For those who take care of ferals, strays, and homeless kitties, do you find that you need to sort of "cut corners" in regards to veterinary care?
What I mean by that is doing things like buying the dog Frontline Plus and using it on the cats vs. buying the cat Frontline Plus because of the huge price difference. Or buying Ivermectin injectible for farm animals and using it orally to treat ear mites because everything else is too expensive. If you just had 1 or 2 cats, it wouldn't be that expensive, but if you're taking care of a colony, then everything is super expensive.
The issue I'm having is that I have 13 cats in my colony, all over the age of six and things are getting expensive. I have 2-3 that need a dental cleaning and another one needs blood work because he's being weird. I just got blood work done on another one yesterday.
The vet changed the blood work that they do and wants to include all this fancy expensive test that the cats don't need. I'm not sure there's a point of doing the Idexx ProBNP heart test. I can't afford that for every cat. I also can't afford yearly exams. I don't know what's wrong with doing a basic CBC and chem test. The test they want to do is $200. Maybe that's a good price, I don't know. It does the ProBNP, FIV/FeLV, heartworms, CBC, Chem 10 (no calcium, phosphorus, or potassium), urinalysis, and stool sample.
I guess what I'm asking is do you have to cut corners and sacrifice certain aspects of veterinary care to be able to afford that all the cats are taken care of?
I didn't ask for all these cats. They just showed up at my doorstep, literally. I guess I could've ignored them or called animal control to come pick them up. Is it better for me to try to take care of them, or have the majority of them go to an animal shelter? I feel like veterinary clinics don't understand the choices I have to make. Maybe this is because this area is becoming more citified and people don't really take care of strays/ferals like they used to. I don't know.
I'll also add that I live very frugally so that I can afford to feed these cats and otherwise care for them. I'm not one of those people who complains about the high prices then turns around and goes out to restaurants, the movies, or vacations. I don't do any of that stuff. I'm so frugal the average person could not stand to live like I do.
I would like feedback on this issue though.
What I mean by that is doing things like buying the dog Frontline Plus and using it on the cats vs. buying the cat Frontline Plus because of the huge price difference. Or buying Ivermectin injectible for farm animals and using it orally to treat ear mites because everything else is too expensive. If you just had 1 or 2 cats, it wouldn't be that expensive, but if you're taking care of a colony, then everything is super expensive.
The issue I'm having is that I have 13 cats in my colony, all over the age of six and things are getting expensive. I have 2-3 that need a dental cleaning and another one needs blood work because he's being weird. I just got blood work done on another one yesterday.
The vet changed the blood work that they do and wants to include all this fancy expensive test that the cats don't need. I'm not sure there's a point of doing the Idexx ProBNP heart test. I can't afford that for every cat. I also can't afford yearly exams. I don't know what's wrong with doing a basic CBC and chem test. The test they want to do is $200. Maybe that's a good price, I don't know. It does the ProBNP, FIV/FeLV, heartworms, CBC, Chem 10 (no calcium, phosphorus, or potassium), urinalysis, and stool sample.
I guess what I'm asking is do you have to cut corners and sacrifice certain aspects of veterinary care to be able to afford that all the cats are taken care of?
I didn't ask for all these cats. They just showed up at my doorstep, literally. I guess I could've ignored them or called animal control to come pick them up. Is it better for me to try to take care of them, or have the majority of them go to an animal shelter? I feel like veterinary clinics don't understand the choices I have to make. Maybe this is because this area is becoming more citified and people don't really take care of strays/ferals like they used to. I don't know.
I'll also add that I live very frugally so that I can afford to feed these cats and otherwise care for them. I'm not one of those people who complains about the high prices then turns around and goes out to restaurants, the movies, or vacations. I don't do any of that stuff. I'm so frugal the average person could not stand to live like I do.
I would like feedback on this issue though.