Devastated About Rose's Health---not Sure What To Do

[Luna10]

We have care credit for our cats vet visits and surgery and the monthly payments were only $25.00! Also my husband and I don't have the best credit but we were still approved! Will be saying a prayer for your kitty!

Thank you, I'd appreciate it.

My local clinic does offer a pet care credit card but I do not think I could (depending on how big the payments were) afford the repeated monthly payments nor do I think I'd get approved for it.
I feel horrible because when it comes to my pets I'm usually so, so good with affording all this and minor vet care.
But I've got no savings left and no safety net or credit card available right now and it's one thing to have a few hundred dollars of vet care here and there but quite another to be in the vet's office every two weeks.
Her last bill was $310 and I don't know how I'm going to repeat that in 14 days (and again after that!), even with living on ramen noodles for the month.

Thank you, I'd appreciate it.

My local clinic does offer a pet care credit card but I do not think I could (depending on how big the payments were) afford the repeated monthly payments nor do I think I'd get approved for it.
I feel horrible because when it comes to my pets I'm usually so, so good with affording all this and minor vet care.
But I've got no savings left and no safety net or credit card available right now and it's one thing to have a few hundred dollars of vet care here and there but quite another to be in the vet's office every two weeks.
Her last bill was $310 and I don't know how I'm going to repeat that in 14 days (and again after that!), even with living on ramen noodles for the month.

 

[Daleksnake]

Has the cat had an allergy test? Not just blood work but where the shave the skin and test for common allergies?

I had a similar issue with one of my dogs. He had a few hot spots when I adopted him but over the first 6 months they spread, and after a year ended up losing most his hair. He was having constant infections and was chewing non stop. Sores were everywhere and his skin was red.

The vet tried various exclusion diets, various blood tests, Atopica (which did not work), other medicines. The only thing that provided temporary relief was steroid injections.

He was getting so bad that the vet recommend me to another vet that specializes in skin conditions. Otherwise the the only humane thing left was euthanasia.

The "doggy dermatologist" did a full allergy panel on his skin and discovered he had many severe allergies.

In my dog's case his main allergies were mite related, especially to storage mites, although he has many other allergies ranging from severe to mild (he is even mildly allergic to humans). Ironically he doesn't have any food allergies, other than to the mites that live in dried dog food.

I had to give him allergy shots for the next 5 years. Over those years his dosage was decreased, and I had to stop giving them to him when refused to cooperate with the shots. But by then his allergies had greatly improved.

He still needs a steroid shot in the late summer/early fall for ragweed, but as long as no one gives dried food products does well. The hair on his belly never grew back, but the rest came back. He gets the occasional hot spot, more than most dogs but nothing like before.

However, the allergy test was expensive around 500$ and the serum for the allergy shots was around 150$, a bottle would last around 2 months and I would give shots every 5 days.

Not sure if your cat has the same issue, but if exclusion diets aren't working then without knowing exactly what your cat is allergic to it's hard to figure out what to avoid.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Wouldn't the rescue be OK with it if you re-homed her with their permission? I know it's in contracts that you can't do it without their permission, but usually if you find an adopter and they can pass the rescue's screening process, they think that's great. Saves them the trouble.

Unfortunately they won't do this and essentially if I don't keep her I have to bring her back ASAP.
I passed the screening process because I happened to know someone they knew/liked and so was automatically approved.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

I know you're feeding her rx food. Could you possibly feed an LID diet that's not rx? This one comes in turkey and also rabbit, I feed it to my cat Mouse that's allergic to so many things foodwise and otherwise. Instinct by Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Recipe with Real Rabbit Dry Cat Food

I surely hope you can keep Rose but if not, at least you're trying your best. Please keep us posted on how she does.

Believe it or not the non-Rx LID is actually more expensive. The kibble version of that brand is hard to find up here and the cans run about $4 for a 5.5 oz. By comparison usually the Rx LID runs me about $2.50. For what I'd be spending it's cheaper for me to put her on homemade. I try to avoid feeding her kibble given the potential issue with storage mites and carb loads (especially since she's on a lot of steroids lately).
The duck seems to be working so far so I'd like to run the full 8-12 weeks on it and see if it is really a 'safe' protein for her. She's had rabbit for 6 weeks and stayed gunky the whole time so I believe that's another trigger. Haven't tried turkey though.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Has the cat had an allergy test? Not just blood work but where the shave the skin and test for common allergies?

I had a similar issue with one of my dogs. He had a few hot spots when I adopted him but over the first 6 months they spread, and after a year ended up losing most his hair. He was having constant infections and was chewing non stop. Sores were everywhere and his skin was red.

