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Frequent board-lurker, first time poster. Bear with me, as this may be a bit long winded.
About three years ago, we adopted my cat, Ally, from the local humane society. She (at the time) was a 2-3 year old DSH Tortie, who was incredibly unique with two different colored eyes (one green, and the other an orange color). The humane society warned us that she had some issues with Ear Mites that had been treated, a small scar on her stomach from being spayed where the fur wouldn't grow in normally. For close to three years, we had no problems with Ally outside of the occasional eye infection (A different vet said she was mostly blind in the orange eye and would forever be prone to eye infections). I'll admit that we were lax on taking her for vaccinations, after our previous cat nearly dying during routine vaccinations at the same veterinary clinic we would be taking Ally to. She also never gets along with the cat who was in the home before her, both of them being "Alpha" cats. With our other cat (a tabby named Scratcher) nearing the age of 18, we chose not to stress them out and have been keeping one cat downstairs, and Ally stays upstairs with me.
In February, she began having constipation issues with a slight tinge of blood. One visit that totalled nearly $230 later, she was up-to-date on her vaccines, and had been put on a regular dose of Lactulose. After some trial and error, we have decided that she will probably need to be on the Lactulose for the rest of her life - not a big deal, as it's only $8 or so to get refilled and the bottles the vet gives us are relatively large.
About a month ago, I noticed that she had licked an entire patch of her stomach bald, right where her spay scar is. We took her to the vet again, which is a task for quite a few reasons. The vet is 30 minutes from where we live, we've been dealing with our own medical appointments, and Ally hates the vet. When I say hates, I mean she spits, claws, and makes the saddest, most heart-wrenching sounds you have ever heard. The last three times I have been there and heard it, I have started crying right in the exam room. With Ally fidgeting so much, the vet didn't even bother looking at her stomach - said that she was fighting her too much (the vet never called for an assistant or anything), but swabbed her ears and said it was a Yeast Infection. She was given some sort of shot that would help with the itching and some ointment to put into her ears (Otomax, I believe). Her exact words were "It says 4-5 drops, but with your cat being so darned fidgety, just get a squirt in there.". The fur had started to grow back - but once the shot wore off, she went right back to licking her stomach and an even bigger patch of fur is gone. The vet is now telling us to bring her in yet again, that she wants to give her some sort of drop/solution that she would put way down in Ally's ears, but that it would burn. I am the kind of person who cries when animals get hurt in movies, I do not like the idea of giving my cat a medication that will cause her pain without a guarantee that it will even work. The vet keeps dismissing our concerns and insisting we bring her in, even though we've made very clear that we cannot do so. She suggested that we put her on a flea preventative, which is odd because we've told her many times that both cats are indoor-only. If we had fleas, we'd know. We've gone through it before, and are all pretty sensitive to the flea bites.
My dad is going through Chemotherapy and radiation right now (was diagnosed with cancer April 5) - and all of our resources go towards that. We cannot afford to be taking Ally back and forth to the vet without a guaranteed fix, when the office fee along is $40-50 every visit.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to keep her from licking her belly raw? Is it a yeast infection or could it be mites? Do you think it could just be stress or boredom?
(sorry for the long post - just a little upset that it seems like our vet is so easily dismissing our concerns)
About three years ago, we adopted my cat, Ally, from the local humane society. She (at the time) was a 2-3 year old DSH Tortie, who was incredibly unique with two different colored eyes (one green, and the other an orange color). The humane society warned us that she had some issues with Ear Mites that had been treated, a small scar on her stomach from being spayed where the fur wouldn't grow in normally. For close to three years, we had no problems with Ally outside of the occasional eye infection (A different vet said she was mostly blind in the orange eye and would forever be prone to eye infections). I'll admit that we were lax on taking her for vaccinations, after our previous cat nearly dying during routine vaccinations at the same veterinary clinic we would be taking Ally to. She also never gets along with the cat who was in the home before her, both of them being "Alpha" cats. With our other cat (a tabby named Scratcher) nearing the age of 18, we chose not to stress them out and have been keeping one cat downstairs, and Ally stays upstairs with me.
In February, she began having constipation issues with a slight tinge of blood. One visit that totalled nearly $230 later, she was up-to-date on her vaccines, and had been put on a regular dose of Lactulose. After some trial and error, we have decided that she will probably need to be on the Lactulose for the rest of her life - not a big deal, as it's only $8 or so to get refilled and the bottles the vet gives us are relatively large.
About a month ago, I noticed that she had licked an entire patch of her stomach bald, right where her spay scar is. We took her to the vet again, which is a task for quite a few reasons. The vet is 30 minutes from where we live, we've been dealing with our own medical appointments, and Ally hates the vet. When I say hates, I mean she spits, claws, and makes the saddest, most heart-wrenching sounds you have ever heard. The last three times I have been there and heard it, I have started crying right in the exam room. With Ally fidgeting so much, the vet didn't even bother looking at her stomach - said that she was fighting her too much (the vet never called for an assistant or anything), but swabbed her ears and said it was a Yeast Infection. She was given some sort of shot that would help with the itching and some ointment to put into her ears (Otomax, I believe). Her exact words were "It says 4-5 drops, but with your cat being so darned fidgety, just get a squirt in there.". The fur had started to grow back - but once the shot wore off, she went right back to licking her stomach and an even bigger patch of fur is gone. The vet is now telling us to bring her in yet again, that she wants to give her some sort of drop/solution that she would put way down in Ally's ears, but that it would burn. I am the kind of person who cries when animals get hurt in movies, I do not like the idea of giving my cat a medication that will cause her pain without a guarantee that it will even work. The vet keeps dismissing our concerns and insisting we bring her in, even though we've made very clear that we cannot do so. She suggested that we put her on a flea preventative, which is odd because we've told her many times that both cats are indoor-only. If we had fleas, we'd know. We've gone through it before, and are all pretty sensitive to the flea bites.
My dad is going through Chemotherapy and radiation right now (was diagnosed with cancer April 5) - and all of our resources go towards that. We cannot afford to be taking Ally back and forth to the vet without a guaranteed fix, when the office fee along is $40-50 every visit.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to keep her from licking her belly raw? Is it a yeast infection or could it be mites? Do you think it could just be stress or boredom?
(sorry for the long post - just a little upset that it seems like our vet is so easily dismissing our concerns)
