Julie's Story
My boyfriend bought Sorry for me as an apology for acting like a horse's patoot. I fell in love with him on sight. He was like our child. He ate BBQ pork rinds (ugh) and broccoli, and he loved to sit on the floor and beg for scraps. My boyfriend could never say no to him. He was a wonderful cat. But then he got sick.
I had been calling and calling our landlord to come and fix our ceiling. It was leaking through from the bathroom above, and it was sagging dangerously. People knew to walk around, but not Sorry. And our poor baby wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. The ceiling fell right on him. He had a bad scrape across his shoulders, and I put Neosporin on it and bandaged it every day for ten days, just like the vet said. But then I noticed that he was showing signs of dehydration, and I took him into the vet.
He was then diagnosed FlV+ and with Hemobartonella. He had antibiotics and prednisone, and he stayed in the hospital for four days. I had to pay three hundred dollars which was fine. We took him home, and thought we were in good shape. About a year later, he started with the same symptoms. I took him in and again he was hospitalized. We loved him, so I told them anything under a thousand dollars, and then call me to get authorization.
He was in for ten days, and I when I picked him up I was presented with a bill for 800+ dollars. I am ashamed to admit I freaked. I accused them of padding the bill and everything else. Finally, I gave them my credit card and took my cat home to die. He was terminal. When I was calmer, I really looked at the itemized bill. What I found was astounding. I don't think the vet billed me for his time or services at all, just for the techs he had to pay and drugs and tests.
My cat was on IV fluids 24/7 for the whole ten days, he had to be force fed ten times a day for four days until he felt like eating, he had two blood transfusions, he was on five different kinds of meds, and he was checked on eight times a day and four times overnight since he was so sick. There were so many diagnostic tests run on his blood, urine, and stool, the itemized statement ran to six full pages. His full chart, which I looked at when we went back to put him to sleep and apologize for my rudeness, was over thirty pages long. Doctor and tech notations went on and on about how sweet Sorry was, and after we put him to sleep, we got a card in the mail signed by several members of the staff to say how much they had all loved my cat, and how wonderful he was. I cried when I got that card, and I still have it. I start studying to be a vet tech next year, and I have my sights set on that clinic/hospital for my first job because they really showed me that they loved my dude as much as I did.
Do you have an animal story or article to share with the VetMed Viewers? You are invited to submit your work to The Viewer Viewpoint.
