Small livestock can be pretty costly, too, although we've never had to build a barn for our dogs and cats.

When I was in Oklahoma and Quirt was in Massachusetts, the boarding costs for my medically fragile elderly cat when I visited him or my kids (on top of the not-small costs of his vet bills, special food, and medications) were astronomical.

Now we have two elderly dogs and two sprightly cats in their prime, all of them delightful and charming. Vet bills, meds, and special foods (plural) do add up, and their ailments grow more exotic with age. Who knew that one could get a tumor of the nailbed requiring surgical treatment that was pretty dang aggressive--she's minus a toe--but that the vet believes was ultimately successful.

However, they are currently all lounging happily and serving their purpose as adorable house ornaments, so those dollars were spent with good results.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
Small livestock can be pretty costly, too, although we've never had to build a barn for our dogs and cats.

When I was in Oklahoma and Quirt was in Massachusetts, the boarding costs for my medically fragile elderly cat when I visited him or my kids (on top of the not-small costs of his vet bills, special food, and medications) were astronomical.

Now we have two elderly dogs and two sprightly cats in their prime, all of them delightful and charming. Vet bills, meds, and special foods (plural) do add up, and their ailments grow more exotic with age. Who knew that one could get a tumor of the nailbed requiring surgical treatment that was pretty dang aggressive--she's minus a toe--but that the vet believes was ultimately successful.

However, they are currently all lounging happily and serving their purpose as adorable house ornaments, so those dollars were spent with good results.

Agreed. We have two cats on special diets (hydrolyzed protein). Newer cat is having his fourth allergy flare up since May. We’ve just started a med that’s $100/month. Winning! But we love these silly creatures.

I'm sure we are saving money by no longer having a cat. Mostly in costly vet bills.

It took me most of a lifetime of having cats and having a snotty nose and nasal congestion before I realized I might be allergic. That appears to be the case.

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
Small livestock can be pretty costly, too, although we've never had to build a barn for our dogs and cats.

When I was in Oklahoma and Quirt was in Massachusetts, the boarding costs for my medically fragile elderly cat when I visited him or my kids (on top of the not-small costs of his vet bills, special food, and medications) were astronomical.

Now we have two elderly dogs and two sprightly cats in their prime, all of them delightful and charming. Vet bills, meds, and special foods (plural) do add up, and their ailments grow more exotic with age. Who knew that one could get a tumor of the nailbed requiring surgical treatment that was pretty dang aggressive--she's minus a toe--but that the vet believes was ultimately successful.

However, they are currently all lounging happily and serving their purpose as adorable house ornaments, so those dollars were spent with good results.

Agreed. We have two cats on special diets (hydrolyzed protein). Newer cat is having his fourth allergy flare up since May. We’ve just started a med that’s $100/month. Winning! But we love these silly creatures.

And I’m having a hard time finding the brand of hydrolyzed protein food my cat eats! Vet is out, chewy is currently out, attempting to order from petsmart. What a pain.

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
Small livestock can be pretty costly, too, although we've never had to build a barn for our dogs and cats.

When I was in Oklahoma and Quirt was in Massachusetts, the boarding costs for my medically fragile elderly cat when I visited him or my kids (on top of the not-small costs of his vet bills, special food, and medications) were astronomical.

Now we have two elderly dogs and two sprightly cats in their prime, all of them delightful and charming. Vet bills, meds, and special foods (plural) do add up, and their ailments grow more exotic with age. Who knew that one could get a tumor of the nailbed requiring surgical treatment that was pretty dang aggressive--she's minus a toe--but that the vet believes was ultimately successful.

However, they are currently all lounging happily and serving their purpose as adorable house ornaments, so those dollars were spent with good results.

Agreed. We have two cats on special diets (hydrolyzed protein). Newer cat is having his fourth allergy flare up since May. We’ve just started a med that’s $100/month. Winning! But we love these silly creatures.

And I’m having a hard time finding the brand of hydrolyzed protein food my cat eats! Vet is out, chewy is currently out, attempting to order from petsmart. What a pain.

We try to stay a bag ahead. Usually works. We now have a bag of stuff we’re not going to use; it’s Royal Canin Ultamino. We had just transitioned Calvin to it and he had a flare up anyway. And then was throwing up, so we put him back on the old HP food, and the meds we were trying to avoid. Poor baby.

I jinxed one of our cats. (He's fine now.)

Loki started acting like he was in pain this evening, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. He's had urinary issues before and we wanted to make sure he didn't have a blockage. They can be life-threatening.

Long story short, the vet said no blockage. No sign of pain. No sign of anything wrong at all. We are to watch him tonight and take him to the vet in the morning if the problem recurs.

We are greatly relieved. And we've also been relieved of a few dollars.

I hope Loki at least got some pleasant drugs out of the experience.

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
Small livestock can be pretty costly, too, although we've never had to build a barn for our dogs and cats.

