I remember her saying somewhere that no vet will let her do a payment plan, shocking to nobody. So, let's assume the vet took the $300 as a down payment, to at least insure they got some sort of payment for this cat's care. Now, it's been a night, this cat has major fucking issues. I know that the majority of posters here have more experience with sick pets than me, but for the sake of argument, I'm gonna talk about my parents dog (who I love and adore, I would literally kidnap him if I could). Off the top of my head, an exam cost at minimum $200, not including the dog being cathetered(?) and labs being done on the resulting urine. It took two rounds of antibiotics, I think it cost my parents at minimum $800 just to get him treated, and it wasn't even a UTI after later investigation. He wasn't held overnight, my parents have pet insurance, and ultimately is doing perfectly fine now. Let's take those numbers and apply them to our poor kitty Gomez.
it's already been discussed that the vet Gomez is at likely isn't an actual vet, I'm gonna assume it's a traveling vet or one specifically for low income families since they don't have an official website, just a Facebook page. So, limited space, labs to investigate what's going on, and overnight treatment. That's gonna cost well over $800 if I had to guess, just because of the sheer amount of care Gomez needs, not including follow up care and medication. I won't be surprised if Polissa is pressured to surrender Gomez, since she only has $300, and I doubt she has pet insurance. Traditionally, vets will refuse to treat animals unless they're surrendered or create a payment plan if the owner can't pay, which while it sounds cruel, makes sense. Ultimately, if someone can't afford an animals care, including emergency and unexpected vet bills, they shouldn't have a pet. I feel awful for Gomez, I promise, but this next grift saga is gonna be beautiful.