Can't Sleep

Someone posted a few nights ago about how often her job keeps her awake. Tell me about it...
It's 5:00am and I am up - I couldn't take tossing and turning any more. For a change I don't feel personally responsible for the two cases prominently on my mind. Nevertheless, empathy has gotten the better of me and I feel like these things are happening to my cats. I am so upset and torn up for these families.

I have one geriatric cat who is so sweet and her owners are so fantastic. She has multiple serious illnesses and now she is dying. It happens eventually but I always feel miserable for the family when it does. My cats are all still young so we don't have this immediate concern but when I imagine going through this with them it breaks my heart.

The other case I can't stop thinking about it a one and a half year old indoors only cat who presented in respiratory distress on Monday. She has a pyothorax. It's a terrible prognosis and very expensive to treat. I want so badly to try to help this owner - she reminds me of myself when I was in college. She's responsible with a good head on her shoulders but absolutely no resources. I have looked into every possibility for her...these cases are so tough. It may end with a dead cat whether she pursues treatment or not (the cat will die if we do nothing). I want to try for this young cat but I can't push the client into - the resentment if her cat did die would be beyond the beyond.

So I am awake. I think I'll watch some Colbert Report to take my mind off of it and see if I can drift off to sleep once more...