Cat keeps eating everything in sight, also throwing up.

[Flightattendant27]

Our cat is 10 and normally Ok. lately she has been eating everything - I mean, hoovering up crisps from the floor, cheese, anything...

I've been feeding her two or three sachets a day, and tried giving her dried food (senior stuff) but every time she eats dry, she throws up.

Two days ago I gave her a drontal in case she was having worm problems (hasn't been treated for several months)

Yesterday she started throwing up her sachet food as well, then just nothing as she was empty. She seemed quite upset.

I fed her last night and I think it stayed down.. and now she is hoovering again. I'm a bit worried about her. She's quite slim, not skinny.

Could she have reacted to the drontal? She's had it before without any fuss.

You don't need to Bella, I understand where you're coming from, I think, and I don't need you to get angry with me in order to convince me that the situation is not ideal.

I was letting off steam about the fact that I believe the vets near here are overpriced and that perhaps that is one of the reasons that people abandon animals - not that I would do such a thing.

I have fostered many rescued cats in the past - yes, the labour intensive ones too, adopted several over the years, and cared for them and taken them to the vet and paid for their treatment. Some had horrid diseases which I treated until they were in too much pain to carry on, and then on the advice of our vet, paid for them to be put to sleep.

that vet has since gone under and I'm left with just the two very expensive ones - one of which is not even very helpful.

It makes me angry and I resent your implication that I am not a caring owner. I just feel quite annoyed that I will have to fork out a lot of dosh if she has something wrong with her.

I'm not saying I shan't bother taking her, but I am not sure what good it would do as I can't afford the treatments anyway.

We don't have PDSA or Blue Cross services anywhere within about 40 miles so that's out.

For the record, I am not angry but I cannot really say any more than I have done already.

I have not implied you're not a caring owner and am categorically not going to get into a slanging match over this.

Actually, having thought about it, I don't really understand where you are coming from.

But fwiw I am sure you have the cat's best interests at heart.

In case anyone is interested, she has not been sick at all since the other day, and seems perfectly healthy.

I'm sorry that you are in this situation.
it sounds now like your cat isn't struggling and obvisouly not suferring.

So, maybe keep an eye on how much she is eatign and weigh regualarly.

If you notice changes then get it checked out.
I ahev bene a vet for 20yrs and have no idea what is worng with your cat over the internet.
i do know where i would start looking and how to make a diagnosis.

If you do feel the need to go to the vet, then hoepfully you'l get a diagnosis and then can decide re treatment options.
You don't have to spend money you haven't got- but you do need to feel you've made an informed decision.
Maybe the vets can do a teatment plan.

Good luck

Thanks Oops, I appreciate your equanimity, and I'm sorry to both of you that things began to kick off.

I'm sure you try to be fair with your pricing, Oops - equally I suspect others are not.

It must be frustrating to try to give advice and seemingly have it ignored or the topic diverted into a rant about something not particularly relevant.

It frustrates me though that a lot of animal welfare groups, in my limited experience, seem to disapprove of pet owners or would-be owners who do not have enough money to take their pets to the vet.

The way I see it, I suppose, is that an abandoned animal is better off being adopted by a loving, if poor, family, than being consigned to the sanctuary for the rest of its life, or worse, put to sleep.

The cat who was curled up on my lap purring and being scratched and fussed for half an hour this morning is unfortunately not in a position to voice her opinion, but I think she is happy and loved.

It is such a shame it all comes down to money. If it would cost me say a tenner to have her seen, then maybe if she needed an op, perhaps a hundred pounds payable in installments - that would be our limit really, unless I started selling off more of the furniture - it would be doable. Sadly it's likely to be much, much more than that.

Perhaps they do an installments thing - it would be worth asking.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to try and help.

The vet I used to work for accepted instalments.

Most vets, ime, are not out to make lots of money but genuinely want to help animals and if it's a question of money getting in the way of an animal being treated they will usually find a way round.

Apology accepted - all I was trying to say was that I didn't think there was much point me repeating myself.

Very best of luck anyway.

Bella

I have worked for chairites all my casrrer, so i have the luxury of not haing to proice stuff up.

Contact me on mumsnetoops at gmail dot com if you like...

it's hard- money doesn't grow on trees, especially now.
I think what happens is that what vets CAN do now ends up being more and more and the equipment costs alot and further training etc.

So we offer a much much better/extensive service than even 10-15yrs ago.

Maybe yrs ago there were more limits and so we would end up trying out a few treatments, more specualtively....
and now we hahve access to all sorts- and that costs.

sorry- rambling- i've got my own shit happening just now- involves the NHS funding my treatment... but that's a whole mega thread

Thanks Oops, that's very kind of you.

Yes I think there is much more equipment, diagnostic stuff and so on...which is great if you are in a position to make use of it.

I have found there is a low incomes clinic about 7 miles away which I might try if she gets poorly again.

So sorry to hear you are having problems. I hope you have some luck wrt that xx

thanks for your message on the other thread.
I had it pulled as it was getting a bit factual and it may well be that there are legal isses with it now- so I want it all to go of fthe web IYSWIM.
Shan't discuss it on here any more- but thanks x

TBH I would wait a few more days-a week till sending to the vet. cats often have little incidences which resolve themslves over a few days.

When and if you go to the vets, ask specifically for the prices of tests etc before getting them done. My kitten had constant diarrhea and pooing all over the house b4 xmas, took poo sample to the vet thinking it would be £20-40, bill comes through- £70!!! peeved that they didnt tell me quite how much it would be. they also said i had to pay the whole amount in one go(later found i didnt) and so eventually went to debt collection. £119 later situation resolved, vet practice swapped but very bitter about it and practices non transparent pricing

it reminds me of harry&paul- the sketch with the junk shop and the dumbwit women-I saw you coming

Oh Oops I hope it all gets better soon xx

SMW - that's scary. I do think some practices are less ethically minded than others - there should always be transparency. My mother took her rabbit in to one a few years ago, and they did various tests and so on without any warning. It cost a small fortune and she was very upset.

But some are great - the one we used to have was always charging much less than he should. Which was probably dodgy but it enabled me to afford to keep my cats and treat them until they died.