When I was in Oklahoma and Quirt was in Massachusetts, the boarding costs for my medically fragile elderly cat when I visited him or my kids (on top of the not-small costs of his vet bills, special food, and medications) were astronomical.

Now we have two elderly dogs and two sprightly cats in their prime, all of them delightful and charming. Vet bills, meds, and special foods (plural) do add up, and their ailments grow more exotic with age. Who knew that one could get a tumor of the nailbed requiring surgical treatment that was pretty dang aggressive--she's minus a toe--but that the vet believes was ultimately successful.

However, they are currently all lounging happily and serving their purpose as adorable house ornaments, so those dollars were spent with good results.

Agreed. We have two cats on special diets (hydrolyzed protein). Newer cat is having his fourth allergy flare up since May. We’ve just started a med that’s $100/month. Winning! But we love these silly creatures.

And I’m having a hard time finding the brand of hydrolyzed protein food my cat eats! Vet is out, chewy is currently out, attempting to order from petsmart. What a pain.

We try to stay a bag ahead. Usually works. We now have a bag of stuff we’re not going to use; it’s Royal Canin Ultamino. We had just transitioned Calvin to it and he had a flare up anyway. And then was throwing up, so we put him back on the old HP food, and the meds we were trying to avoid. Poor baby.

Loki is on Urinary SO food. He’ll eat it but he doesn’t love it. His sister, who doesn’t need special food, likes it much better than he does.

I buy 16 pound bags and ask the vet to order more long before I get close to the end.

Thankfully, the German shepherd, who has terrible food allergies, does very well on the salmon and sweet potato dog food from Costco.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I jinxed one of our cats. (He's fine now.)

Loki started acting like he was in pain this evening, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. He's had urinary issues before and we wanted to make sure he didn't have a blockage. They can be life-threatening.

Long story short, the vet said no blockage. No sign of pain. No sign of anything wrong at all. We are to watch him tonight and take him to the vet in the morning if the problem recurs.

We are greatly relieved. And we've also been relieved of a few dollars.

Oy, glad he’s okay! Urinary blockages are life-threatening, and wallet-threatening, too. did it take you much time to get in at the emergency vet? The one we called the other night said they had an 18 hour wait time.

Vet bills and the personality of one of the two vets at the clinic have me thinking it is time to get a goldfish.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug:

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Buy a house on acreage in a real estate dead zone and build a *really* expensive barn. And put in an outdoor arena. On a hillside.

I win.

Can’t you offset this with the cost savings related to moving frequently?

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I jinxed one of our cats. (He's fine now.)

Loki started acting like he was in pain this evening, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. He's had urinary issues before and we wanted to make sure he didn't have a blockage. They can be life-threatening.

Long story short, the vet said no blockage. No sign of pain. No sign of anything wrong at all. We are to watch him tonight and take him to the vet in the morning if the problem recurs.

We are greatly relieved. And we've also been relieved of a few dollars.

Oy, glad he’s okay! Urinary blockages are life-threatening, and wallet-threatening, too. did it take you much time to get in at the emergency vet? The one we called the other night said they had an 18 hour wait time.

The one near our house said that they were full up and couldn't taken any more all night long. We called one in Oklahoma City who said that were taking animals first come first served, so we took a leap of faith. Once we got there, everything was pretty prompt. We were there about three hours, I think, since we had to wait for lab results.

He's been fine all day, thank goodness.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug:

quote:

Originally posted by CHAS:

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Buy a house on acreage in a real estate dead zone and build a *really* expensive barn. And put in an outdoor arena. On a hillside.

I win.

A strong argument.
Do we need a contest for WTFer of the month who spent too much again?

I’m no Jodi, but getting divorced and sending three kids to private college go on the list somewhere…

"I'm no Jodi, but" needs to become a standard wtf catch phrase.

"I'm no Jodi, but I did put in a new well last month --twice"

"I'm no Jodi, but I did go to a horse auction and now I need more acreage."

"I'm no Jodi, but etc"

quote:

Originally posted by Dan:
Simple answer.

Buy a horse.

Worth it.

I really, really jinxed our poor animals by commenting on their vet bills.

We lost our German shorthaired pointer today. It was a real shock. She was bouncy and energetic just twenty-four hours ago, rushing outside when I opened the door, but she was acting strangely when we tried to get her to come inside. She didn't seem like herself all evening. This morning, she moaned a little once when I first got up, but then was very perky when asked if she wanted to go outside. When she came in, Quirt offered her a treat and she wouldn't take it. We knew that this wasn't right and he got her a vet appointment.

Once we got her there, we were told that there was a mass in her abdomen, but then that turned out to be a bloated stomach. (And maybe a mass, too. It's hard to know.) We left her there so that they could address the stomach problem, but she went into shock during treatment and just didn't recover.

We are stunned and sad. It's hard to absorb something that happens so fast.