Burkhard Bilger's Essay 'The Last Meow'

During my childhood, our family adopted a cat named Ultimate (or the cat adopted us). She was a kind, elderly cat that lived many years despite her partial blindness and deafness. Her kind and collected personality will always be what I remember about her. When a pet that grew up beside you dies, it is hard, but I did get over it. (Transition sentence). According to Burkhard Bilger in his essay “The Last Meow” from the New Yorker, many pet owners are going too far to keep their pets alive. People override emotions with the facts that the cost, risks, and the general wellness of the animal are not worth it. People must learn to put pets health and well being over their own emotions.

The costs of keeping an elderly pet alive outweighs the benefits by an outstanding majority. The Leverings, the cats owners in the essay “The Last Meow”, make only $30,000 a year to support the cost of themselves and their animals. The total costs of procedures would be about $15,000 (Par. 5). The price of a very nice used car may not be worth spending maybe a few more years with a pet. In Bilger’s essay he says ”The drugs will cost about 500 dollars a year, not counting vet fees for tri-monthly visits”(Par. 51). Even for the previous $15,000 that is paid, you still

Those costs are only if the procedure goes through perfectly with no complications. Bilger says “The drugs she has to take will leave her prone to infections, cancers, and diabetes”(Par. 51). There is also a possibility of blood clots with blood vessel leading to kidney (Par. 30). With the high risks of these diseases, the procedure already done may be worthless. (Reword)Bilger mentions that one cat had a procedure; and a few days after it jumped off the couch, ran down the stairs, and fell over dead (Par. 51). This goes to show that after all that money there is no real guarantee that the animal will even survive much longer after those