#tw sick pet

[pedrospatch]

i just got a call from the vet

cleo’s kidney values dipped increased* again, they have to keep her another 24 hours. she’s not wanting to eat at the vet despite appetite stimulants but they don’t know if it’s because she’s in a different environment or what. i am gutted, i was having such high hopes. he did say it could be a one off and they’ll come back up go back down*

i’m going to give this one more shot and use my credit card to pay for one more round of treatment, after that, i will have to talk with the vet about what my other options are.

i feel so numb. i feel helpless. i have never been through this with one of my pets before. 💔 i appreciate being able to share things here, as it makes me feel a little less alone.

* edit: after surfing some subreddits for CKD, i realized i misunderstood the vet, so we WANT those kidney values to dip, which they did yesterday but they went back up today. she hasn’t been officially diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (it was acute initially) and i’m praying she’ll turn around.

[stellesappho]

EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS

detailed commission info contact me: stellesappho@gmail.com can't catch a break, so here we go again. i don't know how to talk about this. my cat has been sick for a while and because we're poor we haven't been able to diagnose or treat him properly in time. now it looks like late stage mouth cancer. i don't want to go into details, but it's hard to watch him suffer. euthanasia also requires money we don't have. please consider commissioning me or donating even a small amount, i'd be very grateful for any help

[achoirofcritters]

Met with the oncologist today over Evie’s condition.

It isn’t good. I think we’re just on borrowed time leaning towards end of life care, friends. They estimated that the $6k-10k radiation therapy would only give her 6 months. And while it could be a lowball, that would put us massively in debt over a gamble of how much time it gave us. Because it won’t cure it regardless just based on location and suspected type of cancer.

I asked if there’s any possibility it could be anything else but it’s very very slim based on how it’s eating away at the bone. I dunno if I wanna put her through a surgery for the biopsy for concrete answers when all the medical professionals seem pretty confident, especially if she’s on limited time.

[jellypawss]

I’m taking care of a newborn kitten that was abandoned by the mom and found in my friends garage injured, he won’t latch on to his bottle and I’m having a lot of struggle feeding him. I’m getting a 3ml dropper today to see if I can drip feed him kinda but I really hope this little fella makes it.

I have to wake up every 2 hours to feed this lil guy and I’m so tired but it is worth it! Send good vibes for healing and growing for this baby.

[hashtag-xolo]

Tzapo had to go in for an ultrasound due to some scary gastrointestinal issues that were not explicable by multiple disease panels or nutritional panels. A mass was found in his colon and has been sampled for biopsy. Fingers are extremely crossed that this is just a benign polyp and not cancer.

[yoohyeon]

Puppy is not feeling well, I’m worried :(

[kieren-fucking-walker]

Cat medication is expensive.

[pastafossa]

Right. Old kitty is home.

Good news: he's only lost a pound, which is better than we'd feared; the vet felt no masses in his stomach; he felt good enough to growl at her; and she said if it is cancer then she's guessing he's still got time.

Downside: we're still not sure what it is, whether it's cancer or a stomach issue. She said it could maaaaybe be thyroid, but she's not sure.

He's got some bloodwork being done to see, and after that we'll have to decide if we want to try to ultrasound him to look for cancer. He's also got the beginnings of a respiratory infection so he's been put on antibiotics. Another wait and see. But at least there's no confirmation of cancer yet. I'll take it tbh.

[sparkles-and-trash]

It’s 3 am, Zelder just shidded all over my living room floor bc she’s having a stomach bug

Then when I finally finished cleaning it with toilet paper and bleach it CLOGGED MY TOILET, so I had to clean my entire bathroom with bleach as well bc EW and had to take the garbage out at 3 am in the rain

When I came back in the toilet was good again thank god but I had to go over the floors once more to be safe and I’m FINALLY back in bed and I just know it’ll probably happen at least once more tonight and there’s nothing I can do bc if she doesn’t make it, she doesn’t make it and that’s not her fault but like DAMN

And now, bc she had the accident, she keeps wanting to go out every 10 minutes bc she thinks she MIGHT need to, but never actually do, but I can’t find it in myself to not take her out just in case, so that’s it all night ig

[minzi2024]

a friends dog ate rat poison somwhere outside and i'm really hoping the dog surives. the next two days are critic.

[greenstudies]

One of my chinchillas is very sick and will be needing an operation so I might not be in the best supportive mood for the next few weeks. Please keep my tiny boy in your heart.

