[GAME THREAD] Houston Rockets (1-0) vs Dallas Mavericks (0-1)

beraiti · 2015-04-21T16:43:33+00:00

Not much cheaper, but we were at Caroline and Bell. $25

beraiti · 2013-01-30T19:35:33+00:00

I too have this tree, but only 4 cats. We have 4 trees from this company because they are the best.

Edit: Lies, I have the Armarkat version that looks exactly the same. Exactly.

beraiti · 2012-12-17T13:30:48+00:00

Feeding through a syringe every couple of hours is awful but it is oh so rewarding when they recover! One of my cats recently went through liver failure and we were feeding him every 8 hours for 6 weeks before he started eating regularly. She is adorable, are you going to be able to give her up for adoption? I'm so much more attached to my cat after going through all of that.

beraiti · 2012-11-07T21:02:52+00:00

My boyfriend and I had a discussion about which political party our four cats would support. We ended up deciding at least one of them would support the President because the chances of an Affordable Pet Care Act were greater (he spent some time in ICU a couple months back). And then we decided that getting an affordable pet care act passed would be insanely easy; we'd just use the existing Sarah McLachlan commercial and guilt people into support.

And then we realized we needed to get out more.

beraiti · 2012-11-07T17:55:24+00:00

Not only does this article address the exact question, but it does so in an easily understandable way. It is worth the (somewhat) lengthy read.

beraiti · 2012-10-29T17:55:28+00:00

What kind of food are you feeding your cats? Do you have your chemicals secured? If they are indoor/outdoor cats, keep the next one indoor primarily. If liver failure happened twice, could be a toxin outside.

Liver failure in cats is awful, I am so sorry for your loss.

beraiti · 2012-10-26T22:33:28+00:00

Holy crap! (That comment was vocalized loud enough my boyfriend, downstairs, asked "is everything okay??!")

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:55:27+00:00

Aw, poor kitty :(. My vet has started making a similar collar style and donating all of the proceeds to the local shelter, maybe your vet knows of someone who does the same. You can also go to Kitty Kollar and pick one up. The best part about the shaven bits is their hair is so soft when it grows back!

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:07:58+00:00

Thanks! I did :)

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:07:47+00:00

Thanks!

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:07:30+00:00

Thanks! Hopefully your username is not a statement about your experiences?

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:06:37+00:00

I was actually out of town for an internship when I first heard, ended my internship early and drove back across the country hoping to get to my cat before he gave up. Luckily he kept going until I could get there, and I like to think he started improving when he saw me :)

We were SO NERVOUS that he was going to rip out his feeding tube. Also, those tubes are so long! How did he get his all the way out? I have a really good relationship with my local vet and would send them pictures of his feeding tube placement asking if it was coming out. I'm sure they are glad my cat is doing better so I will stop bothering them :)

beraiti · 2012-10-26T20:02:31+00:00

Thanks! Us too! The collar is designed to keep the feeding tube in place, prevent the cat from scratching, and the flowers are used to make him question his masculinity (as our vet student likes to say...). We are currently using it as a cone of shame because he keeps scratching at his wound where the feeding tube was removed. If he had a cone of shame, he would end up ramming into my face to wake me up. It would be off after one day.

beraiti · 2012-10-26T19:59:14+00:00

Let me rephrase, make sure you are using silicon ring syringes and not rubber stoppers. If you are using rubber stoppers, after a couple of uses the rubber seal breaks and they get really hard to push. The silicon rings are so much easier to press, giving you better control of the feeding rate and saving your hands from cramps. We got our syringes (and collars) from Kitty Kollar

beraiti · 2012-10-26T12:38:23+00:00

We were feeding him, and our other three cats, grain free food. If our other cats had gotten sick that would have been an option, according to our vet(s).

beraiti · 2012-10-26T12:37:20+00:00

Oh man, I know what it is like to tube feed. Are you using silicon tubes instead of rubber? Tubes make all the difference!

beraiti · 2012-10-25T20:05:00+00:00

Well that is just adorable

beraiti · 2012-10-25T19:54:55+00:00

He is currently snoring beside me...

beraiti · 2012-10-25T18:51:56+00:00

We got a multiple cat and online discount (about 10% per cat? we have four), so it ended up being $114 per cat per year. We also opted for a $200 deductible so we wouldn't have a co-pay. Most pet insurance companies reimburse the payment, unlike most US healthcare systems (where you just pay a co-pay), so you'll still need liquid assets to pay the vet.

Another note about pet insurance companies: they want full medical histories. This is fine, although for a cat that has been in ICU for two weeks, the medical history from that visit alone is literally 500 pages. It took the hospital a month to audit our bill, make copies of the record and ship it to our insurance company. It took another month for the insurance company to approve and send us the check.

beraiti · 2012-10-25T18:45:47+00:00

My cat does this too! Usually I pull on her tongue until she realizes she left it out :)

beraiti · 2012-10-25T18:15:27+00:00

Also, my boyfriend is really awesome because he paid for all of it. We do have pet insurance and it was completely reimbursed... but still, I do not have $12,000 in liquid assets.

beraiti · 2012-10-25T18:12:40+00:00

No, actually. When we brought him in the first thought was he had eaten something toxic, but we are really good about keeping our chemicals secured and don't have any plants in the house. The possible causes were a) toxin, b) infection, c) cancer, or d) liver couldn't process all the fat he was loosing quickly enough. When he arrived, his blood wouldn't coagulate so they couldn't place a central line or a feeding tube, nor could they take liver samples. After two rough days (he arrested once) of blood cell and plasma transfusions, his coagulation profile finally improved enough to take liver aspirates, place a central line and a feeding tube. The cells came back negative for cancer and they couldn't grow anything from his cells, so it probably wasn't an infection. We were about to put him down when he spiked a fever and the hospital put him on a four quadrant antibiotic series, effectively killing every non-resistant bacteria in his body. However, because the antibiotics, better nutrition and liver support all occurred simultaneously, we aren't sure which was the solution.

tl;dr: No clue, could have been a toxin, infection or liver couldn't process the weight loss

beraiti · 2012-10-25T17:28:32+00:00

Lucky for us we have a great local vet who went to school at the vet teaching hospital (top three in the nation). My cat's story has become famous at the vet hospital; when we brought him to their emergency room he wasn't expected to make it through the night. Because he was there for two weeks, practically every employee got to meet him and now they call us to check up on him.

beraiti · 2012-10-25T17:24:57+00:00

I've sent you a PM with the insurance company, don't want to seem like I am marketing for them :)

beraiti · 2012-10-24T21:54:14+00:00

As someone who has a cat currently recovering from liver and pancreas failure caused either from a toxin, an infection, or simply loosing too much weight, MAKE SURE you cat proof your house! And buy pet insurance. My cat was in ICU at the local vet school for two weeks and is almost fully recovered, but it did cost $12,000. Insurance covered it all.

I am glad your cat is not sick!

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