I want to relate this story to all of you, and although it is a story about
a cat, the idea behind the story relates to our fuzzies as well.
 
I have a friend who lives in a wonderful house that she purchased last year
when she moved to Calgary from Edmonton.  One of the first things she and
her husband did was to adopt a mangy cat from the local Humane Society
named Murphy and a few months later they adopted another cat and eventually
added to their family two large dogs.
 
All seemed to be going well, and getting anxious to have things more in
order, they put themselves in debt purchasing sod and trees and rocks -
a landscapers dream garden was well on its way.
 
One evening one of the cats didn't come home, but that wasn't unusual as
he sometimes did that.  The next morning, she got a call at work from her
husband that Murphy had made his way home but that his leg was broken and
he needed to go to the vet right away, and that he would meet her there.
She braced herself for the worse, and when she saw Murphy, the miracle of
him making his way home became apparent.  His leg above the sole of his
foot was broken completely in half and was dangling free.  How he managed
to jump a 6 foot fence to get himself to the back door was an act of true
heroism.
 
The vet checked him over and said that the injury could be dealt with in
two ways: if the infection that had already set in wasn't too bad, his leg
could be pinned and he would be left with a limp; if the infection was bad
then the leg would have to be amputated.  In either case he would live to
see another day.  The cost of the surgery would cost about $800 and if
they had to amputate then it would add about another $200.
 
My friend was floored and torn; she was already in so much debt she
couldn't even make a minimum credit card payment.  If she paid for it, she
would not be able to eat for the next few months and pay some necessary
bills.  The decision was made to euthanise him.
 
When I saw her she was a lifeless shell of the person I knew a week
before.  To her, her life had changed.  When she got home after putting
Murphy down she looked at all the things she had purchased in the weeks
prior to his accident.  His life was in her sod and his life was in the
rocks and the trees.... if they hadn't purchased those things he would be
alive today.  Her guilt was tremendous.  To her, Murphy's life had been
reduced to a measure of available cash and she could not forgive herself.
 
I tell this story because it teaches us a valuable lesson - that we must
prepare for emergencies.  I am not here to judge her decision, for she is
the only one to be accountable to.  I read time and time again that our
little fuzzies may be going without proper treatments because of the lack
of available cash.  Someone on this list made the suggestion to pay the
vet a little each month in hopes of covering what emergencies that may
come up in the future.  I'm sorry I don't recall who said it - it was such
a good idea that I'd like to take credit for it as my own but can't!  I
can't stress the importance of planning and giving up a little cash every
month to your vet.  The reward will come back to you ten fold in the form
of your beloved companion allowed to live and play another day.
 
So, ask yourself, what is a life worth to you.......
 
Betty and Her Remaining Blurs O'Fur
Missing Tinder
 
[Moderator's note: Betty asked me to hold this for a light day so as to
not crowd the FML, but today *is* a light day!
 
There are many stories such as these and if we try hard enough, they all
"could be" about a ferret.  So, I don't often post ones which are not
*directly* about ferrets.  Occasional reminders, light days and perhaps
particularly poignant ones are the exceptions.  I think this meets all
three.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2448]