Some background for those new here.   We take care of three cats, two also mooch / are fed by the neighbors also.   One is our house cat Odie, then there is Tupac who is an inside / outside cat, and then there is Smokey an outside feral female who hangs out with Tupac and she will come into the family room to eat but won’t stay.  Even though Tupac eats most of his food at our home, spends most of his day inside with us, if it is a nice night a lot of nights he likes to spend outside some or all of the night.  If it is cold or raining he stays inside.   Even though others feed them, it always seems to fall to Ron and me who takes Tupac to the vet and pay the bills, even though it seems the others have a lot more money.  Maybe that is why.  When Ron told the neighbor woman today who we see feeding them the costs, well she did not offer to help.

We have been noticing Tupac was getting thinner and thinner and thinner.  Last year when we took him in for his shots and deworming he was also thin, but then once dewormed started to gain weight.  But like I said, we noticed that he was losing weight fast.   The last week or longer, he has spent more and more time inside.  Then last Wednesday morning he threw up a lot of green bile looking liquid.  Well sometimes he catches local rabbits or squirrels, other small game and eats it.   So we worry he will get something.  Or he will eat something that will make him sick that someone left out or an anti-cat person who wanted to poison the cats.  His stomach made sounds all the night before and that day.  But Thursday morning I found clear liquid throw up in the kitchen.  Friday morning I found the same thing in the hallway.  He had been staying in all week, which was not normal, as I already said.  Again he was not eating or even drinking.  Ron talked to one of the other people feeding them and she said Tupac quit eating last week also.  I got him to drink a little water.

When Ron got up Friday morning I told him we should call the vet’s office.   We had been talking about it, and knowing it was Friday I did not want to pay the costs of an emergency weekend visit, and Tupac was getting more thin and not eating or drinking.   But as we had no appointment the vet’s office said we could bring him in, drop him off and they would see him when they could.   That cost us $110.00 alone.  But the worst was to come.  Turned out our worst fears were not the problem, which meant Tupac was not going to die of feline leukemia or need surgery we couldn’t afford.  But … it turns out he had an infection in his ear, maybe from a fight where he got scratched.  The vet cleaned all that and gave him something for it.   But … It seems his thyroid is seriously jacked up, running really too high.  The test reads normal at 4 and Tupac was 12.  He will need daily medication.  The vet gave us two weeks of pills and we need to contact an online animal pharmacy for a medicated cream to rub on his ear which takes the place of the pills.  We have never been able to get a cat to take a pill.  This morning Ron tried to get Tupac to eat and take the pill.   He refused both.  

But then the hammer dropped.  The total vet bill came to $530.00 and that was before we order the cream she gave us a prescription for.  That is going to be more expensive than the pills the vet warned us.  We had only $270.00 in both bank accounts until Ron gets his monthly Social Security late in the month.  I transferred money from savings.  So with Ron’s medication in January needing to be fully paid, something in February that needed to be paid, and the cat’s vet bill I had taken out of savings so far this year a total of $1,140.00 with no clue how to put it back if medicine and medical bills don’t slow down.  I guess my new glasses will have to wait until fall, if not until next year.   

What had made the day even worse for me and upset me was that I had spent all week catching up with comments and others blogs.  Seriously when I went to bed Thursday evening I had everything caught up.   Friday morning due to Ron having made a large roast, potatoes, corn, and gravy supper meal there were a lot of dishes and kitchen mess.  So while we waited to hear from the vet, I helped Ron clean up and do dishes.  Then in the morning while doing dishes Ron asked me to make a tomato red sauce.   I had to use tomato puree instead of sauce as Ron got the wrong stuff.   It made a nice sweet basil sauce.   Ron made his wonderful meatballs.   But by the time I got the sauce done, the bread ready to bake, the plates, strainers, and serving things set up I was wiped out.  I had the water ready for the spaghetti but I couldn’t stay standing up even with all the break through medications.  I was done, so Ron took over.  

What this did blog wise was make me basically miss an entire day and by the time I opened up the bell notifications just before going to bed, I had lost some of the older comments and posts.   Well there is another day.   As always if you leave a comment and I have not responded to it in a few days send me another.  I am not sure how much I can do today because I am already suffering badly sitting in my chair.  I suffered through making eggs for breakfast because Ron loves how I make eggs over medium, cooked whites, runny yellow yoke.   So now you’re caught up.  Hugs.  Scottie