Dealing with Unexpected Vet Bills: The Jasper Edition

Jasper—God love him—keeps us on our toes. New Year's weekend was no different. He decided a great way to start the new year was a food strike. His dry food and squeeze-ups are no longer good enough for him. The only way he sees fit to tell us is to stop eating, and if he does eat, just throw it back up—all over the bathroom.

We've been down the non-eating road with him before; it cost a small fortune back then and really isn't a road we want to go down ever again. Naturally, a small wave of panic sets in—are we really here again? We never got a true answer last time; can we afford this again?

Gene and I decide - let's do a trip to the vet when they open after the holidays. We get him scheduled for a Monday afternoon. We are left to ponder: is this delay too long, will he be okay, it's just over the weekend. In the meantime - we switch his dry food out with another one that the general population in our house is on. He seems to be more interested in that, but still not eating enough. That's alright - we can manage a lower food portion till Monday. We supplement him with wet food as well.

Thursday afternoon, the vet reaches out - how is he? Do I think he can last the weekend, or should she squeeze him in on Friday? He's holding steady - not eating enough, but not severe enough to warrant a true emergency visit. She asks if we have Cerenia (anti-nausea meds) and a way to test his glucose at home. Cerenia - we have; I like to keep that on hand because it's been very useful among all the cats the last few years. Testing his glucose - no - but we are pretty good at seeing when his sugar level dips too low. Seeing it go high - that's another story - we never know, but for now, higher is better than lower.

Since he's not eating his full portion, we have no way to know if he is getting too much insulin (most likely) or not. So we keep giving his usual dose and hope for the best. We thankfully make it through the weekend with no major setbacks. However, I had to change his appointment on Monday three times due to work, which I truly hate doing at the last minute, but it was out of my control. Thankfully they could still fit us in and didn't charge for the last minute reschedules!

We finally get to the vet's office, where he is cute as a button and acting like nothing is wrong. He's getting all the pets from his favorite vet techs and his favorite doctor. Since we aren't doing his annual shots this visit, he spends more time in the back getting tests done—glucose, urine sample, and blood samples—which he handles like a champ, of course.

Glucose is an immediate result—he's right where he needs to be (at least for today). They decide to take a quick look at his urine; if they see anything, we can start treatment right away. They see nothing, so they decide to send it out with the bloodwork to the lab. Meanwhile, we chat—he's down about 1 and 1/2 lbs. Not bad, not great. Keep an eye on the weight. Try to get him to eat. Depending on what the test results say, we will determine our course of action.

We go home and wait for test results. I figure he's had a rough go of it - let him explore the house (he's strictly a bathroom cat). He explores and enjoys sampling food and water from the dozen bowls that are out for the other cats, takes a snooze in Gene's computer room, and does a second sampling of food before he heads back to his domain. Now he gets "free rein" a few days a week for an hour or so... because he eats more when he's out.

We get results back a few days later from the tests. Lo and behold - everything came back normal and within normal ranges. I'd like to be baffled by this - but I can't be. Truly, I have come to accept that my cats all test my financial and emotional limits on the daily. So aside from test results being normal - he decides he's going to go back to eating dry food like there was never a problem.

So we are left with this: if he continues to lose weight, we can do one of two things - a stomach ultrasound or put a Libre monitor on him (that is a 2-week monitor of his sugar levels - it gets sent right to the vet's office). We are in a lovely holding pattern of doing nothing, hoping he holds steady or gains some weight back. So fingers crossed, he had some wacky bug and is all better now!

Just under $400 all so he could visit his friends at the vet's office. I roll my eyes at this because there are plenty of other things I could spend that money on, but honestly, I'd spend it all again to know he is doing great and is going to live another few years with us.

Till our tails cross again,

Mel and Jasper

Cheers to New Years!

Here we are - the third week of 2025! I already feel like the year is flying by! A split up week with the holiday definitely made completely lost as to what day it was! New Year's Eve is another holiday that we never do the same thing, it just depends on what we feel like doing and what other things are going on.

This year we went to a friends house - a small group of people, home made pizza's, great conversation and we were home by 12:45. What more could we ask for? This year it beat us hosting a party - I had been running like crazy the week before, a chance to not plan was great!

