Introducing Betty White

artiemom

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Geoffrey turned into an eating machine, once he started the pred. And he turned into loving his wet food.
It depends on the day.. and how he feels if he will wake me up from a clean bowl, during the night. He is polite also, usually waiting. Before Pred, he woke me up to feed. Since I have always free fed, I am stretching out the intervals between filling the food bowl. It is always empty, when re-filled.

Glad Betty seems to be a bit improved.. ((hugs)). :crossfingers: that it may continue.
 

daftcat75

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Geoffrey turned into an eating machine, once he started the pred. And he turned into loving his wet food.
It depends on the day.. and how he feels if he will wake me up from a clean bowl, during the night. He is polite also, usually waiting. Before Pred, he woke me up to feed. Since I have always free fed, I am stretching out the intervals between filling the food bowl. It is always empty, when re-filled.

Glad Betty seems to be a bit improved.. ((hugs)). :crossfingers: that it may continue.
If I thought she had weight to gain, I might add more to her meals or add another meal. But I think she’s probably good where she is. I am also under the impression that we will be tapering her pred after two weeks. I just hate that I have to give her another dose or two of mirtazapine. But a taper of that one is necessary. That’s what I’ve always heard. Hopefully by the end of the initial two weeks, we’ll be done with the mirtz. That alone would have made the pred worth it. Then if her healthy appetite holds through the pred taper, we can work on a diet change for the better.
 

tarasgirl06

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If I thought she had weight to gain, I might add more to her meals or add another meal. But I think she’s probably good where she is. I am also under the impression that we will be tapering her pred after two weeks. I just hate that I have to give her another dose or two of mirtazapine. But a taper of that one is necessary. That’s what I’ve always heard. Hopefully by the end of the initial two weeks, we’ll be done with the mirtz. That alone would have made the pred worth it. Then if her healthy appetite holds through the pred taper, we can work on a diet change for the better.
*YES!* Betty is doing so well. Keep it going!:hearthrob::lovecat3::hearthrob::goldstar::cheerleader:
 

daftcat75

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Insurance got back to me about the disputed claim. Sorta. They just made it that much harder for me and my vet. They are saying to dispute the claim, the doctor has to write a letter on hospital letterhead about why the claim should be disputed. I mean it should be a slam dunk.

"Owner was concerned about foreign body ingestion the night before. Ultrasound and radiographs were performed for this purpose. They were not part of her recheck appointment or ongoing IBD treatment."

But I'm not sure the IM has the time or the desire to do this for me. And then they say that claim disputes can take 15 to 20 days to be reviewed and resolved. I get paid on Friday. I can probably make most of this bill disappear faster than they can resolve the claim. I mean sure, if the dispute is resolved in my favor, that's money back in my pocket. But it's also 15 to 20 more days of grumbling over this. Maybe I just pay the bill off, and move on.

I'll call IM office later, and see what the doc can do for me.
 

tarasgirl06

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Insurance got back to me about the disputed claim. Sorta. They just made it that much harder for me and my vet. They are saying to dispute the claim, the doctor has to write a letter on hospital letterhead about why the claim should be disputed. I mean it should be a slam dunk.

"Owner was concerned about foreign body ingestion the night before. Ultrasound and radiographs were performed for this purpose. They were not part of her recheck appointment or ongoing IBD treatment."

But I'm not sure the IM has the time or the desire to do this for me. And then they say that claim disputes can take 15 to 20 days to be reviewed and resolved. I get paid on Friday. I can probably make most of this bill disappear faster than they can resolve the claim. I mean sure, if the dispute is resolved in my favor, that's money back in my pocket. But it's also 15 to 20 more days of grumbling over this. Maybe I just pay the bill off, and move on.

I'll call IM office later, and see what the doc can do for me.
Now you know why I feel the way I do about "health insurance." Or not.
Hoping you get some satisfaction, ultimately. Personally, I'd do as you say: pay the bill and dispute the claim. The vet should make time to write the letter and send it. Betty is his patient. You are his client. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I hope you don't give up. It's YOUR money, after all.
 

artiemom

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Insurance got back to me about the disputed claim. Sorta. They just made it that much harder for me and my vet. They are saying to dispute the claim, the doctor has to write a letter on hospital letterhead about why the claim should be disputed. I mean it should be a slam dunk.

