Worn down by pet illness and dealing with vets

[Petownermisery]

Totally depressed really. I have 2 ragdoll cats. They are always ill. I did research the breed and knew there is a risk of heart issues but otherwise general consensus was they’re no sick prone than other cats.

Have pet insurance and also pet plan with vets4pets. Costs me a fortune. Like everyone else we are really struggling financially despite me and my DH working fulltime - we’re having to pay loads every month to help our twins with university costs.

Over Christmas my female cat had a respiratory infection. Lots of trips to vets including weeks of trying to get tablets down her twice a day. She is a ragdoll but hates being picked up she is according to the vets “spicy”. Couldnt claim on insurance as just under my excess.

Since then she has had chronic diarrhea, piles of it everyday. Vet couldn’t get blood out of her as she is “spicy” and blew her vein trying to do so. We have to force feed her a probiotic everyday which she hates and is now going feral running away from me as she associates me with trying to put stuff down her mouth.

Vets said they need to send a stool sample off which is about £470. My pet insurance said if vet fills in a form they can do a pre authorisation so I know whether they will cover it under my policy. Vets say yes they can do the form for admin fee of £32.

Take stool sample in and vets say no as claim has already started I have to pay upfront. End up having an argument at reception with them showing them the email from them saying pay admin fee and they will send off pre authorisation form. In the end they say “miscommunication” at their end. No apology nothing I fact they were exceptionally rude making me feel even worse about everything.

Cat is currently lying upstairs sneezing with a runny nose again,

I really can’t cope with it all. She’s been to the vets so many times now, last year it was for multiple eye infections where I was charged over £100 for a vet fee and an eye drop,

Her brother is always ill too, constantly throwing up.

I feel I do everything right, but only the best quality vet recommended food, given them heated blankets, paid thousands for a cat proof garden and my life is just miserable with them being constantly ill. I cannot afford all their illnesses and while I appreciate the vets is a business their fees are astronomical.

So depressed by it all. Everyday I am monitoring their food intake and whether they are eating - some days they barely eat, monitoring diarrhoea and cleaning up sick. All while dealing with the stress of work and having a family,

The cats must be absolutely miserable being ill all the time. It's no life for them. Would you consider having them put to sleep?

I think it's probably time to have them euthanised. I don't personally believe that it's ethically right to breed these pedigree animals that often come with a host of health issues which results in suffering. These cats can't possibly be happy or comfortable. I'm a massive cat lover and have three myself, but if one of them had ongoing suffering, I'd opt for painless euthanasia.

No advice sorry, just sympathy,I know how wearing and depressing it is when animals are unwell.
Might be worth getting cheaper less rich food?
Hope things improve for you and them.

I have thought about putting them to sleep but we adore them my twins would be devastated. I bought them as they are meant to be really loving and excellent “therapy cats”. They’re not though hate being picked up.

When they’re not constantly going through periods of illness they are happy outside in their garden.
lawful decision to have to make.

How long have they been in poor health for?

Is there any way they could be rehomed?

How old are they?

Could someone like PDSA help you?

Well they had upset stomachs a couple of months after we got them. We’ve had frequent episodes of them taking turns throwing up and having diarrhoea.

Every December they start sneezing despite living in a warm house. This year female cats turned into a respiratory infection. She’s had 3 eye infections.

Male cat is the healthier of the two. They are 3 years old.

I could cry knowing I will have to dip into my savings again to pay more vet fees.

I bought them after one of my twins was self harming and told me a ragdoll would help with her mental health. Waste of time though as both cats not very friendly.

How old are they?
I would be asking for a referral to a specialist, and/or going to a different clinic for a second opinion.
I am quite shocked that the immediate responses on here are to get them euthanased. Christmas was a month ago, that is all. You don't get pets killed because of a bad month.

We don’t receive any benefits so PDSA won’t help.

You can't euthanase them just because you can't pay the bills for runny nose and runny poo,why not re-home them? Surely if still runny nose you can now claim in the insurance,that's the joy of insurance?and vets4pets are ok with klana aren't they?

