Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

Hi we have a cat, we got her about 6 months ago. She has been starting to sneeze a lot, and has a lot of mucus. She will drink and eat, but not as much as she used to. I am really concerned, but really can’t afford a vet. any Ideas?

~Joni

Siouxsie: Joni, we’ve seen a lot of cats with similar symptoms, and it sounds like your cat may have a cold. Yes, cats do get colds. But because colds can quickly become very serious problems in cats, you really need to call a vet.

Thomas: The vet may recommend home care and monitoring of your cat, or, depending on how serious they think the condition is from the symptoms you report, they may tell you to bring your cat in right away.

Dahlia: We know that many people have trouble affording the vet care their cats need. So we’ve compiled a list of websites that provide links to resources for financial assistance. These may be helpful for you, Joni.

Siouxsie: Now, on to the issue of the cold. The reason why colds can be so very serious in cats is that our sense of smell is very important to maintaining our appetite. If your cat’s nose is clogged with mucus, she’s not going to be able to smell her food, and therefore she’s not going to be attracted to it.

Thomas: Another reason, of course, is that when you feel sick, you just don’t want to eat or drink. And depending on what virus your cat caught, she may develop sores in her mouth that would make eating uncomfortable.

Dahlia: But you have to keep your cat eating and drinking, Joni. Dehydration and hunger will seriously weaken her and make it even harder for her to fight off the bug.

Siouxsie: Find strong-smelling foods like tuna-flavored canned food or meat-flavored baby food (make sure it doesn’t have onion powder in it) and dilute the food with water. You can also make the food smell stronger by heating it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds.

Thomas: You can also give your cat extra fluids by using a syringe (without the needle, of course!) or an eyedropper and putting them in her mouth.

Dahlia: The authors of the Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook recommend that you keep your cat in a warm room and use a humidifier to keep the air moist. This will help to keep the mucus secretions more liquid and make it easier for her to sneeze them out.

Siouxsie: If you don’t have a humidifier, even keeping your cat in the bathroom while you shower can help.

Thomas: You can clean secretions from your cat’s eyes, nose, and mouth with moist cotton balls as often as needed.

Dahlia: If your cat refuses to eat altogether, or if she becomes dehydrated, loses weight, and is still sick despite your home care, you need to take her to the vet. If she starts having trouble breathing — that is, she’s breathing through her mouth and/or wheezing, you need to take her to the vet. No ifs, ands, buts, or I can’t afford its are going to change that.

Siouxsie: If your cat gets this sick, she may need subcutaneous fluids to rehydrate her and get her the nutrition she needs, and antibiotics to help combat the bacterial infections that can arise from ongoing viral infections.

Thomas: Even after your cat recovers, Joni, she’ll still be a carrier for this upper respiratory virus. She may get sick again during times of physical stress such as illness or surgery, or emotional stress like traveling or the arrival of a new cat or dog in your home.

Dahlia: That doesn’t mean you should never travel or get another cat. What it does mean is that you need to understand that stress can bring about a recurrence of her cold and do your best to keep her as calm as possible during stressful times.

Siouxsie: One more thing, Joni: If your cat hasn’t been tested for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukemia (FeLV), you should have your vet do this blood test as soon as you can afford to do so.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

My 5-month-old kitten, Sofie, was attacked by a big dog. It happened yesterday afternoon. She’s breathing and is alive, but she’s not moving. It’s like she’s in a coma. She’s just a little farm kitten but I love her. What should I do?

~Mitchell

Siouxsie: We sent this reader an e-mail as soon as we got this, because the only answer is to get that cat to a veterinarian right away. But this letter does give us an opportunity for us to make some important points about what we can and cannot offer our readers.

Thomas: First of all, we’re not veterinarians and neither is Mama, so we’re not qualified to give diagnoses or recommend treatment options.

Dahlia: If we were veterinarians, we couldn’t ethically or legally diagnose your cat, sight unseen. Even well-known online veterinarians like Cat Fancy magazine and catchannel.com contributor Dr. Arnold Plotnik, DVM, wouldn’t give a diagnosis under those circumstances — although they may suggest possibilities to discuss with your vet.

Siouxsie: Although we might have some ideas about what could be wrong with your cat, based solely on our own personal experience and the reading we’ve done, your vet needs to be the one to make the final call.

Thomas: We can give you suggestions for first aid if necessary.

Dahlia: We can’t tell you what might be wrong with your cat if you disagree with your vet’s diagnosis. We won’t second-guess or discredit your vet’s opinion. We might suggest that you seek a second opinion if you don’t feel comfortable with what you’ve been told by your vet.

