That's a tough decision, and only you can make it.

I had to make a similar decision with my wife's cat a few years back. I hate cats, but my wife wanted one, so....

We come home form the movies one day, and the cat is hanging from the cord for the blinds. She is a good 2' from the floor, there is blood and fur everywhere, and she's not moving. I thought she was dead, but when we cut her down she ran underneath the bed.

Just a quick note on my finances at the time. I had just moved to Chicago from the south and was pretty much living from paycheck to paycheck. And I hated cats.

So we took the cat to the vet on a Sunday afternoon. I am worrying about how much all this is going to cost me, because I knew I couldn't afford it. The vet takes her to the back and I start pacing; my wife probably thinks it is because I am worried about the cat, but I was worried about the money.

An hour later, the vte cames out. "Good news" he says, "we took some x-rays and there are no broken bones". A cat x-ray, I am thinking, is probably pretty expensive. "She is breathing normally now because she is on oxygen", as I mentally try to guess how much oxygen for a cat costs. "Worst case scenario - she has nerve damage and we will have to remove her leg". Wow!

So I am standing there, trying to come up with a polite way to tell the vet that she was a freebie, I don't really like cats, all the cat does is hide underneath the bed, I don't have enough money to pay for the work you just did nevermind a cat amputation, and isn't there a more cost-effective way to handle this (hmm hmm) rather than surgery?

Then I look over at my wife, with these big tears rolling down her face, knowing she feels guilty for leaving the cord where the cat can sit on the windowsill and play with it, and tell the doctor to do the best he can.

A week and $1,000 later I pick up her three-legged cat. The vet comes out and congratulates us on doing "the right thing", and explains that if we hadn't they would have had to eat the cost and send a 3-legged cat to the animal shelter. I wanted to ask why he didn't tell us that was an option BEFORE I spent $1,000, but kept my mouth shut.

The $1000 cat that always hid under the bed now waits by the window for me to come home every day and keeps my feet warm at night. I still hate cats, but she makes a good case.