The thing I find really amazing is the bill your vet has proposed to you. Seven hundred dollars? For removing a tooth, my wife would have charged a customer no more than 200 euros, that is around 300 dollars, and maybe even less. Prices and customs are really different around the world...

Anyway, Acadia, three things:

1. Obviously we are a bit too apart for a "real" medical advice, but if in the future you will need an opinion, a guess, an idea, whatever, about your pets, just mail me and I'll forward your questions to my wife. It's not much, but I'll do it gladly.

2. Best wishes and a kiss on her nose to your baby. May she live long and prosper like a Vulcan cat.

3. This is the last arrived in our home. Her name is Amélie and her tail is no less than 27 centimeters (almost 11 inches).

Giorgio

Quote - My wife is a veterinarian so I know a lot of pet stories, some happy, some sad.

The thing I find really amazing is the bill your vet has proposed to you. Seven hundred dollars? For removing a tooth, my wife would have charged a customer no more than 200 euros, that is around 300 dollars, and maybe even less. Prices and customs are really different around the world...

$200 Euros is  $319 CAD.

The vet did say that if turns out that it's only one tooth involved, that the cost would be about $300 CAD. But given her age that there are likely more teeth involved that need pulling. Plus she needs special consideration because of her kidneys. She needed 24 hours of hydration before the surgery, and possibly another 24 hours after it too.   But he also said that he doesn't know what he is dealing with until he actually gets her under anaethetic and has a good look in her mouth and providing an accurate quote is not easy because of that.

Quote - Anyway, Acadia, three things:

1. Obviously we are a bit too apart for a "real" medical advice, but if in the future you will need an opinion, a guess, an idea, whatever, about your pets, just mail me and I'll forward your questions to my wife. It's not much, but I'll do it gladly.

Thank you so much!

Quote - 2) Best wishes and a kiss on her nose to your baby. May she live long and prosper like a Vulcan cat.

1. This is the last arrived in our home. Her name is Amélie and her tail is no less than 27 centimeters (almost 11 inches).Giorgio

Amelie is beautiful!  And such a long tail!  Chynna's tail is a stubby 9 inches, and the picture of her on the window sill chasing a bug is the constant position of her tail. She's a very regal kitty and carries her tail proudly!  hehe

Quote - This is the last arrived in our home. Her name is Amélie and her tail is no less than 27 centimeters (almost 11 inches).

Now that's one seriously cute kid! How old is she?

Also, Acadia: set you a PM. Let me know.

The office manager called to give me an update on Chynna.

Apaprently she needed quite a few teeth extracted. She will have some left, but not a lot. Not sure how many were pulled or how many she will have left.

She will probably be staying another night there for hydration and pain management. 

When I talked to the vet on Monday, I told him about Gerry's random act of kindness, and he was so touched that he started to tear up. Apparently he told the office manager that the procedure was capped at $700.00, which is a good thing because from what the office manager told me it was "considerably higher"

I believe she will be staying one more night there for more hydration and pain control.  Gerry told me that if it's not covered in the $700.00 he will pay that too.

I'm just so at a loss and an emotional wreck over this whole situation.  First my kitty was sick and then she was better, and then she was in lots of pain that I couldn't do anything about, and then she was scheduled to be euthanized, and then Gerry rescued her.

Chynna is sure one lucky, and loved kitty!

I'm so eternally grateful for all of the words of support. You have no idea how much they mean and how much they have helped me get through this.

Attached Link: LOLCAT Bible

http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

My kitty, Bubba is sending Chyna some big smiles and hugs for a very speedy recovery!

And Tigger wants to offer some tips on convalescing! She say's make the most of it!
(Tigger had to have stitches on her hind leg when she was two years old), and as you can see, she convalesced to the hilt!  When I saw her cut, I had her and myself in the car and driving to animal emergency faster then I could dial the phone. To this day I don't know how I did it.

She convalesced with her 'goofy' beanie baby. This is the "I'm feeling so drowsy" pose!

