But, is the cat really worth that?

Let me just say that if you need to ask that question then I seriously hope you never breed.

I have a couple of wonderful cats; Daphnie & Smokey Joe. Smokie Joe I inhereted from this guy:
http://kelvinmeeks.blogspot.com/

Kelvin landed a dream job taking him away from Virginia to Seattle and couldn't find housing that allowed pets on his short time frame. So, Joey took over my life.

Joey is simply amazing. He has this sense that he knows when something is wrong with his humans. He'll wander into the room, plop down next to you and purr away, making himself very available for much petting & scruffing. He'll roll over on his back and squirm about & purr. When he's stressed, he sneezes. I think he's about 14.

About a year ago I took him in for his very first "senior physical." The vet walked in with the file, looked at this massive (20 POUNDS!) "old" cat and I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to write Joey off.

That's when Joey's cat sense kicked in and stood up, perked his tail up, looked her right in the eyes & purrrrred.


The vet went htrough her whole checkout routine; felt his joints, took his temp, took some blood, x-rays - the works. At the end of it all she was astonished. The only "problem" she could find was a bit of tarter on his teeth. He was proclaimed the healthiest 20 pound cat she had ever seen. But, he had to loose weight.

OK - fine. So, off we went, looking for a "diet food" he'd eat and we settled on some of this new fanlged, crazy, low grain food. More meat, less filler. Little did we know that we had condemned Joey to great pain. It seems that over the six months he was on the diet (lost 6 pounds!) he was also accumulating Struvite crystals in his bladder. This past Friday, his bladder became blocked and it was off to the vet.

For the most part, Veterinarians are good folks. There are Vets that are "bad" just like there are "bad" doctors. Then there are Vet practices that are down right evil, prey on your emotions and run up the bill. Joey is very lucky in that we have a very good vet.

Joey's doc and I had a very serious discussion about treatment & the cost. Crystals are very, very treatable. Usually a simple diet change is all it takes and cats live on very healthy & happy - crystal free. The hard (and expensive part) is getting them unplugged & keeping them unplugged long enough for the diet to work. How expensive? Well, let's jsut say that by the time this is all over I will have run up a bill that is equal to a down payment on a decent auto (no - not like in a BMW, think more like a five year old Datsun).

Which gets me back to the title of this post: IS the cat really worth it? Well, yes. But then, how do you put a value on life of any kind? Especially a life that has been so full of love & devotion. You can't, and, of course, you don't know Joey.

Now, if Joey was 20 years old, half blind, deaf and miserable, we'd be having an entirely different conversation. But he's not, so we are having this one. How deep into debt am I willing to go for this cat? Well, I think $1 invested in Joey will bring a MUCH greater return on investment than $1 in the stock market.

I plan on wakeing up with Joey for many, many more years to come.