Hi, this is really not at all related to computers, but perhaps i find some cat lovers here.
Just this week i had to go with my cat to the emergency because of an abscess which was big as ball and it need to be cut open. It was quite expensive but at least the cat is fine now.
But at the same time, the doctor told me that my cat has a heart murmur somewhere between 5 and 6.
I have no clue about this really and my cat is already 11 years old and was fine all the time. Meaning, she is very agile and very healthy otherwise.
Did someone of you who has a cat had this kind of problem and what did you do and how much can a treatment be? No, i don’t look for an exact estimate but rather an idea.
Also, does make sense to have an insurance for a pet? I never considered it, but now i wonder if it may makes sense. Alone the emergency drained my wallet.
Hi, this is Jamie, James’ daughter - and I work at a vet clinic. It is very common for older pets to develop a heart murmur, or for it to get worse as they get older. I would recommend taking your pet to a specialty hospital, or perhaps a cardiologist, however, diagnostics alone could cost you $1,000. Sometimes heart murmurs never cause any issues, however, I have seen several cats come in with symptoms such as lethargy, decreased appetite, or sometimes difficulty breathing. If you aren’t noticing any of those - you may be fine to hold off on the expensive diagnostics. However, I would recommend at least a senior blood profile yearly on your pet to check organ function. As far as pet insurance is concerned, most policies increase in cost after your pet is a senior (age 7), and just like in people, it will not cover any preexisting conditions. One really good company to look into is Trupanion.
My cat used to have a heart murmur as well, yet she never had any problems with it and, when dying a few weeks ago (sigh), was “at least 18 years old” (according to my vet). She died of a kidney failure, also very common for older cats. I think as long as your cat seems agile and happy, you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 12:36:01 +0000, gropiuskalle wrote:
> My cat used to have a heart murmur as well, yet she never had any
> problems with it and, when dying a few weeks ago (sigh), was “at least
> 18 years old” (according to my vet). She died of a kidney failure, also
> very common for older cats. I think as long as your cat seems agile and
> happy, you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
I would agree with that. We’ve got 3 (+ 1 left in a feral colony that we
have looked after), the biggest thing to look for is abrupt changes in
behaviour. That can be a significant sign of some sort of distress.
Our youngest is 7 now, and about 6 months ago he had a very abrupt change
in temperament, turned out to be an abscessed tooth. Over the course of
his 7 year life, he’s cost us at least $5,000 in medical bills, but we
wouldn’t change a thing - other than probably looking into pet insurance
for him (now it’s too late to do so).
Our vet says that any cat above the age of 10 has a heart murmer, since domestic cats don’t live the life they should. Surgery, in his opinion, is often no solution. Like said above, look for sudden changes in behaviour. Cats stop washing themselves if they don’t feel good, for example.
After i gave my cat all the medications, she seems fine and agile as usual.
My concern is now, that she starts to lick again. Kinda funny in a way, since she has the collar and licks the collar instead.
Now, i haven’t noticed any changes in her behavior at all. So i guess that might be a good sign. Plus, i was thinking that her heart were beating maybe harder at the clinic because of the illness.
I will get her checked up once she recovered from the current illness.
Btw. its a german cat which we picked up from a farm in a small town. And i think thats my problem. She always was outside and now i think i should have her inside all day.
How do you train a cat to stay inside?
Very sorry to hear that. A loss of a good friend is always painful. I can not compare since this is my first cat, but i know that i will cry if mine will die.
So my condolences to you and you loss. At least she was 18. A nice age for a cat.
Wow, thats really pricy. I am not really cheap but my wallet has its limits.
The bloodtest seems to make sense and i will do that. After a couple of days i need to go the vet again for a recheck.
Regarding insurances. As i understand it, you have to pay no matter what. You just get reimbursed for the amount. But there might be loopholes too. Not sure.
And i think the last one i checked, you need to pay in for at least a year before you can use it.
Yes, my cat is already a senior. So might be already to late.
I don’t think you can, as you can’t teach a cat that stay inside to like outdoors.
We’re on our second cat, the first appeared one day under a car in the garage of the building I lived. It/she lived to the ripe old age of 14, and died suddenly, without warning other than a (lamenting) meow. It/she hated going out, probably because of the time it lived in the street.
The second one we got newborn from a friend, it/he won’t go out the door unless we drag it.
On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:36:01 +0000, yester64 wrote:
> Plus, i was thinking that her heart were beating maybe harder at the
> clinic because of the illness.
