Good vibes needed please

[Booktigger]

Glad to know I was thinking along the right lines with a de-brider. Someone on another forum has said it is a steroid cream - apparently it is very easy to administer - they haven't met Pebbles, touching her eyes, nose and mouth is completely out of the question (if you like your hands that is - I got an infected finger last year from giving her meds, even the vet didn't bother with the final tab after seeing my finger less than 24 hours later). Have spoken to the woman I foster for and have decided I am going to check if this cream is in stock tomorrow, talk to the vet about how long it should be before we see results, and if nothing happens then push for tests. If my vet is unwilling to do any tests, I will contact the vet the rescue use for their opinion. So I feel a lot happier now as I feel I am doing something, I just feel bad it has been going on for so long, but she did have at least 12 vet trips last year, saw 3 different vets plus the vet nurse, and it was only brought up once, and then dropped quite quickly when I said she had tested negative for FIV - at least 3 of those vet visits were proper checkups and included her teeth being looked at, so you woudl assume they woudl have noticed those.

[Booktigger]

well, the vet was busy when I rang at lunch, so I faxed over my list of questions, and was hoping to talk to her when I picked the tablets up. However, she wants to talk to someone else about Pebbles, so I might have to wait till next week. Have to admit I don't find it that reassuring when the vet wants opinions of someone else (who hasn't seen the cat)

[Booktigger]

Well, she has been acting odd since Fri - found her in the wet bath twice on Fri morning, found her sat cleaning her face in the litter tray last night, and one of the lodgers keeps picking fights with her - they have been here since August, and just had occasional spats, but this past week or so, it has been really frequent. Fortunately they are going mid week

[Booktigger]

Well, have spoken to the vet, and there is a possibility of her being referred to a specialist. Only prob is I cant get to where the specialist is, so will have to talk to the neighbours tonight to see if they woudl be willing to take me - I know they are normally willing to do things like this, but the specialist is only there one or 2 days a week, so it is whether we can both get the time off - I wouldn't be happy about them taking her without me being there. The vet has said he may be able to do a biopsy, which she isn't confident at doing, but the price for consultation, biopsy and possible x-ray will be between £400 and £600, so I also need to talk to the insurance company to find out if I would have to pay and then be reimbursed, or if they pay direct, and also if they would pay for specialists. I do hope they do, ad I have little chance of finding that kind of money with everything else that I have to pay for at the mo (unless I want to put it on the credit card, but am unwilling to, it is high enough anyway, and will take me so long to pay off).

[Donna]

I do hope you can sort out getting to the specialist BT and sorting this out on your insurance. Let us know how you get on.

[Mags]

It is worrying BT, hope you get it sorted out.....

[Booktigger]

Cheers - was talking to the woman at work who gives me a lift home, and she brought up a couple of points that hadn't occured to me - 1, that to do the biopsy might mean taking away a chunk of skin for testing (don't know what I thought they did to do biopsies) and 2 - that if the diagnosis is that it is something serious and they either can't operate or I would be unwilling for them to (which I would be if it meant taking away any part of her nose, more for her sake than mine) then what is the point? And 15% of £600 isn't cheap to have the same diagnosis as your vet gave you (for £8.30 - the price of the cream). I am going to see if I can talk to the specialist about my concerns but i do think that it looks better today though, so will try the cream till Fri, and then might consider contacting the vet the rescue use, they may have had more dealings with this kind of thing than my vet, so might have an alternative.

[Booktigger]

WEll, still no idea what to do - I can't talk to the specialist until I have seen him, and I don't konw if I want to put her through that if I am unwilling to go through with the tests. So that is in the vet hands. Just taken a pic a week later as I thought her scab was looking better - the one that I have been able to put cream on is, but the others look worse to me - what do you all think? It is sounding a lot like squamous cell carcinama -cancer on ears/nose caused by teh sun (although it can also affect the eyelids) - if so, I doubt any treatment would be available, or if it is, it would mean amputation of the nose and I woudnt' put her through that. All my friends are telling me not to do anything, but they aren't cat lovers as such.

[Fran]

I'm so sorry things are looking grim at the minute I wouldn't know how to advise you...think you have to go with your gut instinct and specialist advice on this one BT. Fingers crossed that it is not as severe as you are thinking {{{Hugs}}}

[Booktigger]

Oh well, it isn't the first time and highly likely not to be the last time I am in an awkward situation - I just thought that as my two had clear blood test results I could start this year better than I did last - and then Molly's blood tests coming back clear made me really believe it. I am going to ring the insurance company tomorrow, to see if they are going to pay, and my neighbour may be able to take me, so pending the insurance company, I can ring the vet and ask her to refer me. It is a lot of money, esp if I am unwilling to do a lot of tests, and I was going to wait a couple of weeks but after reading about SCC I am really not sure if it is such a good idea to wait. I am surprised at the amount of people who dont' think it is a good idea though, and even people suggesting not to have a second opinion.