Kohaku's Home!! ^____^

[Ryuukokoro]

So last night I noticed Kohaku kept going into the litter box and crouching like he was urinating but nothing is coming out. He did this several times and I called a couple different vet clinics (because he hasn't had any problems since we moved to Indiana so he doesn't have a set vetrenarian yet). I was hoping one of the clinics would do a sliding fee or a payment plan but the only one who does is a vet emergency room who totally freaked me out because when I called she was like "Omg that could kill him you need to bring him in right now and we'll keep him overnight which will be $800" and now I'm all freaked out because I seriously can't even come close to affording that. Not to mention I don't own a car so I'm limited to vet clinics that are close by on the bus route. I'm trying to call two clinics nearby for their advice but I guess 1 pm is lunch hour for vets or something because neither is answering! >.<

Sorry Ryuu is panicking right now this is more just like an explosion of panic. If Kohaku dies I don't know what I'll do. I'm going to go try calling again.

[PonyMama]

Calm down, you will figure something out, but Cat's like kids can sense mood changes so you want to try and stay calm.  Kohaku will be fine he has an owner who cares and is trying to find out what is wrong with him.  Give him some loves and keep the phone going, someone will help you

[Poupou]

I know this is really stressful, I can't blame you for that.  But like PM said, relax and keep the phone going until someone answers.  They have to, we're in the middle of the week, in the afternoon. (Well, depending where you are, of course!)

*Huge hug* Keep us updated on the situation. <3

[Ryuukokoro]

I think it's kinda obvious that's what I'm trying to do, Dunkel! -_-

[springacres]

Sounds to me like he has urinary calculi, or a UTI.  Both are fairly common in cats though neither of mine have ever had either problem.  If it does turn out to be urinary calculi, your vet will probably give you a prescription for special food that he'll have to be on for the rest of his life, and he might need surgery to remove the initial blockage, but hopefully you'll be able to find someone nearby who can take care of him for less than the emergency clinic charges.  (Emergency clinics are nearly always more expensive.)

However, common or not...I can understand freaking out.  When Callie had her bloody diarrhea last week, I went into Panic Mode.  Fortunately, it turned out to be easily treatable; she's responding very well to antibiotics (it was a clostridial overgrowth, they think) and there was no obstruction or perforation.  But emergency vet visits are no fun.

Have you considered applying for CareCredit?  (www.carecredit.com)

[Keeper]

I hope someone answers the phone soon for you, being lunchtime they may not answer yet but im sure your cats not going to get really ill in the next few hours so all should be fine *hugs*

[Ryuukokoro]

Okay I finally got a hold of one of the clinics close by and made an appointment for 5 pm. She said that bringing him into the clinic for an exam is $30, and if it's just antibiotics they're going to put him on, that'll probably be another $20. That will almost wipe out my bank account... but that's the best I can hope for at the moment.

Of course I work at 5 pm, so now I have to try to find someone to cover my shift or I'll get in big trouble at work. -_- *goes back to the phone*

[Scullisto]

Ryuu you got paypal?

[PonyMama]

Big breath.
good job, kitty has a doctor's appointment so that is a good thing.  Sorry about havign to miss work but maybe you can see if you can just come in a while later so you don't lose a whole shift?

Your baby will be good

[BabyKittenCandy]

Not much to add but my support. *hugs*

[Ryuukokoro]

Thank you everyone. I'm trying to stay calm. My baby boy is just sleeping in a sunbeam right now without a care in the world of course, but all I can think about is how long he's had this problem without me noticing before now.

Scullisto- I do have paypal, it's ussfantasy@hotmail.com. I might try to set up some USD adoptable fundraiser thing on this site later when I have a diagnosis from the vet and I know what's going on with him.

[Scullisto]

Sent you some fundage...its not much but at least its something.

[Ryuukokoro]

*sniff* *hug* Thank you guys so much for the donations and the encouragement. It's hard living on the opposite side of the country from all your family and people you would usually run to. The well wishes here have really helped. You guys are all awesome.

