Vets

[Shadow]

Ive spent the last five days looking at the options for my cat Shadow after she suffered a severe leg injury about an hour before giving birth.At first we thought her problem may have been down to the birth itself-perhaps a kitten resting on a nerve but its clear now thats not the case.

What gets me is that we are more than willing to pay for any treatment necessary however all the vets Ive looked at demand full payment there and then for treatment-no option for installments or anything.

The PDSA would take her had we been in receipt of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit for nowt but thats not what I'm really on about.

Im wondering if anyone knows of any vet that would see her and if its a major operation would give us the option to pay over time

[Ann1]

TBH shads I think they are all the same. If you know someone on benefits, see if they will take her for you. An operation will cost an arm and a leg!!! I was going to do that when I got the cats "done", but found a vet that only does spaying and "two bricks jobbie" ;D So it was considerably cheaper than an all round vet. The price of vets is scandalous, I think they should have a NHS for animals!!!

[geordie]

I spent over £1000 on my old labrador Sam during his life, I was fortunate that it was spasmodic illness's / payments, when I recconned how much I would have paid on insurance I think I broke even. he was worth every hapenny, I also had Dusty Dog. a stray that looked like a cross between a whipett and a concertina.. she had so much loose skin on her kneck when we found her that if could be pulled over her ears, apart from her yearly mot and injection she cost nothing, and was a great friend who lived for 15 years with us. I agree that vets are too costly and some are not worth the free advice they give at times. but compared with dentists!!!! in my opinion they are just lower down the food chain than an estate agent.

[skintagain]

we had a dog that used to dislocate it's leg now and again luckily my sister knew how to click it back into place, god knows what a vet would charge to do it,
we had a kitten that got ran over by a car there was nothing the vet could do to save it but charged us £20 to give it an injection to put it out of it's misery, £20 does not seem much now but this was 30 years ago and was a lot then, i think it was wrong to charge for a service like that and always wonder if we did not have the money would he have let it suffer.

[Shadow]

Thats an interesting question skint.

When our cat severely injured our baby guinea recently and we knew he would have to be put down it was an absolute nightmare trying to cope with that and try and scrape together the money to pay for the consultation and injection.Had we not had the money the only alternative would have been for Mr Shads or myself to kill it because it couldnt possibly have been left to suffer in the condition it was in-the cost was about twenty three quid but I believe cost is dependent on the size of the animal-and he was tiny

Its the most dreadful feeling handing over payment whilst feeling heartroken at your pets imminent death-when I had my cat put down a few years back after having him for sixteen years the vet wouldnt do it until I'd been to the autobank in floods of tears-and as I was handing over payment and the vet was putting him down I heard him scream-the thought of it haunts me to this day.

[Roma]

Shadow most vet's are in a consortium now have PMd you with details of what to do and who to contact.

[skintagain]

shads did you get my PM.

[Shadow]

Yes-thanks skint I did-Im about to reply

As an update-Shadow still cant use her rear leg properly but doesnt actually seem to be in any great discomfort-she can lie on it-just not put her foot down.The kitten is thriving and both are doing well other than that-gorgeous little thing-mainly white with tabby markings on the head,,,,,a tabby tail and black splotches on the body-I can sense us becoming a slightly larger familly somehow

[Ann1]

Any chance of a piccie? If Shadow cannot put her foot down, could it be a problem with her paw rather than her leg?

[Shadow]

I'll see if my daughter can sort out the piccie Ann

Im fairly certain its a leg not paw problem-the paw looks fine-the way shes carrying it Id say its a problem high up on the leg- if not the sort of knee area then the hip.She can extend the leg now which is more than last week but shes not weight bearing at all.

Isnt stopping her hopping about when she feels like it-and shes digging for England on the litter box.Weve taken to leaving the hoover out as its like a mini pebbly beach each morning now in the surrounding area

[Banshee]

My experience of vets is very new. We took in my daughter's cat as her tenancy prevented her from keeping the cat. He came up here from London and seems to have settled well. He does his own thing and we don't say that we are "cat owners" as I feel that he chooses to live with us and he can change his mind at any time.
The only thing I am experiencing is the what I feel to be constant harassment and bullying from the vet and from fellow cat "owners" in the whole issue of castration. I am determined that my BJ will not be castrated as it is not natural. The only reasonable argument so far has been about contraception. I give no respect to the arguments about urinating, fighting etc as I consider them to be natural cat behaviours. I have no wish to interfere with that, unless of course I believe that I am GOD, which I am clearly not. I would be understanding of some form of male contraception if that were possible. I have looked into it and it is possible, but alot more time consuming than simple castration.
My feeling is that if the Newcastle civic centre can dart the rabbits with contraception, then why cant they do this to male cats? (unless of course this is an urban myth?) I would welcome any info on this please?
Meanwhile BJ remains intact and without the mutilation of his genitals, as I am not GOD, and have no right to mutilate another living being for my or anyone else's convenience.
I have to add that I did run this argument by the vet recently and she clearly seemed to think that Iwas some kind of freak. She actually said that I was mistakenly putting "human thought to a cats world." She failed to see that this was exactly the point. How can we as humans dictate to the norms of the cat world?

[Ann1]

I'd seriously give it thought though bansh. And I'll tell you, there is nothing worse than the smell of cat "spray" It really is awful, they do it to mark their territory, and to let other tom cats know it's "their" place! They can also get badly injured when on the prowl for female cats, they get into horrible fights, and as anyone with cats knows, their claws are lethal! He'll go missing for days at a time, and in an urban area it's not a good thing, when they smell a female cat, nothing will stop them - not even the A1!!! I know it goes against the grain, but I'd seriously recommend it.

[Jazz]

The above sounds like me when I was about 18! (the smell was "Old Spice" though!) ;D

[Ann1]

Didn't know they had Old Spice in the "olden days" ;D

[Banshee]

Jul 16, 2011 20:29:55 GMT 1 Ann1 said:

I'd seriously give it thought though bansh. And I'll tell you, there is nothing worse than the smell of cat "spray" It really is awful, they do it to mark their territory, and to let other tom cats know it's "their" place! They can also get badly injured when on the prowl for female cats, they get into horrible fights, and as anyone with cats knows, their claws are lethal! He'll go missing for days at a time, and in an urban area it's not a good thing, when they smell a female cat, nothing will stop them - not even the A1!!! I know it goes against the grain, but I'd seriously recommend it.

But Ann, have I the right to mutilate another living being coz the smell of their urine might offend me?? I have also seen the other "mutilated " cats around here also getting into fights, so castration does not actually stop that. If bJ wants to go on the wander for days at a time, why should he be prevented from doing that? I really honestly do not understand why we should put our human expectations and values on a cat. If wandering is in his nature then so be it.
Why don't we round up all the drunken young male humans who urinate in shop doorways on a Saturday night in the town, and castrate them, Cox it might offend us?

Maybe we should castrate all the irresponsible human males who go out on the town looking to pull? To stop them wandering?

I think that in years to come we will look back in horror at the fact that we used to mutilate animals to fit into our expectations and values and not allow them to just be who they are.

And just because the majority of the people believe something to be right, doesn't make it right.