Spending on pets? Cat in the ER

[TrvlBug]

So sorry for your loss. We've gone through it several times and it's never easy. Our 2 cats will be our last. They are both 10 years old, one should live a full life, the other has autoimmune and other issues and may or may not. We thought we'd loose her for sure this past summer but she pulled through and is fine now . Going in right after Christmas for her 5th teeth cleaning/extractions. She'll be toothless when she passes .

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

.

 

[sheehs1]

He didn't make it. I'm devastated. He had excellent blood work and cardiology checkup (for a cat with HCM) in October and they found he was filled with cancer. Hug your pets today because things can change fast. I really do think the ER vet did everything they could in the end too. I was skeptical at first but had no reason to doubt once things started happening.

My sincere condolences badatmath. This is always so very difficult.

My extreme emergency and critical care vet experience was with my first mini- schnauzer. At age 3 he went into hemolytic anemia. Of course we didn't know that was what it was until we were fully invested in his care and outcome. It was a side of veterinary medicine I had never seen before-oxygenated tents, doggie ICU, chemo and several blood transfusions. $4,000 and he still passed away. (20 plus years ago). It was a horrible emotional roller coaster.
It was a long time ago and I am now on my 5th schnauzer. Have been thru thyroid disease with one, diabetes with another, many bouts of pancreatitis which they are prone to have. Luckily the vets allow me to treat at home as much as possible - even the gum sticks for blood glucose readings, subcutaneous saline injections over the years for kidney failure with several beloved cats with similar issues.
But like others here, I swore I would never put my fur babies thru certain things again. The trick is knowing where that fine line is. it is not initially clear.

Again I am so sorry about your cat. Our fur babies take pieces of our hearts with them.

 

[badatmath]

Thank you all.

 

[EastWest Gal]

They just called and it sounds like they are doing SOME things so I feel much better. Well except that he might be worse than I thought. Diuretics, oxygen tent, x-rays, blood work. They said he is stable. As to why I took him in he wasn't eating and just lethargic. He just had complete blood/urine panel in Oct. so IDK what changed so quick but he is 13 and has (controlled) HCM. They plan to do some more blood tests. They can't check with his cardiologist until Monday but his echo in Oct was actually good, slightly improved even. They can't do CT scans on the weekend apparently

Maybe they don’t have a tech on weekends. Human hospitals were like that 30 years ago, especially with MRIs. I remember mobile MRI units in the 1990s. We could only get an MRI on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the MRI unit was available in the clinic parking lot.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I'm so so sorry to hear of your loss.
I've gone through this twice in the past couple of years, the 2nd one on Christmas Day.
I still have their dog collars hanging on my office doorknob, the tags jingle when I open the door and the sound is just a comfort to me.

 

[bbbamI]

I am sorry for the loss of your cat.

We went from having 5 cats to losing our last one this past summer. We were on vacation and our son called us stating she was having problems, so we came back home. Four of our cats were 16, 17, 17 and 18 almost 19. It is never easy.

We have been pet free since July. We miss having pets, but don't think that we will get any more. We are afraid that any cat would outlive us.

Your story is very similar to ours. We've had five cats over the years; all lived to be in their teens except the last one was three months shy of her 21st birthday.

Hubby started having allergy problems and since we're not getting any younger, we will not get another pet. After time we've gotten used to it, but every once in a while we feel a bit empty.

I too am sorry about your kitty badatmath.

 

[Amethyst]

The only reason I haven't gotten another cat since the last one died, is that we no longer have a large safe yard for him or her to roam and be a cat in. (how's that for an English sentence?) Cats want to go outside and hunt. Some learn to settle for the indoors, but a determined feline will get out no matter what you do.

Our yard in Florida has a fence, but any young cat could easily get over it, and busy A1A is only about 30 yards away.

 

[Gremlin]

Ah, man. That’s rough BAM. So sorry for your loss.

 

[finnski1]

I'm so so sorry to hear of your loss.
I've gone through this twice in the past couple of years, the 2nd one on Christmas Day.
I still have their dog collars hanging on my office doorknob, the tags jingle when I open the door and the sound is just a comfort to me.

