Spook Update November 30, # 62
I brought a little black kitten home from work with me today. A co-worker's relative had found this little kitten by a road somewhere, and had taken it in briefly. But there was a little girl in their house who is very allergic to cats, so they couldn't keep it. The coworker knows how soft-hearted I am when it comes to widdle baby kitty-cats, so when she told me about it I told her I would bring it home with me and either take it to the Humane Society to be adopted out, or find a good home for it myself. It has a cyst or abcess or something on it's right eye. But it doesn't seem to be in pain. We think it's a girl but aren't certain about that yet. It is black and it's front paws look like mittens! It is absolutely adorable!
I took it to the Humane Society tonight but they were getting ready to close and didn't have anyone who could really do much with it tonight, so I said I'd bring it home and take care of it overnight, and take it back to the Humane Society tomorrow afternoon. I have to work in the morning tomorrow, but have the afternoon off.
So I brought little "Spook" (or "Mittens"?) home with me, and fed it (it ate like a little piggy!) and it is sleeping now. My other fur-babies (cats Dottie, Little Orphan Annie, Shadow, and Angel, as well as dogs Sandi and Oreo) are OK with it so far. There have been a few hisses and growls, but nothing too bad and I'm not letting this little one out of the large carrier it is in unless/until I know it doesn't have anything that can spread to my other babies.
I'll take some pictures in a little while, and try to get them uploaded and posted. Right now I'm letting the little one sleep!
It's good to be back---I haven't been on here for awhile.....................
Deb
Update On Spook! Prayers Requested!
I decided to take Spook to the Vet. today before taking him to the Humane Society. I just had a feeling that the Humane Society wouldn't want to pay for his medical bill regarding his right eye. I am glad I took him to the Vet.
First of all, we found out for sure that HE IS A BOY. So now I can refer to him properly and accuratly, rather than calling him a "she" or "her" or "it"! He is 6-7 weeks old, and weighs a pound and a half.
Second, his right eye is really bad. He has a descemetocele (? spelling), which means a really bad corneal ulcer that has perforated through most of the cornea and is at high risk for rupturing. Luckily he was on an oral antibiotic as well as antibiotic eye drops, so there is no infection present.
He will undergo surgery to have his right eye removed tomorrow morning. We should be able to pick him up tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning.
Third, he has fleas! So I'm glad I didn't let him out of the kennel (much) while he was here last night, and that I put newspapers under the kennel and our other pets didn't get very close to him. But I'm treating our other pets, as well as our carpeting and furniture anyway, just to be on the safe side. I DID have him out a few times, just very briefly, to give him his medicine and eye drops and a hug or two............ But he didn't get to get down on the floor, or onto the furniture, etc. I or my husband held him the entire time he was out of the carrier/kennel.
Fourth, he has roundworm. So he is being treated for that, too.
The Vet. is only charging us $196.00 total for everything they are doing for him, and she isn't charging for the overnight stay. They are keeping him there overnight tonight and he will have surgery first thing tomorrow morning. She will call me at work after the surgery to let me know how everything went. I know I will be anxiously awaiting her call! I called my coworker to update her on what is going on, and she said she'll help pay for his care. I paid $100.00 today, and she said she'd pay me $100.00 when I see her on Monday. So the cost has been covered, and we are very thankful that things are working out the way they are!
I called the Humane Society and spoke to one of the gals I talked with last night when I took Spook there then. I told her what was going on, and that we would cover the costs now to get him healthy, and once he's recovered enough we'll turn him over to them to adopt out. They, as well as the Vet., said he will be very adoptable, as "special" kitties like he is are usually easier to adopt out than perfectly healthy kitties, etc.
NOW I just informed my husband of all of this, and he said it's all fine with him! He's working nights now so was sleeping earlier today when I went and did all of this and made the decision to cover the cost of treatment, etc., without consulting him first. THANK GOD he is as soft-hearted as I am when it comes to these little fur babies!
