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Original poster

Found our lost cat, but is acting strange. Urgent

152 replies

Harles · 06/02/2018 20:47

I don't know why to do, we just found our lost cat today and he was outside for 3 days but after i gave him a bath he seemed very limp and wouldn't move at times. He won't eat or drink willingly and won't fight me when trying to pet him. He's probably in shock but I don't know and it's very worrying. We don't have money to take him to the vet but we will if we have too. He's shaking like crazy and wont let me pick him up and he's currently hiding under my bed for bout 4 hours. Please help.

OP posts:
MyOtherProfile · 08/02/2018 04:30

Glad to hear he's home and well. What a scare.

lougle · 08/02/2018 07:16

"he had a broken sternum, a bruised lung, mild dehydration, an eye infection, and a couple puncture wounds"

It sounds like he's used a few of his lives up, doesn't it? I'm glad he's sorted, and I hope that this experience gives you more confidence to know that he's injured or ill another time (if there is one) without thinking that you're being melodramatic.

PlateOfBiscuits · 08/02/2018 07:22

I’m so glad he’s ok. Do they think he got hit by a car or into a fight or something?

purplelass · 08/02/2018 07:22

Wishing puss a speedy recovery, glad to hear he's going to be OK

crazycatgal · 08/02/2018 07:57

Glad that he's ok. I would now look online at pet insurance to cover you in the future.

cindersrella · 08/02/2018 08:00

Well said OP!

TeddyIsaHe · 08/02/2018 08:03

Get insurance!! It’s £10 a month and covers this exact kind of thing. I don’t understand why anyone with a pet doesn’t have it.

Toffeelatteplease · 08/02/2018 08:09

Are you OK moneywise?

Original poster
Harles · 08/02/2018 12:41

We are getting pet insurence, and i didnt know that iy existed cause the shelter we go him from didnt say anything and money wise? Not too good, but we can survive. We think he did get attack and fell from a tree. Not like a dog attacked but more of a raccoon.

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 08/02/2018 12:49

I can't believe the vet said bathing a cat with those injuries was appropriate.
Was this intended as a begging thread to pay for vet treatment?
If your cat is injured you have a moral responsibility to get vet attention ASAP. If you have no transport you get a lift or taxi or call a vet out.
If you can't afford pets you shouldn't have them. Decent owners have savings or a credit card at the ready or insurance.
Poor cat.

georgeoutside · 08/02/2018 13:17

We are getting pet insurence, and i didnt know that iy existed cause the shelter we go him from didnt say anythin

You don't get to pass the buck I'm afraid. Lack of insurance is nobody's fault but your own. If you can't look into the very basics when considering pet ownership then I'm afraid it isn't for you.

FuckyNellYaBastad · 08/02/2018 13:20

Glad he’s on the mend Smile

lougle · 08/02/2018 13:27

Perhaps you don't live in the UK? I can't imagine anyone not knowing that pet insurance doesn't exist Confused and raccoons would be very rare indeed here.

Valerrie · 08/02/2018 13:30

Decent owners have savings or a credit card at the ready or insurance

Are you saying I'm not a decent pet owner, because I was left homeless, in hundreds of thousands of poundsworth of debt in my name I knew nothing about, disabilities that mean I've had to give up my career and two children?

I had my five animals while I was happily married to a business owner, had a very good teaching career and my own home.

Things change.

I have no savings, I live week by week, I can't get credit and I can't afford pet insurance for five animals. Sometimes I go without food so my pets can eat.

That doesn't make me a bad owner. My animals are extremely well looked after and loved. I now keep the cats indoors permanently to lessen risk.

If something happened, I'd find a vet that would take a payment plan.

It's very offensive that you'd presume I'm not a decent owner because my ex husband was a twat and I've become disabled.

Withhindsight · 08/02/2018 13:33

Harles I'm pleased that your cat has been treated and is comfortable- but - a raccoon, where do you live? Sitting in dull uk here thinking that spotting the odd raccoon would brighten my day up no end- (not attacking my cat obvs, poor thing)

Original poster
Harles · 08/02/2018 13:39

Okay so now your putting words in my mouth I never said that. Everyone's different so just stop okay? Like damn. And oh it's my fault that I didn't know there was pet insurance, oh shun me. Yes I do regret not looking it up but seriously, calm down. And I couldn't get a taxi or a lift because I knew the vet bill was going to be expensive so I was saving the money for the actual vet vist, and if I called the vet to come that would be more. I was working with what I had. So I had to get a lift with a friend. And yes the vet said it was okay to give the cat a bath because it help clean the wounds some. It's not like I gave it a freezing cold bath and left him like that. And he actually likes getting bathe so I wasn't forcing him to do anything.

OP posts:
Original poster
Harles · 08/02/2018 13:42

And no I don't live in the UK, I didn't realize this was a UK site until after I posted the main post. So I just kept it because people were actually responding.

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 08/02/2018 14:01

I find it difficult to calm down at the idea of a cat with broken bones being bathed rather than taken to the vet ASAP.

Topseyt · 08/02/2018 14:06

I don't think you are a bad owner. I did apologise for my initial response being harsher than it should have been. We don't have it easy financially either.

I am glad your cat seems to be on the mend now, and that it was something treatable.

Pet insurance is a good idea, especially while your cat is young and likes to go out and about. I just hope that this incident won't make it too expensive or cause insurers to exclude too much.

I still have two dogs although my cat has died. They are very elderly now too. Their age has meant that yearly insurance premiums for them, even though they've been in good health all of their lives, have become very expensive. I couldn't carry it on, but I do keep a credit card largely free so that I could pay vet fees if really needed.

Aridane · 08/02/2018 14:19

Glad you've taken cat to vet. Hope recovery goes well.

gussyfinknottle · 08/02/2018 14:57

You did the right thing - taking your cat to the vet. I hope everything goes well.
We none of us have the perfect solution or all the right info about our pets.

honeyroar · 08/02/2018 15:45

I think people are being harsh now. The cat did get to the vets that night and is under treatment - hope it will be ok. The OP didn't wash the cat to hurt it, she didn't realise it had a broken bone. Most of us won't have experience of a raccoon attack - the injuries would have needed cleaning as well as treating, I'm sure. And the op has learned about pet insurance (and perhaps other people). I also think rescues abroad aren't as good as ours sometimes (I was horrified on seeing Macy's in San Francisco's Xmas window full of rescue kittens and puppies hoping to be rehoused as Xmas presents! When I told the organisers that uk rescues never rehome over Xmas they were amazed).

Time to say alls well that ends well, learn from this, and best wishes for the cat, in my opinion.

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 08/02/2018 18:43

Glad to hear kitty is okay.

SuburbanRhonda · 08/02/2018 18:52

No way would a vet in any country recommend bathing a cat which was obviously badly injured. They clean the wounds with antiseptic, not soapy water, at the surgery.

gussyfinknottle · 08/02/2018 18:56

Bathing of cats is often used as part of flea treatment and/or removal of skunk smell (as in the animal) in other countries.