I Don't Want My Tabby to Have Another Abdominal Ultrasound.

Remy

Remy

Well-known Member
Location
California, USA
I'm so down. Nothing ever goes right. Yet I'm supposed to do what I'm told, be compliant, do what others tell me.

My Tabby has had blood in her urine for about 2 1/2 years. Red tinged. Of course I took her to the vet right away. Lab work, urinalysis and an abdominal ultrasound at the emergency vet since they had the equipment. All negative. I will not do further testing which would require her to go to UC Davis. No bleeping way.

The vet I'm going to wants to do a repeat. This vet has the ultrasound machine. Not only is it not cheap but it's not easy on my cat and causes her distress. I know deb mentioned it, they make you feel bad for not doing everything they want. But she's my cat, not their money maker.

Her latest lab work, very recently was all good except +3 in her urine which is a significant amount. She is not anemic, good kidney function and everything else OK.
 

Are you feeding dry cat food @Remy ? If so, she's not getting enough moisture from her food. She needs to drink more water. I'd withhold dry food for a bit, give he a mild canned cat food with a little water added to it for a while and see if that helps.

Why can't your old vet release the test results they took, to the new vet if they were done recently?
 
Gemma said:
Are you feeding dry cat food @Remy ? If so, she's not getting enough moisture from her food. She needs to drink more water. I'd withhold dry food for a bit, give he a mild canned cat food with a little water added to it for a while and see if that helps.

Why can't your old vet release the test results they took, to the new vet if they were done recently?
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They eat two different dry cat foods and also the two cats split one can + of fancy feast a day. I always rinse the can with a little water and they lap that up. My calico needs the hair ball control food. It's really helping control her inflammatory bowel disease symptoms.

Oh they have the records. They just want to do another ultrasound because it's been over 2 years. And I don't think she needs it. First result was negative.
 
Remy said:
Her latest lab work, very recently was all good except +3 in her urine which is a significant amount. She is not anemic, good kidney function and everything else OK.
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What is the significance of "+3", is this something that used to have a better result and now is worse?

It's so hard to know what to do with pets, I imagine the vet's purpose is to do all recommended veterinary investigations and treatments to extend the life of the pet, but as the pet mom you have to weigh the potential added length of life against the unhappiness caused to the pet, I mean, unless it will extend the pet's life all the tests are just making the pet unhappy for no purpose other than satisfying our curiosity (unless it turns out to be a treatable condition, but you can't know without the tests, there seems to be no best answer without being able to see the future).

And most of us cannot ignore the costs.
 
Remy said:
I'm so down. Nothing ever goes right. Yet I'm supposed to do what I'm told, be compliant, do what others tell me.

My Tabby has had blood in her urine for about 2 1/2 years. Red tinged. Of course I took her to the vet right away. Lab work, urinalysis and an abdominal ultrasound at the emergency vet since they had the equipment. All negative. I will not do further testing which would require her to go to UC Davis. No bleeping way.

The vet I'm going to wants to do a repeat. This vet has the ultrasound machine. Not only is it not cheap but it's not easy on my cat and causes her distress. I know deb mentioned it, they make you feel bad for not doing everything they want. But she's my cat, not their money maker.

Her latest lab work, very recently was all good except +3 in her urine which is a significant amount. She is not anemic, good kidney function and everything else OK.
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I'm sorry to hear about your girl, and hope she can do okay. My dog who I just lost not too long ago had an ultrasound and it was very stressful for him. The result was inconclusive, but suggested a lot of maybes, like lymphoma, or ???. The vet also wanted to repeat it more than once, and I said no. The expense would not be so bad if the results gave some answers to his health problems, but they didn't.

I know you're very stressed and depressed, it is frustrating when our babies are so sickly and we can't find something to make them healthy again. We went through regular complete blood work and other testing, and enough was enough for my boy. He was scared and shaking whenever he had to be left there, and no conclusive results for all the pain and effort.

Hugs for you and your girl, hoping for the best for her. 💙
 
It sux when our pets organs are a quitting. Most likely caused by the liquid Flea Stuff.
We love them but they love us more. Drive us nutz with constant attention.
Give em some fixen, see if it can help.
 
If you see your fur baby suffering, well, that is a whole different matter - not eating, hiding, tail down all the time, etc. I don't know what to say except that I feel for you and your kitty. We are on our 4th kitty, only 3years old....all our other kitties were older.
 
Jules said:
If they found something bad, what would they do? If kitty is happy and causing lots of normal cat mischief, I wouldn’t do anything.
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This is my exact feeling. I don't know why Juniper has blood in her urine and neither do they. They want to test her for high blood pressure also. Forgot about that one. I am 99% no ultrasound. I'm tired of people telling me what to do and feeling obligated. At the expense of my cat.
 
papa tiger said:
It sux when our pets organs are a quitting. Most likely caused by the liquid Flea Stuff.
We love them but they love us more. Drive us nutz with constant attention.
Give em some fixen, see if it can help.
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It's interesting you bring up the flea control. My cats are strictly indoors. NO FLEAS that I see. Yet they insisted my tabby be treated for fleas and I allowed one treatment. I said I see no fleas. I've had these cats over 12 years. The vet says they eat them. Before the modern flea control, I could see fleas on my former cats. Since they were indoors, one flea treatment did it.