It’s constant runny noses, constant sickness and constant diarrhoea, constant eye infections. It’s mentally wearing me down and financially crippling me.

If your fed up just give them to the RSPCA to find them a home.i too am amazed people would kill 3 year old cats for this!

The excess of my insurance is £100 and every episode of illness costs a couple of pounds under the excess so I can’t ever claim.

Surely if it's a constant ongoing respiratory problem the insurance counts this as an ongoing issue,they sound like they need referral to investigate properly, all of which should surely be under one claim.

What the actual fuck?

Not sure why people don’t understand how stressful and upsetting it is living with constantly ill pets. Of course I don’t want to euthanise them but I will admit there are some days when I think it would be easier without them.

Like last night when I’m forcing a probiotic down my cats throat which causes her so much distress she won’t come near me today. But guess what she will have to go through it all again tonight and for another 10 days.

But if it’s an ongoing issue surely you shouldn’t be paying excess each time?!

Maybe get a second opinion,or tell the vets the probiotics is too hard for you in case there's something tastier or just admit them on insurance if it's too hard to manage at home.

Not sure why people don’t understand how stressful and upsetting it is living with constantly ill pets.

I understand that very well. Although I wouldn't class an infection and diarrhoea over a four-week period as "constantly ill" and I wouldn't be considering murdering a young cat over it.

The op has said they have frequent episodes of being ill - starting when she got them. That's a constant 3 years of stomach, respiratory and eye issues. What sort of life is that for any amimal? Along with the stress of repeated vet visits.

“Art” you haven’t read my post properly. They been poorly for the entire three years I’ve had them. And it’s getting worse.

Oh OP this sounds really upsetting, relentless and stressful for you. And for the cats.
I can't think of a solution to
Improve the situation but I wonder if a different vet might be more understanding.
Because at this point you need
a) some sympathy for this never ending situation
b) healthy cats

For a) I totally get you. From experience of dogs as I've never had cats, there are periods of weird never ending issues then everything settles. But, financially, is a drain, even with pet insurance, it's constantly paying out and you can't claim. I totally get that feeling because I've been there a few times myself.
B) have these cats had all their vaccinations? Is there a supplement you could give them to improve the general state of their wellbeing? Is there a better brand of food specific for digestive issues (I know Royal Canine do stuff for dogs). Can you prepare the food yourself adding natural probiotics (whatever the cat equivalent is to naturally yoghurt for humans or cat probiotic diet supplements).
Have a look at somewhere like youmove or Vincent Vet for supplements. I think you might need to overhaul their diet completely with a wholistic approach.
I don't know about eye infections in cats, but for my dogs I use room temperature chamomile tea or normal black tea as soon as I see an eye discharge I apply with cotton wool as much and as often as i can and I also use human eye drops called Brolene. Would cats respond to a similar treatment?
I really really do hope things improve for you and your cat's version soon.

I've read your posts again and just can't believe how much you and some repliers are catastrophising run of the mill illnesses like conjunctivitis and diarrhoea. A huge proportion of cats are infected with calicivirus and will have frequent eye infections and runny noses. Same as many humans will have multiple colds and infections a year. Suggesting this leads to a crap quality or life or justifies euthanasia is absurd.

If you can't afford them then rehome them responsibly.

People go absolutely bonkers over pets (not you OP, but the people saying that putting the cat down is murder). It’s a cat. Yes we should be responsible owners and take our pets to the vet when there is a life-threatening or curable disease. But the culture now of treating cats with chronic diseases like they’re humans is just ridiculous and in my view probably driven by vets and insurance companies.

Giving your cats probiotics is just unkind and pretty unlikely to actually help. I would just ask the vet to be completely honest about how curable some of this stuff is and just stop treating it if the treatment isn’t helping.

My vet is actually really good. My rabbit has a chronic skin problem. The vet said that the only way to know what was going on was a biopsy under anaesthetic costing nearly a grand. The rabbit isn’t suffering so we agreed to do nothing.