Cat Woes

[moiraf100]

My youngest daughter just took one of her cats to the vets this evening as he had a runny nose, a rapid heartbeat and was quiet.
Been there over 3 hours waiting for blood test results.
He has 'liver problems', has to stay in for 3 days, and is on a drip.
Liver enzyme blood test - one of many - has come back with a count of over 1400, should be 0-100.
Some sort of infection it seems at the moment, got to have a barrage of tests.
Going to cost about £1500. She's just coming out of shock now...
Stopped paying insurance about 2 years ago as it was £25 for each cat.
She says she sort of half hopes they find something wrong to justify the cost and the vets isn't just some little snot trying to f*st her.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by moiraf100

Going to cost about £1500. She's just coming out of shock now...She says she sort of half hopes they find something wrong to justify the cost and the vets isn't just some little snot trying to f*st her.

Just checking the fist censor.
hope the cat gets better.

[danielf]

You probably don't want to hear this, but unless she's loaded, £1500 for a cat is erm probably not worth it imo.

[Tinky]

Awwe Moira what a quandary, your daughter obviously loves her cat and will pay whatever is asked to get her better. But what happens if the results are not what she hopes to hear? Keeping fingers crossed all will be well.

[Maggy J]

When did vets bills become so high?

Was it when insurance became involved?That £1500 is silly prices.I had a cat back in the 90s that had liver problems and I didn't have pet insurance and it cost me less than £100 to sort him out..I can't see inflation having that much of an effect really I can't.

[Peter_]

Whatever you do the cat will be the one suffering and they tend not to show pain, my dog had similar issues about 10 years ago and we even bought special food from the vet for her.

But in the end we had to take her to the vet for that final visit, which was not very nice but the right thing as we were just watching her suffer.

The vet will happily take your money even though they know the will not be a happy ending.

It is a hard choice to make and only your daughter can make that call.

[moiraf100]

The thing is he didn't seem ill when we saw him on Sunday. She just got worried last night when he was a bit snuffly and quiet.
She did say she wishes she'd waited another 24 hours, although I assume the results would be the same.
I can't believe how much she is being expected to pay - and all these tests she's been told he has to have. Where do these figures come from - do they just pick a number out of a hat?
TBH I don't trust vets anymore after my lovely cat died 2 years ago hours after coming home from the vets for a blood and urine test. They wanted to use a fine needle to get the urine sample. I can't even bear to think about how he handled that before they decided to sedate him (crying just thinking about it).
As much as I love my 2 remaining cats, one 15 and the other about 5, I couldn't afford that sort of money. It would cut me up, but I would have to have them put to sleep.
I do have insurance for the younger one, but that will go up in leaps and bounds over the years, and there will come a time when I'll stop paying it.
My daughter has already paid £400 deposit, so it looks like her intention is to go ahead. I dread to think if the other tests come back negtive and all he needs are some tablets... if it's an infection as they said in the first instance.
She's only just back into work after being made redundant a year ago, so they're just catching up on the money front.
They have you over a barrel, it makes me so angry that they can get away with it, charging ridiculous amounts.
When Cato died I had just picked up and paid for some thyroid tablets; new pot, I just broke the seal and the vet refused to take them back and refund (£50). They fill them up themselves.
I ended up giving them to a cat charity.
The thing is these tests could come back and she could be told there is no hope...
I really am lost for words! :-(

[joglynne]

It really is heart breaking to be in your Daughters position. We went through the same ordeal with our dear elderly Pu late last year. All the tests kept coming back negative and the Vet just didn't know what to do next. We ended up feeding Pu with a syringe for weeks just to try to keep his body weight up in the hopes that whatever was wrong with him would show itself. Though very frail he was a happy cat right up to the end but we couldn't let him get to the point where he could be in great pain so took the difficult decision to let him go with dignity. He was over 10 when we adopted him and we couldn't get Medical Insurance so it cost us a lot of money having all the tests done and though I don't begrudge what we spent but I do understand how difficult it can be finding that amount of money and being torn in two deciding when the spending has to end.

When we took him into the Vets that last time the staff all came to give him a last cuddle and most were crying with us as we left the surgery to lay him to rest in his favourite sunny spot. I can't imagine ever having another cat and having to go through that again.

[moiraf100]

My daughter has just phoned to say that the blood tests don't show any nasty viruses etc. aids or leukemia.
They have done a scan and it looks as though there is a blockage around the gall bladder area.
He has to have surgery tomorrow morning.
It may be a 'simple' case of gallstones or a nasty problem with the bile duct. Worst case scenario is a collapse of this and the problems this could bring.
If it's gallstones they will test them to see if it's a dietary problem. If not............
I just hope they put him right ((Miles)) x

[joglynne]

Fingers crossed for a good result tomorrow.

[moiraf100]

Just had a very happy phone call from my daughter.
Miles had had his op and there were load of gallstones.
He has old scarring and the vet has created a new hole from the bile duct to his intestine.
Don't know how long he has to stay in, but he has come round.
The stones and biopsy are being sent to the lab, and they will be able to tell if the problem is diet related, and if so they can take steps to try and avoid them forming again.

[joglynne]

Great news. I love happy endings.

[Tinky]

Phew, thank goodness he is on the road to recovery Moira.

[Peter_]

Well not as bad as we all kind of expected, so some good news for him.

[moiraf100]

Miles' Gallstones