Stay, roll over, beg

Question: My husband and I purchased tickets from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro in June. The trip was scheduled for Nov. 4. About a month ago, Bob, our 27-year-old (that is not a typo) cat was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. The vet said he had two weeks. I was not about to lose him without a fight, and the next thing you know, he’s at least 90% of what he used to be. But he requires intensive care. The airline tells me that I have only one year from the date of my ticket purchase to travel. Can anything be done?

Monica Hobin

Santa Barbara

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Answer: As I write this, it is just after 4 a.m., and I have just returned from installing rubber treads on my stairs so my dog can ascend more easily. She, who has the IQ of a set of wrenches (or maybe only one wrench), asked to go out and couldn’t make the steps, arthritis and gravity working against her.

Besides the cheap ploy for sympathy, I tell you this only because we do many things for our pets that defy logic. The American marketplace has tapped into this, creating a $50-billion-a-year industry.

The U.S. airline system, alas, has yet to tap into anything that remotely resembles this level of compassion, so to answer Hobin’s question, there is probably little she can do.

For those facing such dilemmas, whether it’s Bob or Uncle Bubba who’s in ill health, the options from the outset include buying a refundable ticket, buying cancel-for-any-reason insurance or eating the ticket.

Who, you may ask, would find himself or herself in a pet-produced dilemma that requires such sacrifices? Based on the responses I received from experts (for more, see la times.com/petcare), the answer is pretty much everybody who owns and loves a pet.

Indeed, my biggest fear in writing this column is that non-pet lovers will ridicule Hobin for her choice. And it is a choice.

“I would say that it’s a free country, and we’re all entitled to have our own values,” said Susan Cohen, director since 1982 of counseling at the Animal Medical Center, a nonprofit animal hospital in New York. “Pets are so good for you [and] even the care of sick pets can bring something to your life.”

Plus, pets increasingly are viewed as real members of the family circle. “The more stressful life gets, the more people want that comfort -- hamburger, fries and a cocker spaniel,” said Warren Eckstein, host of Petcentric Cafe on Sirius satellite radio.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, Blue Byrd and I are going back to bed. On the sofa. Downstairs.

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