My calico has some thin fur spots. Again they said fleas. But she's on prednisone. That can cause the fur loss. They just want to treat.
 
HoneyNut said:
What is the significance of "+3", is this something that used to have a better result and now is worse?

It's so hard to know what to do with pets, I imagine the vet's purpose is to do all recommended veterinary investigations and treatments to extend the life of the pet, but as the pet mom you have to weigh the potential added length of life against the unhappiness caused to the pet, I mean, unless it will extend the pet's life all the tests are just making the pet unhappy for no purpose other than satisfying our curiosity (unless it turns out to be a treatable condition, but you can't know without the tests, there seems to be no best answer without being able to see the future).

And most of us cannot ignore the costs.
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Blood in urine is measured "trace to 4+. So 3+ is a significant amount. But this has been going on for 2 1/2 years. She shows no pain, she acts and eats fine. Blood work good, urinalysis all negative except the blood. One ultrasound negative.
 
@Remy I think you're right to spare her from the distress of another ultrasound. I'm not always sure that our vets aren't recommending things we don't need.

Our cat, Misha, had hyperthyroid disease. She constantly had diarrhea and was thin. Our vet recommended radioactive iodine therapy. We wanted the best for her, so we had it done for over $3k. She was in quarantine at the vet's office for one week, then in quarantine at our house for another week because she couldn't be around other cats. She passed away within a year.
 
seadoug said:
@Remy I think you're right to spare her from the distress of another ultrasound. I'm not always sure that our vets aren't recommending things we don't need.

Our cat, Misha, had hyperthyroid disease. She constantly had diarrhea and was thin. Our vet recommended radioactive iodine therapy. We wanted the best for her, so we had it done for over $3k. She was in quarantine at the vet's office for one week, then in quarantine at our house for another week because she couldn't be around other cats. She passed away within a year.
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Oh no. I'm sorry. My stepfather's cat has hyperthyroidism. She's doing well on medication twice a day. I pick it up at Costco and have to cut that little pill into quarters. It's working for her though. They did discuss that therapy, but decided against it.
 
Remy said:
This is my exact feeling. I don't know why Juniper has blood in her urine and neither do they. They want to test her for high blood pressure also. Forgot about that one. I am 99% no ultrasound. I'm tired of people telling me what to do and feeling obligated. At the expense of my cat.
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If needing more water is an issue, a cat water fountain is great. They dispense filtered water from one or more openings. I bought one, and my cat loves it.The catit brand is inexpensive and very cute. Sassafras drinks far more

water, flushes his system regularly. I notice a difference in his coat. Apparently, many cats don’t get enough water in their diet which can cause health problems.
 
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Vets have become very expensive and they have become unrealistic in expectations for what people can afford. My vet used to do surgery once a week and now does it once a month. I noticed the practice isn’t as busy as it used to be.

I used to get my 2 dogs yearly dentals now I do one dog per year because they range between 1-2k per dog. I know you love your cats and take good care of them.
 
seadoug said:
@Remy I think you're right to spare her from the distress of another ultrasound. I'm not always sure that our vets aren't recommending things we don't need.

Our cat, Misha, had hyperthyroid disease. She constantly had diarrhea and was thin. Our vet recommended radioactive iodine therapy. We wanted the best for her, so we had it done for over $3k. She was in quarantine at the vet's office for one week, then in quarantine at our house for another week because she couldn't be around other cats. She passed away within a year.
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Sad about your Misha, rest in peace little one.

I wonder if the treatments sometimes help to kill the pet instead of saving them. I had an old experienced vet years ago, unfortunately for me and my furkids he retired. My dog was diagnosed with cancer, and he was honest with me. He said putting her through chemo and radiation treatments would make her absolutely miserable, and they may only buy her an additional month or two of a life of poor quality. He also said the cost was not worth it, just keep her home and love her while I can. I miss that vet, he was very knowledgeable and really loved animals.
 
A fountain is a good idea. I'm afraid Juniper might want to play with it. But it's something to consider. They make kitty soup type things but many have fish and Juniper has a fish allergy. Though a little added water to the food helps too. Furball Farms Cat Sanctuary has a recipe they blend that includes pumpkin for their cats.

I called and cancelled the ultrasound. Like I said, the one over 2 years ago was completely negative. If there had been anything, a little spot or something, I'd of course do another to see if it was an anomaly or if something that could have gotten worse.

I will take her in for a tech visit to get her blood pressure taken. I did some research and it is something cats can have.

Thanks for your replies everyone.
 


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