What would you do.....

I'm a 10yo cat who is hyperthyroid and a heart murmur. While I'm doing well now, about a year and a half ago I started coughing yellow gunk up without warning... Sorta killed mom's plans to leave for the weekend, we hung out in the kitty ER instead. Her parents could have given me my meds and she could have still gone... but she preferred to stay with me. She won't even go anywhere on vacation now unless she can get a reliable 'critter sitter' so we can stay comfy in our own home. She hasn't been anywhere in a long time though, and would change plans again if one of us had health issues... especially not on a three week trip!

I believe everyone deals with grief and sadness differently. Please be a good friend and don't criticize her on this; she just handles it differently, but that doesn't make it WRONG. Being with the daughter doesn't change 14 years of love and companionship...maybe she can't handle being with the cat as she goes downhill...some people just don't know how to handle death, so they feel more comfortable escaping...besides, if they spent a lot of money and planned this trip a long time ago, how could they cancel it?

I can see both sides, I guess. I just know I haven't been on vacation in a long time because I don't want to leave my animals, so I just plan day trips. Last year we had tickets to a Reds baseball game and canceled because Loki had just had neuter surgery and I didn't want to leave him alone.

My friend does handle grief differently and I'm not judging or criticizing her, I'm just don't understand and wondered if I was the only one who felt this way. Sheesh, Puma...you really made me feel bad. No need to get harsh with me.

I don't think there's a right/wrong here, but I wouldn't have went. I haven't went on vacation in two years because I don't want to leave my dogs. I know that's ridiculous, but I feel guilty and miss them. This year, I am going! I'm going to break myself of it. I have the most wonderful person to watch them now, so I feel pretty comfortable going. Although, I'll probably have to call and check on them every day! I love my baby dogs!!

Twice I've had to leave a pet that was ill because of a business trip. While I work for a great company, canceling on a trip we spent big money on because my cat needed medicine wasn't going to be looked on fondly. But, I was a mess the whole time I was gone. I did have someone who could take care of the animals, but it still made me feel guilty.

That's a tough call though on something that expensive and having to cancel it. I probably would have left the animal with a trusted veterinarian and then brow beat a friend or relative to go visit it. Or then again, I just might have stayed home. I hope I don't have to choose.

Well, it all depends. Like, plane tickets these days are non-refundable and non-transferable. I don't know how much tickets to Hawaii would cost, but that seems like a lot of money to throw away. Also, maybe the hotel they booked or other services they already paid for also were non-refundable. A tropical vacation costs thousands of dollars and if you can't get it back, it would be hard to throw it all away. :/ It doesn't sound like this trip was planned INSPITE OF the cat's illness, so it must just be a terrible coincidence. This is a real catch-22.

gee whiz Oreo that is a tough call! I don't think mommy would be able to plan a trip if I were that old-- she wouldn't want to take any chances that something would happen to me while she was gone. Then again, she hasn't left me alone--um I mean gone on a vacation---for like three years now. sheesh!