4/9/08

Acadia:

I am also a nurse. I suspect that there are a few of us in this forum. I hope you can get back to work soon. I know I would miss it if I could not do my job. I understand the limitations that being on disability imposes on you. I have to fight with that insanity for my patients all the time.

Even though you must be out of work, we all appreciate everything you do for our community.

Thanks for the updates on Chynna. I hope she will do well. You will both be in my prayers.

God bless,

LMK

Quote - My kitty, Bubba is sending Chyna some big smiles and hugs for a very speedy recovery!

^ THAT is one HAPPY looking cat!  He been in the catnip?  or just naturally smiley?

The other cat is prescious!  I knew a cat that carried a little little wrigly worm with a jingly bell in it around all the time to play with.  She was so cute!

@Acadia--I'm glad things are looking up for you and Chynna.

Quote -
Now that's one seriously cute kid! How old is she?

In this picture, she was 50 days old. Now she's a bit older, but still a pest!

And her "EarSize" and "TailLength" morph dials are stuck to ridicolously high values. She is a toon kitty!

Acadia: I am very glad to hear the good news of your little patient. I was aware of the currency conversion: with "maybe even less" I meant that the total bill for the surgery could be less than 300 dollars, no matter how many teeth were involved. But I suspect that the price difference is due to the hospitalization. My wife owns a medical office, not a clinic, so she's not able to host patients for the night. Here in Italy, veterinarian clinics are rather rare.

Giorgio 

She's home!

I opened the carrier and she ran out and made a bee line for her food dish. I gave her 2 well rounded tablespoons of soft food  and she snarfed down about 1/2 of it. I guess it will take some time for her to get used to not having all of those teeth to help keep her food in the right place. She ate about 1/2 of it.

She took a drink, used the litter and found her way into the pots cupboard for a good snooze!

They sent me home with syringes for antibiotics and medication. I have to give both twice a day for 4 days. She needs to go back in 10 to 14 days for a follow up.

They capped the procedure at $700 for the surgery, 2 nights, blood work, take home medications and follow up visit!!

She has dissolving sutures, and a little bandage on her front leg which I can take off. But she's napping right now so I won't worry about doing that right now.

I'm just so happy that my baby girl is home!

Abby isn't all that impressed though! She's laying on the rug glaring at me!

Ah, great news Acadia!!
Hopefully that's the worst overwith & she'll be fine after a bit of rest.
You do realise she'll want spoiling now & she'll make the most of it!

Is Abby jealous because Chynna is getting attention?

That is great news.   I'm so happy for you and Chynna.    I'm betting it won't take long for her to adjust,  especially  since she won't be in pain when eating.  

Maybe you can give Abby an extra cuddle when Chynna is snoozing to ease the jealousy factor.

Quote - Ah, great news Acadia!!
Hopefully that's the worst overwith & she'll be fine after a bit of rest.
You do realise she'll want spoiling now & she'll make the most of it!

Is Abby jealous because Chynna is getting attention?

They're very jealous of each other. If I'm brushing one, the other is right in there too.

Quote -
They're very jealous of each other. If I'm brushing one, the other is right in there too.

Yeah, I know what that's like. I used to have a cat that would sit there glaring & make his ears look like an owls if you made a fuss of one of the others.

That's great news! But keep us posted on further developments down the road, huh? And how can we send a collective thank you to your guardian angel?

Wheeeeeee!

Great news!  I'm happy for you. People can make miracles happen when you least expect it. ^__^

Quote - That's great news! But keep us posted on further developments down the road, huh? And how can we send a collective thank you to your guardian angel?

Chynna is doing so well! She's a bit stoned from the Hydromorphone that I have to give her for the pain. Her little face is a bit swollen too.  But she's such a trooper.

She's been eating. She ate more than a can of cat food since she's been home. Plus she's used the litter box twice, drank lots and has been leaping up onto the couch and walking around to the window to look outside. I think she's on my bed sleeping right now.