We have been trying to do a first day hike as a new tradition. It's been a hit or miss thing. This year it was a miss - mostly because we wanted to sleep in. I also wanted to see my family for a brunch. So Gene stayed home to have a day to do whatever he wanted, I went to see my family. No complaints from either of us!e

With New Years, comes the dreaded (for some people) resolutions! Which I truly feel resolutions are meant to be broken. Who actually manages to follow thru and keep their resolution ALL year?!?!?! I have never been able to. So I changed it up - I set "Goals". I can set them as a reasonable and maintainable goal - with the added benefit of it taking away the pressure to not fail.

I keep the same goals, and just change how much I want to accomplish based on how the last year was.

1000 hours outside - this one is incredibly hard. You never realize how much time you spend inside until you start tracking it. I failed miserably at this last year. So my goal this year is to simply be outside more than last year. 400 hours - should be easy enough! There is an app to help us track our time. It was less than $2 - for life.

Be more active - I use my fitbit to help track my steps and miles. This year, I am also using a free app Stridekick that links up with most fitness trackers. I can create challenges with friends to keep me motivated. This year - I am aiming for 70 miles a month. Fingers crossed that I can keep that up, it's just over 2 miles a day!

Lastly, read more! Another freebie app - Goodreads. That helps me track all my books that I want to read, am reading, have read. It also lets me set a challenge and tells me how many books to read each week to meet my goal. I mostly hit that goal - so I bump that number up every year. Plus there's never a shortage of books in my possession to read.

Do you make a resolution? Drop in the comments your resolution and if you stick with it or fall off track! Inquiring minds need to know they aren't alone falling off track!

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

Traditions & Holidays!

I know, the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over, we're all getting settled back into our usual routines, missing the extra time off work and dragging our feet going back to work. Now's the perfect time to reflect on the holidays, traditions, and memories.

I feel like the holidays are always changing in some way for Gene and me. Just when I feel we have a good rhythm to visiting each of our families, we get a curveball. This year was no different. Gene didn't realize the holiday landed mid-week, used up all his vacation days before the holidays, and so he had to work a full day.

Meaning - we wouldn't make it to see my family on Christmas Eve. While I was bummed we missed it, we will (and did) get to see almost everyone. Since we didn't see my family, Christmas Eve dinner was done at home with a small group of friends. Two new friends from Turkey, who don't have Christmas like we do, had lots of questions, and we had answers! I truly loved sharing what my family does as part of our holiday traditions. While none of it may seem over the top, it's what makes our holiday what we all love.

Christmas Eve - no meats! It's a meal of fish, veggies, and carbs! We scaled back some things - like no clam chowder or crab cakes. But we had fish, pierogies, and steamed veggies. While we didn't read the Bible verse, say grace, or read a Christmas story, it was still our Christmas Eve minus some parts that one or the other of us doesn't love.

Christmas Day - we made the trek to Philly to see his family. We had agreed - no meal, no gift exchange - just spend time with the family. A big change from what usually happens - a full meal and gifts. But this year our budget was tight, and so was our time. I was house-sitting and needed to be back to take care of the pets. A quality visit of time - perfect! Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we got some nice family photos!

Christmas Day is a slightly different meal for us. Yes - another big meal. Usually, it's a ham and all the sides kind of meal. But this time, with different people, we merged lots of different family dishes. A full hodgepodge of things - ham, ziti, baked mac & cheese, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Plus homemade cookies for dessert.

We exchanged gifts, laughed, watched TV, and shared the traditions of our families. Our friends from Turkey absolutely loved hearing all of it and participating in our stocking and gift exchange. While none of our traditions seem all that great or big, it's still a tradition. No matter if we do it each year or some years I still consider them traditions and we just tweak it to work with what is happening presently in our lives.

In my family, we always opened our stockings first (gave Mom and Dad time to drink their coffee and fully wake up!), then we'd move on to the presents. After everything was opened, we would spend the day playing with the new toys, reading our new books, watching movies, and just enjoying the company of our family. Sometimes we'd have brunch, then our big dinner; sometimes just snack and then have our big dinner. While it's the most simple tradition, it's one I love and easy enough to do!

This year, we had a Christmas Day bonfire. Maybe not the warmest day, but a beautiful day nonetheless. That is something that, if we are home, I may try to make a new tradition going forward! End the year by getting some fresh air!

Till our tails cross again,

Mel