View Full Version : Necessary tests or big bill?
cat 11 or 12 years old is having trouble jumping. His back legs just aren't what they used to be, but apart from that he is healthy.
Vet finds a heart murmur and this is what he suggests for tests:
Blood collection $26
Feline Panel T4 u/A $158.60
X-rays $170
Plus $45 tax.
What do you think? Are these necessary, a good idea? Any experience with this type of thing?
Why does it matter that his legs aren't what they used to be?
I will spring for a general blood panel test for my cats, but that's about all. From my low end vet it's around $110 U.S. What we can't diagnose with that doesn't get addressed. But then, I purposely don't do aggressive treatment with my cats.
My last cat who died wasted away. The blood test found revealed nothing. The vet speculated perhaps brain involvement and/or tumor, but who knows? My low end vet where I take the cats doesn't even have an X-Ray machine anyway, so I didn't pursue it. She lost weight for some months until she died. Even if we had identified what "it" was, I was not going to treat it.
Lots of cats have heart stuff, what are you going to do about it?
What is a CBC please?
Why does it matter that his legs aren't what they used to be?
I will spring for a CBC for my cats, but that's about all. What we can't diagnose with that doesn't get addressed. But then, I purposely don't do aggressive treatment with my cats.
My last cat who died wasted away. The CBC found revealed nothing. The vet speculated perhaps brain involvement and/or tumor, but who knows? My low end vet where I take the cats doesn't even have an X-Ray machine anyway, so I didn't pursue it. She lost weight for some months until she died. Even if we had identified what "it" was, I was not going to treat it.
Lots of cats have heart stuff, what are you going to do about it?
oh, sorry, the blood test, just a general one.
thinkgreen
8-18-11, 2:37am
My 14 year old kitty had trouble jumping up. Blood tests detected an imbalance which our vet diagnosed as kidney disease/failure. The vet recommended we give kitty subcutaneous fluids (like an IV) which takes about 15 minutes twice a week. Kitty also now has a low protein diet. The good news is that she is still with us almost two years later and enjoys a normal life except for getting the fluids twice a week.
It sounds like this is the first time the heart murmur has been detected. Personally, I would pay for all of the above in order to try to get a diagnosis. From there you can decide if whatever is wrong with kitty is something you want to treat - can't treat what hasn't been diagnosed. Cats are notorious for not showing pain - they are incredibly stoic creatures so, unfortunately, your cat could be suffered and you would never know it.
Like thinkgreen, we have a cat who has been diagnosed with mid-stage renal failure. We give him subcutaneous fluids at home every other day. He's already been cleared by the cardiologist and internist and will take a trip to the UPenn veterinary school for a kidney transplant when the fluids no longer are sufficient.
I could never allow any of my pets to simply waste away without doing everything I could to make the end of their lives as comfortable as possible. When they no longer have quality of life I have them euthanized. Hardest decision ever, but I know it's the right one when the time comes.
Why does it matter that his legs aren't what they used to be?
I will spring for a general blood panel test for my cats, but that's about all. From my low end vet it's around $110 U.S. What we can't diagnose with that doesn't get addressed. But then, I purposely don't do aggressive treatment with my cats.
My last cat who died wasted away. The blood test found revealed nothing. The vet speculated perhaps brain involvement and/or tumor, but who knows? My low end vet where I take the cats doesn't even have an X-Ray machine anyway, so I didn't pursue it. She lost weight for some months until she died. Even if we had identified what "it" was, I was not going to treat it.
Lots of cats have heart stuff, what are you going to do about it?
:+1:
All of the cats we have owned who lived past ten years of age seemed to start a slow decline around age 12 and it almost always involved their kidneys or thyroid.
I was actually scolded by a vet once for not electing to have very expensive surgery for a thyroid issue. It's a hard decision when you love them so much but I think if it were my cat, I would get the tests but skip the x-ray. Just yesterday, dd called me in an emotional state saying her cat's surgery for urinary difficulties would be $3000. I think this whole doctoring biz, people and animals, has gotten out of hand so I am always wary.
...I could never allow any of my pets to simply waste away without doing everything I could to make the end of their lives as comfortable as possible. When they no longer have quality of life I have them euthanized. Hardest decision ever, but I know it's the right one when the time comes.
I'm not convinced that my cat was uncomfortable. She ate. She did all of her normal things, but she wasted away.
It wasn't kidney disease because that would have shown up in the blood test, but even if it was, I'm not going to the vet 2x weekly for sub-cut treatments. Been there, done that. Not gonna do it again.
My one regret with her (and there seems to ALWAYS be one regret with each of the death experiences ) is that I DID drag her to the emergency clinic to be euthanized when she was near the end. She could have died quietly, gently, at home. Instead, I misjudged and took her in the car (they don't like that, of course) to sit in the freezing cold air conditioned emergency room and when the vet took one look at her and said "Let's do this Now" because as it turns out, the cat was near death. Oh, the irony of it if she had died before they injected her.
I took her to the emergency room for euthanasia because I was afraid that she would linger in the state she was in for days. At that point, she was suffering and I didn't want that to go on. But she would have died at home that day.
