10 years ago (literally, almost 10 years ago), I adopted a grey and white with a tabby-striped long tail cat from my friend's unexpected litter of kittens. Though she has an 'official' name that I give to the vet, I more often than not call her by Mao-Mao.
I - along with the help of my family - have raised Mao since her kittenhood and to say that she is more 'one of us' than 'a cat' is oftentimes a major understatement.
Mao has always been a very 'people' cat (well, to her family anyways!) and a very territorial (when she was still outdoors) and perceptive and loving cat to boot. She always knew when anyone in the family was ill and would always do her best to make the sick person feel better and if someone got sick or hurt really really badly, she would somehow always know because that's when she would cry for us.
Recently, she got diagnosed with diabetes and I feel like my heart is breaking because I am struggling with coming to terms with how to care for her in the way she needs to be... but also in a way that I can afford.
I hate that.
The vet I saw was a real sweetheart and had so much compassion. After I spoke frankly with her about my financial situation, she gave me a giant list of wet foods I could transition Mao to to start getting the levels under control and told me to not feel bad if I couldn't afford the insulin injections... now or later given my particular situation.
But seriously, this is just killing me inside.
When I first got her, I was 10 years younger and healthier than I am now though yes, I was managing a lifelong chronic health condition (which, at the time, hadn't given me any too major of troubles and didn't look like it would). When I adopted her, I was a healthier almost-university graduate who had a lot of things going for them... or so I thought. Caring for a cat and its lifetime was something that - at the time - was doable which was the only reason I begged my mother to let me bring a kitten home.
But now isn't then and now, I struggle with multiple chronic health conditions - the lifelong one got worse in the last 5 years which caused something of a domino cascade of related problems - and because of these conditions, it affected my employability and ability to earn to the point I was only able to manage a flexible part-time position. Additionally, because of the same chronic conditions, I have been needing extensive exams and labs - exams and labs that I have continually put off again and again because even with good insurance, the cost is still astronomical (altogether, 1/5 of my yearly income). Then, bad became worse when I took a serious work injury. I was already only able to work part-time. The work-related injury was just icing on that cake.
So I'm sick AND on work comp TTD AND not earning my normal wages because of it.
My parents - one of them now disabled owing to stroke - are now retired and living on a modest and fixed income.
My siblings are already doing everything that they can (because of all of us pooling together, we managed to get the cat to the vet and got the workups done).
And now, my cat has diabetes... and maybe more (I'm still waiting for the lab to give the full results) and her parent and friend - myself and my family - are -very- financially strapped. We're trying not to panic and trying to be optimistic, but it's so hard - especially when we all know that -I myself- have delayed tests and treatment because of affordability issues.
Switching food is one thing, continuous vet visits plus insulin and supplies is another.
But she's Mao; she's sat on my tummy or by my side when the chronic health issues flare up and I'm doubled over in pain. She's sat next to my father's head when he came home from the hospital after emergency brain surgery. She's followed my mother around and about and has been especially gentle around her because somehow, she 'knows' that my mother's had a stroke and isn't completely her old self anymore. She smells everyone's faces and 'cries' in that plaintive mewl of hers when she knows we're sick (and she's always right).
This is such a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE place to be; I'm bawling my eyes out and I hate it so so &%$#ing much.
What in the world am I supposed to do?!
I - along with the help of my family - have raised Mao since her kittenhood and to say that she is more 'one of us' than 'a cat' is oftentimes a major understatement.
Mao has always been a very 'people' cat (well, to her family anyways!) and a very territorial (when she was still outdoors) and perceptive and loving cat to boot. She always knew when anyone in the family was ill and would always do her best to make the sick person feel better and if someone got sick or hurt really really badly, she would somehow always know because that's when she would cry for us.
Recently, she got diagnosed with diabetes and I feel like my heart is breaking because I am struggling with coming to terms with how to care for her in the way she needs to be... but also in a way that I can afford.
I hate that.
The vet I saw was a real sweetheart and had so much compassion. After I spoke frankly with her about my financial situation, she gave me a giant list of wet foods I could transition Mao to to start getting the levels under control and told me to not feel bad if I couldn't afford the insulin injections... now or later given my particular situation.
But seriously, this is just killing me inside.
When I first got her, I was 10 years younger and healthier than I am now though yes, I was managing a lifelong chronic health condition (which, at the time, hadn't given me any too major of troubles and didn't look like it would). When I adopted her, I was a healthier almost-university graduate who had a lot of things going for them... or so I thought. Caring for a cat and its lifetime was something that - at the time - was doable which was the only reason I begged my mother to let me bring a kitten home.
But now isn't then and now, I struggle with multiple chronic health conditions - the lifelong one got worse in the last 5 years which caused something of a domino cascade of related problems - and because of these conditions, it affected my employability and ability to earn to the point I was only able to manage a flexible part-time position. Additionally, because of the same chronic conditions, I have been needing extensive exams and labs - exams and labs that I have continually put off again and again because even with good insurance, the cost is still astronomical (altogether, 1/5 of my yearly income). Then, bad became worse when I took a serious work injury. I was already only able to work part-time. The work-related injury was just icing on that cake.
So I'm sick AND on work comp TTD AND not earning my normal wages because of it.
My parents - one of them now disabled owing to stroke - are now retired and living on a modest and fixed income.
My siblings are already doing everything that they can (because of all of us pooling together, we managed to get the cat to the vet and got the workups done).
And now, my cat has diabetes... and maybe more (I'm still waiting for the lab to give the full results) and her parent and friend - myself and my family - are -very- financially strapped. We're trying not to panic and trying to be optimistic, but it's so hard - especially when we all know that -I myself- have delayed tests and treatment because of affordability issues.
Switching food is one thing, continuous vet visits plus insulin and supplies is another.
But she's Mao; she's sat on my tummy or by my side when the chronic health issues flare up and I'm doubled over in pain. She's sat next to my father's head when he came home from the hospital after emergency brain surgery. She's followed my mother around and about and has been especially gentle around her because somehow, she 'knows' that my mother's had a stroke and isn't completely her old self anymore. She smells everyone's faces and 'cries' in that plaintive mewl of hers when she knows we're sick (and she's always right).
This is such a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE place to be; I'm bawling my eyes out and I hate it so so &%$#ing much.
What in the world am I supposed to do?!
