It’s zoonotic!
We have had our old cat Madeline for 13 years and she has only ever had a few problems. If we don’t feed her the right food (which we can only get at the vet’s office) she gets urinary tract infections within 2 weeks. So, it’s not a huge additional expense to buy special food and she is worth it to us, but it’s not the same as buying meow mix either. She also got bit by a brown recluse once in TN which was unpleasant for all of us and was also expensive. Still, as critters go, she’s been pretty easy.
While in TN, we also found an all black cat in front of a Baptist church (so we called him Baptist). He had been hit by a car sometime earlier in his history so had a badly messed up leg. We took him to the vet figuring they would find all sorts of issues with him. Instead, we ended up having his one back leg removed and he was fine…except he was never fine. After that surgery, he became the meanest cat on Earth! He used to bite and scratch us all the time. Finally, as part of his contraryness, he decided to start pooping on the floor…everywhere. We were about to move into a new house and decided that his behavior was not going to fly there. So, he didn’t make the move with us. Still, as you can imagine, he was incredibly expensive to get “fixed” just so he could turn into the cat-devil!
Fast forward a few years and now we have Mohinder. He also was a stray and is jet black. He just walked right into our house one day (after hanging around for many days prior…along with the 10 other strays that hang around us). He has all 4 legs but is missing most of his tail. I guess we just can’t have a normal black cat. I was leary at first remembering the pain and expense of our last black cat. We all decided he was sweet and worth taking in (and we were right!)
Anyhow, he was expensive to get fixed and declawed, etc. Other than that, he has been healthy and fine…until this week. He developed a case of “leaky butt” and started throwing up all over the house. He stopped eating and became lethargic. Most of that doesn’t bother me too much, but you can imagine a case of “leaky butt” causes problems. We took him to the vet and $400 later, we find that he has campylobacter and clostridia. The best part about campylobacter is that it is zoonotic. That means that if we aren’t careful, we could also end up with “leaky butt” and vomiting.
They gave us some (apparently) nasty tasting medicine to treat Mohinder and it seems to be working pretty well. Here’s to hoping that we all keep “normal butt”!
What about you all…do you go all out for your pets?
This entry was posted in Family and tagged Family by warren
What upsets me the most is that after the $400 for the exam and various tests – the medicine they gave us to cure the problem only costs $20! Still – I have had camplyobacter before (in grad school right before my my boards) and DO NOT want it again. It is pretty nasty.
Just out of curiosity, how did your indoor kitty get such nasty buggies?
“Leaky butt”—Warren, you never, ever fail to surprise me with your wording. I’m betting that’s why Emily hangs around. You’re good for a laugh.
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ROFL…if it wasn’t so darn funny it would be so very sad. How is it that you can make the uckiest things so hilarious?????
Best of luck with your cat and its hiney problems…yuck! Kim
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I’m with CeeCee, I want to know how your kitty got this nasty stuff and why your other kitty didn’t get it, too. Blech. Leaky butt. No fun. Embarrassing in a crowd, too.
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Well we don’t have any pets. Lily is enough to keep my busy. After ready your leaky butt story I don’t think I want any. Lily certainly wants a pet but I just take her to my mom and dads to let her play with their near zoo variety of animals. They just got two beagle pups that are the cutiest you have ever seen.
This gave me quite a laugh as I am scowling over some of my bad code.
When I was younger we had a diabetic cat. We had to give him insulin shots everyday for years! One of our cats is currently on thyroid medicine which she has to take twice a day. And finally there is my other cat who gets in lots of fights and has had to have countless cysts lanced. They even had to sew a drain into one of them once. That was pleasant.
So the answer to your question…there isn’t much we don’t do for our cats.
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Eeww, those darn animals are expensive. I hear you, we have too many. If it is not one thing it is another.
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Yes we do! We have a dog with allergies (requires special food) and a thyroid problem, requiring medication twice a day. She tore her ACL in early Jan, so we’ve been literally carrying her butt around the lawn until recently. We also have 3 cats, one which has occationally urinary problems, which require some special food and an occational round of antibiotics. Pets are expensive, which is why there’s a category in my accounting just for them, but hey, they’re cheaper than kids
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“Leaky butt” LOL!!!!
Abby’s Yorkie Katie takes the prize for us. She has had a fight with a muskrat that caused a weekend trip to the emergency vet, heart problems with medication, bladder problems with medication, has had all of her teeth pulled, and STILL NEEDS a hysterectomy, heartworm tests, and updated vaccines.
We call her the Million Dollar Pup.
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Em is right…and the worst part is Mo keeps making a run for the door…
ceecee & farmgirl_dk- no idea how he got it…he stays inside…makes me wonder though! Mo and Madeline (the other cat) don’t mix. I often wonder why Emily keeps me around too…
Kim – I think he is on the mend…let’s hope!
Loretta – Bad code must be in style today…
Becca – us too…
Kim – agreed!
Chiot’s run – wow! that’s pretty extreme! We’re into our critters too..though I think kids aren’t much more expensive!
Capri Kel – Wow! You are extreme!
Yes-we go all out for our little Ruby Sue-but thankfully she hasn’t had and leaky butt stuff-or I might change my mind-just kidding!
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I dont like it.
I know your pain with this kind of stuff.
We had a goat a while back that we were scared had CL (not a good one to have!) Luckly, her test came back NEG (Thank-God too because it’s painful boils that bust open. Antibotic’s can NOT clear it up!! I was freaking out the whole time waiting for the results on that one. I kept thinking- “we DRINK her mothers milk and if she has it I am sure her mom did.” It almost makes me not want to drink milk even now when I think about it.
Yes, we go all out for our animals. We even call them the other ‘brothers’. We had one of our dogs bit by a baby rattle snake. Talk about an ER bill!! But we have had him longer than most of the kids.
tipper – it’s hard not to go all out, isn’t it? Good for you!
frugalmom – meanie!
Dora Renee’ – that is scary!
Jonni – they sort of are like family members. But rattle snake? Wow! Very scary!!
Good luck with Mo and hope you all don’t end up with leaky butts too!
Yes, leaky butt…omgoodness. Our first dog, Toad, was diabetic for 2 years. Twice daily insulin. Then there is the more recent “the cat ate 12 feet of string incident”.
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Deb – our cats always used to eat tinsel from the Christmas trees…we joked that it was “gastro-intestinal tract floss”. We just gotta get ahold of both ends!
LOL too funny. You are a great storyteller, Warren!
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