Making Decisions At The Veterinary Clinic

By Ruth aka Kattaddorra

Further to a few articles on Vets recently we found ourselves rushing off to ours on Monday with Jozef.

He suddenly started coughing so we made an appointment for the afternoon with the vet of our choice but ended up having to dash in as an emergency instead when he got a lot worse and so saw a vet we didn’t know.

She checked his heart and chest and lungs and said all was clear, of course he wouldn’t cough for her! Well we all know how cats hide any illness!

There was nothing in his mouth or throat as far as she could see but it was possible he had a blade of grass stuck further down in which case he would have to have an anaesthetic so she could have a proper look.

She decided to give him an antibiotic/steroid injection as he wasn’t in distress then and if he was still coughing the next morning we’d have to take him in and he would have to have blood tests before any anaesthetic, although she suggested if he had them there and then she’d have the results that day and less trauma for him, so we agreed….

Josef and cat scratcher
Josef and cat scratcher. Collage by Ruth aka Kattaddorra.
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

…Later she phoned and said all clear, everything normal and that was really good news at 11 years old.

Next morning he was still coughing, so off we went and left him for anaesthetic, throat exam and X Rays. Babz had to go to work, I was at home awaiting the vets phone call then I could phone her, the morning was endless for us both.

Eventually the receptionist phoned to say we could collect Jo at 2.30, he was awake and fine and had been a very good patient and the vet would explain what was wrong.

We went to collect him, poor little chap with his shaved leg and neck, we heard him shouting I WANT TO GO HOME even before we went in the consulting room. He nuzzled into my coat and purred and gave us both head butts, he was so happy to see us.

The vet had found nothing wrong but a bit of a red patch on his throat, a little infection.

But she was a bit of a prophet of doom saying if he wasn’t better with the antibiotics he’d need more tests, a endoscopy, maybe a bronchoscopy, which is quite dangerous for cats, she put the fear of God into us! So he’s on a course of antibiotics and thankfully he hasn’t coughed at all today.

The question is, the antibiotics are working, so did he go through all that yesterday needlessly? Could the tests have waited until we saw if he was better with more antibiotics? When I worked for vets, before all the tests they seem to immediately offer now, they would have tried a full course of antibiotics first.

Did we do right to agree to the tests so quickly? I think so as there may have been something stuck in Jo’s throat and also we now know he has nothing nasty lurking as all his tests were clear.

What would everyone else have done?

Anyway he was quite hyper yesterday but he’s calmed down today and just a bit quieter than his normal self.

The new scratch sofas arrived just right to cheer him up and Walt too, who was a bit down that his companion was away and had come back smelling strange.

Almost £300 vets fees, worth every penny to us of course as our cats health and welfare are very important to us but the cost of vets treatment now is frightening and may put people off going when they push expensive tests so quickly, which is a shame.

It’s hard loving cats as much as we do isn’t it and feeling for them, I’d rather be ill myself than one of our cats.

Ruth aka Kattaddorra

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31 thoughts on “Making Decisions At The Veterinary Clinic”

  1. After a bit of a scare yesterday morning when Jo wouldn’t eat he is fine today. We think it was a hairball causing the trouble as he’s always been prone to them despite being groomed every day, he went off out and came back looking for his breakfast. PHEW. Thank goodness the antibiotics are finished, twice daily torture for him and for us, he started to avoid us at pill time!
    Today he had us up at 5am wanting to play catnip mice, he had a good breakfast and has been on his morning rounds.
    It’s such a different atmosphere in the house when a cat is better isn’t it!
    I’d honestly rather be ill myself than one of our cats be ill.

    Reply
    • Here, here. It is stressful caring for an ill cat. You don’t know what will happen. And giving a cat medicine is hard because we know the cat will be upset and struggle and we don’t want to put our cats through that. We want to do the opposite. I am pleased he is feeling better. Cardi has found a food she likes and is scoffing it (expensive Hills)! She has put on a bit of weight which is strange and beautiful.

      Reply
      • Great news about Cardi! It’s wonderful what a bit of tlc can do for a cat, well done you!
        I think you and we will have to go busking on the streets to pay our vet bills Michael lol

        Reply
  2. Your cats are your family as ours are and you do everything in your power to make sure they are well. We also trust our vets decisions after all do we really have a choice?
    You did exactly the right thing for Jozef and really he is probably thanking you for it because he feels much better!!

