Sicky Cat! Can't afford x-rays! Help!

o.k...My cat is 14 years old. He has had what I thought was just a cold for a few months now. I took him to the vet and they put him on some strong antibiotics which helped a little, but not alot. I took him for the recheck and they put him on Amoxicillan and prednisone (sp?). He seemed to get better after that. Not all the way though. Now that he has been off the antibiotics for like 2 weeks he is much worse. The steroids don't seem to do anything so we took him off them. The vets think he has a nasal tumor and want to do x rays that cost like $180.00 and we just don't have it. They said that this would be the next thing they would do. Otherwise , there is nothing they can do for him.
What should I do? His face is swollen and now his eye is all goopy. There is discharge coming out of his nose. He is still hungry and eating, but he can't be comfortable. Help!

There is a group IMOM I believe that may be of some help to you. Also CareCredit. Will your vet allow you to make any payments.

Find a vet that accepts monthly installments, meanwhile your cat suffers. One of my cats needed a $2000 surgery and I went on a payment plan.

Do you live near a Veterinary College/University?

Most of those have public clinics - all have extremely experienced Veterinary Specialists available, as well as the most modern diagnostic equipment.

Costs are much nore reasonable........could this idea help?

The other posters have given you some good advice.

The prednisone...how much and how often? It could have maybe been increased, did you ask the vet about that? It's not something to stay on long term but it's generally very beneficial when there is inflammation causing trouble. When you stop the prednisone, the dosage needs to be tapered off.

Have you called around to see if the xrays could be done for less somewhere else? I think I paid $75 for 2 xrays at a vet school....I can't recall exactly but that is something to check into.

I hope you can find a solution...I'll be thinking positive thoughts for you and your cat.

The website for IMOM is http://www.imom.org/

Please go check them out - your cat needs help ASAP!

Thank you all so much for you help and encouragement. I ended up making an appointment with another vet.

I called my origanal vet to see if there was something else we could do or maybe put him back on antibiotics since that helped him before. The receptionist said that the next protical listed in the chart was the radiographs. I asked if I could have the vet call me or my husband and she sounded all huffy said yes. I asked ,"will that be this evening?" She said ,"well, it will be within the next 24hrs."

That was enough for me.

So I went to the other vet and they got me in right away. She put him on 3 kinds of antibiotics and said he would probably have to be on them for 4 to 6 weeks to make sure the infection was out. She told me they could do radiographs, but if it is a tumor there is nothing they can do for him anyway. I mentioned the Prednisone to her and she said that it coudl make the infection worse and also make his diabetes come back. ( he is now off insulin)So rather just treat the symptoms and see what happens and hopefully it will cure him, or at least make him more comfortable.

So, needless to say, I have a new vet!

That's great news, glad you got your kitty to another vet Hope he gets better soon!

I'm glad you found a vet who is willing to listen to you. Don't forget to get copies of your cat's chart from the old vet!