We lost a very sweet member of the family this past month -
our sweet cat Oscar. He had emergency bladder surgery and while he survived the
procedure, his kidneys failed him four days later.
To some who are reading this, he was simply a family pet but
to us, his loss has been a large shock to our little family. What caused the issues was the food that we
chose to feed him which was Purina cat food that you would buy in the grocery
store. The guilt that I have had over
feeding them what I thought was the “best” food has not subsided yet and I’ve
become a helicopter parent to our other cat Felix.
We were blessed in the fact that we did have money to
cremate Oscar (there is not a pet cemetery on our side of the state) and pay
for his vet bills that totaled over $1,400.
If this had happened while we were trying to get out of debt, I think we
would have had to make even harder choices about Oscar’s care.
I will say if you do have any furry children and you don’t
have a burial/funeral plan for them, please make one. We had no idea that when
you cremate a pet, you have to pay MORE to have your own pet returned back to
you versus having the ashes of your pet along with others. Also, we did not
have a pet savings fund and took a payment out of our IVF fund to cover the
costs. Since we could not afford pet
insurance years ago, we now plan to have a Felix fund to help with any future
costs.
I am sorry for your loss. As a 'new' mommy to a kitten, I feel your pain. I love my Mysti Kitty!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your loss. I have an orange kitty that was in the hospital just two weeks ago for bladder obstruction (which I'm guessing is where your guy's started out?). It was very scary, but he thankfully pulled through and we educated ourselves immensely and then changed his diet. $500 later, it took a huge financial toll on us, but thankfully he seems to be doing great now. I wish it was more common knowledge for people to know about the dangers of some cat foods!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry. It is so hard to lose a beloved pet. We only feed our cats kitten chow as the protein content is so much higher and less corn by products which causes the bladder problems in cats. But so few people know this. Actually the expensive chow is no better than friskies as far as corn by products are concerned. But don't beat yourself up. Just remember the good times with Oscar. We have a male cat that is 18 and will only eat Friskies ocean fish, but he is also outdoors and catches many mice. Cats are carnivores they should not be eating corn and wheat. Get another kitty as soon as you feel up to it, you never know it might help with other things.......Hugs to you my friend
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