Saddest thing

dammn..

wow, a 2k vet bill is something.

I thought a $79 vet bill for my chihuahua was expensive.

I spent a LOT of money on my boy, Igor, last year when he got ill from cancer - I calculated the costs at over $7,000 over the course of two months while we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him. I do not regret anything because of the love, devotion, and happiness he brought us over 14 years.

It's really hard for people who have not owned pets to understand this - they usually dismiss the actions of the animals as anthropomorphism on the owner's part when pet owners talk about the affection and, truly, love that the animals give to them. And we, as pet owners, have a responsibility that comes with the luxury and pleasure of keeping pets. Of course, that responsibility is open for discussion, but personally I wanted to do what it took to know what my cat's problem was, but I then knew that I could not do anything to keep him alive without severely reducing his quality of life.

Originally Posted by brown eyes

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dammn.. wow, a 2k vet bill is something. I thought a $79 vet bill for my chihuahua was expensive.
That was the first bill... I won't go into what the rest of it will be.

Originally Posted by HORNS

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I spent a LOT of money on my boy, Igor, last year when he got ill from cancer - I calculated the costs at over $7,000 over the course of two months while we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him. I do not regret anything because of the love, devotion, and happiness he brought us over 14 years. It's really hard for people who have not owned pets to understand this - they usually dismiss the actions of the animals as anthropomorphism on the owner's part when pet owners talk about the affection and, truly, love that the animals give to them. And we, as pet owners, have a responsibility that comes with the luxury and pleasure of keeping pets. Of course, that responsibility is open for discussion, but personally I wanted to do what it took to know what my cat's problem was, but I then knew that I could not do anything to keep him alive without severely reducing his quality of life.
I am sure Rudy will bring us lots of fun in the future.. he is still kinda slow right now. I hope I will be picking him up tomorrow. Sorry about the lack of updates. Been busy lately.

Something similar happened to me the other day. On a busy road and I immediately saw a medium sized kitten in the middle of the road that was having spasms. I stopped the car in front of it to prevent it from being hit, got out, realized it had already just been hit. Hoped it had a chance of surviving but after a few seconds it stopped moving erratically and blood pooled from its head.

Originally Posted by Nosu3

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Something similar happened to me the other day. On a busy road and I immediately saw a medium sized kitten in the middle of the road that was having spasms. I stopped the car in front of it to prevent it from being hit, got out, realized it had already just been hit. Hoped it had a chance of surviving but after a few seconds it stopped moving erratically and blood pooled from its head.

**** me.

I think I need to stop reading this thread.

Originally Posted by Nosu3

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Something similar happened to me the other day. On a busy road and I immediately saw a medium sized kitten in the middle of the road that was having spasms. I stopped the car in front of it to prevent it from being hit, got out, realized it had already just been hit. Hoped it had a chance of surviving but after a few seconds it stopped moving erratically and blood pooled from its head.

Originally Posted by Nosu3

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Something similar happened to me the other day. On a busy road and I immediately saw a medium sized kitten in the middle of the road that was having spasms. I stopped the car in front of it to prevent it from being hit, got out, realized it had already just been hit. Hoped it had a chance of surviving but after a few seconds it stopped moving erratically and blood pooled from its head.

speechless.. that is terrible.

Originally Posted by HORNS

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**** me.

I think I need to stop reading this thread.

Um, yeah....that I could have done without.

I once held up traffic on a fairly busy beach road to pick up a turtle that was all closed up in its shell in the middle of one lane. Moved it off on to the side that it had been heading towards. Brainless little bastard probably turned around and crawled right back onto the the road again, but at least I extended its life somewhat. Got a smile from the woman in the car behind me.

Originally Posted by HORNS

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It's really hard for people who have not owned pets to understand this - they usually dismiss the actions of the animals as anthropomorphism on the owner's part when pet owners talk about the affection and, truly, love that the animals give to them.

How do you know he loved you? Did he ever tell you that?

Originally Posted by Hartmann

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How do you know he loved you? Did he ever tell you that?

How do you know people love if they are also capable of lying?

Originally Posted by Nosu3

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How do you know people love if they are also capable of lying?

Good point.

How is Rudy doing these days?

Originally Posted by Korben

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So I was on my way to work this morning driving my normal path and I come to a red light. A car had hit a kitten and the poor thing was trying to move with two legs.. The other two both on the same side had been crushed.. Its raining and cold and just a miserable day. I am sitting there in a new suit, warm car and gloves. I just couldn't take it... (this is one of the major streets in my city). I flip on my flashers get out of the car go to the middle of the intersection and pick the little thing up. Not a car moves... I get back in, put the little guy in the passenger seat (its making the worst sounds I have ever heard). Luckily my son had left his gym bag in the back and towel was hanging out, so I wrapped him up. Pulled a U turn in the intersection and went to the animal hospital a few blocks away. Long story short a ruined suit, two missed morning meetings, and about $2,000 in vet bills so far, I have a new little cat I'm gonna call.... Rudy. The little thing lost one leg completely but the vet salvaged the other. I thought they would just put it down but they asked me if I wanted them to try and save it and well I couldn't say no. He is resting at the hospital for now and they told me in 2 weeks I may be able to bring him home.

And to top it all off I am allergic to cats, starting allergy shots.

Thank you sir.


You give me hope for man kind.

I'd really appreciate an update as well...

My wife and I do a lot of cat rescue work (though it's mostly trap/spay/neuter/release) - and,having read Korben's story, thought I'd share something similar...

We got a call from someone who got our number through the grapevine that an elderly woman had passed on and her family was unwilling to take on her 2 cats. Unfortunately, by the time we got the call, both cats had been unceremoniously excommunicated from their house of many years (cats don't understand this, and - after having been raised inside with food dishes - do not necessarily know how to forage outside). To make matters worse, one of the cats had gotten into a tussle with a local dog and, per their description was "hurt real bad".

By the time we got there, they had the cat's leg bandaged up, though the blood seeping through made it pretty clear it was a serious case of being bitten/mauled. Luckily, through our volunteer work, we have connections with some vets who do work either pro-bono or very cheap. Unfortunately, it means that the cats don't always get the best treatment. Long story, short - while I'm thankful we had a vet willing to work with us, they didn't quite give the patent the attention he should have gotten and infection set in. Within 48 hours it became clear that the only option was amputation.

At the time, we'd seen a lot of weird and wacky things with cats - blind, deaf, old, etc. - butnever an amputee. Once the procedure was done and the cat was retrievable I went to pick him up. I totally broke down when I saw him without a back leg. I really felt like we let him down (maybe if we coughed up the cash instead of the pro-bono route? what if we took him to another vet? what if....?) and he was fscked for life. The vet walked me through the basics of what it was going to be like with a 3-legged cat with the main point being - unbelievably - "he'll get used to it, he'll be fine!" which seemed impossible when I'm looking at a 3 legged cat.

I brought him home and when I got him to our extra bedroom/makeshift infirmary, I opened the carrier and he bounded out. I mean, he pogo sticked across the floor, slid on his stump, and then bolted right back at me, jumped on the bed and laid down with just a pleased-as-punch look on his face. I was stunned. He was far less worried about it than I was!! In fact, I suspect, he's still not quite sure to this day what's wrong or if there even is anything wrong (well, he probably suspects something when he goes to scratch using his "stump" and the side of his head is still itching...I lend a hand everytime I see him do it)

Like most of our "patients" or fosters, we planned on getting him adopted out, but I christened him "Max" (???) and, well, he's been here ever since.

Not all of our emergency situations turned out like this, but - like most things - it's feels so much worse when you're in the middle of it.