Last week, my cat started acting poorly. Vomiting, complaining, clearly in pain. Actually, he'd been a little off the past couple months, not eating well mostly.

So I took him to the vet. Had to go to an emergency clinic because the point where he was clearly in bad shape was at 1 AM on a Saturday night. That visit cost me a chunk of money I needed to be using on other things like bills, and it was inconclusive -- they sent him back with a shot for the pain.

Sunday afternoon, he's still doing badly. It being Sunday, the only option was the same emergency clinic. This time they wanted to do bloodwork and an X-ray, both of which cost much more than I could afford. After a bunch of frantic calls and texts, to no avail, I finally decided to take a chance and apply for a veterinary credit line. Despite my pessimism about my chances, it got approved for $1500.

Turned out he had ingested a whole bunch of rubber hair ties. Like, over a dozen, and big ones. Needed abdominal surgery -- which, when added to the exam costs, came out to just under $1500. So I was barely able to get it all done by signing off on that.

The surgery went well, though he needed a couple days in a regular vet clinic for post-op recovery. He came home yesterday; he's spending most of the day hiding in a box and resting, but he's eating occasionally and actually came out to perch on his scratching post today.

So it was a harrowing few days, and now I have the looming specter of this massive debt to work off on a limited income. I'll figure it out, but I suspect it's going to require some serious belt-tightening.

Those of you inclined to do so, kindly pray to Saint Matthew for us (he covers financial issues). And to Saint Francis of Assisi for the cat's recovery.

Glad it's all turned out OK, and you didn't lose your pet!  It's amazing what animals will chew and/ or eat.  Rubber bands, string, ribbons - all, besides not being very digestible, can get tangled up with their intestines, metallic things like Christmas icicles can cut their innards, poisonous plants (some you'd never think of as dangerous), chocolate (very dangerous for small animals like a cat), electrical cords - it can be worse than trying to make your home safe for a human baby!

I'm glad your cat's okay! Yeah, mine used to scare the hell out of me whenever I saw streaks of red in the litter box. Turned out he was successfully nomming the red zip ties you find in garbage bags that help you close them. He really really likes chewing on plastic.

They may be gods, but they're more like Greek gods. Really really dumb. And adorable. And sometimes they need us to bail them out of their jams.

How we are treated in the afterlife depends on how we treat cats in this life.  I'm glad to hear yours has survived this ordeal.

We went through something similarly harrowing with our little calico a while back, due to no fault of hers, though.  She, too, survived.  Cats are remarkably resilient critters.

I will pray after my own fashion for help with your finances.  May you be richly blessed for doing what was needed to save your feline friend.