Pet Insurance ... yes or no?

[janie]

well we're home. wasn't sure i was going to make it cos i had a vertigo attack last night. got up to go to bed and the room started swimming. however i keep the pills close to hand and dosed myself up. probably shouldn't have driven but thought we'd both feel better at home reunited and was so stressed worrying about him being miserable in hospital.

louis was fairly perky when the vet brought him in, much better than the other day which really warmed my heart. he didn't complain too much on the way home. when he got indoors, he walked from room to room, making sure everything was in order, then settled down on mama's bed. he won't get his full quota of food today because they only gave him one this morning and i didn't want to jump on him the minute we walked in the door. wanted to give him time to get over the journey and settle in a bit.

it was a bit hair raising. we ended up all over the house because he kept running off. even used his tray in the middle of it. the hardest thing is having to do it little by little over 15 minutes. no way is he going to stay still for that length of time. he looked a bit uncomfortable afterwards but settled back down again. he's got 4 different drugs that i also have to administer some once, some twice a day. i'm still very nervous and dreading the next one but at least we both survived the first effort.

diamond diva - it's the fact it's stitched in which has me in a panic. if he vomits it up, it will be hanging out of his mouth which obviously will be very stressful for him. if that happens, i have to find the right stitch, cut it and pull the tube out.:sad:

 

[janie]

I agree. You will Janie & so will he & trust me, it can't be any worse than trying to stick a plastic mask over a horse's face to administer puffs of something to help it breathe & at least Louis isn't going to rear up & splatter you into a concrete floor in thanks for your efforts! l
(Not that said horse did, he just looked a bit shocked & surprised the first time but I did have visions of several hundred pounds of panicked equine rearing up & splattering me into the concrete, so I can sympathise with your ooh, err, eek thoughts here! lol)

Seriously though, cats as a rule don't do so well in kennels/at the vets long term & can quickly become very depressed, stop eating & stop improving but they often perk up considerably once back in their own surroundings. If you get worried about him, or it all starts going a bit pear-shaped, the vets are only a 'phone call away, day or night!
Make sure you ask any relevant questions (no matter how small or seemingly silly! lol) before you leave the surgery & if unsure & they don't offer to do so, ask them to demonstrate anything you're not 100% on!
Once at home, gather everything you will (or might!) need for the various procedures & put them all together in one specific place, so you're not suddenly having to run around looking for a bowl just the right size, or a small handtowel, or whatever. It might be a bit messy, so have kitchen roll etc. to hand for a 'not having to leave the scene' quick clean up! lol

Try to be confident; I have never yet met a cat (oh, that's a lie actually, I have but that's a tale for another time!) that appreciated (at the time!) or fully co-operated with such things but he can't do it himself & it's got to be done, so he'll just have to put up with it; in their own environment cats are remarkably forgiving (afterwards! lol) & furious growling/waving of claws etc. is often a sign that they're on the road to recovery but don't forget to immediately bathe any scratches that may result from his 'treatment'!
I'm sure you'll be fine & at the end of the day, I know you haven't gone through all this stress & worry to now not be able to cope with what may hopefully be the start of his recovery. Good luck but Louis may well surprise you & I think you may well surprise yourself with your steely nerve when it actually comes down to it! xx

thank you very much for all the sound advice kitten i started off with everything close to hand but as we went from the bed to the wardrobe to the stairs, to the dining room, to the loo, to the living room, it didn't work out quite as planned

 

[Flying Pigs]

Well done you! Sounds like he is loving being home and you are doing a great job. Thinking of you. Do try to sleep tonight and not get over anxious about him.

 

[Capirossi]

Aww Janie I'm so glad he is home and happy cwtched up on your bed! It does sound hard work but I'm sure you'll cope. I can only imagine how worrying it must be though, so it's easy for us to say not to worry.

I also suffer from vertigo, well labrynthitis (vertigo is a symptom) and I have only recently sussed that it's stress related, or at least made a lot worse when I am secretly stressing inside about something. I wonder if the worry of it all brought yours on last night? Here I can totally empathise at least! I had a mini attack the other morning because I was worrying, unnecessarily as usual in hindsight, about some work related thing. I even took a tablet (prolechozone something?!) I never know what it's called!

Try and have a relaxing evening pampering Louis and try to get a good nights sleep. Look after yourself as well as the puss

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!

