We're taking Casper for x-rays tomorrow to assess whether or not he has arthritis setting in. It seems quite likely based on a lot of symptoms he's having, and been having for a long while thinking back now.
However, he also has issues with regurgitation of his food. Not sure if we should be looking into this also at the same time. Or, if that is more important right now to take care of. A while back the vet did suggest trying to find out if there was some kind of blockage, but we felt that it wasn't happening frequently enough, let alone it always seems to happen at the same time of day; right after he would eat breakfast. This led us to believe it was related to him gobbling his food (which he does) or a gastric issue - not a blockage. We changed his diet, and that seemed to work for a long while. However, in the past weeks it's gotten more frequent and at other times of the day. Yesterday, it appeared that he brought up a much larger quantity of food than I even had given him which was odd.
I don't want to be taken advantage of by the vet's office. I've never had to bring a pet in for any type of testing like this before. This office's policy is to bring you a huge sheet of "recommended" treatments and procedures, explain them to you and allow you to tick off what you want and don't want, however, this only serves to overwhelm a person with choices instead of making you feel confident about what is happening. Plus they of course tell you how important it all is anyway.
I would prefer the vet tell me exactly what MUST be done and stop giving me so many options, I don't want to feel like I need to pay for things which have no bearing on the problems at hand. Like the other week they made me feel like testing our younger cat for Bartonella was very important. She tested positive. However, after I went to the CDC website, and found out that in most cases, the only time they worry about this virus is if you or a family member has a compromised immune system and further more, that in most cases the medication give to treat it in the cat, does not get rid of it. So I feel like I wasted $65 more out of my pocket since we're healthy and we have nobody in our family with those serious health issues.
Ok, sorry I digress. I have a habit of writing too much.
For those who have cats that have arthritis, is there a specific type of x-ray which I should be looking for and nothing else? Same for the digestive issue. They already told me they start at $250 which seemed incredibly pricey, and I've already spent in the past month $500 on him for bloodwork/annual check up and another $200 for Cocoa to establish her with them, well visit/shots she needed, etc. I'm in the hole $700 out of pocket already plus more and no pet insurance since we just literally got Cocoa and were shopping around for coverage for the two of them when this issue of arthritis cropped up - now I'll never get it for him I'm sure as most of them don't cover pre-existing conditions.
I do want to mention, that I like the vet himself, and the office is run very well. They are an approved office by whatever that national association of vets is (in fact, only one of two locally). I know he keeps on top of things, as we've had conversations about conferences and such he's been to. We never have to wait for our appointments, it's close by, clean and all of the techs and staff are friendly and good with the animals. It's 100% better than the previous place we went to, but I do still feel we could do better - there just doesn't seem to be a lot of choices nearby at all and we have nobody to ask since we are lacking for friends with furbabies in our area.
Laurie
However, he also has issues with regurgitation of his food. Not sure if we should be looking into this also at the same time. Or, if that is more important right now to take care of. A while back the vet did suggest trying to find out if there was some kind of blockage, but we felt that it wasn't happening frequently enough, let alone it always seems to happen at the same time of day; right after he would eat breakfast. This led us to believe it was related to him gobbling his food (which he does) or a gastric issue - not a blockage. We changed his diet, and that seemed to work for a long while. However, in the past weeks it's gotten more frequent and at other times of the day. Yesterday, it appeared that he brought up a much larger quantity of food than I even had given him which was odd.
I don't want to be taken advantage of by the vet's office. I've never had to bring a pet in for any type of testing like this before. This office's policy is to bring you a huge sheet of "recommended" treatments and procedures, explain them to you and allow you to tick off what you want and don't want, however, this only serves to overwhelm a person with choices instead of making you feel confident about what is happening. Plus they of course tell you how important it all is anyway.
I would prefer the vet tell me exactly what MUST be done and stop giving me so many options, I don't want to feel like I need to pay for things which have no bearing on the problems at hand. Like the other week they made me feel like testing our younger cat for Bartonella was very important. She tested positive. However, after I went to the CDC website, and found out that in most cases, the only time they worry about this virus is if you or a family member has a compromised immune system and further more, that in most cases the medication give to treat it in the cat, does not get rid of it. So I feel like I wasted $65 more out of my pocket since we're healthy and we have nobody in our family with those serious health issues.
Ok, sorry I digress. I have a habit of writing too much.
For those who have cats that have arthritis, is there a specific type of x-ray which I should be looking for and nothing else? Same for the digestive issue. They already told me they start at $250 which seemed incredibly pricey, and I've already spent in the past month $500 on him for bloodwork/annual check up and another $200 for Cocoa to establish her with them, well visit/shots she needed, etc. I'm in the hole $700 out of pocket already plus more and no pet insurance since we just literally got Cocoa and were shopping around for coverage for the two of them when this issue of arthritis cropped up - now I'll never get it for him I'm sure as most of them don't cover pre-existing conditions.
I do want to mention, that I like the vet himself, and the office is run very well. They are an approved office by whatever that national association of vets is (in fact, only one of two locally). I know he keeps on top of things, as we've had conversations about conferences and such he's been to. We never have to wait for our appointments, it's close by, clean and all of the techs and staff are friendly and good with the animals. It's 100% better than the previous place we went to, but I do still feel we could do better - there just doesn't seem to be a lot of choices nearby at all and we have nobody to ask since we are lacking for friends with furbabies in our area.
Laurie
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