Precious Time

 Last spring, I took my cat to the vet because she had lost 3 pounds in the last year and a half and that's a lot for a cat.  I panicked.  I also made a mistake in who I went to for treatment.

I wasn't real happy with my vet and I feel embarrassed to admit why.  It was a tech that just threw my carrier on the floor with my cat in it like Here's your luggage.  One person was no reason for me to switch.  I also thought they made a mistake when they did blood work and found nothing after I had mentioned that she uses her litter box more than usual.  I should have trusted the vet.  I shouldn't have gotten mad over one person with a bad attitude. I should have said something at the time.  I made a big mistake by changing.  

I found the vet by looking at reviews online. I saw reasonable price.  I saw good care for their pets. I thought maybe I can email them and they would respond.  They responded quickly and got us in within a week and a half.  She was tested for being diabetic.  I would normally wait for a call and I got an email the next night breaking my heart.  I was tearful.  At the time, the vet already called in a prescription, already had a plan going on and I didn't realize, he never asked me if it was ok.  I went along because that's my Precious.  We do anything for our furry loved ones.

I got the prescription cat food that he told me I should buy.  I drove out to a pharmacy on the northeast side of town and got her insulin and syringes.  I showed up and learned how to give Precious her shots.  I was going to do this.

I thought after two weeks of giving her insulin shots, I would done after my follow up appointment.  They were not done with me.  They took her sugar by pricking her ear and she cried out when the vet tech did it.  They took her for more blood work which puzzled me.  I thought you took it a few weeks ago, why again?  When they brought her back to me, the vet tech told me to buy the most expensive glucometer on Amazon and they would work with me if I needed help.  I was overwhelmed.  I said I don't know if I can do this correctly. I wasn't really good at giving her the insulin shot and now I had to hurt her more? The vet tech told me I could keep coming back in and they'll check her sugar every 2 weeks.

Every 2 weeks?  I had already spent about $1,000 or more between vet visits, cat food, syringes, insulin, etc.  The vet tech made me feel like I didn't care about my cat when I had tears streaming down my face, clinging to the cat that gave me life when I recovered from cancer surgery.  I couldn't afford it anymore and I was crushed.

I paid another bill for $386 and left.  I didn't know what to do. I couldn't afford it anymore and at almost 12 years old, I thought I'm going to have to let her go.  I'm going to wake up one day and she might be horribly sick and it'll be all my fault because I couldn't afford this.  I failed her and it killed me that I wasn't better about any of this.  I just failed her.

Today, I am sitting here with her and she seems to be ok.  She is holding her own with her weight.  I went to a pet store one day, ironically on the northeast side of town and a young clerk helped me find food that would help her with getting protein.  She loved it.  I get her the Friskies and I get her treats.  I give her love and buy her tuna.  I do my best and if I could heal with love, she would last longer than me.  I know I won't have forever, I have been down this road with other cats.  We don't have our furry friends forever, but at least her days with me are going to be the best.  We had my sister's cat here for a week while they stayed at an Air BnB and she managed to slap the snot out of him a few times so she is definitely doing better than I expected at this point.

I did a deeper dive on those reviews that I thought were so good and found some horrible ones.  I realized why there wasn't too many bad reviews.  People were threatened with lawsuits to take their bad reviews down.  

When the time comes, I will go back to my old vet and eat a big piece of humble pie if they ask me why I went somewhere else.  I didn't do my homework and I got mad over something so stupid that it cost me a lot of money and stressed out both Precious and myself.  

This is a lesson I never want to repeat.  

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