silverthorne

So, my posts about the kitties has fallen off a bit. Some of it is distraction by WoW, but most of it is because I've been in the RL trying to figure out how to get Ula treated, and what to do if she turns out to have more than bad teeth and a single, benign, mast tumor.

Well, finally 1) got the money to take her in for the second round of bloodtests, to find out if liver disease and/or feline lukemia is a factor. and 2) Made an agreement with the doctor about a payment plan for the teeth and tumor care so that I can actually get it done.

The money I scraped together for the appointment came in Monday. Ula goes in tonight for the tests. Here's hoping nothing else is added to her list of illnesses. I'm really scared there will be.

I spent a lot of time thinking this past month about what to do and how to handle this, and I came to a few decisions. Not ones I'd really want to make, but I'm thinking of Ula here.

I will definitely get her teeth taken care of, no matter what--she needs to be able to eat without pain and without worry of them breaking off. Depending on other factors that will be addressed with the blood tests, I may or may not do the mast tumor.

If it's the only other problem she has, I'll get it removed. But if the blood tests come back with something more serious, such as the FELV, then my decision is different.

Which is to not get it removed, and to not get Ula treated. What I'll do instead is give her as many days, months, or years as her conditions will allow living happily, pain free and fear free (she's more afraid of the vet than Foot is), and without all the poking and prodding. When she starts to show signs, I'll go ahead and put her to sleep before she starts to suffer too much.

Why?

First of all, the bare tacks are, I won't be able to afford it, especially a long drawn out treatment. She isn't insured, and won't be able to get insured, so there's no help there. And my credit is tenous enough as it is.

But, on a deeper level...yeah, I could probably give her back to the foster group. They might be able to help her, but it will be at the cost of her security and knowing that she's in her permanent home. That stress and possible depression might do her in even with treatment. So, in a way, that's a form of cruelty.

There's also tha fact that even if I could afford treatments, that means she'll spend the rest of her life constantly getting poked and prodded by people she doesn't know on a regular basis, getting force fed pills, needles, more operations (depending on how it goes), pain from each new sympotom that shows up until it's recognized and treated, and so forth.

And I'll be honest; I'd rather her life be short and happy, than drawn out and constantly stressed in one way or another.

But that's just me.

Anyway, wish Ula all the luck in her bloodtests this afternoon as you can muster.