My last post contributed nothing to the universe. Here's its replacement.
My cat is suffering. His FLUTD has returned and I can choose one of two options:
Option A) Spend money to save his life. This will cost approximately two or three paycheques' worth of income. I have more than enough in the bank right now, but was wanting to invest in Canada savings bonds so I had a solid foundation for university.
Option B) Have him put down. This will cost only the price of the injection, and I'll be two months closer to leaving the nest and actually making a name for myself. However, the emotional cost will be exorbitant, and I'll lose my best friend as a result.
Please help me decide, because I can't.
[Edited, twice, for grammar. Apparently my grammar goes to hell when I'm upset...]
I'm a bleeding heart. A
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A. You can get more money.
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Aye, we just had a cat put down last friday because she was very old. Loved the cat very much. Cherish the time you have with your friends, because you can't replace them. Money you can replace.
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One thing to consider is will the cat be the same? Sure it'll recover and be just as healthy phsyically, but even animals can find this stuff traumatic.
My dog hasn't been the same since she was bitten by a snake and spent a week at the vet in a state that could pretty much be summed up as dead. Lucky for me she's still a great dog and none of the things that I like about her have changed. Also is the cat going to spend the rest of it's life locked inside your bedroom because it can't go outside or do very phsyical stuff anymore? I'm not saying that you should have your cat put down, but I'd talk to the vet about what he/she will be like afterwards. At the risk of sounding like a nutjob, would your cat want you to make this sacrafice? What are the odds of this coming back? Is it going to be painful for him/her if it does come back? Are you going to be able to afford it again if it comes back? Are you going to find yourself in this situation every four months? Another important thing is will the bill end there? Will your cat need special food for the next year or two? Or maybe medicine that you'll struggle to afford? Also, I'm sure you don't want to hear this but pets die. Barring a freak accident you're going to outlive this cat. One last thing, don't feel guilty if you decide you can't afford it. It sounds like paying for this would require a pretty big sacrafice on your part. It's a hard choice to make, and I'm sorry if this has all sounded heartless but I think everyone will go for the 'money isn't everything' side and you need to hear more than just that to make the right choice, reguardless of whether the right choice for you is A or B. PS: Have you considered looking for a teaching vet? They're considerably cheaper and I feel they do a better job (even if the guy operating is a student, he knows what he's doing and has a veteran vet looking over his shoulder). | |
Do you actully know a whole lot about the Cat's disorder? Do you know what kind of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease it has?
This site here --> http://www.marvistavet.com/html/ feline_lower_urinary_tract_dis.html says that there are a number of different things that can cause it. A few being like bladder stones, urethtral blockage or cancer. What case does your cat have? Has it been tested for everything? Next, is the cat in a lot of pain? If the cat is doing just fine, and seems to be fine, just let him live the rest of his life out. If not, its a cat. It may be a good pet and a good friend, but cats don't live nearly as long as people do. And since it is a domestic cat, its life wont be nearly as productive as your own life, or a wild cat's life would be. In the end, this sort of stuff costs way too much, and Id suggest putting it down. I wouldn't even pay the vet, Id take my pet in the back yard and shoot it. It sounds cruel, but the fact is, I did the same thing with a Dog I owned that had painful cancer. I took it out in the country where we used to play and stuff, I played with him a bit and shot him, then I buried him and cried. Sounds cheesy right? Why didn't I just put him down? He was my pet, my friend, I was his owner. I had the responsibility to put him down, and I didn't want anyone else to actully kill him. It might sound weird, but Id rather put down my own pet, then have a complete stranger do it. | |
A
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I took it out in the country where we used to play and stuff, I played with him a bit and shot him, then I buried him and cried. Sounds cheesy right? You killed him? I dunno about in America but in England there are laws against killing dogs... *edit* Just to clear up: Obviously you had no choice, however I'm just wondering about the actual laws in America concerning it. | |
I am pretty sure it's illegal. Since it probably falls under "Animal Abuse" or whatever it is.
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*nods* Lethal injection is considered the most humane way to put them down, because it slows their heart until they fall asleep, then their heart stops while they're out. It's basically an overdose of tranquiliser.
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My granddad had to shoot his dog on the spot after he accidently backed over it in a tractor (he's a farmer).
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Yeah, if it came down to having my pet die on the way to a hospital, or die by my own hand, I'd pick the latter.
But if he was suffering and surviving, I'd vastly prefer an injection. I'd want his last moment on Earth to be a feeling of warm comfort and relief. (I remember quite clearly the words I said when they finally operated on my broken elbow and gave me the anaesthetic injection. "Oh, thank you. That feels so nice. It's such--" [ZONK] In retrospect, they might've suspected I was a druggie or something. The sentence I wanted to finish was "It's such a relief", but I probably barely slurred out "such" as it was. No one in that whole damned hospital seemed to understand the god-damn crippling pain I was in. I nearly fainted when they tried to straighten my arm for an X-ray (but only seethed under the pain). Suffice it to say that I'm no longer very supportive of most of the nurses' strikes. The morphine didn't do a bloody thing. =P) | |
The color's on this website are very cool.
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_Ryan