Pets
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Feeling sad
We have been treating my cat, Peanut, for what we thought was hairballs
since last summer, though she rarely coughed up any hairballs, just had
the cough. The vet told us to have her take the hairball gel you buy at
the pet store. Last month the cough became a lot worse. Very hoarse
and it seems to affect her entire body. Though, it's a dry cough and
after it passes she goes back to her normal self. We feared asthma so
we took her to the vet on Saturday. The vet agreed that he thought she
had asthma but they did not have the equipment for a chest x - ray to
confirm, so we took her to another location on Tuesday. That vet said
her x - rays were very cloudy and wanted to rule out an infection as the
steroid treatment for asthma would make any infection worse.
She also stated she wanted to do a bronchial lavage ($1800) and blood work to test for other infections. She called me Wednesday asking to run a heart worm test on the blood work. We adopted Peanut 2 years ago from a rescue organization. Her previous owners adopted her from the same agency as a kitten and surrendered her when they lost their job. Despite the rescue's rules about not letting your cat outdoors, Peanut was an inside/outside cat. She has never been outside the two years we have had her (save for vet visits) so if she has heart worms, she has had it for at least two years. Apparently it has only become recently known that cats can get them, so there currently is no cat specific treatment. I asked if she would live if she has it, and the vet said she didn't know, though in her opinion Peanut does not seem to be suffering at this point. There has been no weight loss, she eats, plays, etc... We are praying it is asthma as we know she can still live a relatively normal life and we are familiar with the treatment (my best friend's cat has asthma). We do worry about the steroids as they can cause kidney failure but it is closely monitored by the vet.
We are still awaiting the results for the heart worm test and will proceed from there. I feel so guilty for thinking she just had hair balls. I feel like I failed her. She and my other cat are my kids and it is my job to protect her. I will pay for any necessary treatment so long as it improves her quality of life. We also just opened a Care Credit card and we are willing to use our savings. I have been praying every day that she will be okay because I don't think it's fair that I've only had two years with her. It's hard to convey that sentiment to others as they view her as "just a cat." But she is so much more than that to me and my husband.
She also stated she wanted to do a bronchial lavage ($1800) and blood work to test for other infections. She called me Wednesday asking to run a heart worm test on the blood work. We adopted Peanut 2 years ago from a rescue organization. Her previous owners adopted her from the same agency as a kitten and surrendered her when they lost their job. Despite the rescue's rules about not letting your cat outdoors, Peanut was an inside/outside cat. She has never been outside the two years we have had her (save for vet visits) so if she has heart worms, she has had it for at least two years. Apparently it has only become recently known that cats can get them, so there currently is no cat specific treatment. I asked if she would live if she has it, and the vet said she didn't know, though in her opinion Peanut does not seem to be suffering at this point. There has been no weight loss, she eats, plays, etc... We are praying it is asthma as we know she can still live a relatively normal life and we are familiar with the treatment (my best friend's cat has asthma). We do worry about the steroids as they can cause kidney failure but it is closely monitored by the vet.
We are still awaiting the results for the heart worm test and will proceed from there. I feel so guilty for thinking she just had hair balls. I feel like I failed her. She and my other cat are my kids and it is my job to protect her. I will pay for any necessary treatment so long as it improves her quality of life. We also just opened a Care Credit card and we are willing to use our savings. I have been praying every day that she will be okay because I don't think it's fair that I've only had two years with her. It's hard to convey that sentiment to others as they view her as "just a cat." But she is so much more than that to me and my husband.
Re: Feeling sad
You did nothing wrong here. Cat's are great at hiding things, and if this is something she contracted while with her previous owners, the blame is entirely on them.
I truly hope it is not heartworms, and that the vet is able to help your kitty get the most of her life with you.
GL.
B/w 1/8: betas 17,345, progesterone 25.6