Veterinary Ethics

I’ve been to the vet a lot these last few weeks. Purr, our large, 11 year old, 3 legged cat used to weigh over 17 pounds. Despite being wormed he’s down to just 9 pounds, a classic symptom of hyperthyroidism. Treatment options include medication at approximately $1 per day, surgery for approximately $800, or out of state iodine treatments for I don’t even know how much. We aren’t new to this. Hyperthyroidism is common in older cats and one of the best cats we ever had, Sylvester, had it years ago. The daily medication made him wretchedly sick, there were vet appointments, blood work, and finally surgery before finding out that he also had diabetes and kidney failure and had to be put down. I learned a LOT from that experience. What we did “for” him out of love we actually did “to” him and it was unforgivable. I won’t do that again.

My question is where do you draw the line? We have a lot of pets but only our 6 cats and two dogs ever go to the vet. I’m nuts about them, they’re family. I feel this deeply and sometimes it irritates Goth. In her mind an animal is somehow lesser than she is. As a general rule I don’t feel superior to a creature just because I have the larger brain. Yes I think I am more intelligent, but whatever soul I possess I suspect it is very much the same as their souls. The paradox is that if Goth needed a heart transplant or any other medical care I would kill myself getting it for her. But when it comes to extensive medical care for the animals I become uneasy. According to Consumer Reports spending on veterinary care topped 18,000,000,000.00 dollars in 2001 (Yep, that’s 18 BILLION....and personally I’m in for $400 just this last month!). When does chemo, hip replacement, and organ transplant cross the line from medical care to cruelty? And if we were to reduce our veterinary expenditures in half, what could be accomplished with the leftover 9 billion dollars? I‘m not preaching here, I’m asking....... I really don’t know the answer. I mean, I’m as guilty as anyone. I spend approximately $3 per day on meds for just Purr & Emily while half the world’s nearly three billion people live on less than two dollars a day. There’s something wrong with that.