tempestuously | (no subject)

Ok, I have real non-Geass-related issues for once. So apparently my cat is sick. Real sick. $200 worth of sick so far. In order to accommodate this expenditure, which is of course right on the heels of Otakon, I'm going to have to put off both groceries and contacts until next pay period. But that's not the best part. If the medication I got for Nikki doesn't work, I face a $1,000 diagnostic operation. I... cannot spend $1,000 on my cat. I love my cat. But I can barely spend $1,000 for any sort of health problems I might have. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm trying not to think about it. I'm trying very hard. It's just so weird since this problem only flared up since I moved.

Nikki has had blood in her stool for almost three weeks now. I would have done something sooner but I only recently narrowed down which cat it was. She doesn't act any different. When I took her to the vet Monday, she was rambunctious and so curious the vet recommended micro-chipping her in case she wondered out of the house one day. I took her because she attacked Rachel out of the blue, and Nikki is the type of cat who hisses and runs away when startled. She's also taken to no longer using the litter box and always craps downstairs. Whenever I pick up after her, there is blood. The leavings are... normal to be succinct, except for the blood. The vet gave her a shot Monday, but I saw no difference Tuesday night. Now he gave me some special food and antibiotic powder. I have to decide how to keep Sasuke-neko form eating her food in the meantime. He said he might have to do a colonoscopy, said $1,000 operation, to figure out what's wrong with her if this doesn't work. I don't want to lose my kitty.

Anyways, I am pretty depressed about the whole thing and don't know what I can do to help my cat.

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I'm sorry. I hope the antibiotics do something to help. If it were just the blood without the behavioral changes, I'd suggest switching food. One of our cats was passing blood with her stool and feces for almost a month before we finally got the recommendation to change her food. Once that was done, she was fine.

I really hope it doesn't come to the colonoscopy.

Oh man, that's awful. :( I really really hope that your kitty will get better.

I talked to my mom last night and I brought up your cat – She is a vet tech and has been working with sick kitties for many years now – and these are the suggestions/information she wanted me to pass along to you.

1. Make sure the cat has been dewormed. If she has gotten outside or been in contact with another animal which has, she might have picked up an intestinal parasite. This is one common cause of bloody stool in cats and is treatable.

2. Her next step was pretty much what the vet already is doing, except she said she has never heard of antibiotic powder and the doctors she works with probably would have prescribed oral antibiotics.

As for not getting the other cats to eat the food, she suggested you talk to your vet about it being a multi-cat household because if she ends up needing a special diet long run it might be something that all the cats could switch to. My mom said she would be more concerned about Nikki getting into the other food. Obviously if the diet works for her and it was just something she was eating which was inflaming her intestines/etc, then the rest of these steps will probably not be necessarily. (and hopefully the diet will work!)

3. Mom also suggested that you ask to have bloodwork done before you do anything too drastic, and possibly even before you agree to colonoscopy. She said that it would need to be done before anesthesia anyway, and there are certain parameters that might help suggest an underlying condition, such as cancer or infection, and you might gain more awareness of what you are up against before moving forward.

4. I asked how much a colonoscopy runs at their practice – she said they charge about $530. If the vet is talking $1,000, you should look around because you might find someone who charges much less. The advantage of the colonoscopy if that if the problem is in the colon they can go in with the tools and do a little biopsy of the lining. However, if the what’s going is not on the inside of her intestine then the colonoscopy will not detect it

In the interest of money she would do what the doctor says but in the interest of progressive diagnostic steps, her next step would be an ultrasound

5. An ultrasound will show the whole abdomen and help detect if anything else is going on like enlarged lymph nodes, and they can do this without putting the cat under. It might not be cheaper but depending on what they find you might not choose to pursue further treatments. She said the practice she works at charges about $325 for an ultrasound.

My mom had a cat who had bloody stool and she chose to pursue the ultrasound first because it is more comprehensive, but you might end up needing a colonoscopy anyway in the long run which is why she suggested doing what the doctor suggests is best if he or she feels that it is probably related to the inside of the intestines. She also said that if you don't feel very confident with your vet that you should consider getting a second opinion before putting down a significant amount of money on a diagnostic procedure.

Regarding the money, she said you should be upfront with them about the hardship it would put on you. They may be able to offer some assistance or small discounts and/or adjust the treatment plan to try inexpensive options first. She said that if you do end up deciding to get a costly procedure performed, they might be able to work out a payment plan with you.

Hope some of that helps…Good luck.

Edited 2008-08-14 12:42 (UTC)

Thank you for all the good suggestions. I am fairly sure Nikki is dewormed, as she never goes outside and has only ever been around my other cats. The food the vet gave me is ridiculous expensive, but I might look for something close. As of now, I've been feeding her Purina. I think the blood work was the step before any major operation.

As for the monetary issues, I have asked around and learned where I live, vets really jack up the prices. I'm going to try driving 20-30 minutes a way or so and looking around there, where I hear the prices are practically half of what they are here. I will consider the ultrasound if I still see no improvement.

What was wrong with the cat your mother treated by the way?