My 14 year old cat is having trouble breathing. After seeing her vet, we suspect she has a polyp. The examination was brief and the vet suggested X-rays or better yet, an MRI ($2,000).

I am a teacher and am on a very tight budget. What I would like to know is what kind of tests/examination should be required for the vet to complete the diagnosis? It seems from your youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCRwkQXd3Qs), that the vet could have found this by examining the inside of the cat’s mouth.

I’m trying to keep my costs down. How do I approach my vet regarding this matter?

Thanks
Al

My 3 year old cat has a red bump on his arm, any ideas? He is acting normal, eating normally and doesn’t mind when I touch it. Thanks!

I have an 18 month old male cat, Chubbs 🙂 – he was a stray that we took in from the neighborhood as a kitten, vaccinated and neutered and we just adore him. On Monday this week, I noticed he was having urinary issues – lots of in and out of box and no action. Our vet was full so we drove about 30 minutes to another town to take him to an emergency vet. Vet told me that he did not have a urinary blockage, but his urinalysis showed evidence of infection and crystals. A chicken and the egg situation he said. They gave him subQ fluids, antinausea med, anti-inflammatory med and send us home with a supply of pain meds and antibiotics. He was low key the next day, but seems back to normal as of yesterday. However, still lots of urinary urgency and frequency attempts with dribbles here and there, but is producing actual normal appearing size voids 3-5 times a day. No blood, no howling. Bowel movements seem a little looser, assuming from antibiotics but no diarrhea. Is this expected behavior? Can male cats have partial blockages that wax and wane like this? Will this continue on for 1-2 weeks while treating the UTI component? Emergency vet told me to follow-up with our vet in ~2 weeks for repeat urine.

Our 3 year old cat had a urinary blockage, late at night. We drove him to an emergency animal clinic, about an hour away. They diagnosed, treated, had him for almost 5 days. The bill was $2500, and they strongly recommended a $3000 PU surgery. We couldn’t afford that, so they transferred him to another vet that could do the surgury for $1600. They were not convinced that he needed the PU. They treated him, about 4 days, and he seemed to be on the mend. Bill was $640, which they let us split into 3 payments. After being home for a day or two, he obstructed again. We took him to our local vet. After examining him, it was discovered that he had a large chunk of plastic stuck in his penis. Exploratory surgery was done to remove it. Its presence has caused much trauma to the ureathra, causing blockage twice more since (scar tissue). So now he’s at our vet, unblocked with a catheter. They say a PU is his only option. Our vet isnt comfortable doing it, and will be contacting the 2nd vet that treated our kitty and see if they can. Costs are now an issue, as we’re paying the first vet(maxed care credit), 2nd vet (payments, $400 left), and 3rd vet( ours, payments, $221 every two weeks) . No idea how to get the little guy the PU surgery. 🙁