Siouxsie: Once your cat has been diagnosed with a problem by your vet, we can help you understand the treatment options he or she has recommended.

Thomas: We can help you find ways to accommodate the needs of an older cat or a cat with a disability.

Dahlia: We can offer you emotional support while you’re grieving the loss of a beloved cat companion.

Siouxsie: We can certainly give you advice about how to deal with behavior problems and social issues such as introducing a new cat, moving house, having a baby, and the like. Behavior questions comprise the vast majority of letters we answer here. You’ll probably notice, though, that when we give advice about behavior problems, we recommend a visit to the vet to rule out any underlying health issues.

Thomas: We firmly believe in the importance of regular veterinary care. It helps you to establish a relationship of trust with a veterinarian, and it provides the vet with an ongoing record of your cat’s normal vital signs and behavior. That way, when and if things do go wrong, your vet will be better equipped to understand your cat and your relationship with the vet will help you through a time of crisis as well.

Dahlia: It’s absolutely heartbreaking when people write to us with questions about how to care for sick or injured cats and tell us they can’t afford veterinary care. We know times are very hard for a lot of people right now, and it can only be even more heart-wrenching for the caretaker, knowing that their cat needs medical care and they can’t access it.

Siouxsie: And again, the only thing we can tell these readers is that they have to find some way to get their cat to a vet.

Thomas: We can offer information about financial assistance for cat caretakers and suggest that a local SPCA or animal rescue group may be able to help.

Dahlia: Along those lines, we strongly suggest that all cat caretakers, no matter your level of financial security, give some very serious thought to how much you can afford to spend on your cat’s medical treatment. Even someone like Mama, who has a full-time job and could be considered a middle-class person, has limits on the amount of money she could spend if one of us got really sick or severely injured.

Siouxsie: If you recently lost your job or you have other financial limitations like a fixed income or a large burden of debt, we suggest you find out what options are available to you before an emergency happens. It’s really hard to try and figure this stuff out when you’re in the middle of a crisis.

Thomas: For example, if you were interested in a program like Care Credit, you might want to find out if your vet (or any vet in your area) accepts Care Credit. You may also want to apply in advance and get yourself pre-approved — or at least, know if you’re not eligible for care credit so that you don’t waste precious time in an emergency situation.

Dahlia: Ultimately, our advice to all of you is as follows: Make sure you find a veterinarian and that your cat gets regular health checkups and vaccinations. When your cat shows obvious signs of illness or injury, call your vet before you do anything else. Take some time now to consider your finances and find resources to help you pay for your cat’s care.

Siouxsie: We have great respect for all of you who care enough to ask for help in giving your cat have the best life possible. We continue to be humbled that you seek out our advice and grateful that we’ve been able to help so many of you over the years. We hope to be here for you for many more years to come.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

My daughter and I are writing to beg for help with a female kitty that we adopted. Here’s our story: It started when we rescued her brother, Smokie, when he was almost 5 months old. Their mother has since passed from feline leukemia and all five kittens were born with feline leukemia. We were aware that the kittens probably wouldn’t have long lives, but we wanted to give them a nice home and love. Our little Smokie received wonderful hospice care until his last day on September 22, 2007.

We acquired Ashie, Smokie’s sister, from one of the original adopters about three months ago. We have been told since the beginning when we took all of the kittens to a vet that none of them could or would survive long after being spayed or neutered, so we chose not to have Ashie spayed. We’ve been told that a ‘special spay’ could be done to lessen the risk and trauma to our already sick kitty, for $479, without any guarantee that she’ll survive the surgery. I can’t afford my own meds without insurance, let alone afford and subject sweet (when she’s not in heat) Ashie to that kind of risk!

So, here’s the point: Ashie is now a year and a half old. She’s not spayed, and she’s driving us mad with each heat cycle. Every three weeks like clockwork she goes into heat, and each one is getting more intense, not only for us but for her. It’s horrible to watch the pain she is experiencing without her ‘needs’ being fulfilled, and we’re on Day 4 of zero sleep because of her guttural howling (and even barking — literally — for the male dog next door). We’ve given her OTC ‘Calm Down’ in a liquid formula in her water and/or her treats, but the effects only last 15-20 minutes. HELP! There must be something we can do! Your assistance would be so greatly appreciated.

~Georgie

Siouxsie: Before we answer your question, Georgie, we want to thank you and your daughter so much for being willing to provide a home for Ashie and Smokie. It’s a very courageous and loving thing you’re doing, providing love and caring to cats that you know are sick. We also believe that every cat deserves a “forever home” and we send our blessings to you and all our readers who are willing to provide such a home for a chronically ill or disabled cat.

