Help Leppy

My sisters cat is 10 years old and a couple of weeks ago experienced painful urination that also turned the litter white. We thought he might have licked hair solution (her son was dying his hair with a bleaching solution), but he got better and playful again. Thursday he started trying to urinate, but with nothing coming out. He has a bump on his bottom that has been there since the first episode. He is getting lethargic almost to the point she thought he had died a couple of times.

I have been on every board possible and I know he is in dire straights, but her vet is not in on weekends and the animal ER wants money up front and she does not have that kind of money now.

I need to know if there is anything we can give him to keep him comfortable. She is giving him water with a syringe and saw some herbal remedies online that are ok to give to animals. Other than that we are out of ideas. :cry:

 

only way to know 100% what might be wrong is a vet check. Could be stones, UTI...a boatload of problems and no one on any board is going to be willing to diagnose (or shouldn't). Also by not knowing what is wrong with the cat and giving herbal remedies could make matters worse. You don't know what is wrong therefore you can't treat.

If your sister cannot afford to take care of this cat's medical needs she should give the cat up so it can be cared for. This is considered neglect. I say this with all due respect for your sister and I'm sure she loves her cat...but bottom line is if a person cannot afford medical for a possibly deathly ill pet they need to decide where their priorities are. Would she not spend money on health care for her son if he were ill?

 

Due respect for my sister? Do you want to adopt a geriatric kitty? How dare you judge someone elses situation. No one is able to predict where they will be 10 to 20 (as my kitty is) years down the road when adopting a pet. It would be irresponsible of my sister to jeopardize her home as she is taking care of our mother who is in very poor health and has a lot of medical needs. There is where her priorities must be. it would be neglect to choose anything different. She has made the decision to take care of an ill family member. My sister did not choose this way of life it is how life ended up.

A cry for any information is all we were seeking..in your first paragraph you did give what we already knew should be done in a perfect world, but for now all we can do is what we have been doing (keep him comfortable and be attentive to what he wants until he can see his regular vet who does not charge an arm and a leg like the ER in her area and will work with her, and pray. Maybe prayers may help where money cannot).

 

yes I have a geriatric dog who has some major health issues - and I've dealt with them all medically. I'm far from rich and I also have a teen son with needs. So yes I also have financial responsibilities. My dog had a surgery a bit over a year ago that cost over a grand - I paid it off little by little and it took me a long time. But I would never ever have denied her that lifesaving surgery because of money anymore than I would have denied it of my son. And we don't have health insurance BTW so any medical expenses for my family would also be out of pocket.

I understand, believe me I do as I was a single parent for years working 2 jobs and taking care of a pet. I also didn't deny her medical care when she required it.

So yes I've been there, done that...and am still doing it. But again I would not let any animal be ill and possibly suffering and let it stay that way and use money as an excuse.

 

jgttime, Mary was not trying to be rude or harsh. She was trying to relay the simple fact that if your sister has an animal that is suffering that she can not provide proper care for, the poor animal should be turned over to a no-kill shelter so that it can get the required care. If she truely loves this pet, it's obviously the right thing to do. At least the loved pet would get the medical attention it needs and perhaps survive. Any attention is better than no attention.

This is obviously a life threatening situation. It would break my heart but if my baby was at that point of medical need and I couldn't afford to pay for treatment, I would give her up rather than just sit back and watch her die slowly and painfully.

I understand your quest for help on any pet board that you can find, but Mary gave you the best advice that you could find anywhere. It's either a vet, an ER, or shelter. Those are your sisters choices. You may not like the choices, but that's the truth.

Truth: Your sister has a pet that despiretly needs medical help which she can not provide. Neglecting the medical needs is not just cruel, it's criminal.

 

She is not neglecting him. The ER in her area doesn't even try to work with you. They take payment at the time of service and no other options. There are no credit cards and they do not fall from heaven by Monday.

Her regular vet. who is in on Monday, is a kind doctor who works with everyone. This just happened when he isn't there and there is nothing we can do. Bringing him to the humane society will surely kill him too he is too weak. But be assured that he has had a very long and perfect life. I am sorry I got everyone so mad, but we only wanted to know if there was anything else we could do to keep him comfortable until he can see his dr. When my cat (19 years old) finally gave up her good life it was again on a holiday. I knew the only thing was putting her down, but I didn't want anyone to do it except for the one she had always seen. I kept her comfortable until then and she was glad to see her doctor and trusted everything he did. again I am so sorry for bothering everyone

 

You're not bothering anyone. We're just trying to stress the fact that this kitty is obviously on the edge of death and has a chance of being saved. Well, probably not now. It's most likely too late now. If your sister can not provide the care he needs immediately, he will die. And not turning over a kitty that ill to a no-kill shelter ASAP is indeed neglect. I'm sorry that this has happened at an inopportune time for your sis and it literally breaks my heart. But the kitty could have had help.

This is the final post I'll make on this topic because the only viable solution has been posted along with several explainations and I think it's probably too late now.