It’s entirely possible that if the cat doesn’t like being in the car, the
trip to the vet’s office might have induced a higher than normal heart
rate (stress-related).
> How do you train a cat to stay inside?
Don’t open the door.
Seriously, all three of our cats are indoor cats - we just don’t let them
out. However, we did do this for all three of them from the very start.
We did have one cat that we got with our house (odd story, that) that we
did bring inside after he started having more serious health problems,
and he was fine with that.
I read, you need to have some toys and climb gear for indoor cats. So that they don’t get bored.
Now since my cat already recovered from the illness, she does somehow took the collar off. Can you believe it? Today she even had here two feet pulled out. And it was already pretty tied. Silly cats.
On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:36:05 +0000, yester64 wrote:
> I read, you need to have some toys and climb gear for indoor cats. So
> that they don’t get bored.
Yes, we don’t actually have that, and our cats are often very vocal in
their expression of being bored.
> Now since my cat already recovered from the illness, she does somehow
> took the collar off. Can you believe it? Today she even had here two
> feet pulled out. And it was already pretty tied. Silly cats.
I can believe that - cats can be very persistent when it comes to
removing collars. Had a dog harness for one and he managed to get out of
it.
We have 2 cats with heart murmurs and except for them being lazier than the others they are still quite active and can be kitten-y.
This was detected before they had to “go under” to get fixed so there was the risk they would not make that. Thankfully they have because one is very sweet and the other is… well, we’ve nicknamed him “shameless”. You can be standing in one room and he’ll be flopped on his back exposing his tummy tempting you to resist his power. When you walk into another room you best watch out because before you know it (and you won’t see him move, he just appears), he’ll be in the same position and in the same relative location as he was in the other room. Sometimes I think he can teleport!
Yes, ERs are a quick wallet-drian. Actually, come to think of it I should probably start putting money aside for ER visits, now while they are healthy. Our last one was around 14-15 and had a lot of ER visits before going.
Well, my experience with doctors is this so far.
I had bad experience with the value line. Not so much about how much it was, but how i was forced to choose.
In the end i went to the emergency room and even though the original bill was $1400 Dollars, i was spending $280 Dollars and my cat got the puss flushed and medication.
I was very happy that there were able and willing to work with me, since my finances were strained and not because i went on a shopping spree before.
Now my cat recovered and wants to go out, but i have her inside for now. But i know that she will find a way to get out anyway.
I do still need to give her the shots.
Also, i was told that some people do use a collar with a leash to walk their cat. Just so that she gets out, but under supervision. Kinda weird. Isn’t it?
I’ll consider it still.
We had a cat that we set up the “final” appointment twice, and twice he snookered us. He had a “backed up” problem, in part because he was born with a stub tail so, as the doctor’s told us, his rear-end muscles are not developed the same as those that sport a full-length nobbie. He was walking around like he was on death’s door, then we would let him out “one final time”… whatever it was he passed (or realized where we were going), he came trotting back into the house like a cat half his age (which would have been ~7-8 years old) and happy!
What helped, too, was the vet was very reluctant to put him down and would go the extra distance to make him comfortable and take care of the problem.
On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:06:01 +0000, dragonbite wrote:
> We had a cat that we set up the “final” appointment twice, and twice he
> snookered us. He had a “backed up” problem, in part because he was born
> with a stub tail so, as the doctor’s told us, his rear-end muscles are
> not developed the same as those that sport a full-length nobbie. He was
> walking around like he was on death’s door, then we would let him out
> “one final time”… whatever it was he passed (or realized where we were
> going), he came trotting back into the house like a cat half his age
> (which would have been ~7-8 years old) and happy!
>
> What helped, too, was the vet was very reluctant to put him down and
> would go the extra distance to make him comfortable and take care of the
> problem.
We had a similar problem with our youngest cat; he was born a feral cat,
but we rescued him when he was abandoned by his mother at about a week
old. Turns out the entire litter had birth defects (we suspect), as the
one we rescued was diagnosed with diverticulitis. We couldn’t let him
die (we’ve got ‘sucker’ lights that can be seen from space <g>),
especially after finding two dead kittens in our back yard (which was
quite traumatic for my wife, not to mention the kittens no doubt), so we
had that problem addressed and brought him inside where he’s now a house
cat.
A very poorly socialized house cat. And he has that “can’t jump” problem
as well (which actually works out well for the other two, because they
can - and they don’t have front claws but the younger one does). When he
does jump up on the bed or sofa, it’s actually quite funny, because it’s
so graceless…he just launches himself in the general direction and
hopes he makes it.