"Owner was concerned about foreign body ingestion the night before. Ultrasound and radiographs were performed for this purpose. They were not part of her recheck appointment or ongoing IBD treatment."

But I'm not sure the IM has the time or the desire to do this for me. And then they say that claim disputes can take 15 to 20 days to be reviewed and resolved. I get paid on Friday. I can probably make most of this bill disappear faster than they can resolve the claim. I mean sure, if the dispute is resolved in my favor, that's money back in my pocket. But it's also 15 to 20 more days of grumbling over this. Maybe I just pay the bill off, and move on.

I'll call IM office later, and see what the doc can do for me.
I would think the IMVet has had a lot of experience disputing claims. It is kind of expected from insurance companies.

Personally, I'd do as you say: pay the bill and dispute the claim. The vet should make time to write the letter and send it. Betty is his patient. You are his client.
I would do the same.. I would pay it up front and then try for reimbursement.

Good Luck!! I kind had the same issue with Artie. Because I took him into Angell during the breaking in period, for vomiting and diarrhea.. They did pay for the endoscopy, but when I tried to submit another claim for a later ultrasound, it was denied because they said IBD was a preexisting condition.. Since he had a heart murmur-- they would not cover any cardiac stuff, so I dropped the insurance. That was 2 major things they would not cover.. I was working at the time.
 

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She's doing the Krista. She just sits at the door of the office and stares at me. She knows I'll either give in or she'll walk away and try again in 20 minutes.

I am going into the office for the first time in 2 and half years. It will be the first time with this new job. I'll meet a number of people I've only communicated with in Teams and email. Should be interesting. I'm going to have to put Betty's 3pm rabbit portion in a feeder for her. Now if she can just hold out another 30 minutes for lunch.
 

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She's doing the Krista. She just sits at the door of the office and stares at me. She knows I'll either give in or she'll walk away and try again in 20 minutes.

I am going into the office for the first time in 2 and half years. It will be the first time with this new job. I'll meet a number of people I've only communicated with in Teams and email. Should be interesting. I'm going to have to put Betty's 3pm rabbit portion in a feeder for her. Now if she can just hold out another 30 minutes for lunch.
Hope it goes well! and hope Betty enjoys her lunch.
 

daftcat75

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When she started sad meowing at 11:30, I decided to split the difference with her. I plated her lunch fifteen minutes early. She knocked out most of it already. I'm not sure if I have a good battery in the house for the feeder. I've got one loaded right now and set to a small interval to see if it will open before I have to leave. Otherwise, I'm scrambling for another battery and dropping it down blindly, hoping for the best.
 

tarasgirl06

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When she started sad meowing at 11:30, I decided to split the difference with her. I plated her lunch fifteen minutes early. She knocked out most of it already. I'm not sure if I have a good battery in the house for the feeder. I've got one loaded right now and set to a small interval to see if it will open before I have to leave. Otherwise, I'm scrambling for another battery and dropping it down blindly, hoping for the best.
Hoping all went well!
 

daftcat75

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Hoping all went well!
Looks like an empty feeder on the camera. Heading home soon. It’s a terrible time of day to be driving home. So I’ve left myself plenty of time to take the surface streets because the freeways will be a mess. Rush hour starts at 4 here. 🤦🏼‍♂️ It took me 25 minutes to get here. It may take me an hour to get home. It was good to put a few faces to names I’ve only exchanged emails with. I did not meet enough of them today. Oh well. Maybe there will be another social hour I can drop in on. But I’m not looking to come back into the office to work. That’s still so much easier for me at home.
 

