My stomach had been in knots all of yesterday, not just thinking about all the health problems Grady could have, but mostly just worrying about physically getting him into his carrier, to the vet, watching blood being drawn, possibly passing out. Thankfully, the process went rather smoothly. The carrier wasn't too much of a problem and although he was very vocal the whole ride, we got him to the vet's office with no problem. The people there are incredibly nice and, as one would hope, great with cats.
Our friends who had been feeding him for about a year suspected that Grady was almost two years old and needed to be neutered. We were shocked to learn from the vet that Grady is closer to ten years old (!) and has already been neutered. The vain little bastard has even had dental work. With his age roughly equivalent to a 58 year old human, his general health is on the decline, but thankfully he tests negative for Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline AIDS (FIV).
We took care of his ear mites (ick), fleas (double ick), and worms (ick ick ick) to provide him with immediate comfort. The vet informed us of some other concerns, but we're going to get some advice from friends (and the blogger community! Help!) before we take action. Expensive action.
The vet thinks that the lens in his cloudy left eye has shifted and is blocking the drainage, causing there to be pressure on the eye, which he says is usually painful. Thinking it might be glaucoma, he tested the pressure of both eyes, but neither were in the very high range. We came home with $16 eye drops which have a steroid in them to reduce the swelling. If turns into glaucoma, we'd have to give him $60/month eye drops and then consider surgery to either fix the lens or remove the eye. Hopefully the drops we have will help... although his eye looks weird, it doesn't really seem to be causing him pain that I can tell. How can you tell a cat is in pain if he doesn't flinch or avoid contact to the eye?
We opted not to get the blood work done to test for a thyroid problem which could be contributing to an abnormal heart beat, or heart murmur. If the $150 tests were positive, it would be about $50/month worth of medication and more blood testing every 3 months... or a $2500 (Ha!) dialysis (or some such - I tuned out after the price) that would supposedly help the problem.
If the bloodwork shows that the heart murmur isn't related to a thyroid problem, they'd do a $300 echocardiogram, which would probably result in more medication if they found a problem.
As it was, we walked out of there $280 poorer with all the vaccinations and medications. The way Brian and I see things, we took Grady indoors into a warm, safe, clean environment where he will get fed and cuddled regularly, so he's better off than he was a week ago. If we see down the road that the cat is uncomfortable or sick, we'll try our best to treat him in order to maintain a certain comfort level. We don't really know what our options are, though. The vet made it sound like we either spend all this money on treatment now or not adopt him. Which means we'd either put him back out on the street or take him to a shelter where he'd probably be euthanized. We're thinking, what if we keep him at home, but don't treat him? Would that be terrible? Would Grady be suffering? This is our dilemma...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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4 comments:
It'll cost you the price of another visit, but I'd suggest getting a second opinion.
One of my outlaw's cats had both eyes like Grady's, but he could see fine and it didn't seem to cause him pain.
Animals have a HIGH HIGH degree of pain tolerance. In fact, if you can SEE they are in pain, then they are in a SIGNIFICANT amount of pain.
Personally, at ten years old, I'd worry more about the eye (which can cause some discomfort) than the murmur (which can be more threatening down the line, but not painful). Make him comfortable and happy, but you're never going to make him young again, so don't break the bank trying.
Now, if he'd been your cat since he was a kitten, that would be one thing, but you're probably lengthening his life by taking him in, so making sure he's not in pain is the best you can do.
We go to Paradise Animal Hospital if you want another opinion. They are super great.
I agree, I don't think you need to break the bank to help him. Merely by taking care of the basics (worms, ear mites, fleas) you've already given him a better health report and now that he's living a happy life in your warm house, I think his other issues may be negligible.
The eye thing... does he have any peripheral vision in that eye? You can test it with a toy to see if he responds. If you do have to go for surgery on the eye, I think he'd probably do just fine with 1 eye instead of a lens replacement. Especially for a "geriatric" cat.
Eastern definitely tells you worst case scenario, but in my experience they are able to help you find other treatment options. Dr. Kaufmann was very helpful when we decided not to put Max through chemo. He even told us he would have made the same choice. He has to give you the option and let you decide, but if you tell him you need advice, he should be able to help. And definitely get a 2nd opinion before all those other tests.
Grady is lucky to have you!
Thanks for the advice, guys. He seems to be happy with us at home for now. We'll likely take him to another vet for a 2nd opinion soon.
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