What an idiot I was. I'm not afraid to spend money when that gets me an outcome I want (in this case, keep the cat from suffering) but my cat's last hour was unhappy. And I ended up with a big bill, on top of it. The emergency clinic is expensive.
jennipurrr
8-18-11, 10:03am
I would ask the vet for more info about the tests and what is critical for the jumping problems. Depending on the issue maybe you could just do the blood test or the x-ray. If a vet recommended it, I would do both the tests for my kitties. I would not however spend any large amount on a cat who is that old. If it was something easy I would be happy to change diet or give fluids, but something like a kidney transplant is out of the question for me. I had a friend who used to house sit for a 13 year old Great Dane who was getting chemo...and I thought, what is the point of this? I want my animals to be happy and comfortable, and while I love them, they have a finite lifetime and I accept that.
they have a finite lifetime and I accept that.
The way I look at it...people have a finite lifetime, too, yet we have no problem justifying medical procedures to keep people alive. Yes, I know, people are contributing to society, blah, blah, blah. Well, my pets contribute to my life, and I contribute to society.
Fortunately, I can afford to give my pets the absolute best of care. I grew up on a farm where it was routine practice, for a variety of reasons, to take an animal (pet or otherwise) out back of the barn and shoot them in the head when they were injured - or worse - when you simply didn't want to deal with them any more, so I've experienced both extremes. I much prefer to be in a position to provide excellent care. For my cat (and this has been the case for my previous 2 dogs and my previous 2 cats), if I can opt for procedures that will provide him with, say, an additional 6 months with a high quality of life, I'll do it. Let's assume pets live an average of 15 years, that means I've given him 1/30th of his life. I know a lot of people who elect medical procedures for themselves or their loved ones that will provide an extra 6 months of life. For people, who live an average of 80 years, that's 1/160th of the lifespan. Of course, it's all a risk and that's really what life is all about...a series of calculated risks. I'll take the risk and spend the money, with the assumption that I can always go out and earn more money, but I can't replace lost time with my pets.
Of course, if you truly can't afford to provide care for your pets, well, that's another issue altogether. And only you can decide what you can truly "afford".
jennipurrr
8-18-11, 2:41pm
The way I look at it...people have a finite lifetime, too, yet we have no problem justifying medical procedures to keep people alive. Yes, I know, people are contributing to society, blah, blah, blah. Well, my pets contribute to my life, and I contribute to society.
I probably have a different perspective on health care for humans too. I think a lot of people (especially Americans) have trouble dealing with the idea of death and continue all this futile "life saving" medical care far past the usefulness of such procedures.
I don't judge anyone's personal decisions with their health care or their pets. All this massive end of life procedure stuff is not for me.
I have booked him for the blood test, but not the x-ray at this point. Let's see what they say.
i'm with jennipurr on that.
i mean, i have a no heroic measures living will, and also am not about doing expensive procedures that simply prolong the inevitalbe without improving quality of life. i do not hold the same philosophy of much of modern americana regarding health care.
that being said, my rabbit had acupuncture in his final days, because this improved his quality of life. It cost me $88 per week, plus gas and driving 2 hrs round trip for his 40 minute appointment. And, he had to lay in a box on the dryer for at least 1 hr every day, too.
for me, the questions go as follows: can i afford it? will it solve the problem or improve quality of life? and if so, then I move forward.
before October j (my rabbit) got acupuncture, our vet suggested another exploratory surgery ($3k), and I asked what the outcome would be. Seeing as the rabbit was 10 (which is way old for rabbits), i knew that the surgery -- well, the anesthesia -- could kill him, and i'm still responsible for the bill. I realized that they had no clue what was going on, and no way to solve it. So, i went to our alternative vet, who kept him happy and comfortable for his remaining weeks, and allowed us a quality of life and a death process with a great deal of dignity.
it was my experience with my rabbit, too, that lead me to not depend on health insurance for health care. we started going to the doctor of *our* choice, even though he was out of network and nothing was covered. We had to spend $75 per appointment, and I did this for my son. In his early days, we must have paid about $500 or more in appointments (DS ddn't latch until day 7, and so was hand fed until then, and thus had a tough start and a lot of appointments early on to make sure he was growing properly, latching, and doing well). The doctor was amazing to us, and was incredibly helpful in meeting our familial needs.
He was worth every penny, just as the vet who did acupuncture on october j was, and honestly, i feel that it was all worth it.
but i wouldn't necessarily say that i wouldn't get this work done or that i would, but i would ask more questions -- of myself, of my animal (i believe in animal communication, and animals can tell you A LOT about what they need), and of my vet -- to determine what the right course of action is.
thinkgreen
8-26-11, 12:54pm
Kally, did you see the vet yet? Any news on kitty?
I suppose the difference between humans and animals is that humans can understand that a medical procedure that may be uncomfortable may also prolong their life. I've known 2 people who underwent years of less than comfortable cancer treatments in order to prolong their lives. I don't think I would do that with my pets, unless the treatment gave a very good chance of significant lengthening of life and I could afford it. Animals don't know why you're stuffing them in the car and taking them to the vet to get a shot that makes them feel ill...they just know they feel ill. If it's a vaccine it may be well worth it. If it's cancer treatment for a 14 yo dog or cat, it may be a murkier issue.
My cat is almost 18 years old. He has always been an indoor cat. He still eats, poops, and drinks water, but he has definitely slowed down. I have also noticed that he seems to have lost weight and doesn't eat as much as he used to. He loves to sit with me, especially in the mornings when we have our little "talk."
I have thought a lot about what I might do if he starts to slide and weaken. Given his age, I will not do too much. I cannot afford a large vet bill and it doesn't even seem warranted at this point. He has had a very good life with me. And he has added much to my life - we have been through a lot together. I will not do anything heroic to lengthen his life. Conversely, I won't let him suffer.
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