chronic problem with cat
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 7:30 pm
I'm on a steroid assisted hiatus from dealing with my kitty. I'm looking to switch vets right now to find one who understands about caring for a pet but not being wealthy.
The cat is strictly indoors. She went into heat because I didn't get her to the vet in time to spay... due to personal trauma at the time. She started getting dry patches on her skin when she went into heat which I noticed because she was licking her legs all the time and it became quite raw. The problem didn't go away after she was spayed. She had a shot of antibiotics at the time to make sure it wasn't infected. And I had switched her food to limited ingredient allergy food while waiting for the spay appointment in case it was food sensitivity
I took her back to the vet (expressly telling them that I had extremely limited funds) at the end of the month because she was still licking her legs after the cone came off. They gave her more antibiotics and a shot of steroids as well as a full "advantage" treatment for fleas and worms and a different deworming treatment i gave her a few days later. After two days she seemed to not be overgrooming so the cone came off... for three weeks. The problem came back, the cone went back on, and I got her back to the vet a week later.
Third time in, a different vet every time, the new one suggested behavioural treatment so we put her on OCD medicine specifically for overgrooming, redid the flea treatment... despite no exposure to fleas... another shot of steroids but no antibiotics because she'd had two shots already the cone had kept her legs from getting too damaged and we didn't want to throw her bacterial balance off. And I bought a $70 phermone room atomizer for kitties that is supposed to de-stress them.
Three weeks later, the problem returns. At this point, I realise the only thing that has given her relief is the steroid shot. The vet keeps charging me for visits regarding the same problem and expecting me to pay for visits every three weeks. I expect more for my money so I tell them I need more than three weeks to recover from the bills so they can either give her another shot of steroids and pills I can give her after it wears off or I'll be forced to put her down rather than see her suffer. Pretty much walked in there after waiting for a callback all day with a virtual gun to the cats head saying "give me meds or the cat dies". So they gave me pills and told me I should save my pennies so I could afford a proper visit.
We're at about 5000 pennies in three months right now. Let's not get into how livid I am at the bloody receptionist for the gall it took to say that after I apologized for being "unlikeable" to ease the tension. It seems I'm the only who remembers that I've been for three visits already and apparently the only one who remembers the cat is a "she" and not a "he".
So that's why I'm switching vets.
Meanwhile, before getting to the steroid demands, I tried calamine lotion, neem oil products made for pets and, finally, hydrocortizone cream... while she had a cone on to keep her from licking. Though there were some improvements with the last, it was time to give her more relief and less fighting while I smeared stuff all over her hind half.
Advice?
I can't afford the $500 skin tests to find out if there are mites... are the mite treatments that bad that I can't just try them without testing??
I know it's not ringworm... I'd have it by now if it was.
The cat is strictly indoors. She went into heat because I didn't get her to the vet in time to spay... due to personal trauma at the time. She started getting dry patches on her skin when she went into heat which I noticed because she was licking her legs all the time and it became quite raw. The problem didn't go away after she was spayed. She had a shot of antibiotics at the time to make sure it wasn't infected. And I had switched her food to limited ingredient allergy food while waiting for the spay appointment in case it was food sensitivity
I took her back to the vet (expressly telling them that I had extremely limited funds) at the end of the month because she was still licking her legs after the cone came off. They gave her more antibiotics and a shot of steroids as well as a full "advantage" treatment for fleas and worms and a different deworming treatment i gave her a few days later. After two days she seemed to not be overgrooming so the cone came off... for three weeks. The problem came back, the cone went back on, and I got her back to the vet a week later.
Third time in, a different vet every time, the new one suggested behavioural treatment so we put her on OCD medicine specifically for overgrooming, redid the flea treatment... despite no exposure to fleas... another shot of steroids but no antibiotics because she'd had two shots already the cone had kept her legs from getting too damaged and we didn't want to throw her bacterial balance off. And I bought a $70 phermone room atomizer for kitties that is supposed to de-stress them.
Three weeks later, the problem returns. At this point, I realise the only thing that has given her relief is the steroid shot. The vet keeps charging me for visits regarding the same problem and expecting me to pay for visits every three weeks. I expect more for my money so I tell them I need more than three weeks to recover from the bills so they can either give her another shot of steroids and pills I can give her after it wears off or I'll be forced to put her down rather than see her suffer. Pretty much walked in there after waiting for a callback all day with a virtual gun to the cats head saying "give me meds or the cat dies". So they gave me pills and told me I should save my pennies so I could afford a proper visit.
We're at about 5000 pennies in three months right now. Let's not get into how livid I am at the bloody receptionist for the gall it took to say that after I apologized for being "unlikeable" to ease the tension. It seems I'm the only who remembers that I've been for three visits already and apparently the only one who remembers the cat is a "she" and not a "he".
So that's why I'm switching vets.
Meanwhile, before getting to the steroid demands, I tried calamine lotion, neem oil products made for pets and, finally, hydrocortizone cream... while she had a cone on to keep her from licking. Though there were some improvements with the last, it was time to give her more relief and less fighting while I smeared stuff all over her hind half.
Advice?
I can't afford the $500 skin tests to find out if there are mites... are the mite treatments that bad that I can't just try them without testing??
I know it's not ringworm... I'd have it by now if it was.