[Math]

I wish I could help, but the only thing I can do is send you my prayers and I hope that your cat gets better. I know how depressed I would be if Cielo got sick.

[Tribe]

Sweetie i dont know how close you live to new castle indiana but theres a vet around here (really hes in moorseville but itll be easier to find new castle) thats the best vet ever. He does exams for cheapo and shots and antibiotics for way cheap. Usually any sorta medicine for a cat he'll charge like $5 for!

[Ryuukokoro]

Thanks hunni for the info, I looked for New Castle on yahoomaps but it's an hour away from Indianapolis, and without a car I can't get that far. (Taxi fair would be huge!)


So I called every single employee at Dairy Queen and no one can take my shift. Ended up calling the store owner and he thinks he can probably come in for a few hours while I take Kohaku to the vet. So now I'm just sitting at home waiting for 5.

Kohaku is being all affectionate and sitting on the table next to me and I'm trying to stay calm but I keep thinking things like he's acting this way because he knows he doesn't have much time left. I hate waiting.

[Tribe]

*pats ryuu* im sure he'll be okay love!

and wow you just live in indy, i make trips to indy every other week or so though i must say i rather hate driving there!

[Keeper]

he is just acting that way because you are upset, cats know when we feel sad and he is just trying to cheer you up. you would know if he was really bad because he would be in pain and irritable.

*hugs*

[Ember]

Oh dear! I really hope its nothing too serious. Waiting is the absolute worst part. I'm afraid I can't do much more than express my concern and hope he'll be alright. I'll definitely be wishing for him to get better. <3

[YourLoveOnly]

I am here hoping with you, sending good thoughts your way. *hugs*
And if you end up having to do a USD fundraiser I'll go ask my parents nicely if I can buy something, they are usually pretty co-operative when it comes to helping people out. But of course I just hope it's nothing serious <3

[Ryuukokoro]

I'm heading to the vets now. Please keep me and Kohaku in your thoughts. <3

[Garney]

*good thoughts!*

[Keeper]

will be here waiting. *good thoughts*

[YourLoveOnly]

Will defenitely be keeping you both in mind. I hope it will all be okay!

[Math]

You both will certainly be in my heart, aswell as Kumah's, Caesar's, Moses's and Cielo's. We hope that it turns out to be not too serious.

[Ryuukokoro]

Okay I'm back from the vet.

They're keeping him for the next three days, because they're keeping him on a catheter and an IV to get fluids into him, and giving him antibiotics. They also took an x-ray to check for kidney stones, and took blood to check for bacteria blocking his urethra. (Those are the two most likely causes for him not being able to pee.)

I don't remember everything he quoted me because there was a whole lot of information shoved into a short time. I remember he said the x-ray was $80 and the blood work is $120. He said altogether the whole thing is probably going to cost $350. (There's the cost of keeping him overnight for three days and the antibiotics, etc.)

The good news is that I stayed around until the x-rays and most of the blood work was done, and everything looked 'good' (they didn't see any kidney stones and his blood seems normal so far). But I don't know what that means...then what COULD his problem be? Could it be something even worse?

Also, I don't have $350... I gave them all I have in my bank account now as a down payment, and I get paid of Friday which should cover almost all of the rest. I'll probably be trying to hold some USD sales here so I can stay afloat (probably be selling some of my Kennel dogs, other pets, etc).

Thank you everyone. I'm going to go eat a microwave dinner now since I haven't eaten today at all and then I'm going to go to work because my boss said to come in when I was done with the vet. I'll be home tonight after my shift.

[YourLoveOnly]

O.o that's quite a lot of money..
I'm defenitely gonna try to buy some stuff, maybe do some adoptable customs for USD instead of having to sell your own pets? I dunno what you'd prefer. Just know you're in my thoughts and I'll try to help if I can

[Keeper]

*hugs* thats a lot of money but its worth it to make sure he is ok. maybe get a pet plan or something like that just incase it happens again, if it is a urinary infection he may get it again. xxx

I would help but i have no money at the moment and have a few things to pay out for myself xx

[BabyKittenCandy]

*snuggles Ryuu*

Im so sorry to hear its gonna be so exspensive hunny.. I will see what I can do, if anything, to help you raise some funds.

