Well, fuck.
I rescued a cat in a parking lot a month ago. I was going to have her spayed and find her a home. But today, I don't know what happened. She was fine this morning but now she's confused, stumbling, lethargic and really out of it.
I have about 75 dollars I could spend on her right now without immediately imperiling the roof over my head. I contacted my vet, double booked and don't think they could help her anyway. Called animal hospital, I can't afford it and was denied carecredit. I called 3 other vets, same boat. I called 4 shelters, they aren't taking any cats right now under any circumstances. I called animal control, they'll euthanize her.
I'm really sad. I feel like such a piece of shit but there really isn't an option which I can get any more money. I've begged and bargained. I have no one to borrow money from. No credit to speak of.
I have two options here. I can cry on the phone to my vet until they let me euthanize her there today for 50 dollars. Or I can take her to an animal hospital where the fee to be seen is 75 dollars so she can be seen but at that point I can't do anything else and then I have to cry and beg them to put her down or take her to animal control to be put down. I'm leaning towards just euthanizing her at my vet because I feel more comfortable weeping at them.
I would appreciate it if you wouldn't make me feel like a worse piece of shit than I already feel like I am. I know I shouldn't have a cat if I can't pay for the vet but I wasn't planning on keeping her, I just could afford to get her spayed and vaccinated at the low income clinic so I wanted to give her a shot.
Pic was my childhood cat.
Should I let her die at home if she doesn't seem distressed, just sleepy.
Well her condition seems to only be worse. With the lack of any other input or option I have "indecided" to just let her die at home unless she seems to be suffering. She seems very peaceful and that it would overall be more stressful to drag her to a vets. It all has happened so quickly I imagine even if I had been able to finance hospital intervention, I don't know if it would have saved her. Of course I really would have rather known and been able to provide her that care. I still feel really bad about not being able to. If they had imprudently approved me for the murderous 14% percent interest care credit loan I would have taken it.
>>1997708
Why are you so hell bent on her dying? It just sounds like she is recovering from a seizure/stroke.
>>1997822
I don't want her to die. I have her on a heating pad set on low and I've given her pedialyte by syringe.
But she's a kitten, she shouldn't really have anything like that. And her symptoms, rapid decline and current condition make it seem pretty likely she's dying. All the vets and the animal hospital thought it was very grave.
I would have had some hope if she hadn't continued to decline.
You probably should have found her a home that could have afforded her. Taking in a cat is not rescuing it. Taking a cat In and having it spayed, examined and given all of its shots is a rescue.
>>1997828
Somehow, being a feral and eating garbage, constantly fighting with other cats, and constantly evading predators is preferable to a loving home that can't afford to take her to the vet for emergencies. I guess dying in an alley of an infected wound, starvation, illness, being eaten, shot, or run over is more enjoyable.
Good luck finding an affluent home for every adult feral cat that happens to be friendly.
>>1997828
I would have really liked to. I've only had her just going on 4 weeks. Like I said I found her in a parking lot where she was nearly ran over. I had her first round of vaccinations. I would have been happy to send her on to a better home but it is very difficult to find an unspayed cat a home quickly if at all. So I was increasing her adopt-ability and keeping her while I looked. I also would have happily given her to a rescue or shelter but they were all not accepting cats at this time. The only place that would have taken her was animal control and the clerk told me that there was a 95 percent chance a scrawny black kitten would be euthanized at the end of the week.
I didn't give her a great home but I think it was a better shot than the near certain death that was the other option. Certainly I loved her a lot. But like I said I wish I had had any better option.
>>1997848
Not to sound like an asshole but this is a good opprutunity to teach someone something new.
Feral cats are not characterized by being friendly to humans. A feral cat is one that was born outside and had little to no interaction with people; feral cats by definition are frightened by people. What you more than likely have is a stray cat; a cat outdoors who was at one point someone's pet. A pet cat becomes a stray cat once it is roaming outside and unable to identify an owner for the cat.
>>1997863
You're correct and not that it matters but this kitten was feral, pretty sure it was a kitten of a feral that lives at a dump that ran into the banks parking lot.
But first thing I did was take her to a clinic to make sure she was disease free and just in case there was a microchip and she later became tame.
The cats at the dump I can't really do anything about but this one ran into me and nearly got flattened so I spent the day trying to grab her before she got hit.
Well, she hasn't died yet. She still doesn't seem to be suffering at all but still seems very gravely ill. She drank a little water and kept it down. In the morning if she is still here then I will do another call circuit around and maybe someone will have thought of somewhere I can take her or have pitied me enough. And if it feels like she's suffering or will have a slow, lingering death then I will revisit the euthanasia option. The vet is open until noon.
Maybe by the grace of a non-existent god this will have been really insanely bad gas or something and she will wake me up by kneading my neck like normal.
>>1997985
Good luck. It sounds like you're doing the best you can for her. If she makes it through the night she probably has a chance. It's a good sign that she kept water down.
>>1997985
-there are low cost/free clinics you can get cats spayed at
-how young is she? it's good she's taking water.
Gotta say this sounds like hypoglycemia. Has she been eating? Google up, see if symptoms align. Do you have Karo syrup, honey, maple syrup, anything like that? Could try smearing some on her gums.
>>1997985
also i get you're a girl but crying is not a good way to get things. if you're not underaged b& you gotta examine your life. not to say you did a wrong thing by taking a kitten off the street!
