A venting post about pets, money and my cat's teeth

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FeelsLikeNoOnesHome
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A venting post about pets, money and my cat's teeth

Postby FeelsLikeNoOnesHome » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:33 pm

We have 5 cats in our household and considering how little money we have, that's probably too many. Don't get me wrong, I love all our cats and they get plenty of pets, playtime, toys, etc; I haven't worked for years, partly due to my depression/anxiety, so I do most of the caretaking for our cats, but it also means I'm reliant on my stepdad and mom for vet care, etc. They're the kind of people who tend to downplay things to justify not spending money on them, which includes not taking our cats to the vet more than once a year (for their wellness check) unless they absolutely have to, which has caused me more anxiety on multiple occasions and given them the chance to tell me I don't know anything and that I'm annoying them by worrying too much.

This is relevant because a year ago, at my cat's last wellness check, the vet warned us that his teeth were starting to look bad and that we should seriously consider doing something about that before it worsened or led to sepsis. My stepdad and mom didn't really think of this again until two months ago, when my cat started spasming and freaking out, drooling heavily with pink (bloody) foam. I managed to wrap him in a towel and when he calmed down a little, though he was limp and breathing shallowly, we went to the emergency room of a vet some 20 minutes away, where (thanks to COVID and crowds) we had to wait for a half-hour. Then we were asked to give 'permission for emergency measures' or something, essentially that they could do whatever they considered necessary because they thought his bad teeth might have caused sepsis. Of course I was freaking out even more and crying, but when I told them we probably couldn't afford it (I had $200 cash and that's it) they sent us to the Humane Society, where we waited another 30 minutes until we finally got to see someone. It wasn't sepsis, thankfully, and they gave him shots to control the pain and possible infection but told us that he definitely had to have dental surgery to remove most or all of his teeth, that it would be expensive and that the next open slot was in a little over two months.

Well, this week he has his appointment, which has had my nerves working overtime for the last week or so. I'm worried about how much it'll cost and how we'll manage to pay for it, much less any medication he'll need to take afterwards; I'm worried about how he'll handle it and if he'll be in pain and for how long; I'm worried about other problems that'll come up in the future that we almost certainly can't afford. I've brought up the idea of pet insurance to my mom and stepdad multiple times but I got the "We don't have money for it," which is both true (we live paycheck to paycheck) and not completely true (they regularly spend on unnecessary things like cigarettes and fast food). I've temporarily stopped filling out job applications until my cat comes back from the vet and has healed up because worrying about him is making it hard for me to focus on anything, and the last time we took one of the other cats to her wellness checkup, they said that some of her teeth weren't looking good. She has her wellness check the same day as my cat's procedure and I can only hope that the prognosis is as good as can be expected; either way, we're probably looking at another dental procedure we can't afford. Every time I try to think about it I feel overwhelmed and on the verge of slipping into another downward spiral, but I can't afford to not think of it. I'm already incredibly anxious about going back into the workplace after so long, sometimes anxious to the point of tears, and the last time I really hit a low point it felt like this and the suicidal ideation came roaring back. This time we have the cats, and I feel like I can't rely on my mom or stepdad to take care of them if I'm gone.

tl;dr: I just want my cat and all our cats to be happy and healthy but feel like I can't do anything about it because I'm neither of those things, and this upcoming vet appointment and its fallout is making things worse. If anybody's in or has been in a similar situation and/or has any advice, I'd love to hear about it!

fummymeasle
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:19 am

Re: A venting post about pets, money and my cat's teeth

Postby fummymeasle » Thu Oct 01, 2020 4:06 am

Yes this very interesting. I got more inputs here too

CamGirl
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:04 am

Re: A venting post about pets, money and my cat's teeth

Postby CamGirl » Mon Oct 05, 2020 12:34 am

Don't be so hard on yourself. Sounds like you love them so dearly, and I think that's the most important thing. Don't work up yourself too much and figure out what could work out for you without experiencing too much stress.


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