Saturday, August 14, 2010

Ea$y Come, Ea$y Go

I just got paid yesterday and at this rate, I'll be operating in a deficit by Monday. As usual, the finger can be pointed at vet bills, but this time, the horses are not to blame.

Minnie Mouse

Minnie is a foundling who made her way to us in 2002. Within a year, she was diagnosed with a bladder infection and struvite crystals in her urine. She went through antibiotics and although the vet suggested at the time that I put her on Science Diet CD, I blew it off. A year or so later, she started peeing in the sinks, a common sign that the inflammation had returned. Treated her again and both she and Leeloo have been on CD ever since.

Yesterday morning, I walked barefooted into the laundry room and the rug in front of the litter boxes was wet. Sure enough. I have no reason to suspect Leeloo, who, like Poco, is made of cast iron.

Took Min to the vet this morning. I was surprised that she weighs 8.2 lbs. She's a little slip of a thing, unlike Leeloo the moose cat. Temp normal. Her bladder was full, which it would not have been if she had a bladder infection. They did a sonogram for stones and found none. They did a urinalysis that needs to be sent off, and sent us home with amoxicillin. While I was there, I got a bag of CD and rabies vaccines for the Boyz. I was not prepared for the $188 bill.

And here's the weird part: all four cats we have had since we moved out here have developed struvite crystals, and we give them filtered water. Heather's cats have crystals, too, and her dad was also recently diagnosed as having them. Hmmm.

While I was there, I also asked Dr. G about ECR. He said he never heard of it and without studying the various ingredients and what form some of the substances were (like magnesium and calcium), he couldn't definitively say whether the product would interfere with any other possible treatments for gas colic. He said that instead of using that, he'd rather I give Banamine and stick the horse in the trailer, which 9 times out of 10 will make them poop. How true. A tube of Banamine and camping in the trailer is cheaper than the $80 for one dose of the ECR.

Chores are done. Mr. Fry is helping a friend. I am enjoying a quiet day in the cool house all by me onesy. Tomorrow, it's up to Iron Ridge to play with ponies and bond with barn buddies.

Enjoy your weekend, be safe, and don't forget to smooch your ponies.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I hear you - our attempted rescue of Lucy Little Star ended up with us $300+ in the hole.

I have found little animals more costly than the big ones, but I'm knocking on wood as I say that...

Jeni said...

One thing I do to cut down on the vet bill.. is if it can be bought at human pharmacy... I do it

Amoxicillin at walmart is about $5.00

There is no difference between animal Amox and Human Amox. I just take my script to the human pharmacy.

But I do know with all the dogs I have that vets are EXPENSIVE!!! I cringe when ever someone gets sick in my house and kennel!

Beth said...

Oh and hope Minnie is okay. It is so expensive to take are of these critters sometimes.

Dreaming said...

One of our kitties had bladder problems. The vet suggested/sold us the special canned food. The cat tried to bury it. We were told it's the amount of ash in the food that causes the problems. We used the lowest ash cat food we could find and between that and some meds now and then, she did fine - for 17 years.
We had another cat that refused to use the litter box. It was never attributed to a medical problem - it was all an attitude thing. Ugh!
I hope Minnie gets better soon!
I loved the comment about using the trailer to encourage a horse to poop. What a super idea!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

They do cost $$ but they are worth it .Hpe she gets to feeling better .

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Isn't it sad how much vets can cost? But I guess they have to make a living too.

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin