Earlier this week we found out that our long time cat is diabetic. What can I tell you, fun and games. From this point forward the cat can only eat a special kind of food, and will also require two daily shots of insulin. Never mind all the scratch marks you can now expect to see on our arms on a daily basis, there is also the matter cost.
The insulin shots are expected to cost about $100 per month, and the special food an extra $70. That's a sizable expense. We'll be looking into lower cost sources for the food and medicine, but I am not terribly optimistic.
The funny thing is that we may actually have lucked out. A couple of weeks ago we noticed that our cat was constantly asking for water. This was unusual and I immediately suspected diabetes, given the age of our cat (almost 12) and the fact that excessive drinking is a clear symptom of the disease. My wife took her to the vet, and the diagnosis was confirmed (to the tune of $300). In fact, when we brought her in the vet said that she was borderline - and had her condition been just slightly worse, he would have recommended hospitalizing her. Think $1,000 a day. Can you even imagine? $1,000 a day? What kind of medical system do we have in the U.S. where hospitalizing a cat costs that much? If that's the cost for a cat, what is the cost of hospitalizing a human?
Anyway, we are still not out of the woods. The cat is refusing to eat and drink properly, and until she does, we cannot start the insulin treatment. So, for all I know, next week could cost us several grand in cat emergency care. Such is the price of pets.
2 comments:
The cost of hospitalizing a human is about $10,000/day. I know this because my husband was hospitalized a few years ago, and I remember looking over the ridiculous bills. Thank god for health insurance. If he didn't have it, we would have been out about $400,000.
Is your cat overweight? I heard that too much weight can lead to cat diabetes (just like humans). I keep my cats on a strict diet. They act like they are starving to death all the time, but I am being careful to keep them a healthy weight
No, she is not over weight. In fact, we have been very good about only feeding her dry cat food all these years, and she is an active / outdoor cat.
I guess it's just one of those things... one of those expensive things.
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