Coping With Animal Health Problems

Our thirteen-year old black-and-white male longhair was obviously not feeling well last Saturday. He hadn’t eaten and seemed lethargic. I decided to monitor him for the day and, if not improved by Monday morning, call the vet. But, on Sunday evening, I realized I had a real emergency on my hands when he began to make intermittent strange yowling sounds and seemed to be straining as he did so. The area around his anus was distended. His eyes seemed dim, as if some shadow was haunting him. I think only I, who have shared a home with him longer than anyone else in our household, would have noticed that. And that’s what scared me the most.

Calling the emergency vet, they asked me some quick questions: has he been eating (no), has he been vomiting (yes, a bit), has he been urinating normally (I don’t know, but his litterbox appears dry), and is he male and neutered (yes)? My answers led them to the initial conclusion that he had a urinary blockage, fatal in cats. They advised that we bring him in immediately.

We rushed him to the emergency clinic (which, thankfully, is only a twenty-minute drive) where they confirmed the initial diagnosis. His bladder was full of “sand” and the radiograph showed a possible kidney stone as well (bladder stones and kidney stones are two distinct conditions). Such blockages build up toxins in the urinary system and can, ultimately, lead to an agonizing death. Luckily, we seem to have caught it before it was too late. They whisked him away and immediately catheterized him to free up the flow of urine and began hydrating him. He required some medication to bring his potassium levels, which had shot up and posed a cardiac risk, back to normal. This initial treatment has an estimated cost of about $1,500.

Still in the hospital today (now Tuesday), my cat is undergoing surgery this afternoon (another $1,500) to remove the bladder stones, too numerous to try and dissolve with diet (which is sometimes possible for milder cases). As for the kidney stone, that, too, will be removed if it is easily reached. If not, we determined to leave it in place, since that surgery will raise costs by another $800, is riskier than the bladder surgery, particularly for an elderly cat, and may not actually “fix” anything since the stone is not necessarily impinging function (they cannot tell).

It has been agonizing to make these decisions that require a real (and “real life”) balancing of factors, many of which are not certain. The cost of treatment is enormous and we do not have insurance, though we do have some available credit. Given my cat’s age, some may think us crazy that we’ve spent so much already, but the doctors indicate that the situation has a good prognosis going forward and my cat had been healthy up to this point, so we couldn’t just let him go without trying. We are lucky that we at least have the credit resources, though it won’t be easy to pay down the debt.

Not everyone could do as much and that is one complaint I have of the “system.” The assumption seems to be that you should spare no expense, but that’s not realistic, however true we may wish it to be. I wish the initial doctors, excellent though they have been, were a little better at giving realistic appraisals (thankfully, the surgeon was very good at and understanding of this). In our situation, the cost, the risk of the kidney surgery, the possible effects of leaving the kidney stone in place, and his “clean” and relatively recent blood-work history–which did not show kidney problems–led me to cut costs at the kidney stone, but I wonder if I made the right decision? The doctor agreed it seemed reasonable, but how does one put a price on a beloved pet’s health or life?

I am optimistic, though, having spoken to both the emergency vets and my cat’s regular vet and done some internet research, that my cat will have some good times left on this earth and that his urinary issues can be managed going forward with diet. What kind of diet—low magnesium, etc.—will depend on the composition of the stones (which are formed by various chemical processes and can be prevented or minimized by varying those process). We will not know their composition until the doctors remove them and have them analyzed.

In the meantime, I was able to visit my poor kitty last night and he was clearly more comfortable, chipper even. The luster had returned to his eyes. And that is priceless.