Stan's not pooping?

I cannot confirm for sure that he has not gone, the only place that we can put his litter box is where the dogs can also get to it.

We cannot afford an emergency vet visit - we just had to take one of the dogs in and it was nearly $500, our rent is due today and I'm the only one working right now (my boyfriend recently lost his job). It is going to be financially stressful on us to take him to the vet on Monday, but we are going to because he needs to. We cannot take him in before then because the one we use is not open on the weekend and I have to work today. At the emergency clinic it's about $100 just to get them seen, plus everything else on top of that. This isn't just about money either, our emergency clinic here is not a good one - I have heard of more pets dying there from misdiagnosis than them helping. They also nearly killed one of my dogs and one of my friends dogs.

Your boyfriend is not working- can he take him in today? I am sure your vet can hold a check until Monday or Tuesday...

far as your knitting-be careful cats tounges can easily have a string caught on because the toungs surface is rough and will hook on fast. I would take a fast peak into his mouth make sure nothing there. could you use a gate on a bath or bedroom door-he could jump over and dogs couldnt? or if huge dogs he could go under if lifted a bit. they are cheap at walmart type stores.

Hopefully something will appear today

My boyfriend can't drive, so he wouldn't have been able to take him anyways. I also don't know of any vets around here that take cheques at all, very few do payment plans either (for larger things).

I was talking to a girl at work today about it and she suggested that I go to her vet, it's in the country so they tend to be open on weekends unlike city vets. I was also looking for a new vet anyways for the dogs, she highly recommends them and it's much cheaper than my regular vet. She said an office visit there is $49 + whatever you need, whereas at my current vet it's $69 +. I called them while I was at work and they said that we could come in at 9:45 tomorrow morning, so we're going to bring him in on our way to my parents place. Here's hoping that they do tattooing as well (I'm also having troubles finding a vet that does that, everyone except Stan is microchipped but I also want everyone's thigh tattooed). I've had a hard time finding that too, but more so because I've only asked city vets, I asked a friend of mine that has her dogs tattooed and she said to ask around at country vets because they routinely do horses.

So we'll know for sure what's going on tomorrow morning, then Stan will get to hang out at my parents house with us.

Hoping that all goes well - and good for you for checking out all the possible resources.

First I want to say thank you to everyone on here that has offered advice to us with this. I would like to say that money isn't a problem, but in reality for us right now it is. We are doing everything that we are able to with Stan to ensure his quality of life, however, we also need to keep a roof over our heads and make sure our other pets can receive care as well. So I feel that ultimately, it will become a deciding factor in what we end up doing.

Things are not looking good for Stan. She checked his mouth and he has a couple of really bad teeth, back left hand side, one on top, one on bottom. Eventually, they will need to be extracted. So that explains why he wasn't eating, and in turn why he wasn't pooping. Like I said before - nothing going in, nothing coming out. She didn't feel that he was constipated, just that he wasn't eating enough to produce waste. She suggested for now that we water down his wet food so that he can basically drink his food. She also gave me liquid clavamox to help with the teeth for now, this way I won't have to pill him and she said that the injectable one isn't very effective for teeth. I don't think it will be a problem.

If only his teeth were the problem, but they aren't. When she palpitated his abdomen she felt fluid. This was the same problem that we had been told by another vet was worms (pot belly appearance). She said that we could do an xray or she could try to get a sample directly. I allowed her to get the sample, she said he was wonderful for it. She got two little viles of fluid, one they were going to test to make sure it wasn't urine, the other they are going to send out to confirm what she suspects. She thinks that he has feline infectious peritonitis, it has already progressed into the wet form which also progresses more quickly than the dry form. She also thinks that the stress from moving here with the dogs made it progress more quickly, although with his interaction with the dogs today while we were at the vet she thinks that he is fine with them now, and since they leave him alone at home that we don't need to separate them. In all likelihood he will not live long enough to get the infection in his mouth under control enough to have the dental done, and even if he did, the stress of the dental would probably kill him. When my boyfriend was out having a smoke with the dogs, she said that if it is this, as she suspects is it, that he will have anywhere from a few months to a year to live but also suspects is will be closer to the few months. I did ask her to be brutally honest with me with all possibilities, so she wasn't just jumping to conclusions.