The vet tried various exclusion diets, various blood tests, Atopica (which did not work), other medicines. The only thing that provided temporary relief was steroid injections.

He was getting so bad that the vet recommend me to another vet that specializes in skin conditions. Otherwise the the only humane thing left was euthanasia.

The "doggy dermatologist" did a full allergy panel on his skin and discovered he had many severe allergies.

In my dog's case his main allergies were mite related, especially to storage mites, although he has many other allergies ranging from severe to mild (he is even mildly allergic to humans). Ironically he doesn't have any food allergies, other than to the mites that live in dried dog food.

I had to give him allergy shots for the next 5 years. Over those years his dosage was decreased, and I had to stop giving them to him when refused to cooperate with the shots. But by then his allergies had greatly improved.

He still needs a steroid shot in the late summer/early fall for ragweed, but as long as no one gives dried food products does well. The hair on his belly never grew back, but the rest came back. He gets the occasional hot spot, more than most dogs but nothing like before.

However, the allergy test was expensive around 500$ and the serum for the allergy shots was around 150$, a bottle would last around 2 months and I would give shots every 5 days.

Not sure if your cat has the same issue, but if exclusion diets aren't working then without knowing exactly what your cat is allergic to it's hard to figure out what to avoid.

Rose hasn't had either bloodwork or skin allergy testing yet, no.
The clinics can't seem to come to a consensus about if they're valid or not/don't even know about blood tests and the last quote I had for skin testing was $1000 (and that doesn't include the shots after).

It is absolutely on the 'to-do' list for her (she needs her teeth done soon, bloodwork...) I just need to find out where to go and what's the most affordable place. I also long-term would like to get her off the Atopica and start doing the immunotherapy shots too.
I *do* think that there is some sort of food component for her allergies because while the overall itching/scratching hasn't gone away she gets less eye discharge, her ears stop gunking up every 24 hours, her fur gets better and her ears don't feel so hot/red.
She was on the z/d for 10 weeks for example and if it wasn't for the horrendous poop and bloating I would have said there was some improvement. Her ears/skin cooled off and stopped being so red, ear discharge went waay down.
I put her back on a grain-free wet food that had nothing but chicken and egg and within days her ears were red, gunky and she was feeling very warm. On the duck now that's going away again.

But I agree that if I had the $$ to spare right now that I'd prefer to take the trial and error out of it.

 

[arouetta]

If it really looks like the apartment is the main cause, would you be willing to ask a close friend or family member to watch after her and help with buying food/medicine while you look for a new place? Ownership would not be transferred, she's only going to a temporary location. And that will also be a big help in seeing if the skin issues and some other stuff are because of the apartment, because she either will have a lot less problems due to lack of exposure or she won't have less problems because it's internal not external.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

I'm looking, but unfortunately trying to move to somewhere I can afford/is accessible within the city is always a gamble of mold/bedbugs/roaches roulette.
Then there's the issue of being pet friendly (most places in Montreal are not---and if they are, it's because they're not exactly in the best shape). It may come down to hoping that the new place upstairs is better.

Better news: vet has called back (I might not switch clinics after all....really appreciating the effort this vet is putting into trying to help) and they do have an allergy blood test available that's about $400. We're also investigating if Rose might also have feline hyperesthesia syndrome so she might get a trial of gapapentin at her follow up appointment, as vet feels like she should have had more positive reaction to the steroids by now/been able to come out of the cone by now (she hasn't) so is weighing whether or not to continue the steroid cycle.
I'm going to ask about anti-fungals as sometimes I wonder if, in conjunction with dry toes and hair loss, that she might not have some sort of fungal thing going on. There's no typical 'ringworm' pattern to it, but it doesn't rule it out necessarily.

Had to call around and make sure that she indeed had three doses of revolution per vet's request (she has, but the timing might be off). Essentially this is just going to be a long, long game of trial and error.
She's got a 100% cotton collar coming in the mail soon that's washable so hopefully that will remove any irritation etc from your standard nylon-type fabric (she has to wear her city tags, even indoors).

That also means, yes, she's staying
It's gonna be a long, hard road but we'll figure it out.

 

[Furballsmom]

You're an unstoppable pair

 

[arouetta]

Hyperesthesia syndrome would actually be really good to have, looking at all the various things going on. Unless it's crazy severe, like the cat on My Cat From Hell, once you get her out of the habit of scratching at the nerve spasms, she probably won't need much treatment. Shadow didn't need any treatment other than us avoiding petting her in a particularly bad trigger area, and it got less and less severe the older she got. The last few years of her life we could pet her in the trigger area and she'd just shake her head a little and glare at us until we stopped.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

arouetta yeah that's kind of my feeling too. I mean, I'd much rather it be neuro than autoimmune if I had the choice.