NOW my husband JUST said that he wants to make sure that if Spook isn't adopted out, and the Humane Society reaches the point where they will euthanize him because nobody has adopted him, he wants them to call us to come and get him, and we'll take him instead!
I absolutely LOVE and ADORE my husband!!!!
update on Spook's surgery
Spook's surgery to remove the right eye was done as scheduled today. The Vet's office called me a little after 11:00 a.m. to tell me they were just starting the surgery, and that the Vet. would call me afterwards to let me know how things went.
I was on pins and needles all morning, thinking the surgery was being done earlier, not knowing for sure, dying to pick up the phone and call the Vet's office, etc. After the call around 11:00 I was at least finally aware of what time they were doing the surgery. I waited and waited for the Vet to call me afterwards. My husband called me around 12:40 to find out if I'd heard anything yet, and I had to tell him no. She FINALLY called me around 1:00 p.m. to say things went fine, and he was awake and doing OK. She said they wanted to keep him there overnight tonight yet, though, so I could tell that he was still recuperating from the ordeal and that they were concerned enough that they wanted to keep him there a little longer than originally scheduled.
I called the Vet's office again just before their closing time of 5:00 p.m. to ask how he was getting along. The gal I spoke to then said he'd come through it "like a trooper" and had eaten, and used the litter box, etc. I asked her if he was getting feisty yet, and she said yes. I felt more reassured after talking to her.
I will take pictures of him tomorrow and get them uploaded and posted on here. (I am keeping it all on the same thread, but changing the thread's title with new updates, so that the whole story is on one thread and not spread out among several different ones. I hope that's OK, and not confusing or anything to anyone.)
Spook is back home after surgery to remove his right eye.
We went and picked up Spook around 9:00 this morning. He is doing very well---wants to get out and run and play and explore. We're supposed to keep his activities fairly restricted for the next 7-10 days. He goes back next Saturday to have the stitches removed and will have another poop test done then to test the status of the worms. He is rid of the fleas. We have to give him one more dose of dewormer on Monday. And he gets Clavamox twice a day yet for another week. Here are some updated photos:
Here he is when we picked him up from the Vet.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/e78c3c54.jpg
We fed him when we got home. Here Annie is watching him eat:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/e78c3aa1.jpg
Here he is, eating like a widdle piggy!:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...9/e78c3d50.jpg
And here are both Dottie (on top of his carrier) and Annie, investigating, while he continues to snarf down his food.:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...f/e78c3bc3.jpg
Here is the summary of charges:
10/18 1 Frontline 250 ml (to use on our pets at home) $37.40
10/18 1 Knock Out + Area Treat 16 oz (for our house) $19.24
10/18 1 Fecal examination $11.00
10/18 1 Examination Office Call $30.00
10/18 1 Frontline Promotion $0.00
10/18 1 Fvrcp Booster $15.00
10/19 1 Anesthesia $35.00
10/18 1 Pyrantel Pamoate 237 Ml (dewormer) $5.75
10/19 0.33 Frontline Plus Cat Green 3 Dos $0.00
10/19 1 Growth Feline Can 5.5oz/24 (Science Diet Food) $0.87
10/19 tax on food $0.06
10/19 1 Enucleation (eye removal surgery) $100.00
Total $254.32 if I added it up right, but we only paid $239.32 ($100.00 on Thursday when I took him in, and $139.32 today) so either they forgot to charge for something or she gave us more of a discount. I'll have to call them and ask about it---maybe he didn't get the Fvrcp shot for $15.00 yet. But he should be tested for that first anyway, right? When we take him in next Saturday I'll get that clarified, and will gladly pay the extra $15.00 if it was mistakenly left off of the invoice. (I took that off of the written estimate she gave me on Thursday, but it isn't shown on the actual invoice, that I can find.)
ANYWAY, how do these charges compare with what some of you out there would have been charged for the same services where you are? I am fairly certain that she gave us a break on at least the surgery fee. I'm curious to find out what it COULD have been.
