never, never, ever...

[wordinista]

Ask your hormonal adult daughter, "So, how far are you going to take this?" in relation to her possibly terminally ill cat.

Ever.

Next thing you should never say:  "You can't go into hock over an animal.  I know you love her, and she is a love, but she's just an animal."

Never, ever say that, either.  Trust me on this one.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the vet called last night with... not-good news. Her hematocrit level was down to 7% (should be around 30-40% in a healthy cat), and that her anemia is the non-regenerative type, which increases the likelihood of FeLV. Her initial test (a basic blood test) came out negative, but he wants to do a bone marrow test to make sure it wasn't a false negative, because all signs seem to be pointing to FeLV.

EDIT the Second: I wrote to a local feline specialist today and got the following reply:

Bronte is going to need a blood transfusion w/ a PCV of 7 % regardless of the cause of the anemia. A bone marrow aspirate after she is stabilized from the transfusion is a logical next step. I am assuming she has been tested for FeLV and FIV. It sounds like she originally was being treated for a red blood cell type parasite called Hemobartonella. It is usually treated w/ doxy and pred for 3 weeks. It also usually shows a regenerative anemia. Immune mediated anemias in cats are rare except in FeLV positive cats.

Dammit.

The doc then went on to recommend two veterinary internists in the area.

Dammit.

Never again. Never, never again -- I am not ever, ever getting a random kitten from an "oops" litter ever again. I'll go to the pound first. I'll buy a purebred cat. But if there's any way I can avoid going through this kind of heartache again, I'm doing it.

Comments

[katmorning.livejournal.com]

*hugs Niamh* I will say that every one of my cats has been an "oops" litter. The only times they've inexplicably died was when I bought them purebred. In fact, they're healthier because their genes have been more varied.

I swear the vast majority of humanity are emotionally deficient. It is not just an animal. What kind of superficial crap is that? It's something you love, and it's something that loves you back, and has a personality, and emotions of its own. It's not just a breathing knick-knack! I hate the mindset that any animal, especially one as intelligent as a cat or a dog, is just a consumer good. Disposable and easilly replaced. It basically says that having an emotional attatchement to a pet is unworthy and stupid.

It's not. You've got my respect because of how much you love your critters, and how responsible you are about thier welfare.

*takes a breath* and ... I apologize. That's one of the very few things that will rile me.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, honey -- I didn't mean to rile you.

My first cat, Pandora, was from an "oops" litter. She was also born to a cat who was not let out habitually, and owned by people we knew very well (well enough to know that Pan's mama was well taken care of). I am starting to suspect that the people we got Bronte and Kisa from were not particularly responsible cat owners (as I said to Ith in a comment above, the mama cat was pregnant AGAIN when we went to pick the girls up for the first time). The suspicion is that they were carriers from birth. Because in two years, those cats have gotten out ONCE. Bronte went no further than the porch, and Kisa we found under a bush on the side of the house.

Basically, when they were wee kitties, the vet asked me if they were going to be indoor or outdoor cats. I told her they'd be indoor cats, because we were living by a busy street, and in George's old neighborhood, people let their cats roam free, and the animals were basically neighborhood pests.

I don't think my mother was trying be insensitive. The sad fact is that the vet bills are mounting up, and I've had to borrow money from her over the past few months to cover our finances so we weren't overdrawn. George keeps saying to "spare no expense" when it comes to treating Bronte, but he's not the one who has to sit down and figure out the monthly budget. I had to borrow money from her to cover the check I wrote to pay for B's unexpected vet appointment on Monday (usually I schedule her appointments on weeks George gets paid).

This whole thing is making me SERIOUSLY reconsider pet insurance.

[katmorning.livejournal.com]

It wasn't you. I'll admit my defensive bristling comes from exposure to my sister, who is that insensitive. She's the kind to just abandon an animal in the mountains because didn't use the litterbox. And she's been pressuring us to get rid of our cats because they're "destroying the resale value of the house".

Perfect example, in fact. Her son was being married in California. My parents litterally couldn't not afford to take the trip at that time. She and my other sister bullied them into it, so they ended up going, spending money we didn't have, and leaving me alone at home with my new kitten Annabelle. Annabelle was very, very sick. We do think it was FeLV and she had contracted it while at the pound.

We did what we could to treat her, but Annabelle died in my hands while they were gone. It wasn't the first time I'd watched something I loved die, but it was the first time I was completely alone for it.

My sister's a great person. Her home is immaculate and her children are almost all perfect, but she has no empathy for anything. If it's old, or overly sick, or a messy inconvenience, it's shunted off into a retirement home, the pound, or euthanized.