Current Events > Spending Christmas morning at the Emergency Animal Centre

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's 02:30 on Christmas morning here and I'm with my mother at the 24 hour animal emergency centre with her 2 year old cat.

Phoenix (her cat) has been missing for the past couple of days. Tonight he came home but couldn't use his front legs. He was trying to walk around on his front elbows, so a quick hour and a half drive to the animal emergency and here we are now.

The emergency vet thinks he may have been bitten by a snake. So far they're saying it could cost as much as $5000 for all the tests and medications. I just said for them to do what they need to do.

I hope they're able to help little Pheonix.

yea, I'm hoping they can treat your mom's cat

good luck

blistr posted...

I hope they're able to help little Pheonix.

Me too.

I took my cat to the vet recently but it wasn't as urgent.

good luck Pheonix, i hope the little guy is okay

I hope Phoenix pulls through and that you guys can still enjoy the holiday. Wishing him luck.

That's terrible. I'm so sorry that happened. I hope they can get your cat feeling better.

blistr posted...

So far they're saying it could cost as much as $5000

damn i don't think i could handle that much of a vet bill. really expensive. also hope cat gets better.

Is he an outdoor cat or did he just escape?

kingdrake2 posted...

damn i don't think i could handle that much of a vet bill. really expensive. also hope cat gets better.

Pets are family. Family you probably chose, cat distribution system notwithstanding.

You take care of family.

Snake must have ambushed that cat or it got way too close to a snake, because cats have faster reaction times than snakes.

DnDer posted...

You take care of family.

this is true,

truth time: i got lucky with my dogs vet visits because of luck, genes and a good diet. the most i spent was 400$ because she managed to scratch at her ear and burst a blood vessel. more commonly it was less than 30$ because i was too timid to trim my dogs nails by myself.

a couple in her early years was 100$ because she had a mange problem (i was glad i stuck with her on that). she turned out beautiful when her fur started coming back.

Thank you all for your well wishes.

On our way back to my house the vet rang to say they don't think Phoenix has been bitten by a snake, but they are still concerned and think it may be neurological in nature. More tests need to be done.

My mother lives on a farm and has 2 cats and 5 dogs. The cats are indoor cats but little Phoenix escaped through one of the doggie doors a few days ago and only returned tonight. Anyway I just paid a $2000 deposit for his care as mum was understandably distraught and couldn't remember her credit card PIN.

Well, it's quickly approaching 04:30 Christmas morning here so not sure if I'll go back to sleep or not. There's a lot to get done to be ready for Christmas lunch, which is being held at my house, so I may as well just stay up and start on getting it done.

Good luck blistr, I hope things turn out well for Phoenix. You're a good guy and deserve good things.

blistr posted...

On our way back to my house the vet rang to say they don't think Phoenix has been bitten by a snake, but they are still concerned and think it may be neurological in nature.

I recently had a senior cat (10+) who ended up with thrombuses and unable to walk on her front legs, as you described. She was walking around on her elbows pretty happily until the day she passed.

From the people I told, I got a lot of stories back about how common that can end up being in senior cats. A thrombus is like a stroke, but not in the brain, but it is a similar kind of clot-gets-stuck thing.

A cat with those symptoms, if it's soon enough and not severe enough, can live a good long while on a regimen of anti-inflammatories and blood thinners. I don't want to give you false hope, but there is a chance you're lucky that it's something like that, and at a stage where it's treatable.

Whatever it turns out to be, it's still a Christmas miracle Phoenix came back home, and that's something you should find a special comfort in, regardless of the final outcome of the tests.

hope the cat recovers

Anything can happen to them when theyre outside, why i refuse to ever let mine out

We believe in you Phoenix!

Wishing the blistr family a very merry Christmas, even if it's got off to a stressful start!

So an update on Phoenix.

The Animal Emergency Centre have administered anti-venom on the off-chance he was bitten by a snake and the venom has already bound to his neurol receptors, meaning it is no longer in his blood stream and as such the blood results could be incorrect. They think this has good potential to be likely given we live in a regional area and mum is on a farm, and that Phoenix has been away from home since Sunday.

His condition has slightly improved, though only slightly. He's purring and is able to kick somewhat stronger with his back legs when they pick him up.

He doesn't seem to have a gag reflex at the moment, meaning they are unable to give him food or drink in case it goes into his lungs, so they'll be setting up a feeding tube through his nostril to get some much needed nutrients into him.

If his condition doesn't improve much by Friday they recommend transferring him to another facility where specialist vets can look after him. I'm hoping it won't come to that, both from Phoenix's perspective but also from a financial point of view. If it comes down to it though I'd still do it so as to give Phoenix the best chance of pulling through.