I talked to Gerry and asked him about giving out his email address.  He gave me an alternate address instead of his main one.

If anyone wants to drop him a note, you can at this address. He knows me by my real name Linda, not  my user name here

my5kitties at yahoo dot ca

Acadia:
I can relate to your story so much.  We have adopted more pets than we should have ... We have had to "put down" some over the years ... mostly due to poor health that could not be fixed.  Fortunately only one was because we couldn't afford the proper treatment.  He was 20 years old and his kidneys were going out and we couldn't afford the dialysis.  It was most likely his time. 

We had one cat, Gadzooks.  (I use that name on many websites as my id) I still grieve for him.  He was the smartest, lovingest ... I use to take him for daily walks on his leash.  The nieghbors would say hi to him by name every day.  We still miss him so.  But he had diabetus (sp) and even though we gave him insulin twice a day ... he got a mouth infection and the kindest thing was to let him go.

He was a friend, a pet ... and a comfort when we were sad.  Thank you for letting me share this.  I'm so glad your little girl is okay!!
Peace and kitty love
Boni

Just bumping this for a progress report... : wink :

And Boni, what a charmer he must have been.

Oh, Boni, he sounds like he was such a darling! They truly are very precious :)
Now, he's a little angel, with you all the time.

I have worked in a Vet Hospital, and despite my beliefs I know that there are times when euthanising an animal is mored humane than allowing it to suffer for a procedure you can not afford.

A tooth - well that's a bit extreme, I personally had an older cat that we adored, previous tenants of a house we rented had left her behind as a kitten and in hunger she snuck in the house one night and ate my cockatiel.  Despite that we adored her and she moved across country with us, we had her for 10 years until she disappeared.  She had lost her teeth by then and I had to feed her canned food (only for her - the rest of the pack gets cheap dry food) so dealing with a tooth loss is not that major and there must have been something the cat could be given for pain of that sort.

It's wonderful that she is fine now and happy with her eating.

Despite loving animals look at what is happening right now - people are losing their homes and they have to move in to rentals - this means that their pets are ending up in shelters, hundreds of pet so loved they even have microchips.

Sometimes we are forced to make hard decisions - part of the responsibility of owning and caring for an animal is making those very difficult decisions in order to insure the quality of and pain free existence of our furry friends.

I have been lucky enough to have had past vets euthanize on occasion for free i.e the kitten that required an 1800.00 dollar surgery for the neighbor's dog shaking it and tearing and twisting it's intestines in the process - even with surgery there were no guarantees and that kitten was in serious pain, the cat that I found one day in my living room digging into a cat food bag that had been attacked by a wild animal and had it's bowel's pulled out - it was actually semi-disemboweled with it's bowel system hanging out, again surgery was no guarantee for this animal.

Handing a cat over to a shelter is almost impossible as most of them are over crowded now and an older cat that requires surgery will most likely be euthanised.

$700 is a steep price, but not when one considers the 24 hour boarding fee and the hydration costs (I hope they gave her electrolytes, studies show animals heal faster if hydrated before and after with electrolytes).

I no longer have my favorite kitties, for over a year I was down to 5 cats including my beautiful Hero a big tom I had nursed to health after he was rescued and then someone trapped them and killed them with a baseball bat and threw them to the side of the road (mind you I'm in a rural area and we had 2 acres at the time & no they were not hit by a car).  We found 2 one day and then the other 3 a few days apart for another week. bastards

Anyhow, now we have 3 plus the new litter and 85 acres for these to roam, plus we are no longer near where the cats are being dumped so these are the last batch we'll end up with thanks to strangers.  A good thing because my allergies have become far too severe now (I'm allergic to their waste - not their fur, so they use a pet door and there are no longer any cat boxes in the house, helps immensely!).

Here are the newest babies, we have homes for 1 girl and 1 boy, 2 kitties are tortoiseshells and the other 3 are tabbys.

