My 9 year-old cat Sasha is sick

[erika]

I just got back from the Pet ER after hearing her cough constantly for the last 12 hours. She had a little cough before, but nothing like this horrible hacking sound. The vet gave her xrays and determined that she has some sort of heart disease that is causing fluid in her lungs. She said it wasn't a murmur but I should get a cardiac consult, which will cost me around 500 bucks, which I didn't have available to me at the time. So they gave her a few shots to stop the coughing and I have to figure this whole thing out. I guess what I mean is I have to take her to the regular vet and see what they say. If I can get her back in the carrier later.

I've heard horror stories about emergency vets recommending cardiac consults only to find out that the cat was going to pass away anyway.

I don't know why I'm posting this I just feel so crappy right now and I don't know what I'm going to do. I know I can borrow money if I need to but I'm scared. This cat hates going to the vet more than anything, and I can't actually administer any sort of normal medication to her. She just won't take it if it's not meat flavored.

I keep blaming myself and trying to figure out ways I could have avoided this.



She's still coughing. I can hear the fluid. The coughs get wetter and wetter sounding. This is so awful.

[andrew in philadelphia]

yikes. really sorry to hear that.

me and the wife have 7 kitties and have been through some heartache w/ ones getting sick in the past. i won't burden you w/ the details since i'm sure you're already bummed enough as it is - but we definitely have been in similar situations before and have blamed ourselves repeatedly for what, in retrospect, is something we could've done little to nothing about. you can't avoid this stuff - pets, like people, get sick. all you can do is let them know how much they're loved and play the hand dealt to you as best as you see fit. i hope everything works out.

[Andy]

ER Vets are generally not the best, especially the overnight ones.

I would recommend finding a good vet to take her to.  Your situation isn't uncommon and there are a lot of vets who are more than willing to work out payment plans if they know the other options are 1) the animal doesn't get treated or 2) they treat the animal and you never pay them.  There are still a lot of vets who do it for the right reason (wanting to help animals) but they still have to get their costs covered eventually.  

Hang in there.  Remember, even if she were to die today, she's lived a better life with you than 99% of the animals out there, including humans.  Sick pets are hard, for a long time I wasn't able to bring myself to have pets because of how hard it is to deal with them being sick or dying.  You just have to remember that she's made you happy and she's had a good life.

All that being said, when we had Mr. Piggy, there was an overnight ER doc that tried to get us to put him down ,and he ended up living a long, fruitful (well, as fruitful as a guinea pig can be) life after that.

[masterofsparks]

Ugh. I'm sorry to hear this. If you have a regular vet you like and trust, I'd definitely recommend getting their opinion. You want to do what's best for your pet, but at the same time you don't want to spend a lot of money if it's not going to do any good. I know it sounds crass, but I have some experience in a similar situation (I won't bore/horrify you with the details) and it is important.

I'm hoping for the best for Sasha.

[masterofsparks]

Oh, and don't blame yourself. I did the same thing when my dog died very suddenly and unexpectedly last year and it doesn't really do any good. It seems like you've done nothing but loved and given the best to your friends, so don't blame yourself for anything bad that might (but hopefully doesn't) happen. Like Andy said, you've given her a life far greater than most of us can ever hope to have.

As a word of encouragement, one of our cats was diagnosed with a heart condition when he was a kitten. He has a heart murmur and some sort of structural defect/hole in his heart. The vet recommended that he see a cardiologist but my wife couldn't afford it at the time (she adopted him before we met) and it just never happened. However, his condition sort of stabilized (the murmur didn't get worse) and he's now 11 and doing fine.

[Laurie]

I'm so sorry. I hope she gets better.

[TL]

Keep us posted, Erika.
Best wishes.

[buffcoat]

That sucks.  But you really can't blame yourself.  I agree with the other posters about how good the pets that are truly loved have it - there's no doubt that they know they are cared for every day of their lives, which is comforting to me.

[emma]

Erika, I'm so sorry. That's incredibly hard. Don't blame yourself--I've never even met you, and I can tell that you clearly love your cats and have done nothing but take good care of them.

Good luck.

[senorcorazon]

Poor Sasha from Baltimore. Pets above People really should be the slogan for 2008, and Sasha the Space Champ (hey, it's better than Sasha the Rapist) is proof of why they are high on the list. Though my cats drive me bonkers at 4 a.m. every morning I'd be torn up if they got sick.

Get well Sasha!   

[erika]

[four hours of sleep later]

She stopped coughing pretty much I'll see what the vet says this afternoon.

Thank you all for the kind words and happy thoughts. I'm just not all that emotionally equipped to deal with this stuff.


(Sasha was born a Space Champion)

[Emerson]

Hang tough, Marylanders. Owen is rooting for y'all.

[<<<<<]

My 10-year old cat passed away two months ago from heart failure.  It was pretty hard.

All started out about a month prior when I rushed him into the pet hospital because he was panting (not coughing).  This was because he was having trouble breathing due to respitory failure (fluid in the lungs) resulting from heart failure.  He was also cool too the touch due to poor circulation.

[erika]

Hang tough, Marylanders. Owen is rooting for y'all.

Owen looks like a gangsta.

[jed]

Erika,
I am so sorry to hear this sad news. My prayers are with you and Sasha.  Let's do this Sasha! We are all rooting for you.