- Joined
- Jun 29, 2013
- Messages
- 230
- Purraise
- 175
I've made a variety of posts, feel free to read them for Simon's backstory.
Over the last week, his already ravenous hunger has increased even further - and despite adding another can every day, we're just maintaining weight (and honestly, you'd think he'd gain a little with the additional food); He was roughly 8 lbs 3 oz when we took him in about a month and a half ago - and he weighed in at nearly the exact same weight today. He's starting to have more and more episodes of increased aggression to the point where I very narrowly avoided needing stitches a couple different times. I had thought the appointment was just for a simple blood draw, so I sent my Mom while I took care of some things here at home that are difficult to do when Simon is around. Here's what was referred to me:
Because they were unable to get urine or stool, they sent at-home collection kits home with Simon - and because we've got some things going on the next couple days, it's looking like Wednesday would be the earliest we could attempt collection.
I have a question about the urine collection; They gave me a small bag of this non-absorbant litter and said that I am to empty his litterbox and fill it up with this litter instead. When he goes, I collect it with a pipette, put it in a tube, and take it back to the vet. The problem is that there is NOT that much litter in this bag. I doubt it would even cover the bottom of Simon's litterbox. How does one do this?? The stool collection is just a tube with a (for lack of better term) little spoon that I'm assuming I scoop a small amount of stool into. I've never had to do at-home collection before, and I don't want to mess either up.
**I included the prices as I was curious about the costs myself, and could rarely find anyone list how much they had to pay; Keep in mind, those costs are at a small vet clinic in a small-ish town in Illinois. Larger cities and specialized practices will likely cost more**
Over the last week, his already ravenous hunger has increased even further - and despite adding another can every day, we're just maintaining weight (and honestly, you'd think he'd gain a little with the additional food); He was roughly 8 lbs 3 oz when we took him in about a month and a half ago - and he weighed in at nearly the exact same weight today. He's starting to have more and more episodes of increased aggression to the point where I very narrowly avoided needing stitches a couple different times. I had thought the appointment was just for a simple blood draw, so I sent my Mom while I took care of some things here at home that are difficult to do when Simon is around. Here's what was referred to me:
- They tried to get urine/stool - but because I hadn't expected those to be ran today, I had let him urinate before he left. I don't know why they couldn't get stool, but it's likely due to the fact that we're still trying to get him regulated after the Clavamox did a number on his GI system.
- They were able to get enough blood to run some basic blood tests (from what I can tell, this means like a CBC, Thyroid, and some others; This part ran $293). The vet thinks we should get the results for those back tomorrow.
- If the initial blood test results don't show anything, he said they'd have to send the blood - or the results, I'm not entirely clear - to a lab at Texas A&M to have it reviewed for an additional several hundred dollars. If THAT doesn't show anything, we would likely need to put Simon under anesthesia at the cost of $700+ dollars - and as cold as it sounds, we just can't afford that, especially not after $290 today and whatever it would cost to send it to Texas A&M (and the few hundreds of dollars we've spent on other vet visits since September). This isn't even touching on the fact that he doesn't do well with Anesthesia.
Because they were unable to get urine or stool, they sent at-home collection kits home with Simon - and because we've got some things going on the next couple days, it's looking like Wednesday would be the earliest we could attempt collection.
I have a question about the urine collection; They gave me a small bag of this non-absorbant litter and said that I am to empty his litterbox and fill it up with this litter instead. When he goes, I collect it with a pipette, put it in a tube, and take it back to the vet. The problem is that there is NOT that much litter in this bag. I doubt it would even cover the bottom of Simon's litterbox. How does one do this?? The stool collection is just a tube with a (for lack of better term) little spoon that I'm assuming I scoop a small amount of stool into. I've never had to do at-home collection before, and I don't want to mess either up.
**I included the prices as I was curious about the costs myself, and could rarely find anyone list how much they had to pay; Keep in mind, those costs are at a small vet clinic in a small-ish town in Illinois. Larger cities and specialized practices will likely cost more**