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Old August 24th, 2013, 10:28 PM
mybubbles65 mybubbles65 is offline
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Lost My Baby Joey

It is with great sadness that I write this. My six year old cat became suddenly I'll late Thursday. We took him to the vet first thing Friday morning. He had a urinary blockage. The vet said they could do a surgery that would cost well over $1000 and it might not work. It all stemmed from crystals in the urine. He never showed any symptoms of anything till Thursday. We simply could not afford the surgery and had to let him go. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done. We are missing him like crazy. His sister, Bella (a dog) is missing him too. When she came home to us at eight weeks old two years ago, she instantly loved her brother cat and he loved her too. We are debating whether we should get another cat or not. Poor Bella keeps looking for him. She may not even take to another cat. Any thoughts on this situation?
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Old August 25th, 2013, 07:18 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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I'm so sorry. What a hard thing for all of you.

Did you bring Joey home with you? To bury him? I now make sure to have a little ceremony in our back yard and bring the other animals out to say goodbye. Because they DO miss each other but animals understand death if they are given a chance to know it happened. Without the viewing of the body I too have found the remaining critter, sometimes not the same species, will look for the missing one, sometimes for weeks. I've not tried it but maybe burying a blanket or something Bella associates with Joey would help her. Something that smells like him.

Personally I would not get another cat for Bella (and yourself, it would YOUR cat) too soon. Bella needs to grieve too, I think. A child would know the difference, a dog would too, I believe.

I'm so sorry. My condolences to you and your family.
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Old August 25th, 2013, 07:49 AM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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I am sorry to hear about the lost of your cat .

If you do get another cat ,it might be best to get a kitten . I had a dog and got a kitten and the kitten was too young to know that dogs and cats do not always get along . So the kitten had no fear of my dog and took to her right away as his adopted 'mother' and tried to nurse on her. I think only you know what is best or your dog. Is there any way you can be a foster mom to a kitten that you would want to adopt if your dog got along with the kitten?
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Old August 25th, 2013, 10:14 AM
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Dog Dancer Dog Dancer is offline
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I'm so sorry for your loss, it's no doubt one of the hardest things you will ever do, but you did it out of love. Joey does not suffer now.

IF you decided to get a new cat/kitten through the SPCA or some other adoption place (or a home) maybe find out if you can bring your pup to meet the cat first, to see if they react well to each other. When I adopted Halo, our older dog Shadow was a factor in the decision.

Like Longblades said though, I wouldn't rush it.
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Old August 26th, 2013, 01:59 PM
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Koteburo Koteburo is offline
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It makes me crazy when pets are lost for those reasons. It's not fair pet health care has to come with such a high price. It's just not fair. I know this didn't guarantee saving him and I'm not against vets making a living either but still.
I can imagine the frustration and sadness when it's just impossible to get that money and in the mean time your friend, companion, fur baby, is sick and can't do anything about it.
It happens even with people too in some places people who could get treatment die because they don't have the means to get what they need.
It's not fair to anyone.
I'm very sorry for your loss I'm sure you did whatever you could.
And about getting another cat...
Well maybe give it sometime? To adjust to the place without him being around.
It all depends, everyone deals with these things differently.
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Old August 26th, 2013, 03:39 PM
mybubbles65 mybubbles65 is offline
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Dido

Quote:
Originally Posted by Koteburo View Post
It makes me crazy when pets are lost for those reasons. It's not fair pet health care has to come with such a high price. It's just not fair. I know this didn't guarantee saving him and I'm not against vets making a living either but still.
I so agree. We all have to make a living but preying on the desperation and grief of a pet owner is disgusting. On top of that, charging us $300 to put him down was like adding insult to injury. When a pet owner is having to make that terrible decision, the least a vet could do is charge just for the cost of supplies and medication. I'm sure that would only be a few dollars. They make enough money on shots, spaying, neutering, etc. I could never look myself in the mirror every morning knowing I was doing this to grieving people. We would have liked to have had his ashes but that was another $100 to have them returned to us. We were already paying to have him cremated so how difficult would it have been to have his ashes returned to us in a Baggie for gods sake? This event has really opened my eyes up to the veterinarian business. Cause that's what it is, a business. They really have no compassion for the animals or family's involved. When my husband asked why the surgery was so expensive, the vet had the nerve to say " we are running a business here". Disgusting! Many years ago I used to go to a vet that had a teaching practice. Her fees were substantially lower then the average vet. She still managed to make a living but was not greedy. Now, that's a real doctor.
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Old August 27th, 2013, 08:58 AM
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Winston Winston is offline
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I am so sorry for your loss bubbles65...I too lost my 18 yr old on Friday last week. It is so hard to loose them. On the other hand I love the vet we took the kitties to as she was a Feline Specialist who has been upfront and honest and not out for the mighty dollar. Changing over to this vet a few years ago was the best thing I ever did...

I wish you peace....
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Old August 27th, 2013, 11:47 AM
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Koteburo Koteburo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mybubbles65 View Post
I so agree. We all have to make a living but preying on the desperation and grief of a pet owner is disgusting. On top of that, charging us $300 to put him down was like adding insult to injury. When a pet owner is having to make that terrible decision, the least a vet could do is charge just for the cost of supplies and medication. I'm sure that would only be a few dollars. They make enough money on shots, spaying, neutering, etc. I could never look myself in the mirror every morning knowing I was doing this to grieving people. We would have liked to have had his ashes but that was another $100 to have them returned to us. We were already paying to have him cremated so how difficult would it have been to have his ashes returned to us in a Baggie for gods sake? This event has really opened my eyes up to the veterinarian business. Cause that's what it is, a business. They really have no compassion for the animals or family's involved. When my husband asked why the surgery was so expensive, the vet had the nerve to say " we are running a business here". Disgusting! Many years ago I used to go to a vet that had a teaching practice. Her fees were substantially lower then the average vet. She still managed to make a living but was not greedy. Now, that's a real doctor.
I couldn't agree more. Sadly a lot of them are just out for the profit although not all but it takes a while to find a good one that loves what he or she does and tries different vias to ease the wallet and at the same time help your friend (takes time unless you make a lucky finding)
We had a vet like that but he's retired now (this year or last) so our current vet is not bad but not like that guy. Once we went at 10PM after spaying Mulder because she wasn't feeling to great and he went to the clinic got her checked, gave her a shot and he didn't charge us.
On the other side Scully had a UTI recently and we ended up paying around 500 dollars for something I already strongly suspected. So you see the 2 sides of the spectre being the mercenary side the most common
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