Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Chester is getting old

Chester is now 12 years old. You might say that this might be young for a cat. It might be if he didn't have any other problems.

I took him to the vet a couple of days ago and they checked him over, gave him his rabies shot, and did blood work. They also tried to take his blood pressure but Chester was not having anymore of it. They could not get him calm enough to take a reading without it going off the charts.

The vet called me yesterday with the results of the blood work. She said he has the beginnings of hyperthyroidism. If left untreated he will eventually die from heart failure or kidney failure or both. Now the two options I was given were to give him a small pill every day for the rest of his life which could be 3-5 years. This will cost us about $20-$30 dollars a month. Now this option may or may not work.

The second option is to have his results tested again and once it is really, really confirmed that he has the problem, then we can take him to another animal hospital where they can give him an iodine procedure to knock out the problem. Now I read online that this procedure is not always 100% at the first try and you may have to do it again.

The results, if it did work, would be that he would have all his problems taken away. He would not have high blood pressure, or kidney problems, or a problem with his thyroid. Sounds great doesn't it. Now the problem we have.. the cost.

The vet said this could cost around $800.00.

Dad doesn't want to do either option and just let him die when it is his time. I think I am favoring it that too. If he was younger than I would be inclined to do what I need to do.

It is upsetting to realize that your pet is dying but that is the nature of things. I am not trying to sound "cold" about him. What would you do?

1 comment:

Abby said...

Mom and Dad,

I would tend to agree with you, he has had a wonderful, loving life, let him go...:(