Current Events > My cat is sick, and I can't get into the vet until next Friday.

(+) Yeah! (+)

There's a vet shortage in my area, much like with doctors, and that was the earliest spot I could get. Fuck my life. I don't even know if she's actually sick, if it's a parasite, or some other thing. She went from eating her food, to barely eating her food, to not eating it at all in the span of 3 weeks. She has both dry and wet food, and the only thing that moves her to "eat" is the gravy in the chunks, which she'll lap up and leave the meat behind. She's also spat up bile 4 times in the past 2 days. All other signs are fine, though she's a weirdo about water. She' still grooming herself, she's still going to the litterbox, and she's currently sitting in the window, looking outside.

I just want to get her to a vet.

Can you go further afield?

Alteres posted...

Can you go further afield?

I'm already going 1/2 an hour out of town to one. I don't want to stress her out by taking her 2 hours away.

Youre not a vet, ask a vet if you should risk traveling

Make sure to get blood work. My cat had those same symptoms and it turned out her pancreas stop working >_>

God the stress of this would kill me. I'd be so pissed that I couldn't get my cat in sooner. Is there any emergency vet services in the area?

There are, but they're more for after hours intervention. I've had to use one on the weekend when my old cat was dying. I just want to get some nutrients into her. She's showing 0 signs of listlessness, her eyes look clear, but she won't let me inspect her mouth. Just has zero appetite. Still drinking water. Still going to the litter box. Still grooming herself. I'm wondering if she'll like churro. She likes to lick gravy.

:(

She' also 15, so I have to factor in age as a determining factor.

It's not the best option, but check Reddit for subreddits Ask a vet or something similar and post the symptoms you described - you may at least get some thoughts that could help you feel a bit better about the possibilities

Sending good wishes your way!

Just got a phone call - they cancelled my Friday appointment, but moved it up to Wednesday to make up for it. This is good. I also think that my cat might be suffering from acid reflux, because the symptoms mirror what she's going through (Loss of appetite, spitting up foamy bile). Of course, that may just be a symptom of a much more dire thing, but at least I have something to hang my hat on for now.

I'm sorry :( I hope everything works out and it's something simple, that sounds awful!

I cant attest to their services since I have never used them, but apparently vet telehealth is a thing (vetster.com). Seems to have some decent feedback online, from what I can tell.

In person is of course the best option for this kinda thing, but if you want to talk to a professional or try to get some options or a plan of attack, might not hurt, if theyre able to see you quickly enough.

Im also not quite sure of the cost though.

I wish you luck with your cat. From the bottom of my heart.

That could definitely be a serious issue. You can try the meat and gravy flavored baby foods to get her to eat something. Before she passed away, my cat would eat that even when she wouldn't eat anything else. I gave her Gerber Turkey and Gravy.

cjsdowg posted...

I wish you luck with your cat. From the bottom of my heart.

Same, I really hope things are OK

If the cat goes over 24 hours without eating you should really try to find an emergency Vet tho

Take your cat to the emergency vet

I went to the vet. After explaining in great detail everything that was going on, they still didn't feel it was necessary to use the emergency vet. They did, however, sell me four cans of this especially fragrant, calorie-dense pate that they feed their critical care animals. She's eating some of that, thank fucking goodness. My cat might actually live to see the vet on Wednesday now.

Best wishes to your cat. If she's eating, that at least is a good sign, if they stop doing that supposedly they're in real bad territory, so that is something.

It feels like she's always wanted to eat the last week, but couldn't. She was sticking her face in the food dish and sniffing around in it, but ultimately turned her head away, like she couldn't bring herself to eat any of it. She's still drinking plenty of water.

Alucard188 posted...

I went to the vet. After explaining in great detail everything that was going on, they still didn't feel it was necessary to use the emergency vet. They did, however, sell me four cans of this especially fragrant, calorie-dense pate that they feed their critical care animals. She's eating some of that, thank fucking goodness. My cat might actually live to see the vet on Wednesday now.

Make sure she doesn't throw up from that

NeonOctopus posted...

Make sure she doesn't throw up from that

My alarm clock hasn't gone off yet. She likes to pick right outside my bedroom door to throw up, and will almost always wake me up.

Poor girl. I hope she gets better soon.

bump

My old dog started getting like that, only for my veterinarian to sadly inform me he had less than a week to live. To his credit, he was around twenty or so (which is a long, long time for dogs to live) and had been suffering from a heart murmur for the last few years of his life, so I knew any time I still had with him was to be treasured due to it being miraculous for him to live that long and still be somewhat active for his age. I ended up taking him home and he wound up dying in his bed surrounded by the people and doggos he called family and loved so dearly a couple days later. Still miss that old fella even though Ive adopted a new puppy since then.

Any updates TC?

Nothing yet. Still not eating much of anything, only licking gravy off the top of the food dish. Still drinks water, still goes to the litter box, still grooms. Literally just no appetite. She's not even listless. Her eyes are full of attention when she's awake. Won't find out more until Wednesday.

Is is possible it's a tooth / other mouth issue?

You said she ate some of the special food they sent you, what was the consistency of that like?
It's weird she was only licking things and not eating anything that involved chewing.

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

You said she ate some of the special food they sent you, what was the consistency of that like?

