Over the past couple of days I have had to do some soul searching. I love animals - my pets have always been a part of the family - I have always said I would do whatever it took to keep them happy and healthy as if they were my own children.
Niki is L's cat - she picked her out 2 years ago when she came home from Montana - she was a rescue cat from Petco - poor thing had been there for 6 months without anyone choosing her and L fell in love with her so we adopted Niki. Like most everything L has adopted - once the newness wore off after a few months and the tediousness of having to feed, water, and clean up after her got to be too annoying for her she just stopped taking care of her. Niki has an issue - she seems to be allergic to the bacteria in her mouth - the back of her mouth swells up and she can't swallow very well so she drools on everything - cortisone shots were working for awhile but their effectiveness has worn off. Now it is time to go to the next step which is to have her back teeth pulled so that the bacteria doesn't have any place to hide. Of course you have to take them to a specialist for this - did you know there is such a thing as a Veterinary Dentist? I didn't. So - I called the specialist on Tuesday and they had a cancellation for this Thursday when they could check her out and do the procedure all in one day. I won't get the actual price quote until this morning but the receptionist said to expect it to be at least $1K.
Now came the soul searching part. I know that if it were Muppet or Buffy that needed to have something done I wouldn't even be giving it a second thought - they would be in there and I would figure out a way to pay for it. For some reason I haven't been that way with Niki. In fact - I seem to be more angry than anything else about this. I talked to someone on Tuesday who helped me put it in to perspective. Niki is L's cat - I didn't pick her out - she wasn't my cat she was L's. Once again L has gotten something and abandoned it and I am left to clean it up and take care of it and I resent having to do that. It really kind of pisses me off that I am having to use money that I don't really have to take care of a cat that isn't really mine. Then my compassion for animals comes out - it's not Niki's fault that her human Mom left her and doesn't seem to care about her - side note I did let L know that Niki was having to go in and have this done and invited her over to spend some time with her and she said she would but then never showed up. So this morning I am taking Niki in to hopefully get better. It is like she went from the cage at Petco to being adopted by someone who wasn't really prepared to give her what she needed to now being adopted/rescued again by me. So - I am choosing her this time. After today she will be my cat - she will be part of my family - and she will be loved and cared for.
I will update this post tonight to let you know how she is doing.
De
2 comments:
Sorry, wrong decision. Here's what you do. Let the cat die. That's all there is to it. Cats die every day, it's a part of life. After that, you have one less thing to worry about, and a lot less bills to pay. At that point I, myself would be done, however, I understand that you are an animal lover, so just to show some compassion you march right on down to any King County Animal Shelter and tell them you'd like to adopt a cat. I saw it on the news just last night. They've got an abundance of cats and so they've waived the adoption fees. See now, I've not only eliminated the problem cat and $1k bill, but replaced it with a perfectly healthy and normal cat all for the low, low price of FREE! Can't beat that.
no no no no. you can't just ditch your animal -- it is your friend and part of the family. letting it die and getting a new one is much easier said than done. most people develop a relationship w/their pets and couldn't just let it die and go get a new one that just seems kind of heartless. that is just my opinion though.
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