20 second, cat related whine, please?

So you know how my 11 year old cat Max pukes. He's puked since we got him at 6 weeks. No reason for it. Never affected his growth, or weight or anything. He just pukes.

Anyhow... recently his weapons grade puke lifted the finish off one of my mother's living room end tables. Tables she kept perfect for over 50 years. So, I have to get them redone and have glass cut for the tops. We can't have nice things.

Anyhow...so, I said to the vet that I needed something done about his puking. Our vet is Max's 3rd vet. First one retired, 2nd one took over for the 1st one, then this one we found out was mobile and we were like Hell Yeah! None of them have been worried about it and neither have I. But, I said look, we're tired of doing a puke patrol every morning. And, I told him about the tables. He asks me some more in depth questions about his puking and he's like yeah we should look into it.

So my vet is a mobile vet who also has his own clinic. I prefer to have him come to the house. I don't want to go back to transporting angry animals unless I have to. Friday was a $303 house call for blood work and exam. Depending on how that goes, next step is digital xrays, probably another $300.

The vet says it's probably a mild case of mega esophagus which Siamese cats are prone to. Max is for sure part Siamese. If it's not that, it's GERD or gastric reflux.

You know the kicker? The medication for either of those things are the same. Plain old ranitadine! I have to spend $500 to $700 to put my cat on an over the counter medication. Yes, a properly dosed over the counter medication. But, still...

We're doing it, it's fine. Whatever. Part of pet ownership. Suck it up. Max will be happier. We'll be happier. Maybe he won't be such a stinkface all the time.

Oh, also, I don't know if you want to add the cost of the tables into it, but that will run me a good $500 just for the glass tops. I haven't had estimates for a refresh on the tables themselves yet, frankly, it scares me.

 

I feel for you. It is so difficult with animals. They can’t talk. You don’t know who to trust. What is normal, what is not. I’ve had sick cats on whom I’ve spent countless dollars. I found a compounding pharmacy that put all her meds in a fish flavored liquid form $. Poor Ezzy would vomit often near the end. It broke my heart and wasn’t great for the carpet, that I just had replaced before she got sick. I used to call her Pukahonnis. One of my current cats has a heart problem. Oh well. Just Saturday I had to throw away a pair of shoes that became victims if a hair ball.

I understand venting. You’ll do anything necessary but that doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating. I hope this med makes you both happy and the table ends up looking great.

 

I'll be honest. I'm a dog person and not cat, but I think the concern for illness in our pets transcends all species. You do what you have to do for them. I sincerely hope that your cat understands and appreciates that you're doing just that.

 

We also had a champion puker. It didn't seem to bother him otherwise so I just put up with it. He hated going to the vet and every year it was a battle just to get his shots.

It wasn't until he was fifteen and he was puking to the point that he was losing weight that he was diagnosed with IBS. Putting him on Prednisone made a world of difference. I feel he probably had that his whole life and feel bad it wasn't caught sooner.

Yes it cost a bunch of money just to come up with the diagnosis. But it was worth it to me to see him feel better. I just consider it part of pet ownership. I wouldn't have children and not take them to a pediatrician. Hope everything goes well with your guy.

 

Wow. Kudos to you and yours. We’ve had 9 cats over 34 years and all but 2 were strays or rescues But no Siamese. Puking? no. But lots of hairballs no matter how much beauty parlor time was dedicated.
Good luck with the treatments

 

Good job hes so handsome haha

Sounds like a royal PITA but also sounds like you are doing the right thing huh. I didn't know about the whole Siam/Puking thing!

My persian has hair balls but not that often, tbh she's really rubbish at grooming herself to much so that one time we just gave her a lion cut so she had a floofy head and tail and bald body. Now shes in heat again and sits in my window yowling like shes being murdered. Yay, the joys of cat ownership haha.

The mobile vet thing sounds amazing though! I could do with one of those...