Rose's appetite is back and she's perked up finally. She was pretty out of it since her vet visit. I feel bad that she's going to be back at the vet's on Friday, but hopefully since she shouldn't need another antibiotic shot she'll be okay. A little bit nervous about the rounds of steroids re: diabetes but if her options are diabetes or an immune system attacking her skin I guess diabetes is controllable with the right food and medication. The hills canned d/d has added glucose and dextrose which bugs me but the royal canin version has carrageenan but is higher in protein and less carbs (it also has added gums but no cellulose or added colours) so I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. That said I'm thinking it might be worth switching her to the RC anyway.

Allergy-wise her eyes are clearing still AND...*drumroll* her ears look to be finally clear. Even her bad ear hasn't needed cleaning in a few days and last time I had to clean it the discharge was minimal and took a few days to build up.

I'm thinking of trying her with some silica gel (preferably in beads, not crystals) cat litter to see if that cuts down the dust for both of us. Plus she tends to sit really low in the litter box with her whole back end touching the litter and that can't be good for her urinary tract or anything.

If anybody has any thoughts or recommendations re: food and litter it'd be appreciated I'll keep everybody posted on her next vet visit.

 

[Furballsmom]

Someone on another thread discussion mentioned having the litter deeper than two inches, if I understood it right so that when she "preps" before squatting, the hole she ends up digging is deeper such that her little behinder will be kept up higher - I don't know if that makes sense but the idea is to diminish the area of her backend that's touching litter...
In any case, due to the fact that I like clumping litter but hate the dust, I'm buying clumping and also some walnut and corncob litter. The walnut and corncob litters actually absorb quite a lot of the dust.
Best of luck at the next visit!!

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Thank you I'm hoping it will go well!

Rose actually has about 4 inches in her litterbox but she tends to shake/wobble/bob up and down when she tries to squat so (especially since she's longhaired) her bum always ends up with litter on it. Especially if she's peeing. Sometimes she starts to shakily stand mid-pee but not before the damage is done so to speak.

We tried one of the plant-fiber based litters and it was a sneezy, wheezy mess for both of us unfortunately. Personally I can't get over my exotics training because the corncob and the walnut shell are huge no-nos, I'd almost prefer to use some sort of paper-based litter (there's a vet here who makes a fluffy cellulose litter) and change it daily if I can't find a better alternative to the clay. Plus we've got some rather pesky ants who tend to start snacking on litter if it's not wood/paper or something inert like clay. I had hardwood pellets for a time that did great re: dust and staying off her bum but madam decided they weren't comfortable on her paws and rejected the box until I replaced them (she's not declawed but sometimes her autoimmune/allergy issue goes after the paws/footpads apparently).

 

[arouetta]

It's been a while since I bought non-clumping clay litter, but I don't think it was really dusty. Have you tried that?

 

[RosesNoThorns]

arouetta

Yup, tried that---it helped with the litter stuck to her bum/fur but (granted, could've been the brand) still found it pretty dusty.

 

[Furballsmom]

Can you trim her little backside I have to do that with my Big Guy

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Yup I can trim fur a little and it helps, but her vulva and bum region literally sits on the litter sometimes, fur trimmed or not and I'm not...I'm not nearly confident enough to essentially end up keeping that area shaved completely.

 

[chrisjoesepp]

Hi, I just stumbled on this thread while looking around and I skipped to the end, missing most of the middle section so if someone already suggested this, just ignore me. I did notice you are Canadian, like me, and wondered if you have checked out the Farley Fund. It's a charitable foundation that helps out with vet bills for low-income pet owners. Don't know if you qualify-they also help out seniors on fixed incomes and people with disabilities-but check out their web site. Good luck, you certainly have your hands full.

 

[chrisjoesepp]

Hi, I just stumbled on this thread while looking around and I skipped to the end, missing most of the middle section so if someone already suggested this, just ignore me. I did notice you are Canadian, like me, and wondered if you have checked out the Farley Fund. It's a charitable foundation that helps out with vet bills for low-income pet owners. Don't know if you qualify-they also help out seniors on fixed incomes and people with disabilities-but check out their web site. Good luck, you certainly have your hands full.

Sorry, it's www.farleyfoundation.org

 

[Furballsmom]

Yeah, I don't blame you, --my boy gets kinda cranky about having scissors near such important areas lol!
@duckpond uses Dr elseys respiratory relief silica gel cat litter, if I got it right...

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Sorry, it's www.farleyfoundation.org

Thank you!! I'll look into that asap

EDIT: Oh darn, it looks like it's Ontario-specific (I'm in Quebec).