I like that idea. We are on our 4th Collie and we have had the last 3 cremated and keep their little boxes on the bookcase. Don't know why or what we would ever do with them but just like to keep them there.

 

[Boose]

Badatmath, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your cat. It's difficult to know, at the time we see the vet (or drop the cat off - even more heartbreaking) if we're getting our pets what they need. Over the years, I've stopped second-guessing the costs in order to make my decision, and relied more on my loving instinct-to-prevent-suffering. In September I rushed my last cat to her vet for a $$$ in-house blood test. Turns out that she had been hiding her kidney failure. After managing her years of chronic vomiting, separation anxiety and less-than-happy relocation to a new state, neither she nor I were looking forward to subcutaneous fluids administered at home. I let her go the next day. It was the right decision for this particular cat, though I have given sub-Qs to my two previous cats. Anyway, I'm blabbing. This is just to say that my decisions have been tailored to each cat and I have no reliable financial calculus.

(Edit: verbosity)

 

[RunningBum]

So sorry, badatmath. This hits close to home because I just got off the phone with my son, who is having a similar issue with his cat right now. He has been losing a lot of weight, but otherwise pretty good. Took him to the vet today, and they found a mass in his belly, and red blood count really low. I think he is opting to just managing his comfort. Vet expects his body to start shutting down in a matter of weeks. Always a hard decision, and my son has been very close to this cat, but it has had other health issues.

 

[bluelight]

I am so sorry for your loss. Cats are especially good at hiding illness so it always comes as a shock when they go from healthy to deathly ill with little warning. A few years back we had 3 cats and 2 dogs, now we are down to one 14 year old cat. Last year we spent about 2K on radioactive iodine I-131 treatment for her. Money well spent.

 

[badatmath]

I feel like such a bad pet parent. I did all I thought was right and it wasn't enough. My boy was not even eligible for comfort treatment due to his heart problems so there was really no choice. It is reassuring to know it really does happen that fast. I mean the vet said so, but I mean I am with this cat virtually ALL THE TIME (WFH) and he is always one to "help" so its like how could I not see this sooner. I'm sorry for your son RB it just sucks. This last couple of years have been super tough anyway for other reasons and he was my reason to keep getting out of bed some days. Well okay most days.

I mostly put money in the title in hopes someone would read my post and general skepticism about going to a strange vet. I would have paid whatever it took if they had options. And with the recent good checkups I was hit really hard with the shock.

 

[RunningBum]

I feel like such a bad pet parent. I did all I thought was right and it wasn't enough. My boy was not even eligible for comfort treatment due to his heart problems so there was really no choice. It is reassuring to know it really does happen that fast. I mean the vet said so, but I mean I am with this cat virtually ALL THE TIME (WFH) and he is always one to "help" so its like how could I not see this sooner.

Nah, you did all you could. Seeing your cat all the time can make it tougher to recognize changes. That happened with my son too. He kinda knew his cat was losing weight but when I visited over Thanksgiving I pointed out just how much he had lost.

 

[Amethyst]

Badatmath, this can even happen with human loved ones. I know someone whose wife died of lung cancer. He didn't know she was sick - and I guess she didn't, either, not really - until she collapsed - and this couple ran their own business together, so it wasn't as if they were apart a lot. Once the cancer was confirmed, she wanted to fight it, but it was too late.

All the cat owners will tell you that cats instinctively hide pain and illness, since those things make them vulnerable in the wild, and all cats are slightly wild at heart. Bottom line: you didn't see it because he didn't want anyone to see it. We went through exactly the same thing with one of our cats.

I mean I am with this cat virtually ALL THE TIME (WFH) and he is always one to "help" so its like how could I not see this sooner..

 

[Sniggle]

We try to figure out what is wrong, and then make a compassionate and informed decision on what to do. We will not let our animal suffer, but we have also chosen not to have a vet charge us $4000 to extend the animals life for a couple of months.