>>1998018
It isn't the spaying that's the issue, I can afford that and was due to do so shortly. I can afford regular vet expenses which is why I took this cat to try to find it a permanent home. We have a low income spay clinic. All was well until she got so violently ill. It is just so severe she would need the animal hospital or to stay at a vets and only have about 75 dollars in cash and no credit right now. I'm pretty sure she is 3 months old and that I got her at about 8 weeks of age. She's had first round of shots, worming, and testing for FIV/FLV. Was going to spay after my thanksgiving holiday paycheck.
>>1998020
I did rub maple syrup, the kind that is just Karo syrup, on her gums which maybe helped lead up to her keeping water down so maybe that is the problem. I'll do it again.
>>1998009
Thanks, it made me feel good to see her drink because I figured that even if she is still dying it means she is more comfortable.
>>1998025
Sorry I was being a little hyperbolic there, I really only got a bit choked up once. In reality I did more of a honest explanation of my plight in hopes of gaining sympathy but when I was writing the post I guess I got dramatic.
>>1998031
yeah it's fine :) just wanted to make sure you knew about the low cost clinics. wasn't trying to imply you did wrong.
is there anything around the house she could have gotten into that could make her sick? house plants, chemicals, pills? Was she eating okay before the symptoms started occurring?
three months is older than the advice I can give for a sick kitten. are you giving her wet cat food or dry? is there anything you have that'd be really appealing to her?
if she is still eating and drinking, it's a really good sign.
>>1998042
I've come up with like a thousand scenarios in my head of what could have happened but I just don't know. Right now I'm paranoid that maybe she swallowed something like a milk tab or hair tie which I typically wouldn't worry about and let a cat play with but now seems like sinister oversight. I'm also worried about maybe a drip down the detergent bottle side or something. There wasn't anything obvious or negligent but now I'm suspecting anything. I used to own cats before and so I know the general dangers. And worse, even if I discover it, unless the cure is rest I can't do much about it.
She isn't eating solid food right now, just drinking and I have rubbed syrup in her mouth twice. She's not interested in food right now, tomorrow I will pick her up some wet food if she makes it though. Something good.
I was feeding her wetted down taste of the wild cat food because the vet helped me get a lot of samples of it and directed me to do so. She's had no health problems except coccidiosis when I found her but was successfully treated and given a clean bill of health.
Her gums are black naturally so I can't tell how pale they might be, this also seems a bit like internally bleeding. She maybe took some kind of fall? Not that I saw though.
Thank you so much for your input. She's comfortable right now, I've held her, stroked her and kept her on a heating pad on low all night. But I think she will be gone by morning. I've seen a handful of pets and people die before and she's got that extra still listlessness that just makes you uncomfortable to your core. At least it looks like it isn't painful.
Her
>>1998050
Well, try to remain calm. It's not your fault- not everyone can shell out $2000 for an emergency vet bill. keep her warm, keep giving her karo and water. if she's still taking water that's a really good sign.
there is a way to euthanize at home-- but so long as she's responding and drinking water I definitely don't recommend you give up.
>>1998050
Honestly, there wasn't much you could do with your funding. People don't always understand that sometimes you really mean well, but if the cat has something seriously wrong and you didn't know it, a well-meaning adopt to try to save it just won't be enough.
If it was poisoning it would have passed in a day or two as it exited the kitty's system.
If it was an item swallowed and messing up her gut she wouldn't have pooped at all since swallowing and, with the other symptoms, I don't think this was the culprit.
If it was a seizure or stroke that cat would have been hosed nomatter who took it in because that means serious underlying conditions related to breeding are there. At best the cat could be medicated in this case and, even then, the poor thing could relapse at any time or even die if left unattended for the span it takes someone to go to work for a day. If it wasn't a breeding issue but something like cancer, that's just as bad even though the recovery would have been more likely.
You tried, anon. This wasn't a kitten dying from worms or something stupid, this was a kitten with something very serious that even a wealthy anon might not have been able to fix.
Ignore the jerks who don't get it. Keep having a good heart.
>>1998056
She's precious.
I've worked at several vet clinics over the years... and sometimes these things just happen. Kittens are so new to this world, and so fragile, and can tank so very quickly. Even though it's shitty and it hurts, sometimes you don't ever even find out why. It's just this awful thing that happened and nobody could stop it even though no mistakes were made and everybody did their best. Eventually you just learn to make peace with not knowing, and instead knowing everything that could be done was done with the best of intentions.
Even if she dies tonight, she'll die in a home where she is warm and safe, and with a friend by her side, having known love these past four weeks. That's a lot more than many creatures in this world are afforded. She had a better chance with you than she would have had otherwise. And even though it was a short extension of life, that month mattered to her.
Post an update in the morning, ok?
Update.
She died about two hours ago. When I woke up this morning she was so barely here I just decided to hold her until she went. I'm really sad, of course. But thanks to your kind words I no longer feel so terrible and guilty. It all came on so quickly I'm not sure what could have been done. Or if anyone would even been able to figure out what went so wrong. She didn't die on the street, she didn't die in an unfamiliar animal hospital. Maybe that's best. I did everything that should have kept her healthy. And I really loved her.
This afternoon I'm going to drive her up to my grandpas farm and we are going to bury her in our pet cemetery with all the other animals we have loved and she will be in good company.
Thank you /an/.
>>1998290
Not everyone would have tried as hard as you did OP. You can do everything right and still lose. What matters is that you fucking tried, and it blows my mind that in this day and age there's still people like you who care enough to do so.
My heart goes out to you. She was loved, and that kind of energy doesn't just disappear.
>>1998297
Thank you so much. And that's a really moving picture, I've never seen it before.