So far this will cost about 5 and a half grand, with $2k already paid. If specialist vets get involved it could easily double that cost.

So far they've ruled out thrombosis as a cause, as well as ticks (mainly because we don't live in an area that has them, generally speaking) as they didnt find any on him after conducting a thorough search. They think there is a possibility it could be botulism, though they won't fully know that until a specialist vet looks at him on Friday if need be.

blistr posted...

His condition has slightly improved, though only slightly. He's purring and is able to kick somewhat stronger with his back legs when they pick him up.

The fact that he's willing to "fight" against being held seems like a good sign. Rooting for you, Phoenix!

Another update on Phoenix.

I rang the Animal Emergency Centre this morning to talk with the overnight vet. She said Phoenix has improved greatly! He's started moving his front legs a little too, and it's likely he'll be able to come home tomorrow.

I didn't ask many questions over the phone as it was at 04:30 this morning and i was still half asleep, so I'm not sure yet how or why Phoenix came into this predicament. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

True to his name, Phoenix has risen!!

Fuck yeah.

blistr posted...

Another update on Phoenix.

I rang the Animal Emergency Centre this morning to talk with the overnight vet. She said Phoenix has improved greatly! He's started moving his front legs a little too, and it's likely he'll be able to come home tomorrow.

I didn't ask many questions over the phone as it was at 04:30 this morning and i was still half asleep, so I'm not sure yet how or why Phoenix came into this predicament. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

True to his name, Phoenix has risen!!

Amazing news! Glad to hear Phoenix is recovering!

That's great to hear! A little Christmas miracle. Glad Phoenix is better.

Fuck yes, Phoenix!

glad it sounds like he is doing better give him a kiss for all of us when you can

I like good news like this.

Thank you, Phoenix. Be speedy in your recovery.

Another update on Phoenix.

Mum received a phone call from the night vet at the Animal Emergency Centre at 11:30 last night to say we needed to pick up Phoenix by 03:00 as he was now eating dried food, or they'd charge an additional $1500 for his hospitalisation. This is after I spoke with a different vet earlier today who said to wait until the morning to see how Phoenix was doing and that we'd probably be able to take him home then. She wasn't sure if Phoenix would need a feeding tube inserted into the side of his throat or not as at that stage he wasn't eating any solid foods, even though his gag reflex had returned.

When speaking to the day vet I asked what they thought brought all this on for Phoenix. She said they believed it was a snake bite after all, more likely an Eastern Brown snake (https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake) as all the signs of what had happened, the rate of recovery after anti-venom was administered and the locale of where we live all highly suggested this to be the likely cause. Luckily snake venom affects cats differently than dogs, as if Phoenix were a dog he'd likely not have made it home, let alone the Animal Emergency Centre in time.

Anyway, mum rings me straight away to say we need to pick up Phoenix now. She meets me at my place and off we go on a 4 hour round trip at midnight. We get about 5 kilometres down the road and we see what looks like 3 vehicles pulled over on the side of the road with their headlights on. We didn't think anything of it as it just looked like some people had pulled over for something. As they had their headlights on we couldn't see much, other than their headlights. Next thing there is a large tree lying on the road in front of us and we've just run into it at 100km/h (approx 62mph).

After being thrown up into the air and all over the road we come to a stop just before we went through someone's wooden fence. I'd say the car is a write-off. It looks as though the front wheels have been pushed back a bit and the front end is only barely hanging on (we did like a Dukes of Hazzard style jump only we landed on the front end and not like they do in the movies). Both mum and i were a bit shaken but no injuries. The airbags in the vehicle didn't go off either, and it has something like 7 or so of them.

As we're coming to grips with what had happened the people in the vehicles who pulled over to the side of the road were able to drag the tree over and off the road. Had they have parked their vehicles on the road, and maybe even across both sides of the road so you'd see their headlights spanning the entirety of the road we'd have realised something was wrong and stopped before hitting the tree. But because they were pulled over on the shoulder of the road and in a line we thought nothing of it.

So to cut a long story short we ended up leaving her car where it sat, drove down in my car and picked Phoenix up. He's now back at home but will likely still be recovering for a few weeks yet. He still can't walk properly but can move around to get some food and use his kitty litter. He'll still need to see our local vet for some check ups and possible follow-up treatment, but all in all they're expecting him to fully recover.

Go Phoenix!!

doesn't deserve all that bad luck at once. it sucks... goddamn tree and especially that goddamn snake.

hopefully kitty recovers soon so it's 100% again.

Good lord y'all have had a hectic holiday, I'm glad everyone including Phoenix is okay, everyone needs to take it easy for a couple weeks now

Fucking hell, mate.

Glad everyone is okay and that Phoenix is back.

blistr posted...

He's now back at home but will likely still be recovering for a few weeks yet.

