Economic Euthanasia

Have you heard this phrase before: economic euthanasia? Its the phrase that is used when people choose to put their animals to death versus paying for life-saving medical care.  Its something that people who are against human euthanasia argue--that people will be choosing to end the life of a person in their care, if the cost of caring for them becomes excessive.  It is also a topic that ran through my head last night as we tried to figure out what was wrong with our 9 year old cat.

Dr. Google had a prognosis of certain death for Kyanite the cat last night.  It was after the children had been sent to bed, and once we were settled into our pajamas and considering a movie, when my husband pointed to the cat and asked, "What's wrong with him?  He's been acting like that all day."  The cat, hunched and half squatted, and obviously in pain, cried when I started the pat-down looking for abscesses (he's a fighter, not a lover).  None found, but a feel of his extended tummy and his cry gave me a grim idea of what could be wrong.  Simple would be constipation, but scary would be urinary tract problems.  Urinary tract would mean costly treatment, something that we have no way of affording.  Constipation, maybe we could home treat.

We love our pets.  We've had the cat for nine years, he's part of our lives.  The dogs are interwoven tightly with the children.  We skate along on the thinnest of possibilities and continue to pray that nothing happens to any of them or us.  Even knowing that I cannot afford to end my own pain due to lack of money, I am terrified of what will happen to my pets if they are hurt or sick.  Nine years is middle age for a cat.  He's healthy, happy and generally a giant pain in the behind, but he's our kitty.  Was I really having to consider killing the cat because I couldn't afford 3-5 days for him at the vet to have his urinary tract flushed and the possible stones/crystals dissolved? I'm not even sure I could afford economic euthanasia at this point. Its a terrible and bleak reality of being this poor.

What happened with the cat last night?  After a late night run to the grocery store, we pieced together a makeshift litter box for the cat.  I carried him to the box and set him in it, where he proceeded to urinate (putting my mind momentarily at ease).  We fed him from what we had left of the canned cat food in hopes that it would help his digestive tract.  Today, he doesn't seem to be in as much pain, and his tummy isn't as distended.  Perhaps we have dodged a bullet here and the cat will improve.  In years' past, I would still take him to the veterinarian and make sure he was ok, but we can't afford the luxury of that now.

We add one more layer of fear and anxiety to our lives.  Having pets brings us such joy and peace in so many ways.  The companionship, the comfort... these are things that cannot be replaced.  Yet, having pets when you can't afford emergency or even basic medical care is frightening.  Its one more thing that hangs over our heads.  We took on these animals when we were comfortably able to care for them, they depend on us and trust our promise to take care of them.  Would we have gotten pets had we known how difficult life would become years later?  I don't know.  How on earth could we have known nine years ago that we wouldn't be able to pay for medical care for the cat?  At that point, it seemed like life was nothing but guaranteed to be great.

At this point, we can only continue to hope and pray that something out of the multitude of employment applications that we've sent out will catch the eye of a hiring manager somewhere and we can climb out of this desperation--not just for our children and us, but for our beloved pets too.