Couple of examples:
- We had a 12 year old Schnauzer that had some form of cancer. We knew it was cancer, and the vet concurred when we brought the dog in. The vet wanted to run all kinds of tests, but we had decided we would not pay for cancer treatment even if it had a chance of extending the dogs life. We went home with some steroid pills, that gave my wife another good 3 weeks with Chloe, before she went downhill and we had to have her put down.
- Just recently we had Apollo, our whippet, put down after 6-months fighting heart disease. We figured out what it was, and that there were only limited things that the vet could do to extend his life. Eventually, the heart disease progressed to where his quality of life was poor (happened over a period of a week that he went from happy to miserable), so we had him put down. Never did take him to the vet, except to be put down.

Bottom line, I guess, is that make a decision on how much you are willing to spend to prolong your animal's life, keeping in mind its quality of life. Have the vet tell you what everything is going to cost before they do it, and do not give the vet cart blanche to run any test they want to. Many vets will gladly let you run up 1000's of dollars in bills, when at the end of the day they can do very little for your pet. Of course, if you choose to drop $10K on a cat or dog at the vets, go for it.

 

[skyking1]

It is often not a smooth or easy process, OP. You did fine by your pet. About animals and pain:
Responding to pain is not a survival trait. They don't know they are tough, they just are. They hide it so well that when it gets to a level that they respond to, it is just overwhelming. We humans feel really bad, that we are not good stewards but we cannot detect it, many times.
I am sitting here with a dedicated euthanasia veterinarian who works for a company that does it all in house calls. He handles 4~5 cases a day. He takes care of beloved pets in their own home, in as peaceful and calm a situation as possible. Some days he comes home in tears, having difficult cases and too young animals, animals that were dealt a really difficult set of ailments.
Sometimes he will assess a pet and tell the owner that there are some things they can do to improve quality of life, and he leaves them to get some more time with their pet. He will write a script and suggest a treatment plan.
It is hard to know when is right and it helps to get a professional opinion.

 

[Calico]

Badatmath, this can even happen with human loved ones. I know someone whose wife died of lung cancer. He didn't know she was sick - and I guess she didn't, either, not really - until she collapsed - and this couple ran their own business together, so it wasn't as if they were apart a lot. Once the cancer was confirmed, she wanted to fight it, but it was too late.

All the cat owners will tell you that cats instinctively hide pain and illness, since those things make them vulnerable in the wild, and all cats are slightly wild at heart. Bottom line: you didn't see it because he didn't want anyone to see it. We went through exactly the same thing with one of our cats.

Badatmath,

This is spot on. A vet told me this exact same thing many years ago - cats are champs at hiding the fact that they are ill.

You did everything you could for your cat. Do not beat yourself up feeling like you failed him. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was obviously well-loved and cared for by you.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Things can go bad really quickly with pets. I had a 3 year old dog for 5 weeks when she got sick. I went to the vet daily for 4 days. Finally I drove her 4 hours on a Sunday to a veterinary hospital/school and they were able to diagnose her. We left her for the night and she was dead before we got home. We were devastated.

I have had to make the decision to let a dog go 6 times in 17 years. I feel that the best way to honor a pet that passed is to adopt another in their honor. I have given many older dogs a home that others didn’t want. One never replaces another as they are all unique little souls.

 

[badatmath]

It helps for you to share your stories.

You know when covid first started the main thing I kept thinking was I can't catch it and go to the hospital because who will be here to give him his heart medicine on time. (I live alone). It was a weird kind of stress. Sure I knew someone would feed him but . . .

 

[RunningBum]

Stories.

I've found that the signs are often very clear, but only after the fact.

My first cat started losing weight and peeing outside the box, for maybe a couple of weeks. Then I came home one day and she was really sick. I think her kidneys had failed. Took her to the after hours emergency vet, who confirmed she was really sick, and unless I thought she got into poison, that putting her down was a very humane choice. Came home without her, and felt like I really let her down (by not taking her in earlier), but it's probably unlikely the result would've been different.

