How do you put a pricetag on the value of a life? It's a question I'm grappling with these days as my mature cat enters old age and I'm forced to deal with mounting vet bills.
Relative to everything else, the vet bills are nowhere near extreme but well, on a single income, they start to add up. And now I'm faced with the dilemma of what do to about them.
Here's the deal - my 14.75 year old cat has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. What this is doing to her is eating away at her muscle mass and she's constantly eating. She's lost close to 1/4 of her body weight from when she went in in January of 07 until her checkup this year in July 07. For a cat, that's a lot. For ANYONE, that's a lot. But I'm now trying to figure out the best treatment method. So bear with me while I go through the options:
Option #1: Pills. I have to give her 1/2 a pill 2 times per day for the rest of her life. Cost is about $66.50/3 months (so there goes the latte factor) and then blood work 2-4 times per year at a cost of $130/time. Overall, this will cost me between $526-746/year depending on the number of times she needs to go in for blood work. Pros: It's affordable right now and it's hard to say how long this will be a cost depending on how much longer she lives. Cons: It's going to become the more expensive method over time if she lives for anything more than about 3 more years AND I have to arrange for her to be medicated while I'm away. Good-bye to the days of mountainous bowls of food and water while I whisk off for the weekend with my new beau (hey, I can fantasize, can't I?) or more realistically, to see my brother and his ever growing family. Plus, there's the twice daily battle of finding new and ingenious ways to get her to eat it without having to just shove it down her throat (which I have yet to resort to - YET being the operative word).
Option #2: Transdermal gel. It's the same as the pills for how it's given (ie. twice a day) just it's dabbed into her ear. Cost? $35.79/month and she still needs to have bloodwork done. Pros: It's easier for people to have to deal with if I have someone come in to take care of her and it'll be easier on me than trying to bribe her twice a day with Fancy Feast (to which I'm grateful to JJ and J for introducing it to me in a convoluted way). Cons: It's more expensive, I have to pick up the prescription monthly, and I still have the (fantasy) weekends to have to worry about.
Option #3: Radioactive Iodine Treatment. One time deal where she stays at the vet for 7-10 days because she'll be, get this, radioactive, and then it should cure her from that point on. No more blood tests beyond maybe one per year and that's it. Cost: (gulp) $1500-1800. Pros: No messing around, no hassle, no worries - bring on the (fantasy) weekends! It'll also have paid for itself if she lives another 3 years (compared cost to cheapest method being the pills). Cons: It's pretty hard on her system so she may not even qualify for the treatment and it's bloody expensive. I can just hear the little Visa devils cackling as they rub their hands together in anticipation of having my by the cojones over this one.
So what to do? This is also in relation to her feline companion who has a chipped tooth that may need to be removed soon. *sigh* I know that this is what you take on with pet ownership but man, it doesn't make it any easier.
1 comment:
It's a personal choice, but the ear gel sounds better than the pills. My George would spit those pills up no matter how far I shoved them down his throat, resulting in 4 pills a day to get 1stay down. He also was unevenly medicated as a result, with a bad outcome.
Good luck!
Queen A
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