Good luck with him Loladoggie

 

One of our four is a puker. We have been giving him smaller meals and only putting out small amounts of dry food throughout the day and that seems to help. He doesn't gorge himself lime he used to.

Now I need the wife to do the same for me

 

We had a distressed kitty that passed away a couple years ago. We learned that the treatment for kitty depression is .... prozac! Plain old human prozac, lol. For some reason, that always tickled me.

Also, if it helps, we got our cats meds at Costco because if you're a member, you can set up an account for your pet there and get an uninsured patient discount. Saved us a few bucks when we had sick kitties

 

I have a puker as well. He doesn't act like he feels bad, just pukes his food several times a week. I feed small meals and that helps some. I know prednisone would probably help, but since that can cause diabetes in cats I've chosen not to do that right now. I had a diabetic cat previously and it was not fun doing injections twice a day and blood sugar testing all the time.

 

Thank you. I used to have a dog too...the late Lola. He's probably not going to appreciate it...cuz that's how he is. LOL. But yeah, we do what we can. Like, we've been through all the fancy foods and diets and whatnot. He's on a supplement powder right now that has fibre, digestive enzymes and probiotics and it's certainly not hurting them to be on it. It helped a bit but not much. Which, is an indication of mega esophagus in my opinion. But, what do I know?

 

Yeah, he doesn't have IBS. The poops are all nice and normal. I can tell what poop belongs to which cat. I have no doubt this issue would get worse as he gets older and I'd like him to have enjoy his golden years if possible. I think it's best to get ahead of it. I feel the same way you do.

 

Our late Oscar became diabetic when he was 11. I managed to keep him going for 5 years like that. I know how that is too.

Max is a nibbler and very eat to live. He's always been that way. Never had to worry about him gorging himself and then puking it up. He self regulates very well.

 

Mobile vet is worth every freaking penny.

I could never breed cats. I hate the sound of a cat in heat. I hate dealing with non neutered males. I've had 2 female cats so far, the rest have been males. Males, easy get them done at like 12 weeks. No problem. But, both females were under the weight limit for so long that they both went into their first heat before we could get them done. Pia, our late female, part Abyssinian, she had some kind of hormone issue where she would go into heat and stay there, go back into heat again right after. We spent months taking her to the vet trying to find a clear spot to do it. Finally the vet just did it. He didn't like having to make a bigger incision in a small cat but what are ya gonna do? She spent a good 4 or 5 nights in the clinic overnight. Cost about 3 times what it should have. But...what are you gonna do? Anyhow I work at home and by the rules I'm not supposed to have my cats hanging out with me. So, a yeowling female would be way too much. I'm on the phone. I'm pretty good at lying about camouflaging the cat sounds right now; squeeky chair, allergies, air conditioning/heating vent noisy, you name it!

 

No lie....shortly after responding to this I got up to do my morning exercise on the stationary bike and there was a fresh lovely hairball on the machine mat. I blame you. But, I was also very excited that it was so easy to clean up!

 

Ahahahaha! That's a good one. At least it was a dry hairball. If that was all Max produced I'd be happy.

 

The vet called. Max has the blood work of a much younger cat. He gets bloodwork every year now so that's done anyway. Xrays next week. If the xrays show nothng, I am NOT sending him to a specialist to have a scope. Like, that's enough, give me the drugs. Oh, and apparently it's famitidine not ranitidine. Whatever they're both otc and I'll be paying out the ass for the rest of his life (may it be long and enjoyable) for a properly dosed version of it for him.

 

You can get that stuff at sams club, 200 tablets for 8.99.

Pukes bad, but a chronic runny snotty nosed sneezer is the worst. Cleaning carpet beats repainting any day.

 

Oh trust me, I know. I'm on it. But, the dose for a 13 pound cat.....

I've never heard of a cat snotting like that. Are you serious? That's disgusting.

I grew up with a Saint Bernard. The drool was pretty gross.