 

[janie]

cap - i take stemetil (prochlorperazine) and my ex mil told me tonight that it could be stress induced. don't really understand how but still.

second feeding didn't go as well because i had to administer 3 drugs as well. at one stage he ran off with the syringe attached, flicked it and it came off - worried to death he's damaged the position of the tube. after that he was a good boy until i had one more drug and the water flush. he decided he'd had enough at that point and started growling and swiping at me. we got through it in the end and he's curled up in mama's warm spot on the sofa

 

[kitten_with_claws]

thank you very much for all the sound advice kitten i started off with everything close to hand but as we went from the bed to the wardrobe to the stairs, to the dining room, to the loo, to the living room, it didn't work out quite as planned

It's usually the most obvious things that you don't immediately think of, e.g. step 1........shut all doors, with you & the patient preferably in the smallest room in the house! LOL
(Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine; cats make fairly shocking patients generally & it's not unheard of for a group of vets/nurses to be standing around discussing the best way to remove a cat from the ceiling.....yes, I have known this happen, so don't think it's just you being slow & ham-fisted if sometimes it is a case of 'first catch your patient'.....! lol)

 

[janie]

It's usually the most obvious things that you don't immediately think of, e.g. step 1........shut all doors, with you & the patient preferably in the smallest room in the house! LOL
(Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine; cats make fairly shocking patients generally & it's not unheard of for a group of vets/nurses to be standing around discussing the best way to remove a cat from the ceiling.....yes, I have known this happen, so don't think it's just you being slow & ham-fisted if sometimes it is a case of 'first catch your patient'.....! lol)

i didn't think about shutting the door (duhh) but i don't think it would work. even in full health he panics if i'm in a room with him and shut the door. i have to shut my kitchen door to get to open the fridge and if i did that when he was happily eating his dinner, he'd go nuts. at the same time, he practically asks to get shut in places - it there's an open door to a shed, garage, someone's car, he HAS to go in there - he even goes in the kitchen cupboards when i open the door. weird cat. lol

 

[Capirossi]

i didn't think about shutting the door (duhh) but i don't think it would work. even in full health he panics if i'm in a room with him and shut the door. i have to shut my kitchen door to get to open the fridge and if i did that when he was happily eating his dinner, he'd go nuts. at the same time, he practically asks to get shut in places - it there's an open door to a shed, garage, someone's car, he HAS to go in there - he even goes in the kitchen cupboards when i open the door. weird cat. lol

Casey once spent 7 hours in my saucepan cupboard. There wasn't even room to lie down. She must have snuck in whilst I was emptying the dishwasher before work. I came home and she was nowhere to be seen. I tore the house apart, calling her name. Went down to the kitchen to have a think and suddenly thought of checking the cupboards, telling myself I was just being stupid now. There she was, sitting in the smallest gap amongst the pots!! Bless her heart. Felt so guilty. Now I can't leave the house until I have tracked her down. She often gets locked in the garage and the 'cloakroom' (snigger) by her dad!!

Cats are weird!!

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!

 

[janie]

lol! it worries me cap. i'm sure all the neighbours think i'm 'that weird woman with the cat' because if there's a workman at one of their houses i always ask him to check his van before he leaves. the man who services my boiler said he found a cat in his car when he got home once - long journey too. he's a really nice guy and turned straight round and took the cat back. a lot of people wouldn't bother or the cat would dash out the door and run off. i've often wondered if that's how louis became a stray.

has casey seen the vet yet? hope she hasn't been sickyicky again.

 

[janie]

i forgot to tell you the GOOD news!!!! the last lot of results came back - he hasn't got lymphoma!!! :clapping::rock::up:

 

[Capirossi]

Thats so good of your boiler man!!

What worries me about Casey is that she doesn't make a sound! She is so placid! Even when she could hear me in the kitchen she didn't meow. I once spent an hour walking around the estate at night looking for her when I realised Rossi kept sniffing the garage door. There she was, as if nothing had happened!!

No we didn't take Casey. I changed her dried food last night and she has eaten lots of it. I decided that if she was sick today we'd stick to the visit, but she hasn't been. Had a long conflab with Mr C about it and he agreed that she hadn't been too bad this week and that it definitely all started around the same time that the new dental element was added to the dried food. So, I'm going to give her a few days on this and if she is sick again I'll be rushing off to the vet! She is absolutely fine. She has her mad half hours twice a day and she doesn't appear ill at all. This makes me think it's the food even more. Hopefully anyway!

I have never been such a worrier since I had these cats. I can only wonder how bad I'd be with real babies, haha!! Btw that's the tablets I have too. I am getting a bit anxious about a trip I have to make tomorrow and can feel myself getting slightly dizzy.