Thomas: Before we get into our answer, let’s explain what feline leukemia is. Feline leukemia (FeLV)  is caused by a retrovirus, a virus that has an enzyme that allows it to insert itself into cells and cause the cells to make copies of it. The virus is transmitted by infected saliva, primarily from fighting and by sharing food and water bowls. However, kittens can also be born with FeLV if their mother was infected.

Dahlia: There are three subgroups of the feline leukemia virus. Cats can be infected by one or more of these subgroups. Subgroup A, the one that compromises the immune system, is the most common. Subgroup B, when combined with subgroup A, causes most of the FeLV-associated cancers. Subgroup C, the least common, is responsible for severe anemias and bone marrow damage.

Siouxsie: Some kittens born to FeLV-positive mothers will test positive for the virus at birth but later on will test negative. However, some FeLV-positive kittens never stop carrying the virus. It sounds like this is the case with Ashie and Smokie.

Thomas: Although it can be risky, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, in its brochure on Feline Leukemia, does recommend that FeLV-positive cats be spayed or neutered.

Dahlia: Probably the level of risk of Ashie’s surgery depends on which subgroup or subgroups of FeLV are present in Ashie’s body.

Siouxsie: We’d recommend that you talk to your vet and ask him or her for more details about Ashie’s condition. Also be sure to ask what risks he or she considers the greatest.

Thomas: If the risk of spaying Ashie outweighs the benefits, and there’s no other spaying option than a special surgery, there are a couple of things you can do to minimize the agony of her heat cycles.

Dahlia: The first of these is one that tends to make many humans uncomfortable, but it is something that cat breeders commonly do if their queens (breeding females) go into heat at inconvenient times such as when a stud is not available.

Siouxsie: Because cats ovulate when they’re stimulated by the male cat’s penetration, you can temporarily “turn off” Ashie’s heat by artificially stimulating her vagina.

Thomas: You do this by sticking a Q-tip, um . . . in the, um . . .

Dahlia: Oh, Thomas! Don’t be such a geek! To stimulate the cat, you need yourself; a Q-tip or smooth, blunt-ended plastic rod; and an assistant. Your assistant should hold Ashie by the scruff of the neck while you raise her tail and insert the Q-tip or rod about half an inch (13 mm) into her vagina and rotate it gently.

Siouxsie: Coincidentally, the cotton swab part of a Q-tip is half an inch long, so that’s a good measure of how far to insert it. Don’t just ram it in there as far as you can, because you might hurt her. Cats are small, after all!

Thomas: If you do this, um, thing, properly, Ashie should exhibit all the signs of a successful mating: crying out, rolling over, and licking her genitals. If she doesn’t, you may not have done it right.

Dahlia: Artificial stimulation of the vagina will induce a false pregnancy by causing the ovaries to manufacture progesterone. Ashie will go out of heat about four days after this procedure and won’t go into heat again for about 40 days afterwards. There is a risk of injury if you do it wrong and have to keep on trying, so you should have your vet help you and/or show you how to do the job properly.

Siouxsie: Another option is birth control pills. There are some drugs such as megestrol acetate (sold under the brand name Ovaban) that, while not approved for use in cats, can be used “off label” if needed. Research is also underway for a contraceptive injection for cats. If you can’t deal with the idea of artificially stimulating your cat’s vagina, ask your vet about birth control medication.

Thomas: If you do decide, after talking to your vet, that having Ashie spayed might be worth it, there is assistance available. Care Credit is a program that offers low-interest revolving credit for major medical, dental or veterinary expenses. If you have a reasonably good credit score, you can probably qualify. Make sure that the hospital where you’d have her spayed will accept Care Credit before going through the application process.

Dahlia: Financial assistance programs are available, too. The income guidelines for eligibility vary from program to program, and many are geared toward people on fixed incomes such as Social Security disability or other social welfare programs. However, some will give assistance to people whose pets have extraordinary needs and/or those who have rescued animals.

Siouxsie: In Memory of Magic lists some resources that can provide such financial assistance for pet owners. The Cat Care Resources page here at Paws and Effect has a couple more options available. (Please note that the Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance program is currently out of funds, except for those geared toward helping cats with vaccine-associated sarcoma; however, their Other Resources page lists other organizations that could help.)

Thomas: Good luck, Georgie! Please let us know how things turn out for Ashie.

Note: The information in this article about feline leukemia and artificial stimulation/birth control in unspayed cats is from the Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook, Third Edition, by Debra Eldredge, DVM; Delbert Carlson, DVM; Liisa Carlson, DVM; and James Giffin, MD. 