I admit, I have very liltle patience when I see people mistreating their pets. I've come to getting into fights with guys who had their dogs on jerk-chains and thought nothing about jerking as hard as they could when the animal inadvertantly did something the "master" didnt like.

And while I know that sometimes you have to make difficult choices, just leaving the animal behind in a locked house is a pretty lousy answer. I've always felt that when you take on that kind of responsibility, you see it through, no matter what: a pet doesnt ask for much -- food, shelter, and love. And that's pretty little compared to what they bring to the equation.

Chynna  is doing quite well!  She's back to cuddling and jumping onto the desk shelf by my knees to let me know she wants to be picked up and cuddled.  The swelling of her face has gone down considerably. And she has been Miss Cuddle Bug in bed too.  She's even back to using her scratching box.

She's still eating, but not as much as she was when on pain medication. I've got about 10 different types of foods, including that a/d recovery that she liked so much before,  open in the fridge, of all different flavours and consistencies.  She eats a bit when I put one out, but doesn't finish off the plate.  I think she's having a hard time adjusting to not having her teeth to chew the food. She's one of the few cats that I know of that actually chews their food! 

I take her to the vet at the end of the month for a follow up, and I'll have them weigh her. Hopefully she has put on a bit of weight.

Good to hear!

 wow that's amazing!

Great news.  It might take her until her mouth heals up completely before she'll be scarfing down food again.  She's probably still feeling a bit traumatized, so cuddle-bug strikes!  She'll back to normal in a month or so, when she gets over the stuff that happened to her.  Just keep loving and cuddling and she'll be fine.  ^__^V,,

Ow Acadia, how much painful it must have been for you and your kitty!
But i can see your story is full of hope, there are some people who have not forgotten to be a human :D

I must say at first reading of your story, i asked myself what i would have done. I'm the proud owner of 3 devils (i must rather say THEY are my owners ;) ), and i use to say i'd rather avoid to buy me some food to feed them, if i was in a difficult financial health. Of course, i had never thought about such money you have been told to pay to cure your sweetie.
I had another cat before the actuals, a white perfection ^^
She had a heart disease since she was born, and we knew it would only be worst with time, and that she only had a few years behind her :(
She wasn't suffering, but there was a risk she would one day, and my inner fear was that she had suffer. I was asking myself what should i do. We tend to be egoist when those questions arrive. One day, i woke up on the morning, and she was lying on her seat. It happened only a few minutes before i woke up. We had had another cat at this time, a small kitty about 2 or 3 months. He was sitting just next to her, as he wanted to peace her. During 4 months after that, he kept climnbing on our shoulders, because he felt so lonely. She wasn't his mother, but she acted as. He was as black as she was white. Our hearts were broken after this loss, and more seeing this little cutie so sad, so we got another one, to play with him.

As soon as i have more time, i will post some pics of those babes.

We are responsible for the care of our pets. This means sometimes we have to make decisions that seem cruel may be the only way to make the animal comfortable. If my horse broke his leg I would have the vet put him down. There are situations where you can pour all the money you have into an animals care and still have to put them down. Look at Barbosa. He had the best care that could be given yet in the end it didn't matter. Sometimes I think we as humans are too selfish to see that even though the animal is suffering we can't bear to let go. Thank goodness you had a patron to help you out but I agree that if he hadn't it probably would have been better to euthanize your cat. Look at all the horses that are out there now that can't be ridden for whatever reason, old age, or lameness as an example, yet people take them in and beg for money to keep them alive past their time. Am I an animal lover? Yes. 3 dogs, 1 horse, 3 donkeys, a cat, 2 birds, chickens and a multitude of wild animals that I feed in the winter. I never forget that I have to sometimes make decisions that seem cruel to people but are actually in the best interest of my animals.  

