Money's Tight Like Painted Clothing

I had to take my cat to the Vet yesterday. I've been seeing little tufts of fur with a bit of skin attached falling out of his coat more than I'm comfortable with and thought that might be a sign of something. A visit that was only going to cost $57 ended up being $165 after 3 shots and a deworming pill. I don't bring in a bunch of money to begin with, so this will make October really tight, but I figure if I have to live on Kraft Dinner for a couple months (I'm going to bring in my other cat, Pepper, next month) so be it. At least I know exactly where they are, health-wise. While we were there the Vet said that Pea has a hole in his tooth which is fairly painful for him, although it wouldn't effect his eating or drinking. The estimate for Pea to have x-rays of all his teeth and a cleaning done came to $880 - $1200. She said we could just let it fall out naturally, but we won't know if any of the other teeth have the same problem. I'm so torn. On one hand, I want the x-rays so I know if his other teeth have the same problem; but on the other hand, holy crap - look at the cost! I don't think I'll ever have enough money for the procedure. For now, I'm just going to deal with getting Pepper up-to-date with her shots at the Vet visit next month.