I adopted a senior cat last month as an emotional support animal (ESA). To give some background, I'm a first time pet owner (aside from turtles and fish) and a third year in college. I had been thinking about getting a pet at college since the beginning of the school year and earlier this year my therapist discussed getting an ESA and a cat seemed like a good fit. I figured I'd get an older cat since I had heard people are less likely to adopt senior animals and I wanted to give one a home.
I did my research, and tried to make sure I had a the available resources and knowledge before adopting an older cat. Eventually, I met a cat who I fell in love with. She was super friendly, always purring, and liked belly rubs. 3 days later I adopted her and brought her home.
After a few vet visits, I found out she had resorptive lesions (I went back to the shelter and they did the surgery on her for free), severe yeast infections in both ears, and a potentially precancerous mass in one of her ears which would require her to go under before getting a biopsy.
Despite my research I felt SO unprepared for the actual weight of an animal under my responsibility being this ill. I also realized that maybe having a senior cat wouldn't be great as a beneficial ESA since it didn't seem right for an ESA to pass away so soon when they're supposed to provide some form of stability.
I considered giving her up (the shelter has a 30 day surrender period which they graciously extended for a week yesterday) given that she was older, especially because I'm just terrified about the mass in her ear. But at the same time, she's such a sweet kitty and has been the perfect companion and I know that ANY animal could get tremendously I'll at any moment. I'm also worried that she won't get adopted back at the shelter or that they won't really look into her ear problem (they didn't know about the lesions or yeast infections).
I'm super conflicted about giving her up and just getting a younger cat. I feel like the health issues could just appear in another cat, but I feel like it's more likely I'll just get less time with this cat which doesn't really bode well for the whole ESA situation.
TL;DR: Older cat has a lot of health issues, not sure if I should just get an adult cat instead because I'd get more years with a younger cat. Feels bad for surrendering her because it feels irresponsible and indicitave that I'm not ready for a pet, and I've grown really attached to her which isn't helping.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/b9d26b/college_student_conflicted_about_surrendering_a/
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