I have a 24-yo cat.
I spend $100 a month on her meds and around $1200 a year for doctor visits.
I would pay triple that if I had to.
BUT. I don't have kids. Thank God I don't have to choose between my cat and my kids.
"I have a 24-yo cat."
When I was a kid we had a cat that lived until long after I had moved away...28 years...would have lived longer but my sister ran over her with the car. She was deaf and blind (the cat, not my sister but that could be debated) and she still insisted on going outside and wandering around in the yard. Unfortunately she could not hear my sister start her car...anyway...she was otherwise healthy to the end.