One of the hardest issues a pet owner has to deal with is expensive veterinary bills. I like the way Gwen Cooper talks about it in this excerpt from her book Homer: The Ninth Life of a Blind Wonder Cat, ©2015:
Animals are luckier than humans, because animals get to live in the now. They do not fear death, or torment themselves with questions about what comes after. No cat has ever desperately hoped for one more year of life so she can finally see Paris, finish her memoirs, or watch her grandchildren graduate from high school. I genuinely believe that, if our animals could understand such things and talk to us about them, they wouldn't want us to spend ourselves into bankruptcy for the sake of trying to stretch fifteen years into sixteen, or even six years into twelve.
Cats know when they feel happy, when they feel comforted, and when they feel loved. None of us ever knows how much time we'll have, and you weren't put in your cat's life to guarantee him a certain minimum number of years. You were put in his life to provide him with happiness, comfort, and love. If you have given your cat (or dog, or bunny, or horse, or guinea pig) a life built on these things, then you've done your job, and you've done it perfectly.
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