 

Well first off I think Mary was not "judging" anyone she is just stating the facts. I am Farrrrr from being rich pretty much any and all extra money I have goes to the care of my children and pets however I'm ok with that because they are what make me happy. Anyway I remmeber a few yrs. ago when i first got my dog Jayson. He was extremely sick and emaciated it took a 400 $ vet bill to save his life. For the next few wks. I washed my hair my dishes and my clothes with hand soap my husband got from work! I even had to give up smoking (too bad that didn't last) More than once I have givin up many things to care for my animals. Like Mary said my animals are my kids that would be like saying I couldn't afford to take one of my children to the dr. I would give up food before I would see them suffer, and the same goes for my furkids. Also the thought has crossed my mind ( and absolutely horrifies me) that one day my animals could have a serious acccident or injury that is impossible to pay for. In that situation it would absolutely break my heart ,but I would do what was best for my animal I would give him or her up and pray for the best. And yes I know it is possible that noone would come forward and help them and they would be put down. But in all honestly what is better suffering terrible and dying anyway or being humanely euthenized atleast knowing you were loved?

 

Thank you SugarLovesPits. I pray you never have to be in this situation, but if you do you will do what everyone in this situation has to do, as you said put him up for prayer and hope for the best. Even euthenizing him would have to be done by the ER and they won't work with you. They simply don't care. Immediate payment for services required. There aren't any nokill humane societies here, not for an animal that is sick. We will wait for his vet on Monday Lord willing.

Again, thank you SugarLovesPits for at least walking a while in our shoes and finding out what you might have to do if there was no way to get help. You were the only one who understood. Goodnight and know that even if he is not euthenized he is still loved and a boy will dearly miss him.

 

I think we would all do what we felt was right for our pets and take financials into consideration.

If your sister doesn't have the money maybe this would be a great Christmas gift to her and her son from you. You'd be quite the hero for offering to help their cat out for the holidays - hell you'd be my hero.

 

Mary, don't you think that would have been my first choice instead of searching the internet for advice. I can' t judge you because you don't know what's been going on in our lives as a family. Leppy getting sick is only a drop in the bucket, but due to advice from other sites (especially catenema.com -I gave my cat an emema - which gave a cute illustration and funny story on giving a cat an enema without going to the vet; and homeopathic remedies for cats and a site that sent up a circle of prayers for him) he's actually better. After using teatree, the swelling on his bottom is going away and you can see the anal opening. She isn't going to try the enema because he is very insistent on just doing his routine and the vet will see him first thing tomorrow morning.

 

I am glad he's going to the vet. I remember when Sadie had stones a couple of years ago....I was freaking out. I noticed when I took her before going to bed that she appeared to be straining to pee. Next morning it was obvious she was in trouble. I normally leave for work before the vet opens but that morning I sat around tapping the counter just NEEDING someone to be there. I know that it doesn't take long for an animal's bladder to burst if they have stones lodged in their urethea. And that poor dog was frantic with pain from the stones and not being able to relieve herself. I'm sure if there was anything I could have done and knew it would have helped I would would tried to alleviate her distress. It was horrible watching her pace and then the vomiting started.

She ended up having 5 lodged in her urethea and about 30 in her bladder so it's no wonder she was in pain. Can't imagine. I've known people who have tried to pass one stone and the pain was horrific.

So I do understand lots of things...truly I do.

 

Thank you. It has been very stressful for my sister and mom. Leppy is mom's lap cat and she is wheelchair bound. My sister knew the ER situation. She had to take her other kitty to the ER only a month ago and they gave her only two options; $700-1000 in tests that wouldn't save him or $250 to put him down. She had to put him down with cash up front. They haven't recooperated from that yet neither emotionally or financially and if Leppy had to be put down her vet comes to the house so they are in their surroundings. I hope they all hang in there. I'm going crazy because I'm 2000 miles away and can only give them moral support.

 

years ago my sister had a kitten that got outside and after 2 weeks went by she figured the kitten would never been seen again - WRONG - my nephew, about 10 at the time, heard a tiny mewing outside one day and he found the kitten under their rowboat. The poor little thing had been hit by a car and somehow had manged to make it back. I understand it was rather shocking and it would have been a blessing if the poor thing hadn't survived.

My sister grabbed the kitten and rushed it to her vet - a vet she'd been using for years ( she lives 2 hours south of me so it's a different vet than mine). In her haste to get this kitten humanely taken care of she'd forgotten her purse. That vet would not put that kitten down until my sister paid the bill!!!! Imagine. My sister had to drive back home and get her wallet/checkbook so she could pay the vet to do the only humane thing for that kitten. Needless to say she found another vet. I can't imagine doing something like that to someone that was a steady client.

 

The vet came this morning expecting to put Leppy down. He looked at him and said, "this kitty just needs treatment". He did have a urinary tract infection with blockage, so he took him out to his mobile lab and did what he needed to do. He gave him pain meds and antibiotics. He still needs to be watched closely for the next three days, but was drinking.