The Life Of Heidi! Adventures of a Durham kitty in Devon.

[StewPots]

Evening all, this is a new thread all about gorgeous Heidi, following on from the thread started by Gatekeeper.

We answered her thread call to give this tiny kitty a new home and we drove from Devon to Durham and back in 24hours to do so...

Now Heidi is settling well at our place after being looked after perfectly by Gatekeeper, and this thread is all about the new life of a very little and brave cat with the bushiest tale known to catkind!

If anyone can link to the original thread it would be much appreciated :)

I'm sorry I don't remember now it was a three years ago, he got extremely ill shortly after being neutered with a high temeprature and refusing to eat or drink. He'd lost a lot of body weight when we took him to the vets and needed an IV and a series of drugs (was just one night of being unwell), and a week long stay at the vets who were frantically testing to see what was wrong.

He is perfectly fine now and once we got the diagnosis and started the meds we've had no problems thankfully.

We've recently had him completely checked over with bloods etc and he came up perfectly well. Altho obviously the meds have to continue.

@fuzzywuzzy ok thank you, I've never had a pet with any problems before, and obviously this is all a massive shock to the system.

Anybody know if Heidi will be "insurance friendly" or if any companies that will help? Ironically we were going to set her up on the insurance company we used for Harry this week as it's our pay week but looks like that's a no-goer for now.

Heart murmur is not a catastrophe. Obviously better without it. But not so unusual.
Love to all.

If she needs long term meds you can ask the vet for a private prescription & buy them online cheaper than the vet can sell them to you.

The vet will still need to see her regularly or they can't prescribe, so you'd need to factor that in.

Yes I'm doing a lot of googling now, seems a common problem.

That's a good idea about private medication, I'll certainly ask the vets when she goes back in a few weeks.

He just sounded so grave about it all especially when he said the grade 4 bit.

Nevermind. We will do whatever it takes to make sure she's ok. I have a boat in our car port that we have never sailed and doesn't look like we will ever have time to do that can get sold ASAP towards costs!

Does anyone have cover with VetsMediCover? It looks like that's the only insurers that will cover pre existing conditions so far.

God I'm so clueless. I paid about £5 a month for Harry, claimed once for his haematoma that was it. I haven't got a clue where to start.

So I can get insurance but as the condition is now already diagnosed it wouldn't cover that anyway so I'd have to bare the brunt of that myself.

If I'd have got paid a week ago basically I'd have been covered because as far as I was aware she was a happy healthy cat with nothing wrong. To me she still is though. Doesn't matter - we will do whatever to make sure she stays ok. Just wasn't expecting any of this today.

These things always happen before Christmas.

Do you use things like cashback sites? I'm on a frugal thread in credit crunch if you want to have a look. You can just lurk, lots do.

@Fluffycloudland77 thanks, I will have a look. Currently scaling back on things we don't use and looking at reducing outgoings etc. Luckily DH is getting a raise and a small bonus soon so that's good.

We can just about do it. It will obviously be a long term thing. At least after May I don't have tuition fees for DD and after August DS is in full time school so that helps free up over £200 a month. And we have lots of things we can sell like the old car and as I say the boat, so that should help with the initial costs.

I'm just so worried about her and the future though. She's been through so much already. I'm very down about it tbh. I know people say "it's only a cat" but I knew she was meant to be mine, we all love her so much I couldn't bear anything else happening to her

My car has recently been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. The medication is about £20 a month. I believe the plan is annual scans once they are stabilised, so hopefully not too expensive. What is it with cats being diagnosed with heart problems at the minute!

My car is really well since starting medication. Not that she was unwell in the first place, but I've seen a difference in her.

@Toddlerteaplease aww sorry to hear that :( but thank you for the reassurance. It's just such a worry and we can't go on her history as we don't know what it is!

We are just both a bit shocked tbh.

Priority One - she needs a loving home and a chance to play. Good food and plenty of warmth. Adoring worshippers obviously. She has those things in abundance.
Let her do her cat thing and don't beat yourself up about her health.
Private prescription meds sounds like a good idea. Plenty of advice here on the Litter Tray.

StewPots - do you actually know how much this is going to cost? You haven't had an official diagnosis yet ...

@YetAnotherSpartacus well, vet recommended a cardiologist which was roughly £500-£600. That's not an option for us this month but doable next month.

Today cost £230 with the consultation, bloods and some jabs.

The vet says if we don't go with the cardiologist but a vet who specialises in defects, so just under a cardiologist, that's going to be £300-£400 but that's only for diagnosis not for the treatment that follows.

All we know is she's been diagnosed with a grade 4 murmur and vet was adamant that further exploration and treatment would be needed,but what we don't know.

We still have to get her microchipped and further jabs done too so estimated costs after Xmas will be £400-£800 just for that and diagnosis.

Which we will do obviously I'm just worried about her :(

@shhhfastasleep thanks x

I know I sound OTT but I'm just worried about what the future holds for Heidi. Whatever it costs, doesn't matter we will find a way. But the shock of finding out and not knowing what stage we go to next yet has made me upset and DH too.

Heidi has thankfully emerged from the cupboard. We are treating her to some new toys later.

Oh Stew...am sitting here in tears reading this. Never in a million years did I think this would happen.I don't know what to say

@Gatekeeper hey lovely. I've emailed you. It's such a shame but other posters have reassured a little so that's good. I guess we know why someone dumped her now though. Poor little thing.

We will look after her though I promise. I've cried myself this morning but I'm a bit calmer now. X

Am so sorry to hear this. But just so glad she has a wonderful home with you, where she will be completely spoilt for the rest of her life.

I'm going through a similar time atm, though with my rabbits. Two weeks ago I had 5 healthy buns, I'm now down to 4 but with one in the vets looking very poorly, and another one who has started to worry me. The first two have conditions totally unrelated to each other, they've just happened at the same time. And I'm away for Christmas - the first time I'll have been away since Feb, so really, really bad timing!

Just read the updates. So sorry to hear that Heidi is not doing so well at the moment and I can imagine it was a bit of a shock to you today. Am assuming she'll have to be an indoor cat now too given she can't be neutered? But I think like other posters have said it can be entirely manageable once you have a full diagnosis. Sending hugs to you and Heidi today

@TimeIhadaNameChange aww sorry to hear that, it's so worrying isn't it? And yes, timing is never right is it? I hope they are ok.

@TheSassyAssassin yes we were a bit shocked but I'm sure she will be ok, time to think of the positives now.

We can't do much until the results come back so lots of cuddles for Heidi :)

Oh and yes, definitely an indoor cat from now on. Maybe she can have a harness but somehow I think that's her idea of hell so maybe not!

So sorry to hear the news @stewpots, not just for Heidi but for you and you husband who have done such a lovely thing, as has @Gatekeeper, I hope things aren’t as bad as feared and that things work out ok health wise and finances-wise. I’m sure I speak for everyone who’s followed this amazing story that everything is crossed for you all and sending nothing but very best wishes ❤️