My Cat Nearly Died
Last week, my cat started acting poorly. Vomiting, complaining, clearly in pain. Actually, he'd been a little off the past couple months, not eating well mostly.
So I took him to the vet. Had to go to an emergency clinic because the point where he was clearly in bad shape was at 1 AM on a Saturday night. That visit cost me a chunk of money I needed to be using on other things like bills, and it was inconclusive -- they sent him back with a shot for the pain.
Sunday afternoon, he's still doing badly. It being Sunday, the only option was the same emergency clinic. This time they wanted to do bloodwork and an X-ray, both of which cost much more than I could afford. After a bunch of frantic calls and texts, to no avail, I finally decided to take a chance and apply for a veterinary credit line. Despite my pessimism about my chances, it got approved for $1500.
Turned out he had ingested a whole bunch of rubber hair ties. Like, over a dozen, and big ones. Needed abdominal surgery -- which, when added to the exam costs, came out to just under $1500. So I was barely able to get it all done by signing off on that.
The surgery went well, though he needed a couple days in a regular vet clinic for post-op recovery. He came home yesterday; he's spending most of the day hiding in a box and resting, but he's eating occasionally and actually came out to perch on his scratching post today.
So it was a harrowing few days, and now I have the looming specter of this massive debt to work off on a limited income. I'll figure it out, but I suspect it's going to require some serious belt-tightening.
Those of you inclined to do so, kindly pray to Saint Matthew for us (he covers financial issues). And to Saint Francis of Assisi for the cat's recovery.