I know there are people who would love to have my problems...

[mousme]

My kitty is an expensive kitty.

The question, it appears, is not so much "What's wrong with Gretzky?" as "What's not wrong with Gretzky?"

Poor girl. She's not doing well at all. She's lost nearly two pounds since last summer, and is down to a svelte 10lbs. Okay, maybe not svelte, because her belly kind of hangs and is all wobbly, but she's thinner now.

She's running a slight fever, and definitely has something wrong with her upper respiratory system. The problem is that it's hard to identify exactly what it is. The symptoms could be indicative of something underlying that's much more serious. Thus far, the theories are:

- it's a simple cold that's turned into a bronchial infection
- it's a tooth infection that's settled into her sinuses
- it's the beginning of diabetes or another elderly cat illness that's making her susceptible to opportunistic infections

We did x-rays right then and there (sparing me another trip with the kitty), and the news is both good and bad.

Good: she has no fluid in or around the lungs, which would have been Very Bad Indeed™, and her tummy was full, which means that I have not been hallucinating her eating her kibble like a good girl.

Bad: she has either an inflammation in her bronchial tubes, or calcification due to age, and while the x-ray was of her chest, it looks like she might have kidney stones or something similar.

So we're on the lookout for diabetes, potential kidney failure or kidney stones, and maybe a UTI.

Blood was drawn (from the cat, not any of the humans, although she did bite me when the vet shoved a thermometer where the sun don't shine), and we will have the results tomorrow (see how much faster it is than with human doctors?).

The other good news is that they now have an antibiotic that's given ONCE and by injection, so no more fighting with the cat twice a day for two weeks. w00t!

*sigh*

Oh, and did I mention that she has fleas? Yessir, the day just kept getting better. I bought a topical flea killing thing (Advantage) and have dosed all four cats. DEATH TO THE FLEAS!


So, yeah. News you need about my cat. It was very, VERY expensive. I am feeling very poor right now. Let's just say this isn't a good time for me to have large extra expenses.

Comments

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

Still, less expensive than children. And comes down to it, you can always eat the cats.

Vet bills are ridiculous. Have you looked into insurance for them?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Definitely less expensive than children.

I keep wondering about insurance, but honestly my cats don't get sick that often, and I don't think insurance covers things like boosters and what have you, which is the bulk of my expenses, vet-wise.

[chasingthenuns.livejournal.com]

Diabetes is very manageable, just expensive. My cousin used to watch a cat that had diabetes, no teeth, and was on liver medication. He live to be 22. The cat, not my cousin.

[ladyiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the blood results yield nothing horrible.

[pdaughter.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you actually have to wait that long for the blood test results, at my vet it was 15 minutes or so till I had them.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's not kidney failure, because I've been there and it's just not fun.

I will think good thoughts for Gretzky and of course you too :)

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Healing vibes being sent to Gretzky.

(((hugs)))

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

dude, that sucks, I'm really sorry.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Insurance is definitely not worth the cost. We looked into it at one point and reasoned that if one cat went to the vet per year for Something Very Bad it *might* average out, but as most of my cats never develop problems or it's one per cat lifetime, it wasn't cost-effective. That said, my mother has three purebred Maine Coones, and they're insured.

Poor kitty. All that, *and* fleas. The indignity.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

So far it's averaging out to One Bad Thing per cat lifetime, except that it's all happening to Gretzky, poor girl. The other three cats are fine. *knocks on wood* George has the same cold, but he doesn't appear to be affected all that badly, and is still spry and happy. Then again, he's much, much younger than Gretzky. Poor old girl.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I think it's because I went after 17:00 and the lab techs had gone home for the day.

I should hear back this morning.

[cpirate.livejournal.com]

Insurance is never cost-effective. That's how insurance companies make money. And they're better at math than you (or me, or just about anyone), so they're pretty good at making sure they make money.

That said, insurance is still a good idea in general if you otherwise couldn't afford the cost of whatever's being insured, e.g. your house burning down or something. That's the tradeoff; you'll likely give them more money in the long run, but you're protected from sudden catastrophic losses.