A (sad) Christmas tradition...

We were in the vet office this pm and I suddenly realized that it's surprising that I still enjoy Christmas and the holidays so much. Maybe I'm just dumb.
 
Today we had to bring in our two youngest kittens for what looked like conjunctivitis, though they both had a few other minor health issues - sneezing and such.
 
Arthur is apparently in pretty good health and recovering from a mild infection. We still had to have him go through a bunch of test, including x-rays. 
 
Poor Alice (our youngest) may not have it so good. She's been potentially diagnosed with a fatal condition called Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). We'll know more as the tests results come back.
 
Unfortunately, we may not know for sure as cats can go through all the test and come out negative and yet still be affected. So the only real hope is if they find something else which may cause the symptoms - because there are one or two other conditions. But the absence of those other conditions would re-enforce the FIP verdict.
 
That disease progresses very quickly. Vets usually recommend euthanasia.
 
That brought back pretty sad memories of having to put Willow to sleep right after Christmas last year, December 29th, after bringing her to the emergency at 2 am.
 
The same Willow who had been diagnosed w/ diabetes just before Christmas 3 years earlier. 
 
Then I remembered my mother announcing me that she had cancer, right as I came back home for Christmas vacation...
 
Looking back, there are actually lots of painful memories associated with Christmas. And yet, every year, I'm just as anxious to put on the tree and get into the spirit. I tell you - I'm that positively dumb.
 
But even though it was heartbreaking to learn that things may turn for the worst for her, I figured that we'd just have to make the best of that poor kitten's time with us. It's just sad that she never got much of a chance to grow.
 
So a few hours and $1000 (farewell Waves Gold upgrade for now) later, here we are. We came back with a bag full of medication and syringes - 8 or 9 total I think. That's not counting the medicine we give our other cats every night. This place really is turning into a feline hospital. But we just love them so much.
 
And Christmas too, no matter what it throws my way it seems...

Sorry to hear that, lost more than my fair share of cats when I was a kid. The kitties would always gravitate to my room and hang out there so I was always close to them. But they seem to have a lot of potential health problems. With ours it was always either cancer or kidney disorders. I wonder if the breeding has anything to do with it (probably). I remember the worst time, our cat Holly went missing for 6 weeks. I hand wrote hundreds of fliers and posted them around the neighborhood. Eventually, when we'd just written her off, my mother came in through the back door carrying her. Apparently someone in the neighborhood had seen my flier and remembered that their friends miles across town had taken in a stray kitty matching the description. My mother flew across to check it out and sure enough, there was Holly. The weird thing was it turned out to be the family of a kid in my class at school, what are the chances? So I was overjoyed, but then a few weeks later she was diagnosed with cancer (yet another one) and we had to put her to sleep. I meet people with 17 year old cats and I think, how in the hell do you do it? LOL! Mine never lived that long. I hope yours turns out to be OK. 

You mentioned missing out on Gold Bundle.. Currently available at Audio Deluxe for less than $199

I have had and lost almost more cats than I can remember.  Obviously, one of the most difficult decisions is to know when the time for the animal's last visit to the vet has come.  Too late and they suffer horribly.  My wife is one of those who refuses to acknowledge the obvious until too late and I've witnessed some heartbreaking final moments.  I'm a lot more stoic about it than she is - I cannot stand to see them suffer.  But, it's never easy.
 
Another aspect of the problem is how that money might be better spent.  Should you spend several thousand dollars to keep one creature alive for a few more months, or would that money be far more effective if donated to an animal welfare organization.  That's another terribly difficult decision to have to make.
 
Still, for all the pain and trouble they can cause, I never feel complete without some feline companionship around the house.