The good news is that Booie's cancer appears, based on the tests the vet ran, to not have spread. The bad news is that regardless the surgery will cost 2 grand.
I called a vet in Bayonne who said they would charge around $800 and a vet in Hoboken who said they would charge around a thousand. But those are really just estimates, since they haven't seen Booie or the tests.
The vet we have seems really competent and caring and she answered all my questions last night at 6:30 pm. Yet at the same time, I felt as if she were giving a sales pitch. She explained that a team of 3 will work on the patient and they do an EKG, etc. etc.
She also said this cancer will kill her eventually, although in rare cases they are able to cure cats of cancer, if it's caught early enough. I guess she wants to prepare me for the worst so that she is not blamed when Booie dies anyway before too long.
And then she mentioned off handedly that the patient will need to be prevented from jumping on anything for 2 weeks. So, that is what I laid in bed until after 2am last night worrying about. Maybe we take apart our bed and put the mattress on the floor and keep her in the bedroom! And build a ramp up to the radiatior! So that she can look outside! Yes, it's brilliant!
No, no it's not. The best option is probably a large dog crate. Oh my god, the howling is going to be horrible. And then can we take her out for supervised rambles around the apartment? Or will she hide under the bed that we unwisely did not take apart?
There are no other rooms in our aparment that can be closed off besides the bedroom and the bathroom and the bathroom has 2 built in things to jump onto/into, so that's a no go.
Now maybe I figure out a way to put the crate on top of a table that is positioned in front of a window so that she can at least look outside. Maybe that will keep the howling down a little bit.
2 comments:
Ugh...I hear you. We've spent thousands on vet bills over the years and they can do much more intricate procedures on cats than little birds. I actually know someone whose cat beat cancer but it was a long road...the cat had chemo and everything! The best thing you can do is whatever will give her the best quality of life the longest. That way, when she does die, you'll know you did everything you could for her. I probably would go with the vet I trusted over a cheaper one unless they were recommended by someone. In the end, you'll care less about the money than feeling like you did the right thing.
If I lived closer, I could lend you my dog crate. We bought it with the intention of crate-training Koolit, but that never panned out. Instead we've used it to transport our cats from Virginia to Washington and Washington to Rhode Island. It was also used to corral my friend's cat after her cat broke her leg.
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