I have called the store where the adoption center is to let them know that he may have this, unfortunately the actual agency is closed now for the evening and we won't be able to get in touch with them until Monday. I also have to call the vet again on Monday to see what the results are of the additional testing we did are.

The vet was absolutely wonderful and I believe that we will be taking all of our pets there from now on - very nice staff and great prices as well. Today's visit was $155, he received a thorough exam, had some fluid removed from his abdomen and his medication for his nasty teeth. At the vet that we had been using, this would have cost us at least $400 and most likely more than that.

I am so sorry Stan is not doing well... A few things to bring to your attention: there are not tests done on a living cat, for FIP. Also, if your cat has wet FIP, he is not going to be living some months to a year... That sounds strange to me...
I would take care of his teeth ASAP as that is affecting his eating, and see what happens from there - just my opinion for what is worth... He needs to eat...
Good luck Monday!

The test on the yellow/tan liquid from his abdomen checks for protein levels or something, that indicate FIP. It is one of the most useful tests in diagnosing, from what I've been told and have read.

His teeth cannot be done until he has been on antibiotics for them, and until we know for sure what we're dealing with with the fluid. She said that all signs right now are pointing to FIP.

She also gave that timeline when I asked how long she thought he may have, it was based on cases that she had seen and consulted on and the stage that she believes the disease could be at at this point. She said it may be less time, it could be more.

He is eating fine now when we water his food down and heat it up.

Edited to add: She said that there is no treatment for the disease, only for the symptoms and to make him comfortable. Once it is confirmed for sure, we can drain his abdomen and keep him on medication.

I am so sorry the news was not better - but Stan couldn't be in better hands.

Here are some pictures of my furry little boy:

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/autopsy_survivor/?action=view&current=IMG_7984.jpg

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/autopsy_survivor/?action=view&current=IMG_7980.jpg

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/autopsy_survivor/?action=view&current=IMG_7979.jpg

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/autopsy_survivor/?action=view&current=IMG_7974.jpg

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b304/autopsy_survivor/?action=view&current=IMG_7938.jpg

Awww poor baby

Aww. I hope Stan feels better soon. He seams to have landed in the right home. He is a handsome boy! Reminds me of my Stinky I had when I was growing up.

He's still hanging in there, has good days and bad days right now... there were a few days when we got home where he'd happily lap up his watered down wet food, then he would barely touch it. We had to take one of our dogs into the vet on Friday for something so I asked the vet about an appetite stimulant for Stan to get him eating again, she gave me a 1/4 tablet of something that starts with an M, I forget what the name was though. I gave it to him yesterday, he was a lot easier to pill then I thought he would be. I accidentally dropped half a can of tuna out of the fridge today, he came running over and ate most of it. He even did it while the dogs were there also trying to get some. I put the rest of it in his bowl, just so that he'd eat SOMETHING and then we had to leave to go to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. When we got home a few hours later it was all gone, so I gave him 1/4 can of wet food NOT watered down and he seemed to enjoy that a bit more than when it was watered down so his teeth must not be bothering him too much right now. We're going to try to water it down a bit, but not to the extent that it was before.

We've also started letting him in the bedroom a bit more, as in whenever he wants to go in, lol. It's not helping my allergies any but it seems to be making him much happier and kind of forcing him to walk around the apartment more than he was. In the last two days he's been scratching one of our couches and dragging himself along it like he did when he first got here.

He hasn't seemed to have lost or gained weight, but his abdomen fluid seems to have gone down slightly so that part is a plus. We just need to get him eating more so that he gains some weight.