It’s also a good thing I have a money tree in my backyard. …
After a year of chronic respiratory infections, with tons of antibiotics, anti virals, pain meds, etc our local vet sent us to a cat specialist, an internal medicine group. While there he was concerned about the murmur so off he went to the cardiologist. We were then sent to the cat dentist where he went today to do a biopsy of his mouth ulcers. Apparently every dr is just fascinated by his case. While cleaning his teeth and doing his biopsy she saw his top teeth were actually growing up into his sinuses and some hole was actually enormous so she fixed that. Her feeling is that his ulcers are from allergies, he rips the hair out of his tail and could also need anxiety meds. We’re waiting on the results but she also wants him to see a cat dermatologist. He ended up negative for diabetes today.
I had no idea there were all of these specialists. Ithe turns out I also don’t have a money tree out back either.
It my next life I’m coming back as a cat specialist.
Is this serious?
Now I understand why D1 got cat health insurance. You should look into it eyemaom. Although the Affordable Care Act is not the Affordable Cat Act. So pre-existing conditions probably won’t get covered.
My cat is 12 or 13 I think. Would have to check her records. She is still pretty spry, likes to play, is very affectionate, sometimes a pill (if she stopped being a pill, I would think she was really ill), still eats with enthusiasm. We have never had to put out any amount of money for her health beyond normal vaccines and exams. Knock wood.
And I love her dearly. Due to her age, I’m starting to have thoughts of her getting sick and having to put her down like we did our sweet Lab a couple of years ago. I feel like I don’t know if I can go through that again. But, I guess we have no choice when we adopt these sweet pets. We’re in it for the long run, for better or worse, in sickness and health, so to speak.
She likes to be near me, it seems. She’s sleeping soundly, curled up like an angel just a foot away from me, on the sofa. If I go upstairs, she’ll follow in 10 or 15 minutes and do the same. Our lab would literally follow me everywhere I went. My cat does the same essentially, but she always makes me wait just a bit first.
If he was old I would probably make a different decision on expensive tests and specialist. I feel like once we get this figured out he’ll have a long healthy life. He still is very kittenish. Though he’s not loving the little kittie cone he needs to wear the next two weeks.
And it’s certainly turning my stomach to have to blend his food into a puree.
Lol. Those plastic cones! When my white kitty had to wear her cone of shame, she used it to scoop the food out of her dish! That cat has no brakes when it comes to food.
Eyemom, you are a great kitty mom. Yes, the age and overall health matter. We spent a small fortune on our dog’s spinal disc surgery… He was 10 and super healthy otherwise. GSDs usually live 13 years, and the surgery bought him almost 3 years. When his back went out the second time, we decided against any radical treatments. Still cry when I think about him!
When my son was 12, we got him the coolest cat ever, from the humane society, which estimated his age at “around 2.” The cat thinks he’s a panther and looks like one. Son is now 29 and the cat is still alive. Thankfully, son has taken over the vet bills, because cool cat is on his twelfth or thirteenth or twentieth life at this point. He’s been on a special diet for urine crystals for ten years (nearly dead when he got to the vet, twice), on a more expensive diet for allergies AND crystals for the last six of those years, he’s been cured of liver disease (vet gave him a 50% chance), treated and in remission for diabetes (ditto), and pancreatitis (vet now says “it’s cool cat, he’ll live forever, let’s go ahead and treat it, even if he is at least 19”). He takes multiple different drugs every day. Good thing son’s GF decided to become a vet tech. (When GF was in vet tech school, her profs couldn’t believe how proficient she was at routine shots and blood testing. Lots of practice.)
@dmd77, your post gives me hope I may have my pretty girl (also looks like a black panther) for a while yet. She’s such a sweet pet, no trouble at all, and really enriches my life. I know to some that may sound silly, but my pets have given me more joy than some of my relatives, and I do NOT mean to insinuate that an animal is more important than a human being. But some of them are sure more loving than people.
Oh eyemamom! I have been there. One cat had a stroke. Regular vet recommended he be seen by a specialist who suggested a CAT scan (haha!). But the procedure would not only be expensive but also the sedation required could be fatal, so I passed. And that cat went on to recover and is still kicking. Other cat was hit by a car, a tiny kitten at the time, with a broken femur. Amputate for $100 or fix it for ten times that? He was a kitten and I could afford it, so I paid.
Who knew there were cat neurologists and cat orthopedic surgeons?
I recently had a conversation with our vet - excellent vet at an “animal hospital” setting, how she had to know about a lot of different areas and functioned as a specialist on many things. I didn’t realize there was enough business to support cat (or dog) medical specialists.