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I have a VERY URGENT question. I have a year-old male Siamese cat who is primarily an indoor kitty. He managed to get outside yesterday afternoon for the whole day, and now he can’t go to the bathroom. I have tried to get him to the vet, but none of the vets in my area will take a payment plan, I have absolutely no money, and I can’t qualify for care credit. I also don’t have anyone who can help me. The vets that I have talked to will offer a humane euthanasia but won’t see him. What can I do? I don’t want to lose my kitty.

~Danielle

Siouxsie: Danielle, you certainly should be commended for trying. It’s unfortunately a common experience that people who say they can’t afford vet care really mean that they don’t want to spend the extra money. But you’ve applied for Care Credit, you’ve talked to every veterinarian in the area, and you’ve done everything you know to do.

Thomas:  We hope sour suggestions will help you, because failure to urinate is a very critical problem. Whether he is having acute kidney failure from getting into something toxic or whether his urethra is blocked by crystals, your kitty must have veterinary attention, and soon.

Dahlia: Have you tried contacting your local humane society? Sometimes they have free or low-cost clinics. This is more often the case in large cities, however, so if you live in a rural area you might be out of luck.

Siouxsie: There are some organizations that help the caretakers of cats with urgent medical problems. There’s a listing of such sites here. We recommend that you contact these groups right away and see if one of them will contribute to your cat’s care.  You can also Google using the keywords “cat care financial assistance” or something like that.

Thomas: Unfortunately, there’s no way to unblock a cat’s urethra without veterinary assistance. This is a very painful condition. The cat’s bladder gets bigger and bigger as more urine goes into it. Eventually urine will back up into the kidneys and cause toxicity or renal failure.

Dahlia: We hate to say this, Danielle, but if you can’t find any assistance then the most humane choice may be to have your sweet boy euthanized. I’m crying just thinking about it!

Siouxsie: A cat with a blockage will develop acute renal failure and will die if the condition is not treated. The death is very painful and gut-wrenching to watch.

Thomas: I know this is an incredibly sad situation, Danielle. This dilemma is becoming increasingly common as the economy falls apart: do we pay our bills and buy food, or do we pay for an animal’s vet care? Or do we find ourselves almost unable to pay for food and other basic necessities and then have an animal with a medical emergency?

Dahlia: You’re not the only person who’s ever been faced with the possibility of having to put down an animal because you can’t afford crucial care. It doesn’t mean you don’t love your cat if you have to make this choice. And it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have an animal, either, as some heartless people may say.

Siouxsie: Our vet is seeing this more often lately, too, because we live in an area where a lot of people barely make ends meet even under the best of circumstances. Now that food and fuel are so expensive, people are struggling even more. Add a job layoff or a disabling injury to this problem, and the fragile balance that’s made life possible to this point just can’t be sustained.

Thomas: Danielle, we really hope our suggestions can help you get your cat the medical care he needs.

Dahlia: And if you can’t get assistance, and you need to have him euthanized to minimize his suffering, we hope you’ll try not to blame yourself, especially if your current financial situation is due to circumstances beyond your control. You’re doing the best you can. Please know that your kitty boy is grateful for all your efforts to help him and he will continue to love you unconditionally no matter what the outcome.

Siouxsie: While we’re on the rather grim topic of the current U.S. economy and its effects on family pets and livestock, our favorite veterinary blog, Dolittler, has an article on how the foreclosure crisis has affected animals in her area. Here, she writes about the veterinarian’s side of the dilemma of offering payment plans and gives one specific example.

Thomas: On the other hand, if you have a good and long-standing relationship with your veterinarian, it’s possible that he or she might just cut you a little slack.

Dahlia: If your vet knows you — because you bring your cat(s) in for annual checkups, they look healthy and happy, you ask questions about your cat’s health and communicate well with your vet, etc. — he or she (and the front-desk staff that really run the nuts and bolts of the practice) will be more inclined to cut you a little slack.

Siouxsie: However, don’t be surprised if they don’t want to do that. Many clients who make payment arrangements for treatments unfortunately end up failing to live up to their end of the bargain.

Thomas: Regardless of rumors or ideas to the contrary, veterinary medicine is not a high-margin business, and vet clinics really can’t afford to take on expensive treatments and not get paid for the services they offered.

Dahlia: We interviewed our wonderful and fabulous veterinarian, Doctor Sarah, last fall, and asked her some questions about what it’s like to be a vet, how to have a good relationship with your vet, and much more. You can read it here if you’re interested.