Only advice I can give you atm is try not to worry yourself silly and remember we are all here for you.

[WillowDragon]

I know I haven't been around for waaay too long, but I send you and your kitty much love and good thoughts.

I get paid on friday too, if I am around then, i will see what i can do 

W xx

[hiyoko]

I'm sorry Ryuu.;_; I hope he'll be okay.

I think two of my cats, Moon and Mullay, had something like that a few years ago. They had to have surgery on their bladders or something. They're fine now, though the weird thing was they're from different litters, while Mushu, who is from the same litter as Moon, didn't have that problem.

[springacres]

aww *hugs* Glad to hear everything looks good so far and he's being taken care of, hon.  I get paid tomorrow so I can probably manage a small donation then (and believe me, I know how it feels to have your bank account wiped by one vet visit!)

[indigowulf]

I absolutely agree about looking into CareCredit. About a year ago, my cat went missing. He's almost 13 years old. He came back after 3 days, the same day I put up posters offering a $500 reward for any info leading to the arrest of the petnapper.

(someone had told me they thought they saw a guy in his early 20's taking Cocoa into thier house)

Turns out this guy had him for 3 days and did nothing but abuse him. No reason, everyone in the apartment complex loved Cocoa, he's a big attention whore. They had pulled his tail so hard, they tore the nerve, it's been paralized ever sense. They didnt feed or water him that whole time. Vet noticed tenderness and shaved the area, you could see treadmarks from the guys boot where he kicked my baby in the side of his tummy. I guess it's a good thing that the people refused to tell me who it was who had my cat, or I'd be happily in jail right now.

They had Cocoa at the vet for several days, the bill was *huge* (several grand). If it wasn't for Care Credit, I'd have had to put him down, or rob a bank or something.

[Ryuukokoro]

I actually do have Care Credit (because I got my wisdom teeth taken out a year and a half ago... which I'm still paying off) but no vet in the area accepted it except the emergency room that wanted to take him overnight for $800.

Update for Kohaku: I called this morning and the vet was handling an emergency but I talked to his secretary. She said Kohaku is doing much better! She didn't know any details about his test results but she said he's still on the catheter and the vet wants to keep him on it for one more day. But hopefully he will be able to come home tomorrow!

I'm concerned that I won't be able to find out the reason why this happened, and won't be able to stop it from happening again. I really can't afford to spend $350 multiple times to keep sending him to the vet. And the guy wasn't very helpful explaining what might be wrong when I was there (though really I was kinda internally freaking out and didn't ask enough questions, either).

[Keeper]

When you go to pick him up just ask then, if he says its hard to know why just ask what you can do to prevent things like it happening, such as diffrent food or bottled water etc.
Im so glad he is getting better xxx

[springacres]

I'm so glad to hear he is doing better Ryuu

[Poupou]

I'm so glad to hear he's doing better, Ryuu! *Huggles* Hopefully the vet can help you prevent this in the future at least!

[Ryuukokoro]

......so now they're holding my cat for ransom. -_-

I called this morning and the vet said that Kohaku can come home. He used the litter box after the catheter was removed and it all appeared to be normal. Then the vet said that if it happens again they have to do surgery to remove the tip of his penis, which will cost at least $500. -_-

So then I walked down to the vet clinic and the secretary said the total will be $450. I panicked and said that was $100 more than what was quoted to me on Tuesday when I dropped Kohaku off, so the secretary called the vet (who was out on his lunch break) and he told her over the phone to drop $75 off it, but to keep the extra $25 because that's the cost of the antibiotics that I'm taking home to give him.

