can't cure sick pets - is there a cheat?

@spiderrwoman 

Please bear with me since you said that you already tried emptying the mods folder... could you try a repair along with removing the cache (as follows) in the following manner to make sure that every part of this process is covered again in the proper order, as that may make a difference...

• Exit your game then exit Origin. Copy the Mods folder from your 'The Sims 4' folder onto your desktop (for future reference) then delete the mods folder and the localthumbnailcache.package file in your 'The Sims 4' folder. (When you restart the game will re-create the Mods folder if you deleted it.)
• Then run a game repair [ Open Origin, click 'Game Library' then right-click Sims 4 > Repair Game ]. Make sure to let it run until it has completed all repairs (it will do the base-game first, then run through each of your expansions/packs). After that, please see if the issue has stopped.

If this fixes the issue I would recommend that you check with the Mod and CC creators to see if there are any known issues with their Mod/CC clashing with the recent update and if so do they have an updated Mod/CC that will address the changes in the game's code from the update. You can then re-add your updated Mods/CC one at a time to see if one was conflicting with the function/causing the glitch - but do not re-add the old config file from the old mods folder, as it is possible for it to have become corrupted also.

After you have completed the entire process above, if the issue issue remains, other options include...

• Did you try rolling back to a previous save?
  https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/save-games/ 
  If you do that you can re-do the whole repair/remove mods/delete cache thing again if the problem is there or re-appears, but since you are having so much trouble with the pets this may be a good idea.
• Place them into a new game save: You can try uploading the household into your game library and begin a new save game and place them into that game. You can get the cat treated at the vet in that save then re-upload the household to the library and place them back into the old game save, if you are really committed to them being in that save and see if they play right then. Alternately you can just continue to play them in the new game save. (See article referenced above to learn more about this.)