Expository facebook post:
Once upon a time there was a lonely lady who wanted a companion, so she decided to find out how to get a kitten. What she wanted most was a fancy cat – an exotic breed that was special and more beautiful!
- She went to the internet to look up exotic breed catteries and found out those kittens were very expensive. It didn’t seem right that someone would pay so much for an exotic breed when she knew there were alley cats in her neighborhood that needed homes. It also made her feel bad when she realized the kittens’ mommies were thought of as kitten factories.
- She went to the pet store but found out the store owners only thought of the kittens as dollars in their pockets. They didn’t care how the kittens came to be available. She didn’t want to contribute to their continued business.
- She went to the Local pound and adopted a starving kitten whose mom was missing. And then she felt bad about wanting an exotic breed at first.
Months passed and she took the kitten to the animal doctor for the operation. You know, the operation that stops cats from having babies. And then she got very, very sad. Because she remembered living with a momma cat and her babies and watching the love they shared.
And then she remembered that she was similar to that kitten: that she was also an orphan. Only she didn’t come from a pound, or a store, or a cattery, but something like a combination of all three, yet unlike all three. And then she wanted to rescue her kitten from the operation and watch her become a momma cat and love her babies, but it was too late.
I go pick her up in about two hours. :(
Wow. Who knew I would be SO MESSED UP over this? People at my office are probably wondering what’s wrong with me…She was just holding me for dear life yesterday, and passed out on my chest, wrapped around my neck, as the anesthesia hit her. And all I could think was, “What right do I have to fuck with what God gave her?” And she’s never outdoors anyway…I’m so upset. I’ve just spent a whole lotta money on something I don’t feel good about. Damn it.
Hello Korea ! 
UPDATE:
I went to pick Momo up from the vet’s and she was so scared of him that she pee’d all over herself when he picked her up to give her to me. :(
Then he tells me I need to bring her back Friday and Saturday for after-care and that those will be $10 each. And I hand him my credit card and the bill is way bigger than he told me it would be earlier. It’s a $30 fee for staying over the night. And then a 10% fee for his time. And then taxes. So I start arguing with him and complain why is this the first I hear about Friday and Saturday? And then he says there is also medication and stitch removal. And I yell some more and tell him he needs to tell me about all this stuff AHEAD of time. So I demand that he writes all the stuff down, and those medications are $3 each, 3 different applications on consecutive days, and the stitch removal is $15. And then I just blow a gasket. SIX more trips to the vet with my poor freaked out cat in the next ten days? WTF? I tell him I am SO ANGRY. And then I point out all the extra treatments he gave my cat earlier that I didn’t ask for and that she didn’t need and I yell at him some more while Momo is howling because we’re scaring her and she’s trying to crawl on my head…So he says okay, okay, all that after-care will be no charge, but I still must pay the overnight fee and the 10% and the taxes.
So I went on-line with all the cat people/experts here in Korea, and this guy is just nickel-and dime-ing me and soaking me at every turn. A reputable pet wouldn’t give internal deworming medication without taking a blood test first. And I was just a pushover when I didn’t complain about him putting Advance flea protection on her last time. And all reputable vets don’t charge to remove stitches from operations they have performed. And no vet who cares about animals would make them travel six times after an operation. The nearest other vet is in Maseok, two towns away and I’ve no idea if they are any better. And I’m also a bit strapped right now.
So I got home and dreaded having to stuff her back in her carrier and take her to that guy again, and again, and again, and again, and…
I hope he’s at least got surgical skills and his veterinary skills are better than his ethics. Fortunately, the wound looks great, she’s up and about and doing well. So I skipped her check-up. I know it’s irresponsible, but if it looks this good tomorrow, I’m going to skip the second check-up as well and just make an appointment to get her sutures removed from that vet in Maseok. I mean, if there’s no inflammation and no infection, then there’s no reason to get her medicated. And I may not be a vet, but I’ve seen plenty of stitches on incisions and know what looks good and bad.
I feel like such a sucker…
I hope she’ll be OK !
take care
Pierre
Thanks, Pierre!
She’s baaack! killing my computer and biting my hands and bathing me!
I took my cat in from the wild. She was starving and barely making it with two of her kittens. The kittens were in good shape, but her weight was about half what it should have been and she came to us sick and desperate for food and shelter.
So I took her and one of her feral kittens in. The other vanished. And who knows how many she had lost along the way? And for this I see her as heroic and strong. A survivor. But in the end she is, like all domestic cats are, dependent on people.
But does she have anything in common with my children? No, she doesn’t.
You could be me at the vet–it’s the story of my life, rushing to the vet, finding out it’s all worse and more traumatic than I’d thought, mentally calculating what it’s going to do to my budget, nearly breaking down in tears and through it all just being so worried about whichever furry is in for treatment. My littlest pooped herself in her bag on her way home from her first visit. She was just petrified.
For what it’s worth, I have been told several times that not spaying can result in later problems. I let my Himalayan go 12 years without spaying and her heats were not that noticeable but she did end up with a toxic uterus that had to be removed pronto. $1200 later . . . she’s now pushing 17 and very happy and lively. Have they tried to make her wear a cone following surgery? They made ours, only we had to remove it. She’d get stuck on something and not be able to figure out how to back up and stare at us with her big blue eyes . . . (Himmys do bear some resemblance to the dumb blonde archetype) but her wound was also OK right from the get go. She even jumped the first day home.
I hope everything works out. Such a little sweet terror she sounds like.
Thanks for the comments!
I broke down when I got my first cat declawed back in the 80’s. I had zero idea what it entailed and didn’t know that it was like amputating fingers. I was just in tears for a month afterward, watching him hobble around or otherwise be handicapped. I vowed never again! Then my stupid husband kept letting him outside…where he died drinking anti-freeze.
I know not spaying is against the grain, but I do feel strongly (I guess not strongly enough, because I did it) that these sentient beings shouldn’t be deprived of something so basic. And though the majority of vets ascribe to the necessity of spaying/neutering all non-breeding pets, I did find a few who were against it (needle in a haystack – I’d reference but it would take hours and hours to find again). I think spaying/neutering is totally humane for the feral population who will live lives of starvation and misery, but for a house pet that doesn’t even meet other pets, it’s not even necessary. As for the preventative health argument – I mean, I’m not going to undergo a hysterectomy because I’d have a lower risk of uterine cancer without a uterus, so I don’t see why I should do the same to another animal…I will remove my uterus when and if a problem presents itself.
I think this is why I’m beating myself up so much, playing God. I was fighting my reservations all the way until she was knocked out and ready to be strapped to the operating table. Also, I never spayed my other cats. They either had babies (only because my husband violated my wish to keep her an indoor cat) or lived with me childless. Watching a momma cat and her kittens is really amazing, though. It’s not something I will discount as being any less than my relationship with my own children. It was absolutely brilliant to witness the lessons, the nurturing, the comfort and meaning added to their lives. I did neuter one cat, because we had one of each sex and I didn’t want to start a colony in my home.
So yeah, I’m being a little illogical regarding cat population control – I recognize that. But not having a stupid husband now there is no real reason to worry about Momo getting pregnant, and seeing the gash on her stomach it just seems far too radical a procedure to put her through. I’ll probably quit beating myself up soon, but in her present condition it’s really hard to not do so! Wah!