Personal Finance King

A Personal Finance Money Blog from a Christian Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Recommended Sites
You are here: Home / Misc Finance / An Old Baltimore Cat Needed a $19,000 Operation – His Owner Didn’t Blink

An Old Baltimore Cat Needed a $19,000 Operation – His Owner Didn’t Blink

January 31, 2019 by Barnaby

Did you hear the story of Stanley? The 17-year-old Baltimore cat needed a $19,000 kidney transplant in late 2017.

What would you do in that situation? In our family, we’d do a really quick calculation:

Super Old Cat + Really Expensive Operation = Mandatory Cat ‘Separation’ from Family

Super Old

How old is 17 in human years? You might think that you’d simply multiply the cat’s age by seven, but that’s a rookie mistake that doesn’t take into account the cat’s environment, non-linear aging, etc. I found this handy chart online:

It’s a bad sign when the chart tops out below your cat’s age

Then I found this and this cat age calculator online, which told me a 17-year-old cat is actually 84 or 78, respectively. The younger age is compliments of the Purina calculator, which wants you to maintain hope – and cat food purchases – to the bitter end.

Really Expensive

How much is $19,000? Depends on your income or net worth, I suppose. To me, it seems like a lot.

For the owner of Stanley, it was 41% of her $46,000 salary. But Betsy Boyd is far from a spendthrift. She and her husband are very frugal with no debt – they drive a used car and wear consignment clothing.

So they went for it on November 28, 2017, giving Stanley a new kidney at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ryan Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia.

What Stanley’s Owner Gets Right

“The message I’d like to get across is that if you save your money carefully, you can spend $19,000 on something that moves you,” she told the Baltimore Sun in March 2018.

I think that’s a solid message. As our daughter Pippa is looking at colleges, we’ve told her to not focus too intently on cost – tuition, room and board, or travel to and fro. It’s a factor, but one of a handful.

And yes, I know not everyone has that luxury. Importantly, she knows too. We’ve been blessed, but we also scrimp and save, so that we can splurge on things like Hamilton on Broadway, a trip to Belize, or $250,000 in private school tuition.

What Stanley’s Owner Gets Wrong

The bible is filled with examples of people who clung too tightly to material things:

  • The rich man who rejected Jesus’ offer of salvation because it required giving up his possessions (Mark 10:17-31)
  • The couple – Ananias and Sapphira – who were struck dead for claiming to donate all their possessions, while secretly withholding some (Acts 5:1-11)
  • The rich fool who stored up things so he could take it easy, but then lost his life (Luke 12:13-21)

The same holds true of relationships – with people or pets. We must hold loosely to the things of this world, so that we don’t lose grip on the Kingdom to come.

Especially since we don’t really know when our number will be called. The rich fool certainly didn’t: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

Neither did Stanley or his owner. A few months after the surgery, Ms. Boyd said: “Knowing Stanley as I do, I think he’s one of those cats who could make it to age 25.”

Nine months later, in December 2018, he passed away at age 18.

The good news: the Boyds adopted the kidney donor – a 2-year-old tabby named Jay – who continues to thrive.

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a pet? Was it worth it?

Filed Under: Misc Finance Tagged With: Acts 5:1-11, hold loosely, Luke 12:13-21, Mark 10:17-31, pet expense, saving for what's important

About Me

About Barnaby King Welcome to the Personal Finance King blog, which explores issues of Money, Faith, Work, and Family. I am Barnaby King. More
Subscribe to Receive New Posts by Email:

Check your inbox or spam folder now to confirm your subscription.

RSS RSS Feed

  • Quick Takes: Riding Greyhound, Winning Mega Millions & Human Composting
  • Know Your Value
  • My Tiny Bitcoin Investment Lost 64% of Its Value

Most Popular Posts

1. How Should We Respond to Needy People on the Street?
2. We Ported Our Landline Phone to Google Voice, Saving $46 Per Month
3. What Is the Role of Faith in Personal Finance?
4. 9 Life and Finance Lessons from “Alexander Hamilton” Biography by Ron Chernow
5. Top 8 Free and Offbeat Historic Things to Do in Baltimore
6. Why We Live in Baltimore Despite Its Problems
7. How a Prized Pocket Knife Was Imperiled on a Trip to See the Rockettes
8. Is 16 Too Old for a First Phone?

Categories

  • Earning Money
  • Faith & Finance
  • Kids & Finance
  • Love & Finance
  • Misc Finance
  • Politics & Finance
  • Saving Money
  • Travel & Finance
  • Uncategorized
  • Work & Finance

Archive

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in