Please Help Bernie Through His Costly Health Crisis

My beloved Bernie, a 3-year-old Siamese mix, woke me in the middle of the night screaming in pain. We drove two hours to the emergency animal hospital, where we learned he had a urethral obstruction. After they cleared the obstruction, he had three bladder stones surgically removed. He spent three days in the animal hospital.

I've donated to many GoFundMe campaigns and never expected to need one myself, but Bernie's bills have proven too much. I've never really had money, and this health crisis has thrown me for a loop. I'm reaching out for help for Bernie's expenses. In three days, we rang up a $5,000 vet bill that surpassed $6,000 within two weeks. I've had a limited income as a part-time writer/editor while also being an unpaid caregiver for my parents for over a decade. I now draw Social Security.

Bernie was sent home with prescription urinary cat food and medications. We bought a dog kennel to keep him safe. A week later, the vet called to say Bernie's stones were not the common struvite but rare ammonium urate stones, which require different food. There is no prescription food for urate stones; instead, pets get renal food because it has lower protein/purines and phosphorus and makes urine more alkaline. So we got the new food.

I've never been to an emergency vet before. Bernie's initial bill for treatment and surgery was about $5,000. A follow-up visit was just under $600. A bile acids test at my regular vet was $140 to check his liver (the test was normal). His canned renal food is $78 a case. His dry food price ranges depending on size. We're trying to limit the dry food. He needs increased water, which he gets with wet food, while dry food is dehydrating. But the dry food gives him variety, since he doesn't eat as much of the wet food as I would like. I supplement wet food with a little warm water and Purina Pro Hydra Care (around $40 for 36 pouches, each of which lasts several days) or homemade no-salt-added chicken broth. He's also getting three different supplements, two of which are for urinary health for 90 days while the other is a probiotic he will take regularly. The three cost around $45, and he gets them in the homemade chicken broth.

Some other expenses was gas for three two-hour trips to Fargo ND, two nights in a hotel during Bernie's hospitalization, a dog kennel (very valuable, as Bernie tried to climb everywhere), several cones, a pet fountain, and a Feliway diffuser.

Before Bernie, my largest vet bill was $1,500 for two elderly cats to get radioactive iodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. I'm 67 and take home $1,225 in Social Security each month. I may never get another cat. I can't afford big vet bills, and it would be devastating for me to put a cat to sleep who could live a full life.

A Stressful Relapse

Two weeks after Bernie's blockage, with family here for Thanksgiving, he started peeing inappropriately and vocalizing, so I returned to the emergency vet. Bernie had some inflammation but no infection. He went home with meds.

The vet said the relapse could have come from stress. When family returned for Christmas, Bernie tinkled on a coat and vocalized a bit. On the last day, he was okay and socialized a little. I plan to keep him in the family room downstairs when family visits; they can see him there one at a time. My siblings visit four times a year, and Bernie hides for at least a day.

I've learned stress can contribute to the formation of bladder stones. Stress can cause feline idiopathic cystitis/feline lower urinary disease, which can cause bladder stones. Stress can also bring on spasms in the urethra, or inflammation of the bladder and urethra, which can cause blockage. I got a Feliway diffuser to try to calm Bernie. He already has two calming beds that he adores sinking into.

Financial Struggles

Financially, I'm going through difficult times, My dad died in 2015, two years after I left my job as a reporter/editor to care for my parents. My mom's physical and cognitive abilities have declined over time, leaving me with less time to do my own work, so I've been making less money at freelance writing/editing. Mom paid the bulk of the regular household bills and utilities, while I generally paid for real estate taxes on my house, my car insurance and my home insurance, along with some personal expenses. But last year at 92, my dear, funny, clever mom had a life-altering stroke that led her to a nursing home, and her savings depleted. The expenses are all mine now, and I've had to put some on credit cards.

I got a CareCredit card through the animal hospital. I won't owe any interest if I pay it off within six months. But the small print tells you that the interest rate then goes to a shocking 32 percent. So that card is my top priority. My limit is $4,400, and the rest of my vet bills went on two other credit cards.

I'm working on downsizing (in addition to my own things, my parents had an astonishing amount of stuff that I'm still going through), and want to sell my house and buy a small forever home near my Minneapolis siblings (I live five hours north).

ADHD Doesn't Help

I have severe, overwhelming ADHD (my whole life made so much more sense after my diagnosis in 2021) and an associated math disability called dyscalculia, which makes working with numbers and money also overwhelming and extremely difficult. I've purposely spent my life simply, including finances. That all changed as a caregiver. I've had to do many financial things, from real estate to probate to unclaimed property to liquidation of investments. Working with my parents' investments has been messy and stressful. I finally cashed in the last of my parents' investments, and when the check comes, it will be the final hurdle in Mom being officially on Medical Assistance (Minnesota's version of Medicaid), which will pay for her nursing home.

I have more time to work now that this is almost settled, but the companies I've worked with for years have limited work for freelancers and have laid off longtime staffers. They have no work for me now. Writing, editing and page design are the only work I've done for more than 40 years. I'll look elsewhere, but prospects aren't great. I don't believe the companies I worked with are using AI, but some of their clients could be turning to AI.

We Love Our Cats

My family has always had cats. I have Bernie and Petra, a 4-year-old calico. My siblings and offspring have cats. My parents had two cats that lived to 19, and Mom's Burmese is 15 and has literally never been sick. Brandy now lives in my bedroom because she hates my cats. Everyone loves Bernie ... except Brandy.

While my parents got by cheaply at the vet, my experience was different. My three elder cats all had hyperthyroidism. One died from it (actually, from reactions to medication) in 2019 and the other two had radioactive iodine therapy in 2020 and were cured, only to get diabetes the following year. They died in 2021 and 2022.

Cats have always meant so much to me. I don't know what it's like not to have a cat sleep with me regularly. I miss them when I'm away. Seeing them sick or in pain hurts me and makes me afraid I could lose them. If I never get another cat, I'd still probably like to foster litters of kittens.