Rescue Journal

the hard line.

Carol  ·  Apr. 24, 2016

well i can't say that energy is oozing out of me this weekend but yesterday i did manage to reorganize the barn feed freezers, unload and put away the bags of feed, take in a new old and sick cat, lime the front yard and put the barn to bed.

not sure what today will drag out of me.

so the new cat is a bit of a sad story...the family has had her since she was a kitten and she is now 11 years old. she started peeing blood and peeing outside her litter box about 4 months ago. the family has a new baby, can't afford much in vet care..tried her on a course of antibiotics which didn't really help and finally brought her in for euthanization which is when the clinic called us and we got involved.

we will do the full medical work ups and see if we can't get her healthy and more comfortable.
the family was tearful in leaving her here and asked if we could sort her out, if it was possible to have her back.
but what about the next health care crises? what if as she ages, she becomes hyperthyroid? has continued bladder problems? starts the slide into renal/liver/cardiac disease?

old cats cost money..she might have been relatively inexpensive for the first 10 years of her life but this is changing.
it is the reality of pet ownership..they will need vet care at some point if they are to have continued quality of life.

and once again i put it out there..the blunt hard fact...folks on limited incomes who want to have pets, need to have medical insurence to help care for those pets. if they cannot reasonably afford the $50 per month for the life of their pet, they probably shouldn't be getting a pet.

no living creature deserves to be denied needed medical care.

saints welcome toro..she has her vet check booked for monday, i am dropping cheyenne and her at the clinic on my way to work.

Comments

Debra in Malaysia

So sad.. I could never imagine doing that. One of my cats is 16 yrs old and is starting to have medical issues. He's my son, and I will pay whatever I need too

Carol

hi pam...we have many homeless animals out in foster and we do pay their medical bills but we really can't afford to be paying ongoing medical bills for family pets..so many homeless ones need help. and in order for someone to turn their animal over to us and then become a foster (which we occasionally do do)..they would have to meet our foster requirements, it gets complicated..how long was the animal sick for? what efforts/sacrifices were made to get help? what led to euthanization being the final solution? what are the chances of the animal being at risk again?
not meeting our requirements doesn't mean these families are "bad"..it just means they have too much on their plates financially, emotionally, whatever and the sick or in pain animal sometimes loses priority due to the other challenges in life.
in any case there are many aspects to consider..not just the actual vet bills...its the same for all of our animals out in foster care.