[dcb-z]

tw sick animal/pet death

being the resident adult having to weigh the "are they comfortable? how much is unreasonable to pay for medical treatment for a disease with such a short life expectancy? what's the QoL going to look like with aggressive treatment?" questions with a pet is one of the worst experiences. you want to go everything you can but you have to be mature and understand that there comes a point where there's no benefit QoL-wise for what you're paying and you have to let go. i wish i were still a kid so i could just be upset with my parents feeling like they're not doing enough instead of feeling guilty at myself feeling like i should be doing more even though i know im doing way more for him than my parents ever would have

he's still alive but his breathing is distressed (70p/m sometimes) and he doesn't go in to the vet until tomorrow morning. he's still eating but during the day he only really wants to eat out of my hand. sometimes he'll play for a little bit. i don't think he's in pain but i know he can't be comfortable with the dyspnea. i don't know where to draw the line on "he's suffering and i need to make the final call" and "he's a little uncomfortable but still has time left with palliative care." i don't want him to hurt but i don't want to be without him either and im scared of calling it too soon and taking away years that he maybe could've lived.

i hate having this kind of responsibility on my shoulders because i love him and i want to do everything i can for him but it's super irresponsible to put myself into debt for a senior animal whose QoL is only going to decrease with aggressive care, especially since the stress of that care will exacerbate his disease. i hate being in this position and i wish he could just be fixed with pills. i wish i could just have a sign that would light up telling me when it's time to give up so i know im not making him suffer or taking his life too soon. i hate it i hate it i hate it

and i wish i didn't feel so gross asking for kofi donations since i haven't written in forever and i wish i didn't feel so gross when my friends offer to give me money. i haven't accepted it because she has a baby on the way and her husbands father is dying and i just can't accept a loan when they're going through that. but i really wish i could because the financial stress of a sick cat is awful

[kilgorezouzou]

Kilgore gave us quite a scare - he had to have a week-long stay in the hospital due to undiagnosed asthma and subsequent pneumonia. He's back home now and recovering well. We have some photos under the read more because he's sick and there's a few hospital shots, but rest assured he's doing a lot better now:

He had some breathing issues off and on the past two months. The vet couldn't find anything on xrays, ultrasounds, or a blood test. Pain meds cleared up the problem every time, so we figured it was pain. However after the third time with worse symptoms we took him into the emergency vet.

He was in bad shape so tests progressed from least to most invasive. After a few days of testing and cultures it was determined to be pneumonia caused by an underlying asthma problem. Asthma in cats is quite rare, and pneumonia is also quite rare. If your cat has mysterious respiratory issues, ask your vet if you can get a tracheal wash test to determine the issue sooner rather than later! It may be expensive and invasive but it's what finally determined the culprit.

He turned the corner and started getting better on Thursday. Antibiotics and steroids finally started clearing his lungs and he was back on solid food after days on IV. He started charming the vet techs as well, so we knew our little baby was getting better.

He's back home with a feeding tube mostly for meds, as he's having no issues with solid foods but he's quite the fussy cat when it comes to meds. A few spots shaved bare from tubes and xrays, but they'll grow back. His sister Zouzou is a little bitter that she has to share the space again but she'll get over it.

It was a tough week but we're so happy to have him back home.

[adaginy]

My husband found a bunch of old pictures and videos, from three or four phones ago -- including a video of Alvin having the zoomies soon after we got him, just under a year old. And then doing the cough. The cough that was initially identified as kennel cough and then, as it continued sporadically his entire life, just residual from that. The cough where we'd say Alvin got so excited, he gave himself an asthma attack. The cough that was later ID'd as heart failure. He'd done it the entire time.

I was frustrated when I went to the Special Vet and asked and they agreed that, yeah, at our dog's level of heart murmur the local vet could have sent him in a year earlier. But apparently we could have known from the start and, i don't know, always had him on a lower-salt diet or something, something where he would have taken longer to develop enough damage and strain to start passing out, if that vet (different vets) had really looked into it.

[hashtag-xolo]

He was seemingly doing really well yesterday but today he is too weak to walk steadily which is why it needs to be today. He's not hurting but he's weak. Once he realized I had some scrambled egg and ice cream for him though he was excited to move. This boy is so happy to have his favorite foods still.

[kieren-fucking-walker]

So I'm going to have my cat put to sleep tomorrow, the cancer is hitting him really badly and it's not fair to not but it feels unfair to do it as well y'know?