I have a friendly boy cat I need someone to foster/quarantine till June unfortunately where we were tnring he was dumped and got into a fight then someone turned him into bcas and because he had a wound here we are. He comes with 200 dollar donation and all supplies needed during quarantine. Please contact me asap. 410967 2976. Pat. Ty for any help

Hi. My cat has been straining to pee and either getting none out or very little. Took him to ER today. Gave us meds to go home with. They said they “pre emptivly” put a catheter but weren’t charging us for it. It was a $800 bill. Our cat has perf twice since coming home but now it has been a couple hours. Idk what to do next. They quoted us 3500-5000 for his surgery to get unblocked and I cannot afford.

My question is about urinary crystals and cat blockage. I specifically want to know about jaundice after surgery, but also to know if we should have done anything differently, we lost our little sweetheart a few days ago to urinary crystals.

Details: 4 weeks ago our little fellow, a 2-year-old neutered male, got worms. We brought him to the vet and, with medicine, successfully treated them. They stressed him, and he didn’t want to eat much, but the vet said this was normal. He seemed to get better, but a week ago started acting stressed again, not eating much, drinking very little, but still eating and drinking. Seeing his pee was not possible due to having 2 other cats (and not knowing what urinary crystals are, much less know what to look for)

We called the vet Friday morning, they told us he would probably need another dose of worm medicine, and scheduled an appointment for the following Monday. Keep in mind we had never heard of urinary crystals before, we thought he had worms again.

On Saturday evening, it became clear it was more than worms. He was lethargic, not going potty at all, and just wanting to lay down and close his eyes. We called the vet clinic which was closed, several other numbers for local cat places (adoption, care, etc) and could not get him seen but got the same phone diagnosis at every step, “probably a stomach tumor”.

It was 5pm Sunday before we got lucky, found an animal hospital 2 hours drive away, got a hold of an actual vet through their emergency number, and she agreed to open the hospital late on a Sunday and see him immediately for $1000. We got there at 7pm and by 7:15 he was in surgery to unblock him. She immediately knew what was wrong. His temp was already low, he was very weak and barely moving but alive.

The next morning, we found out he survived the surgery and was recovering with a catheter and IV fluids. The plan was to keep him in the hospital for 3 days and to let him come home if his pee was clear and his blood work for liver function was acceptable.

We got a phone call early on the second day telling us he was occasionally moving in his cage but wasn’t eating or drinking. She said he seemed depressed, and we could visit at 4pm to see if it perked up his spirits. It was the earliest time they could let us visit so we took it.

On our drive to see him, the hospital called us and said he wasn’t doing well. They asked if we wanted the blood work done immediately instead of on day 3 and told us he had become extremely jaundiced. During our visit he could only manage a couple of steps, so we held him, he was clearly exhausted and under the effect of pain medicine.

The hospital had taken the blood after the call and said his sugars were 3 times normal and other things “5 times normal”, and he was a deep greenish yellow in color around his ears. They brought him warm food but he was not interested. They explained organ failure and said his lungs would fail eventually, but he was breathing well.

In seeing us did perk him up a little, he focused on us, but he quickly faded again, preferring to lay down with his tongue out after 20 minutes. We didn’t want him to suffer and linger with no hope of recovering, and he was heartbreakingly euthanized at that point.

Again, I didn’t know anything about crystals before he went into surgery, and I have questions in case his brother, or any cat, is in that situation.

My questions are….
– Was the jaundice a terrible sign or could it have been from the IV fluid, exhaustion, surgery and lack of eating? IE was it normal after surgery, or recoverable?
– Given what I’ve described, should we have waited another day? Could it have been just needing more time to recover? Or is the jaundice and blood work at that point enough to know he’s fought all he can?

We just want to know more. We’re still in shock and miss him terribly, but we felt alone in making decisions, the hospital clearly didn’t want to influence our decision either way. We’re just not sure now that 24 hrs recovery was enough to make a decision, or how serious jaundice is when he didn’t have it pre-surgery/IV.

Any advice appreciated, we found this site via a YouTube video on urinary crystals. Thanks.
P.S. We aren’t second guessing or wanting to hear we did the right thing, it’s too late to help him, but we want to know more in case it helps another cat.

Also, the hospital took a deposit from us when we agreed to the $1000 fee, and said they would accept payments since there was no way to forsee this type of thing. They did seem caring and knowledgeable, but clinical, and would offer no advice on euthanizing or not. We felt alone with that specific decision…. and in hindsight aren’t even sure it needed to be made yet… or did it?

My 3yo cat has all symptoms of inflammatory nasal polyp, in combination with the fact that antibiotics and allergy meds have not resolved the situation. She sneezes out (sometimes bloody) green clots about once a week that can be up to 1/4 the size of her whole head. I have had trouble finding a vet who can do the surgery even if they can diagnose it. My vet didn’t even seem to know how to diagnose it when I brought up the possibility. Even emergency vets that I have called refer me to clinics that are not certain that they would be able to perform the operation or who have scary reviews. I literally just adopted her and she came with this undiagnosed issue. Can someone recommend a vet near Richmond, VA who would charge an appropriate price and provide good care?

I have A Himalayan male cat who had a urinary blockage.
He was at the emergency vet for three days and was cleared to go home and has been doing good since, but he is peeing everywhere except his litter box. They said this would be expected but it has been longer than they said and he has no desire to use his box.
Has anyone else had this issue and how did you help fix it?

Why are the majority of Harford County veterinarians charging $400-$650 to spay/neuter a cat or kitten? Only a few offer under $200 surgeries for what is generally a very simple and quick procedure – I know, as I assist at low-cost spay/neuter clinics. Cecil County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County all offer the same procedure for less than half the going rate in Harford. Several local veterinarians, when clients balk at pricing, are referring them to rescue groups rather than offering a reasonable price for an operation that is ESSENTIAL to the animal’s well-being and longevity, not to mention eliminating unwanted litters.

What can Harford residents do to force changes to make our county more cat friendly and help owners wanting to do what’s right but not at unreasonable cost?

Hi, my vet recommended that I give my long-haired cat malt paste every three days or so. I’m seeing that there are lots of brands and prices. Do you have any product suggestions? What should I look for in a quality malt product?

Thank you!

My cat seems to have a urine blockage. I can’t afford to take him to a vet, I really don’t want to put him down just for this. Please help me, save my buddy. He’s barely going to be a year old in February.

Is this how my cat’s paw is supposed to look?

I feel like when it rains it pours, we just had our dog down for 3 weeks with a herniated disc and IVDD, now, our 2 year old cat started acting weird. Meowing, howling, laying in the litter box. It’s Christmas Day and we cannot afford an emergency vet visit. What do we do? I suspect it’s a UTI, I just want him to be okay until the morning.