I then explained that I get paid tomorrow, and asked if I could write the check and put tomorrow's date on it, and she said she can't do that because it's illegal. I explained that I gave them all the money in my bank account as a down payment when I dropped him off on Tuesday, and almost all my pay check tomorrow is going to them as well. They said they will hold Kohaku for a day and I can pick him up tomorrow when I have the money. And they'll be charging me $8.50 to board him overnight.

So now my cat is being held for ransom and I owe them more money than I thought and I embarrassed myself by breaking down in tears in the vet's office.

She let me see Kohaku before I left. He is in a metal kennel with a big orange bandage on his leg, and a bare patch on his neck where they shaved him (for the IV I think). He jumped up as soon as he saw me and tried to get out, so I petted him and hugged him for a long time and then walked back home alone.



I don't even know what I'm going to do tomorrow... I have to work until 5. I think the clinic is open later than that since my appointment on Tuesday was at 5. So.. I guess I'll run to the clinic after work and write a check and then drop Kohaku off at home and then run to the bank and put my paycheck into the ATM to deposit it, since the bank will be closed by then. I don't think the check for the vet will bounce since I'll be giving it will be so late in the day, it will probably be processed by the bank on Saturday... *rubs head, willing headache to go away*

[BabyKittenCandy]

That is pretty crap of them to not take the check.. its not like they would have put it in the bank before tomorrow anyhow!

*hugs Ryuu and wishes she could do more to help*

[PonyMama]

doesn't overly surprise me though.  Unfortunately when it comes to our pets they know we will get the money asap so they continue to charge, raise prices and whatnot.  I think that they are charging you when they are not allowing your cat to leave not by your choice they shouldn't charge youf or boarding, but at least it is a small amount really.  And the fact they took off $75 is nice, still not what was quoted but less then they tried to get out of you.

[hiyoko]

That sucks Ryuu, too bad you don't have a small vet office near you. The one here is pretty nice, they let people they trust/know will pay, every week on something big like that. But I agree, I don't think the check will process that quickly.

[Keeper]

Aww i hope it all works out for you, it should be fine although its still stressfull im sure *massive hugs*

[YourLoveOnly]

Aww, I can believe that really sucks. I would have broken down too. Of course you want your baby to be home with you <3 I agree about the check, should work out fine and you will be able to get him tomorrow. Not that that helps you for now.. *hugs*

[Goddesss]

The check will defiantly be fine tomorrow.  By the time you give it to them the bank will be closed.  Unless they actually go and cash it on Saturday at your bank it wont clear till Monday at the earliest.

*hugs*  Poor Ryuu and your beautiful boy.  He will be home soon.

[bewilderness]

*hugs*

[Ryuukokoro]

Kohaku is home!!!!!

He seems to be doing fine. He came out of the carrier and walked right across the room to the water bowl for a drink, and he is very happy when his mama pets him and gives him attention hee hee. He has a big shaved patch on his neck and his front leg is wrapped in a neon orange bandage, which he licks a lot and then gives me a look like "can't you take this off...?"

He ate some and then went to the litter box without a problem! What a good boy! (And I'm sure thought it was strange that I'm hovering in the doorway watching him go lol.)

Mango, the girl kitty, seemed to cause a lot of trouble while he was gone. She stole my headphones and my glasses (!!) and tried to carry them off in the middle of the night. Now that he's home I hope she is happy and settles down some lol.

I will be getting photos up asap! Just waiting for the cell phone to charge! ^^

[Poupou]

Yay Ryuu!!!    So glad he's back home with you! <3

[YourLoveOnly]

Yay, I'm so happy to hear that <3

I will be sending $10 your way to help out still, but I am waiting to be absolutely sure Garney puts up no more slots. I loooove Kennel breedings xD If no slots open up I will happily purchase some customs from your own thread, I love your adopties ^^ *is waiting for Ishmahri info to be put up and then tries to decide what to get from which adoptie* O.o

[Ravvana]

That is wonderful, Ryuu *hugs*

[BabyKittenCandy]

Yay!

Im so glad he is safely home with you again and seems to be doing good