Second cat, the Best Cat Ever was a better story. 16 very healthy years, then she started losing weight and mostly wanted to be on my lap, needing help to get up there, and I took her in when I saw this was progressing. Vet said there was really nothing to be done but it was up to me if I needed more time. She had given me so many good years I felt I owed it to her to not let her suffer, so I let her go that day. All I have is good memories.

Last one was throwing up a lot, very dark, which I learned was blood. I told the vet it was dark but must not have emphasized it and she missed it. Took her in a few times to try different things and she was getting worse. The stressor is that I had a week long ski trip coming up. The day before she had stopped eating, and was purring a lot. This was a rescue cat that I had never heard purr in 7 years, but I found out that cats also purr sometimes when they are sick, perhaps as a coping mechanism or to help with pain? I took her in, knowing it was probably the end. On the 30 minute drive I brushed her (her favorite thing) and told her stories about good times we had, and it kept both of us calm. The vet finally found a mass, and confirmed it on ultrasound, which she told me she didn't know how to read well so I guess that's why she never did before. Other than that, I really liked that vet. She said I could treat the cancer and perhaps give her another 6 months, but putting her down was a valid option. She knew my travel dilemma. I thought I'd feel guilty making that decision so I could go skiing but instead I felt a huge burden lifted as I was driving home, and only felt sadness.

I still had her litter mate, the new Best Cat Ever. I thought about leaving that vet, but decided not to. At last year's yearly checkup, she noted her losing weight, and suggested thyroid test, and that was low (or high? I forget now). I went with the radiation treatment and her weight came back up. I only did one thyroid follow up because this cat absolutely hates car travel, and I just couldn't see going through another cycle of treatment.

Sadly and shockingly, last month the vet was killed by a car as she was walking along a road late in the day. Guessing the driver was blinded by the sun and never saw her. I will switch over to a vet friend I met a few years ago. Only drawback is it's nearly an hour drive, with a cat that hates car travel.

 

[kcowan]

We have a provision for continuing pet care in our wills.

 

[JanF]

A few years ago our 13 year old cat just "wasn't right", took him to the vet, labs were perfect and weight down just a little. 3 months later he just crashed, organs had failed so he needed to be euthanized. He was a cat that was really stressed going to the vet and even if he had something treatable, I couldn't put him through it-it would have destroyed his quality of life. His brother lived with kidney failure for 5 years and was fine until the end, so you just never know. But it's really, really hard.

 

[finnski1]

It helps for you to share your stories.

You know when covid first started the main thing I kept thinking was I can't catch it and go to the hospital because who will be here to give him his heart medicine on time. (I live alone). It was a weird kind of stress. Sure I knew someone would feed him but . . .

2 years ago we had to finally let go of our 12 yer old male rough collie Kodi. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and given 3- 6 months. He made it almost 11 months without any medication. We had to stop the medication because as soon as he went on it he had a massive gi bleed that almost killed him immediately. The cancer didn't actually kill him but he also had a weak spine and was having trouble getting up.
I literally slept on the floor with him by the front door for a week just so I could carry him out to the bathroom every hour or 2. I even fell down the steps at 2 am one night trying to get him out. He rolled over, I bruised up my knees and like a true trooper, not a whimper out of him.

Back in 2011 our previous collie Splash(the blue merle) ended up with a sarcoma in his front shoulder at 11 1/2 yo. He was very healthy otherwise and so we discussed with the vet our options. We ended up deciding to do an amputation of that leg due to the fact that the dogs do much better with it than we think and what we would imagine. Well as fate would have it I had hurt my lower back the day before and couldn't make it to the vet with my wife to pick him up the day after his surgery. We all decided to leave him over night at the vet for one more night. That second night stuck in a cage and not having moved for 36 hours or so caused him to throw a large blood clot and he died overnight before we could pick him up. Dogs need to move to prevent those very blood clots. I felt horrible because in my mind If I had been able to get him, he may have been alright and survived for quite a while. Our vet was broken up over it as well and even deleted all charges except for the cremation costs.
We still miss them both terribly