Welcome home, Phoenix. Keep getting better.

blistr posted...

Next thing there is a large tree lying on the road in front of us and we've just run into it at 100km/h (approx 62mph).

I'm glad you're okay, but I'm still trying hard not to laugh at the image of you walking away from that wreck and being like, "Ma. We have to get to my car. That cat's $1,500 more if we don't," and then gimping your way back like you're Stallone staggering through the streets in the last act of Copland to go pick up Phoenix and finish the job.

This entire story would make a great horror film.

You should hire a publisher.

My friend, you are having an absolutely wild Christmas.

kingdrake2 posted...

doesn't deserve all that bad luck at once. it sucks... goddamn tree and especially that goddamn snake.

hopefully kitty recovers soon so it's 100% again.

Despised posted...

Good lord y'all have had a hectic holiday, I'm glad everyone including Phoenix is okay, everyone needs to take it easy for a couple weeks now

DrizztLink posted...

Fucking hell, mate.

Glad everyone is okay and that Phoenix is back.

TomClark posted...

My friend, you are having an absolutely wild Christmas.

I think I'm going to spend the next week solely at home and not go anywhere. This has certainly been one Christmas I will not forget any time soon.

DnDer posted...

I'm glad you're okay, but I'm still trying hard not to laugh at the image of you walking away from that wreck and being like, "Ma. We have to get to my car. That cat's $1,500 more if we don't," and then gimping your way back like you're Stallone staggering through the streets in the last act of Copland to go pick up Phoenix and finish the job.

Now that you put it that way i can't help but giggle a little myself. Whilst it was all happening though it didn't quite seem to be like that. It was just bad timing. Had we been a couple of minutes earlier or later and nothing would have happened other than picking up Phoenix.

Steffenfield posted...

This entire story would make a great horror film.

You should hire a publisher.

"Coming soon to a theatre near you"! I may need to get an agent lol.
Seriously though, I couldn't have made this up if I tried.

Anything new to share on Phoenix and the medical horror fees that were accrued?

Phoenix is coming along better than I expected. As far as the eye can tell he's back to normal. He's been outside in the cat run and has been giving the dogs a "what-for" in the lounge room when they approach him lol. Mum says to look at Phoenix it's like this whole thing didn't happen.

As far as the medical fees go, Phoenix's little endeavour cost $8400 (approx $5250 US), give or take a smidgen. We've since learned that most vets near here are 24 hour vets, just not open outside of hours without contacting them first.

Glad to hear Phoenix is okay! My family's dog, right before Thanksgiving, gave us a scare. He ate a sock that wasn't passing through (they usually do, not that I'm feeding him socks, but the girls in the house just do whatever with socks), and had to get surgery. They quoted the price at 3500 - 4500 dollars, and my parents couldn't afford it. The vet only offered services to put down the dog (I always heard most vets do their best to make that a last resort but whatever I guess), so I stepped up and ended up paying for it. Good ol' pets. Luckily, for whatever reason, the actual cost ended up being $2600. Surgery went smooth, dog is fine and back to his old self.

That's so good to hear that Phoenix is doing better. It was very kind of you to look out for your pet's wellbeing regardless of the cost.

YugiNoob posted...

That's so good to hear that Phoenix is doing better. It was very kind of you to look out for your pet's wellbeing regardless of the cost.

Thank you for your kind words. Even though Phoenix is my mothers cat, to me there is nothing I'd not do to save one of my pets. As was said earlier in this topic by DnDer, pets are family. They each have their own personality and mannerisms. They each bring something different into your life. They are each individuals who cannot simply be replaced. If need be I'd take out a bank loan if I had to.

Now I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I could afford that level of care for Phoenix, and a little more if needed. Seeing Phoenix with the other cat and dogs, as well as my mother elated that Phoenix is alive and well, has made it all worth it.

I realise not everybody could afford the level of care I was able to provide for Phoenix, but at the end of the day, like PiOverlord above, I could, and it's only money. Money itself won't make you happy. It's what you do with that money that does.

PiOverlord posted...

Glad to hear Phoenix is okay! My family's dog, right before Thanksgiving, gave us a scare. He ate a sock that wasn't passing through (they usually do, not that I'm feeding him socks, but the girls in the house just do whatever with socks), and had to get surgery. They quoted the price at 3500 - 4500 dollars, and my parents couldn't afford it. The vet only offered services to put down the dog (I always heard most vets do their best to make that a last resort but whatever I guess), so I stepped up and ended up paying for it. Good ol' pets. Luckily, for whatever reason, the actual cost ended up being $2600. Surgery went smooth, dog is fine and back to his old self.

I'm happy to hear your parents dog has fully recovered and is doing well. Hopefully they'll stat away from any more socks lol