tarasgirl06

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Looks like an empty feeder on the camera. Heading home soon. It’s a terrible time of day to be driving home. So I’ve left myself plenty of time to take the surface streets because the freeways will be a mess. Rush hour starts at 4 here. 🤦🏼‍♂️ It took me 25 minutes to get here. It may take me an hour to get home. It was good to put a few faces to names I’ve only exchanged emails with. I did not meet enough of them today. Oh well. Maybe there will be another social hour I can drop in on. But I’m not looking to come back into the office to work. That’s still so much easier for me at home.
Yeah. It's too bad you have to do that at all, when you've been WFH successfully for so long. I work much better uninterrupted/unimpeded/without having to engage in ego battles, so I empathize. Good to meet some coworkers, though. Wishing they were all cat lovers...
What a nightmare rush hour is...but you do have happiness on the other end of it!
 

daftcat75

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Yeah. It's too bad you have to do that at all, when you've been WFH successfully for so long. I work much better uninterrupted/unimpeded/without having to engage in ego battles, so I empathize. Good to meet some coworkers, though. Wishing they were all cat lovers...
What a nightmare rush hour is...but you do have happiness on the other end of it!
I didn’t have to come in today. But they were doing an educational social hour. And since I just had Covid, my biggest reason to avoid it is gone. For now. It was nice seeing the building and meeting a few faces. The rush hour wasn’t even that bad. Still don’t like it. But it was easier than my previous commute.

And I got to come home to this startled interrupted pose and face. 😹
50C4CBB7-20AC-4503-AA42-502130C94D05.jpeg
 

artiemom

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So sweet.. ❤
You are lucky.. Rush hour in Boston is almost non-stop.. Seriously, You need to on the road, by 2:30, to avoid it..
The hours between 10:00 to 2:00pm are usually manageable.. The summer is much better.
 

daftcat75

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So sweet.. ❤
You are lucky.. Rush hour in Boston is almost non-stop.. Seriously, You need to on the road, by 2:30, to avoid it..
The hours between 10:00 to 2:00pm are usually manageable.. The summer is much better.
Let me rephrase that. The freeways home I won't touch after 2 pm. I don't know when the rush hour starts on them. But it's almost never worth it for me to try the return route on the freeways. We have some surface streets that are quicker or quieter than others. And we have some expressways that fill in gaps the freeways don't cover. These are not direct routes. I pretty much have my own internal map of how to get across the valley avoiding freeways. My old commute had a lot of slow roads and bottlenecks on the surface street/expressway return. I hope this doesn't become a commute again. But if I had to do it, it seems much easier than the last.
 

tarasgirl06

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Let me rephrase that. The freeways home I won't touch after 2 pm. I don't know when the rush hour starts on them. But it's almost never worth it for me to try the return route on the freeways. We have some surface streets that are quicker or quieter than others. And we have some expressways that fill in gaps the freeways don't cover. These are not direct routes. I pretty much have my own internal map of how to get across the valley avoiding freeways. My old commute had a lot of slow roads and bottlenecks on the surface street/expressway return. I hope this doesn't become a commute again. But if I had to do it, it seems much easier than the last.
Most of the big metro areas are like that now, unfortunately.
Betty: "Dad. You're HOME! WHERE did you go and WHY? What did you get me???" :hearthrob: :lovecat3: :hearthrob: :lolup:
 

daftcat75

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I can’t believe I am giving this little food monster another dose of the mirtz. But I couldn’t find any good info on tapering online and it’s too late to get the specialist on the phone. I gave her what looked like the tiniest fourth that may actually be an eighth pill. Cutting a pill that size is never an exact science.

We started a new case of the I/D. I guess this case is a winner.
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Did she really need another mirtz roofie tonight? 🤦🏼‍♂️

I know. I’m doing it for her serotonin levels. Still. We’re both going to be a mess tonight.

But I looked at last week as the beginning of this taper. So this week is week two. The specialist said I could taper over two weeks. So I’m calling it. Tonight is the last dose I give her. 😾👍
 

daftcat75

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I tried to fluff her remainder. Seems almost insulting to put this out for her. She’ll finish it though. And she won’t get any more until she’s sung my head off and I give in early around 8 I’m sure. 🤦🏼‍♂️😹🐷
3C658ED7-8BA6-40A0-9C2C-4855434D4B35.jpeg
 
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