#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.

[dreaming-in-seams]

Y’all know the sick cat scam going around on tumblr? I’ve seen a lot of advice —good advice!— on how to not fall for one of those scams

But

I also know a lot of my mutuals are good people with big hearts who easily feel guilt-tripped into believing someone’s seemingly heart-felt story.

So idk if my two-cents are any help, but as a veterinary receptionist I think I have a solution on how to approach a convincing“Sick Cat” plea:

Offer to make a donation on their behalf directly to the vet clinic!

Idk about every vet clinic around the world, but I know amongst the many clinics I have worked for/with, none of them would EVER turn down an anonymous donation to someone’s account for their sick pet! I take many of those calls. We LOVE them! Any money towards helping a pet get better is welcome money. I’ve taken $5 donations, $50, $1000 —I even dropped in a $20 from our spare change bucket once.

Think about it: the vet clinic doesn’t want this animal to suffer. But they also can’t do a procedure or treatment for free because they have hard working employees to pay, and veterinary care (in the US) is privatized (it’s the sorry reality but until HUMAN health care improves, animal health care just is where it is in this country)

Does the vet clinic care where the money for the procedure is coming from? NO. They don’t care if it’s your grandma’s credit card, $6000 in cash, or a bunch of random people calling to put $10-100 dollars on some random person’s account. Money is money to an office manager, and whatever is there to cover expenses for a sick animal is a weight off EVERYONE’S shoulders. (I may just be a receptionist, but even receptionists hurt when an animal passes away.)

So. If you have someone on your dash or in your inbox asking you to donate money to their Venmo or PayPal for their sick cat/dog/ferret, and you really don’t know if it’s legitimate but don’t want to blow them off in case it is…

Ask them the name of their vet. Look it up on google. And call.

The receptionist will ask for the owner’s last name and the pet’s name. If the “owner” is legitimate, they probably will give you some identifying information for the pet or the account. If they don’t want to (for internet safety) there are ways for the receptionist to narrow it down. I.e. the procedure, age of the animal, when their last appointment was, their doctor. And especially if it’s a pricey procedure that the owner has had difficulty finding funds for, SOMEONE at the clinic will know!! If the person in your inbox is legitimate, then they will probably WELCOME you calling their vet to make a donation!

(Tbh, if people call to donate for an animal, it makes a stronger case for the vet to cut costs on the procedure because it PROVES the owner is making a sincere effort to pay)

DON’T just take the phone number of the vet from the person asking for money without verifying it. The phone number could be theirs or a friend who is just gonna take your card info and run off happily into the sunset with it. Verify (via the internet) that the vet is real. If the info they gave you about their sick pet checks out on the vet’s end as all being true, DING DING DING it’s not a scam!!! Donate away!!!

But if it IS a scam, the scammer will probably try to convince you it’s easier to give money to their Venmo (it’s not), or that their vet doesn’t take donations (they do). If they are avoiding this option, and the other signs of scam hold up, then block them and walk away.

TLDR: if you’re not sure if it’s a “Sick Cat” scam, offer to call their vet and make a donation!

[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.

[kissingghouls]

Personal stuff update:

Doane (the cat) seems to be ok. We’ve been told to keep an eye on him, but it was likely nothing too worrisome. Unless you have more anxiety than bones and everything scares the bejeesus out of you ✌️

Here he is, pretending not to be interested.

[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.

[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.

[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