    Reply
    • Thanks Leah, Jo’s antibiotics finish tomorrow, hoping and praying he stays well now, it’s the hardest thing walking away leaving your cat at the vets, wondering what they are feeling and going through and worrying what the vet will find, isn’t it!

      Reply
  3. You really didn’t have much choice. What if he’d swallowed something that could be toxic. In the U.S. our children used to be bad about swallowing a penny. They were made of copper and didn’t cause a problem. Now they’re made of zinc and can kill. I’d rather be safe than sorry any time with a cat. You’d worry yourself to death otherwise.

    Furby always loved to ride and go to the vet. We took him to the expensive vet last time. as usual he slept the whole way there. But that vet “violated” him more than the cheap vet. Furby was sitting on the table shaking from head to toe. I felt so sorry for him but he was really sick and he has cat insurance.

    Give Jozef a hug from Furbys house. 🙂

    Reply
    • Thanks Elisa, it’s good to know you would have done the same, yes we’d have been worrying something nasty was down there and it’s reassuring to know all the tests were normal, thyroid included, blood cell count etc …..phew ….
      Poor Furby, Jo says he knows how he feels being violated. Is he OK now?
      Love to everyone in your house xx

      Reply
      • Furbys doing great. His time is spent between bumming for treats and knocking things off the counter just to watch them fall. He’s also slept with me a few nights lately. He gets URI’s easily but he’s FIV and FeLV negative. He just finished a round of antibiotics for his latest.

        Furby has been plans for the year. Check out his page at http://www.facebook.com/furbyshouse. He’s going around announcing he’s the greatest cat writer in the world. I’m beginning to believe he may be right 🙂

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  4. Hi Ruth (Kattaddorra),

    I feel for both you and your cat.

    I’m like you: I am emotionally vulnerable to each and every cat issue. I stress quite a bit over even on the smallest of cat issues. When my cats have died, I’ve never been able to process it and it seems to get worse every time.

    Sorry Jozef is having trouble but glad you got him to the vet and he is doing better.

    I would likely have done what you did. It sounds like you did the right thing for vet tests because you were concerned about a partial air obstruction. You didn’t want to ignore that bit in case that was going on. You were in the heat of the moment at the time and wanted to make sure you did everything reasonable rather than taking a chance and regretting it.

    You might keep an eye on that red patch on his throat. Not to stress you out but if the antibiotics don’t get rid of it, you might bring him in for a follow-up exam that focuses on that red patch.

    I won’t play doctor here, but from the sound of it, that red patch was a little raw and was making him cough. To him, it probably felt like there was something caught on the side of his throat.

    At least I hope that’s all that is going on. If that’s the only thing going on then the red patch should disappear by the time he finishes the antibiotics.

    If you were able to actually see the patch and know where it is, you might check it once a day.

    Hey, super cool scratching sofas. I like ’em.

    I just got a new horizontal one recently as well. You can never have enough of them.

    Best wishes to you and Jozef and Hi to Babz and Walter,

    =^..^= Hairless Cat Girl =^..^=

    Reply
    • Everyone sends best wishes back Hairless Cat Girl. The red patch was further down than we can see so the only way to know if it’s gone would be to leave him at the vets for anaesthetic again and we don’t want to do that if we can avoid it. We will be keeping a very close eye on him though and any sign of a cough again we will go back.
      I can’t seem to pull myself together after all this and poor Barbara has been ill all week too with the cough and cold virus going around, we haven’t had much sleep with all the worry and noisy neighbours don’t help!
      But Babz says she feels much better today and Jo is fine so I’m trying to calm myself down and count my blessings, live for the moment when all is well.
      Walter loves the scratch couches, we have one upstairs and one down now, Jo prefers the upright Fat Boy post.

      Reply
  5. No she didn’t seem to know what caused it, that’s why we think maybe he did have a blade of grass or something there a while before it started bothering him.
    Yes we are hoping and praying when the antibiotics end he stays well, the trauma is too much to take for all of us.

    Reply
  6. Was the doctor able to explain what could have caused the red patch and infection in Jozef’s throat? Seems unusual.

    You have the good fortune of having worked with vets, yet when it is your own you become as vulnerable as the rest of us. We so depend on a knowledgable vet to have the answers yet it is often a mystery to them too. I hope along with you and your fans that the round of antibiotics is all it will take.

    I found a long skinny pill popper to give Bigfoot pills. Made specifically for cats. I became quite skilled at it after a while, though he still acted like I was a she-devil every time.

    Reply

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