Time for a bath and a chill out. Hope Louis is still snuggling and that you're feeling ok.

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!

 

[janie]

thanks cap - louis is one end of the sofa curled in a ball and i'm the other. i hope he feels like climbing on my lap soon but he looks content.

glad casey hasn't been sick again. she's obviously not feeling poorly so hope you're right about the food. i agree about the worrying - it's made me realise it's just as well i'm not a mother - i could never have coped with the strain! lol

i'm still a bit dizzy but taking another tablet soon. hope the trip goes well tomorrow (((hugs)))

 

[Diamond Diva]

Janie I'm so glad he's home, he'll be much more relaxed and less stressed which has got to be good for his IBS and I'm sure things will get easier as you both get used to it. I'd be surprised if the tube comes out if he's sick, Katie's was about 8 inches long so was well down her windpipe, but if it did is there someone close by you could call on to help you?

Katie was so happy to be home she spent most of the first week purring non stop and wouldn't let me out of her sight, at night I had to sleep on my back because she insisted on sleeping on my chest with her head as close to my face as she could get! I had trouble sleeping not only did the purring keep me awake but her breath smelt absolutely dreadful, but it was all worth it to have her back ! :mysmilie_515:

One of the problem's of all her treatment was that she absolutely hated going to the vet's and she associated her carrier with a visit I'd have to put it in the guest bedroom days before I needed it so she'd get used to it being around and relaxed, then when I had to take her I'd just pick her up and quickly put her in it before she knew it

Keep us updated of how Louis is progressing x :mysmilie_484:

 

[minim]

i forgot to tell you the GOOD news!!!! the last lot of results came back - he hasn't got lymphoma!!! :clapping::rock::up:

Thank goodness for that!
What a relief for you janie ..... and Louis of course.

Come on Louis!
Let's see your Mountbatten side old boy!

 

[Flying Pigs]

Our much loved old cat ( pre Boris and Katya) would stay away from home for up to 3 nights when the cat basket came down . She knew it was either the vets or the cattery. It had to be hidden out of her sight. I had to lure her into the kitchen to get her into it as it is the only room in the house where she couldn't hide or escape.

 

[Capirossi]

i forgot to tell you the GOOD news!!!! the last lot of results came back - he hasn't got lymphoma!!! :clapping::rock::up:

Oh I completely missed this! Yay!!!! That's excellent news, I'm so pleased for you both Xx

From mobile, please excuse any silly errors!!

 

[Disenchanted]

i forgot to tell you the GOOD news!!!! the last lot of results came back - he hasn't got lymphoma!!! :clapping::rock::up:

Such good news, Janie, and hopefully the steroids should kick in soon and Louis will become stronger and more able to cope with things. The better he becomes, the less stressed you become.:up:

Wishing you all the best. x

 

[minim]

Our much loved old cat ( pre Boris and Katya) would stay away from home for up to 3 nights when the cat basket came down . She knew it was either the vets or the cattery. It had to be hidden out of her sight. I had to lure her into the kitchen to get her into it as it is the only room in the house where she couldn't hide or escape.

Our Meg is the same.
The basket is sneaked in from the garage, up-ended and hidden in the ...... what are we calling it now? ..... littlest room in the house lol.
Just before take off, she is picked up, reversed into the ... do-da , lowered feet first into her basket & the door is slammed shut!
There is always complete silence on the outward journey.
A lot of lip on the homeward leg!

 

[Mam]

Great news that Louis is home and the lymphoma test were negative Janie. I'm sure you'll both feel more relaxed about the feeding/drug routine after a day or two and your confidence will grow. Enjoy lots of cwtches and give him a great big one from me please. (((((((xxxxx)))))) to you both.

 

[janie]

awwwwwww........fanx everyone :heart:

more good news - i put 10 biscuits in his dish yesterday and to my amazement, when i went to bed, 5 had gone! i didn't see him or hear him crunching. i got up about 7am after a fretful night and the other 5 had gone! i came downstairs to get the bag to put another 10 in the dish (have to count exactly how much he eats) and he actually ran upstairs and ate all 10. i decided to give the drugs separately from the food and he tolerated that quite well. at 10 am he ate another 10 biscuits so i only had to give him half the amount of feed which was good as i hate doing it. this was after phone conversations with the weekend vet and nurse and much calculation based on calorific requirement. their was a fair amount of lip smacking and head tossing half an hour ago (nausea) which is worrying but at the moment he's settled down on my bed. phew!