lucidjelly's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the high cost of pet ownership july 24the high cost of pet ownershipDana has been writing about her dog who has a mass cell tumor. They had it removed and will start chemo soon. This is the same kind of cancer Friday has, and has had for the last three years or so. It’s much more dangerous in dogs, for some reason, and we’ve been lucky to have been able to just have all but one of her tumors snipped; the other required expensive, major surgery.Friday has had another tumor on the back of her leg for at least the last nine months. I elected to not have it removed because a) she’s 14 years old and it would be major surgery and she would be in pain and immobile for a long time and it’s impossible to explain that to a cat, and, b) I simply don’t have the money. The operation runs up to $1000. The other piece that brought me to this decision is the fact that Friday is also diabetic and has been for four years. We’ve done a good job of regulating her glucose with regular doses of insulin and she’s been a great sport about the whole thing. But it has weakened her liver and kidneys and makes anesthesia risky. I have felt very comfortable in my decision, although not without some regret. I’ve had her since I was 13. I wouldn’t say she’s my baby, she’s more like a sickly, elderly aunt, but I love her very much and she’s been a good companion. Right now, though, I can’t risk our financial health, especially with my job security in question, for an operation that might either kill her or leave her so miserable she’ll wish she were dead. This completely reasonable approach to a difficult pet ownership question became completely moot this past weekend. Long story short, she didn’t get enough to eat on Saturday because the damn kittens kept pestering her and she ended up in a diabetic coma with seizures. We immediately rushed her to the animal ER at about midnight where she made a miraculous and almost instantaneous recovery. She was still required to undergo monitoring of her glucose level for the next 18 hours but she came through that with flying colors. And the whole damn thing cost me $503. Payment up front, baby. Fuck. Me. Friday is healthy and happy again. There’s no lasting damage that we can see. But this is not what I needed right now. We can’t afford this. Still, I’m not sorry I did it, especially since it was obviously the right thing to do for her. But it makes me wonder, should I have given her the operation for the cancer? Has she been weakened by this last incident to the point that it’s too late? Do my original reasons for declining the surgery still apply? I don’t know. But unless I’m willing to go into even more debt, which I’m not, I suppose it doesn’t really matter what’s right or wrong at this point. I just hope I haven’t failed her. - july 24 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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