# Worried and borrowing trouble - a terrible year in animal health



## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Mostly just venting stress here - I'm worried and there's nothing I can do about it. 

My dad's 13 year old cat is peeing blood today, and will go to the vet Thursday for tests. I call her my dad's cat, but it was MY cat until I left for university, and I have asked several times over the last 8 years to have possession of her. My mom has been babysitting her. 

It's been an awful year. Last October, Dad put down his dog due to cancer. My budgie died of cancer over the winter. Mom's dog came a few minutes away from dying in a hypoglycemic seizure this summer, as I desperately called the vet as she lay unresponsive. Last month, Mom put down her cat due to failing health. Annie's recovering from kennel cough right now. Even the worm bin I have been maintaining for 7+ years died over the summer. That's 100% of our pets in one year. 

It's borrowing trouble, but knowing my neglectful father, he'll refuse to give the cat any sort of daily medical care or specialized diet if required. Before I guilted my mother into babysitting her, his plan for his month long trip to Europe was to leave the cat alone in the house, and if I really wanted I could drive 6 hrs each way and check on her once or twice while he was gone. No other plan to check on her. I'm already paying for and delivering decent quality cat food, because he had switched her to the cheapest junk he could find, and she was losing vigour and her coat was dull. But yet "she's company", so I can't have the cat. 

Very, very much borrowing trouble - but if she dies, then he's very likely to go out and get another dog. I've been fighting him on this for the last year because he is in poor physical health, travels a lot, doesn't train, gives dogs exercise by opening the door for them to run on his unfenced acreage, etc.

So yeah, stressed and sad on a number of levels right now, and there is absolutely nothing I can do. Very glad that my mom isn't visiting me right now because Annie has kennel cough, as she'd planned to be here and have one of her neighbours stop in and check on the cat while she was gone, but the neighbour would likely not have noticed anything wrong. 

Here's a seasonally appropriate picture of my seasonally appropriate black cat, from when she was young.


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## Dogs4Life (May 27, 2018)

I'm so sorry. That's a lot of loss in one year. My family lost our first dog at a young age to cancer last year (I say "our," but she was really my dad's dog and just a light in his life). She was just 9 years old, and it was a shock after losing our other dogs at 15 and then 17 years old. Then my dog Jasper started having major problems with his health this year, and I too started going down that line of thinking- borrowing trouble. He is recovering from a tooth abscess, which is exactly what Gracie had months before she was diagnosed with cancer. 

Here are my thoughts- we love our pets for as long as we have them. Only God knows how long pets and humans have on this earth, and if we focus on the potential of what could happen, it can steal our daily joy. And if the time comes for a pet to pass on, know people are here to comfort you, support you, and grieve with you. We give our pets the best life we can for as long as they are with us.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I'm really sorry ? This sounds like family stress heaped upon grief (and grief is stressful enough).

You probably won't change your father at this point in his life, but it's very kind of you to keep looking out for the animals in his care, as best you can.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

I'm so sorry you have had so much thrown upon you this past year. Sometimes its difficult to deal with. The best I can say is to find enjoyment in each day as to quote another we are not promised a tomorrow so let your worries be less .


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I’m also sorry about all your losses and have great empathy for your dismay at your dad’s animal stewardship. I would probably have catnapped the cat while he was traveling if he didn’t arrange for daily check ins with a cat sitter. I know I would want control over the final days of “my” cat. A kindness for your father and the cat. Hugs from Houston, life is more fraught than not, sometimes.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Thanks for all the support - stress just seems to pile on and become a mountain some days. 

It's been a bad human health year too, but at least we haven't lost anyone; way too many chronic and life-changing health issues and hospitalizations - a relative is getting cancer removed surgically today. Haven't heard anything, so presume it went well...

The cat is still peeing blood - the clever girl is going in the sink so my mom notices it, and it's easy to clean (no, she's NEVER not used her litter box in the past). She's getting extra wet food.

I've definitely considered cat-napping her, although she isn't fond of my puppy and my apartment is small. A better solution for her would be for her to end up at my mom's house - she'd still have access to the outdoors, she is bigger than mom's dog and has her thoroughly cowed so doesn't feel threatened, and mom has been enjoying her company. 

We will see what tomorrow brings, and I'll talk to my mother after she recovers from this latest round of stress (the cat isn't even half of it). She's talked before about how if she needs to cat-sit for 2-3+ months a year, she'd might as well just keep her (the cat still technically belongs to both of them- dad just took one of the cats and the dog when they separated).


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Unsurprisingly,vet said the cat most likely has a UTI. She couldn't extract a urine sample to test though. Gave mom strong liquid antibiotics and pain meds to mix with the cat's wet food. Supposed to try and get her to drink more too. Get well soon, kitty cat.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Oh goodness. Is there nothing you can say to your dad to spark a little empathy for the kitty? How very sad. I would be sorely tempted to take the cat too if your mom can't. I'm really sorry for all your losses this past year. Hopefully the upcoming year will give you a little break.


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