That's a wonderful experience Acadia, especially when your situation is a desperate one. I myself love cats, but our last and only cat got real sick and my brother had to "take care" of her. I would love to get another kitty, but my situation is no better than yours. I can't even take care of myself. :crying:

it sounds like a good outcome :)

inspired art, if you want a cat you could ask at the animal shelters about fostering. In my area they have animals put out to foster for a while to get them back in good condition and start training them so they are easier to get adopted. The shelter will provide the food and accessories you need and take care of any health problems if they occur. The downside is you have to give up the animal after a few months . It may be different in your area but it could be worth asking. :)    If you are having trouble yourself there are a few posts about sources of help in the forums. If you want to drop me a pm I can maybe give you places in your area . 

...such a great story o

i'm glad that there are still people which are willing to help. you really had luck!

can't believe that the vet's want soo much money for just one teeth O_ô
damn money >_>

i really understand what you feel for your cat! i have two ferrets since 2 years and i can't imagine a life without them. they bring us so much happiness when they play and make funny noises :)
when i'm sad i just go to see the sleeping little animals and stroke them 'til i feel better. it's a great feeling. they give us joy and we give them joy... we want to make their life better... they are really like children for me too...

please cuddle your cat from me, she is soo cute! :)
i wish you two a wonderful life together! enjoy your time!

The reason it costs so much to pull and animals tooth is they have to use anesthetic and a team to put them under and care for them while it's done. They do that even to clean the teeth in some cases, which is why I put my cat in a pillowcase so she can't scratch and brush her teeth myself. Same with the dogs. The horse donkeys and goats are on their own. Forgot to mention my goats. When I lost my dog I offered a $1000 dollar reward. The people who found her opted to use the money to do surgery on a little pup someone threw out of a moving car. He's ok now btw. When my daughter's dog got sick she called a number here in town and was connected to an organization that paid the vet bills for her.  Lots of money out there just have to find it.

I'm glad the kitty is better, putting down a family pet is always tough.

The last animal I had to put down was I stray dog I found at school one day.  Had her for about 10 years and she was pretty healthy but at the end she got a bad brain disorder that was incurable.  We did some expensive tests and tried to treat her for awhile, but it was just too rough and she wasn't even making much progress.  Basically her brain got out of sink and she'd forget who she was and where she was every time that happened and was frantic and confused afterwards.  Even worse is we had to put her down on the one year anniversery of my father's death.

mila, vet bills are just getting crazy these days and I don't think the level of care is improving with it.

anyone needing financial assistance could try one of these:

http://www.saveuspets.org/
http://www.sdshelters.com/assistance.html

There may be more local sources but the two above are a good place to start.

Acadia, that is so fantastic to hear that he did that for you. He deserves a special place in the afterlife. :) I am happy for you that you get to keep your sweet kitty a bit longer...hugs

Thanks :)

She's still with me and doing well. She had a bit of difficulty adjusting to the loss of her teeth because she's one of the few cats that actually chews her food before swallowing it. So after weeks and probably $100 in wasted cat and human food, I managed to find a cat food and flavour that she actually likes and I've been giving that to her exclusively. Safeway doesn't stock enough for me to buy in bulk for the month, but they order it in for me once a month.

She's actually put on some weight too! claps and is so cuddly and playful.  She's 16 1/2 years now and still healthy. 

I'm back to work and on the payroll again as of December 3rd, so in January I'm taking her to the vet for a follow up on her kidneys. I also need to get Abby in for her senior blood panel and have her mouth looked at too, and possibly a dental procedure for her as well seeing that she's 10 and hasn't had one.

I'm so eternally grateful to Gerry!  Chynna has been a constant bright spot in my life for over 16 years and I'm so glad that she can grow old with me a little while longer. She really is the very best cat that has ever owned me.

What a wonderful story, specially in this days when we think twice before trusting someone, specially a total stranger.

I'm so glad your kitten is well and happy.

I love cats, I had a couple, male and female, Milk and Trunks. Trunks died of cancer after a lot of treatment and care, he couldnt make it. I miss him everyday of my life, and its being over 5 years now. Milk feels lonely too, she's constantly in need of atention since then.

He was so unique, everytime I think of him I get tears on my eyes.