It's a pate. She had some, but is wasting far more than she's eating. I augment that with chunks and gravy, because she at least licks the gravy. Just hoping she's still in a relatively good spot by the time Wednesday rolls around.

Damn sorry to hear this.

Put my cat down yesterday evening, found her dragging her back legs, vet says prognosis wasnt good for any of the treatment options. Sad times indeed.

doesntcare posted...

Damn sorry to hear this.

Put my cat down yesterday evening, found her dragging her back legs, vet says prognosis wasnt good for any of the treatment options. Sad times indeed.

I'm sorry

You could try making broth.

doesntcare posted...

Damn sorry to hear this.

Put my cat down yesterday evening, found her dragging her back legs, vet says prognosis wasnt good for any of the treatment options. Sad times indeed.

My old dog in the week before he died got where he could hardly stand up on his own as well as not wanting to eat or drink much of anything other than broth, and as the end for him neared while he was literally on his deathbed, he increasingly refused to eat even that. They weighed his remains when we brought him in to be cremated and he had withered away to around three pounds or less, down from the weight range of ten to fifteen he normally stayed at for most of his life.

https://www.thecatniptimes.com/cat-news/chicken-stock-soup-cats-recipe/

Like that sort of thing might help, grab one of those grocery store rotisserie chickens, tear it apart and use those bones.

I made a broth/brine out of the cat food that the vet gave me, put some in a turkey baster, and injected it into the corner of her mouth. She licked it up, then ran away. She won't go to the food on her own. At least she has _some_ calories in her, such as they are. Wednesday can't come soon enough.

The exact same situation happened with one of my cats last night too. We ended up taking her to a 24/7 vet and paid about 3 times as much as rbe normal vet, but we at least found out she had an URI, a UTI, a fever, kidney stones, and bladder stones. I was glad to get her treated so she wouldnt suffer anymore and could come home today. Some vets are backed up and others are not taking new clients. Hopefully you can find a way to help your cat.

We had to use care credit to pay for the expenses.

They did X-rays, blood work, urine, gave her fluids, a shot to increase appetite, and sent her home with anti nausea medicine and some antibiotics. Shell be eating some CD sensitive stomach food for a little bit. Going to be spending the next 10 days giving antibiotics to my 4 cats since URI can spread like wild fire.

Tried it again, a bit more assertive this time. I put the dish in front of her, put the turkey baster up to her mouth, and sprayed a little taste. Face down and into the bowl for a solid couple minutes.

--Zero- posted...

Some vets are backed up and others are not taking new clients. Hopefully you can find a way to help your cat.

This is just it. They are so short-staffed and backed up here, that it was a fight to even get in even two weeks in advance. I was going to take the long view and take an appointment 6 weeks out for a routine checkup, but then this all started happening 2 weeks ago.

Oh goodness, I did this recently and I'm hoping it goes better for you.

I'm glad to hear she's still interested in the stinky food. Had an cat with dental issues that did what you've got going on, took a few days to heal up tooth removal but he was back at the normal crunchy food shortly after

They canceled. They fucking canceled. None of the local vests can get her in on emergency either. Looks like I'm going 2 hours into the big fucking city.

Alucard188 posted...

They canceled. They fucking canceled. None of the local vests can get her in on emergency either. Looks like I'm going 2 hours into the big fucking city.

Drive safe and keep us posted, I'll be thinking of you guys!

Alucard188 posted...

They canceled. They fucking canceled. None of the local vests can get her in on emergency either. Looks like I'm going 2 hours into the big fucking city.

That's very terrible of them, canceling on a very sick cat on the day of the appointment they themselves selected after canceling your last one. My mother has several dogs and they have a vet who truly cares about animals and will even come in to work when they're off to make sure they get needed medical attention, I wish more were like that. I wouldn't trust that vet again if I were you, reading that made me upset, hopefully the long drive is worth it and everything will be ok with the emergency checkup. I'm a new cat owner and my recently adopted cat got sick very soon after we got her and just waiting our turn for the walk in appointment was super stressful, I can't imagine what you've been going through is easy, hoping for the best

They're recommending a humane euthanasia. She's stable, but in a very bad state. There'd no guarantee that she'll come through this, and are worried that it would be unnecessaily cruel.

Or spending $1200 on the full battery of diagnostics. I have no problems with that, but is that what's best for her? She's 15.

Oh man I'm so sorry

Sorry to hear that TC. Hang in there!

We had to put my best pug Boomer down a few years ago. Tracheal collapse. Poor guys body failed and he couldnt breath correctly. I held him as he passed. We had him cremated and hes going with me.

Alucard188 posted...

They're recommending a humane euthanasia. She's stable, but in a very bad state. There'd no guarantee that she'll come through this, and are worried that it would be unnecessaily cruel.

Or spending $1200 on the full battery of diagnostics. I have no problems with that, but is that what's best for her? She's 15.

I don't have any words.. I'm really sorry :(

Alucard188 posted...

She's 15.

Super rough choices. I spent about that much to find out my boy had heart failure, got him on meds and watched him fade over a couple weeks. If I could do it again, I'd probably have tried to get an in-home euthanasia arranged so he didn't have to go back to the vet :/

Her quality of life had really gone down the last few weeks. This was really the best option for her. It fucking sucks. I shouldn't have come alone.

Here for you if you want to chat bud, DM or wherever