Old, Expensive Cats We Love

October 1st, 2007

Our cats are 11 (Linus) and 12 (Mia). They have FIV (Linus) and lymphoma of the liver (Mia). They also have little ear infections. This means that their annual check-ups, which used to be under $100 each, totalled more than $700 this year. Plus Linus’ dental cleaning, which, due to his age, requires special tests and a special IV. Bringing us above a grand, for the annual check-in business. We have a great vet. I initially discovered this vet when, a few years back, I called around town for the cheapest dental cleaning. Their prices are quite fair, and they are wonderful people who all know me and Mia by sight and ask about Mia when I am there without her for any reason. Everyone down to the receptionist and the tech having his smoke break outside said to me when I came in this time how pleased and excited they all are that Mia is doing so well. They call her OUR “miracle kitty.” So I am not complaining about the vet, I want to make that clear. Actually, I am not complaining at all. I’ve many times thought about pulling out the file where I keep all of the vet receipts and tallying up what it’s cost to treat Mia over the last six/eight months just to give my blog readers the juicy number. But how can I put a price on this? We expected her to be gone by now, and instead she seems to be feeling just fine. Her liver-function numbers are creeping slowly toward normal, and she’s about to start taking a little less medication.

We also got the report that, aside from his astounding weight, Linus is “the picture of perfect health.”

I’ve thought a lot about how the cats will play into our having a baby around here. Mia doesn’t like kids one bit. Something about the way my niece, Erica, would always fixate on and squeeze her. (I remember once when Erica was about three or four and visited Savannah, I found her sitting in front of the open closet. She explained that Mia was in there. She clearly had no concept of WHY Mia might have gone into the far-back of the closet and wanted to know, “Why does she keep making that sound? That ‘hcchss hcchss’ sound?”) Anyway, I predict that Mia will avoid a baby and make it clear to a toddler that she’s not a playmate. Linus, meanwhile, will need a little more help with the transition. My sister suggests we have some talks with him about how things will change and how we will love him just as much. Mostly I’m worried about his tendency to snuggle with anything that moves. If he recognizes baby-hands as “HANDS” (oh, how he loves HANDS), we might be in trouble. Seven-to-eight-pound infant versus 20-pound cat. It’s for this reason I ordered a bassinet that’s way too high in the air for Linus to get into.

One Response to “Old, Expensive Cats We Love”

  1. dad Says:

    Mia and Linus will adjust to the new addition. The baby will come to love Cats, their movement and often lack of it. Linus’ color will be one of the first colors she recognizes.

    The real question is whether you and Stevel can adjust quickly enough. Make sure there is Love to go around for everyone

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