From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [mailto:owner-gardenchat@hort.net] On Behalf Of Judy Browning
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 5:40 PM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: Cat rant (was Re: [CHAT] Tree on house was Low water medium sized tree for Sacramento valley)

Hello Auralie, 

Our barn cat Billy started losing weight so I took him to the vet in
late August. Vet says, even though he's vaccinated better do blood work,
and BTW he has an infected tooth, but let's not worry about that right
now. Gotta test for all those diseases. I say okay. $300 for the blood
work plus the office visit, OUCH. So vet #2 calls me with results as vet
#1 is on vacation. She says, all is normal except his kidney enzymes are
one point over normal and his white blood cell count is up. But that
could be from the badly infected teeth that are oozing pus. I'm like,
WHAT?! Vet #1 sorta neglected to mention that part! Maybe because the
blood work before anesthesia is only $50, huh? So Vet #2 hems and haws,
we get Billy in for dental work. $800 (really OUCH) and four
extractions, fer cryin' out loud.

Anyway, Billy is now mostly a happy house cat but I still have concerns.
He eats well, acts normal, but isn't gaining any weight back. I'm
thinking about those elevated kidney levels and I know cats can hide
being sick for a long time,  but I just can't bring myself to take him
back in.  I thought the horses were expensive, but...damn.

Cyndi in AZ


On 10/8/2018 7:38 AM, DARYL PULIS wrote:
> Bill took one of our rescued cats to the vet last week because she started to have trouble eating. $352 and change and our vet didn't even charge us for the extractions.
> We were fortunate that when we were trapping and vetting the cats a couple of years ago, the Feral Cat Program of GA helped out with the trapping and with part of the costs. Prices for supplies have gone up so much that even the spay/neuter clinic that's owned by a vet that's impoverished herself for the cause is up to $55 for a cat spay, plus vaccination fees around $60. That's not much compared to a regular vet, but when there are more than 2 dozen cats, it's pretty steep. I'm happy to have donated to the FCP in years past. I never thought we'd need the help ourselves. Of course who could have predicted the housing crisis and the number of people who abandoned their pets?
>
> I agree that there should be something to help our animal friends, especially as they age. We've looked into vet insurance, but most of them seem to leave you in the lurch as the cat ages, even if they've been on the plan for years. Our oldest cat is 12, and one of the younger ones has bladder problems and cost $3000 at the emergency vet a few years ago. And that doesn't include a kitten with congestive heart failure. I spent every bit of my salary as an adjunct instructor at the local tech college on poor little Rascal. He died despite everyone's best efforts.
>
> If anyone knows of a good pet insurance plan, please let us know.
>
> daryl
>
>
>> On October 8, 2018 at 8:20 AM Gene- NetSurfUsa <e*@rewrite.hort.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Yes I would, Daryl.
>> My wife just took our 3 cats to the vet for annual shots and checkup... Well over $500 and she turned down a whole list of other procedures they wanted to check or perform... such as dental
>> We need Medicare for cats.
>> Gene
>>
>> d
>>
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