet. More tests. His kidneys were shutting down.

My mum looked at me. "What do you want to do?"

I was 15 years old, and I had to decide whether to let my best friend die.

We stayed with him. Held him. Told him we loved him. And we let him go.

Just like that, all three were gone.

The Question That Wouldn't Leave Me Alone

The vet told us there was nothing we could have done differently.

"Chronic kidney disease is progressive. Once it starts, it's just a matter of time."

But something didn't sit right with me.

Kauci had stopped drinking before the diagnosis. What if that's what caused the kidney disease?

I started researching. Late nights after homework. Weekends. Every study I could find.

And I discovered something that shattered me:

Chronic dehydration is the #1 cause of kidney disease in cats.

Most cats don't drink enough water—even when it's available—because standing water develops bacterial biofilm within 4 hours.

Cats have 200 million scent receptors. We have 5 million.

They can smell contamination we can't detect.

Their survival instinct screams: "This water isn't safe. Don't drink it."

So they don't. Even if it means kidney failure.

Kauci wasn't refusing water because he was sick.

He got sick because he was refusing water his instincts told him was contaminated.

And that plastic fountain we bought? It made it worse. Plastic is porous—bacteria colonizes it within hours.

We were giving him contaminated water and wondering why he wouldn't drink.

The vet was wrong. There WAS something we could have done.

We just didn't know it existed.

The Technology That Already Existed

I kept researching. And I found something that made me furious:

Veterinary hospitals use medical-grade stainless steel fountains with hospital-grade filtration and continuous circulation.

Water that stays genuinely fresh. Water cats' survival instincts recognize as safe.

They've had this technology for decades in ICU units.

But when I searched for home versions? Nothing.

The "pet fountains" on the market were all plastic or ceramic—materials that harbor bacteria even when you clean them.

And the veterinary-grade systems? They cost $15,000 and take up entire rooms.

Families like mine had no access to technology that could have saved Kauci's life.

What I Decided to Do

I'm 16. I can't design fountain technology. I don't have a manufacturing facility.

But I could find the people who do.

I spent six months researching manufacturers who supply veterinary equipment. Companies that understand hospital-grade materials and filtration systems.

I tested every fountain I could find that claimed to be "stainless steel" or "medical-grade."

Most failed. Plastic pumps. Single-stage filtration. Water that still smelled like chlorine.

Then I found one manufacturer whose fountain was actually different.

Medical-grade 304 stainless steel throughout (not just the bowl—everything water touches).

Quadruple-filtration system that removes what cats' survival instincts react to.

Continuous circulation that prevents biofilm formation.

Ultra-silent pump (≤28dB) that won't scare anxious cats.

It was the only fountain that met the same standards as veterinary ICU equipment.

I contacted the manufacturer. Told them Kauci's story. Explained what I'd learned about bacterial biofilm and cat survival instincts.

I asked them: "Can I bring this to families in Australia? Can I make this accessible to people like my mum who would have paid anything to save their cat—if they'd known this existed?"

They said yes.

That's What Lunea Is

Lunea isn't a "brand" I created or a fountain I designed.

Lunea is my mission to bridge the gap between veterinary-grade hydration technology and the families who desperately need it.

I curate. I research. I test. I verify.

And I only bring you products that meet the same standards veterinary hospitals use—because anything less failed Kauci.

It's the fountain I wish we'd had. And now other families can access it.

Why I'm Sharing This

I'm not a businessperson. I don't have investors or a marketing team.

I'm just a 16-year-old who lost their best friend and learned it was preventable.

Patch's stroke—we couldn't have prevented that.

Tiger getting hit by a car—out of our control.

Kauci's kidney failure? That was preventable. And we didn't know.

I can't bring him back.

But if Lunea helps even one cat avoid what Kauci went through...

If it saves even one family from sitting in an emergency vet exam room, making an impossible decision at 15...

If it gives even one person more time with their companion—the morning greetings, the window chirps, the warm weight on their chest at night...

Then everything I learned from losing him matters.

What I Want You to Know

If your cat has been drinking less...

If you've noticed their water bowl staying full...

If you've tried fountains and they refuse them...

Please don't wait for the diagnosis like we did.

Chronic kidney disease develops silently over months or years of chronic dehydration.

By the time symptoms appear, 70% of kidney function may already be gone.

You can't reverse kidney damage.

But you can prevent it from starting.

Kauci was white with black spots. He chirped at birds and loved sunbeams. He'd been with me from the week I was born until I was 15.

I lost him because I didn't know standing water could kill him.

You don't have to make the same mistake we did.

Founder, Lunea
In loving memory of Patch, Tiger, and Kauci