I'm sorry you got such a bad reaction.

I know I have asked for advice online. Not because I was avoiding vet
care, but because I couldn't go right away (I get home from work at
11pm, so when I discover a problem, I usually have to wait until
morning to go to the vet). If I ask questions online, I can get
answers from people around the world during the night or morning
people on the east coast. It helps me know what to ask and what
possibilities I am dealing with.

There have also been times when I have been to the vet and been
unsatisfied with the results. They can't always determine what is
wrong, so I find myself still looking for information.

So, depending on the situation, I may wait a day or two before going
to the vet. If it was serious, such as the time my cat had an abcess,
I discovered the abcess at 3am, and was to the vet by 9am. But if the
cat is eating fine and doesn't show any obvious symptoms, I will wait
to see if it is actually bad or not.

I've taken a cat to the vet on easter sunday (and paid the premium)
when I was sure she was very ill. I was glad I did it even though the
vet didn't find anything. His massage during the exam seemed to do the
trick, and she was much happier. But in that case, I woke up to a
growling cat. I *knew* something was horribly wrong.

When my elderly cat was losing weight, I took her to 3 vets with no
good advice whatsoever. I spent lots of money, and all they did was
try to sell me their special food, but she wanted nothing to do with
any of them.

So, I can see why sometimes it might be okay to wait while other times
are not okay to wait. Sometimes we have to do our best to make the
right decision.

Attacking somebody for asking on this group is not going to help. This
only encourages them to leave. If the problem sounds serious, then
simply say, "This sounds serious, better take him to the vet."

Meghan & the Zoo Crew  
Equine and Pet Photography
http://www.zoocrewphoto.com

I've always wondered why people say something like this.

Where do you draw the line? How rich do you have to be to own a cat?

Would you rather *more* cats be euthanized each year because nobody
can claim to have $1000 per pet set aside for medical care?

Honestly, my 17 year old cat has been very healthy all his life. Other
than his being neutered, and standard vet checks and vaccinations, his
only vet bills have been $40 for a minor respiratory infection about
10 years ago, $22 for a tumor investigation (turned out to be an
unusually placed deposit of fat) about 6 years ago, and $243 for his
abcess (and blood check while we're at it) last April.

That's about $300 for unexpected vet care in 17 1/2 YEARS!

Now, I realize that is cheap, but that's my point. Are you saying that
I should never have had Maynard simply because I would have to borrow
to scrape $500 together for an emergency surgery? I'd do it. I;d eat
top ramen for a month if it meant taking good care of my cat. But the
idea that I must find every vet bill to be *easy* to cover, on the
spot, without a care in the world, is absurd.

Let me tell you another story. Last January, my dog got mange on her
face. She is a sheltie, so she cannot take the normal medication
(something about the brain tissue in some breeds that make the
medication very high risk). So, I had to do biweekly treatments for 3
months. Over the course of the 3 months, I paid over $400. Now, I
didn't mind. I was taking care of my dog. But the vet kept changing
the fees! Depending on who did the billing, I paid different rates for
the exact same service. It was extremely frustrating. Then they
charged me for a checkup in advance, but when I picked her up, they
told me they couldn't do the checkup the same day as the treatment.
And no refund. I had to wait til the next week and hash it out with
the clerk who tried to charge me again. Then, after the last
treatment, they said they saw something and did a special checkup
(they charged me $25 for the assistant to look at the face, didn't
even do a slide like they did at the initial checkup), and told me I
should continue coming back since it looked like it might be starting
again.

It seemed quite clear to me by that time that they were feeling pretty
good that I would just keep coming in every two weeks and keep paying
the bill. I had not complained about the different rates because the
one charging me the most was the boss, and I didn't want tehir
irritation with me to reflect on my dog's care.

So, I never went back. Jenny was fine. She showed improvement from the
very first treatment. It never spread past that day, and the hair had
all grown back in. There was nothing wrong, and her previous checkups
had shown only dead mites. According to the research I had done, 3
months was standard as long as the monthly checkups showed dead mites.
So, all bets were that she was cured. I decided to wait a couple weeks
and keep an eye on it myself. That was a year ago. No problems.

Now, according to you, I should have kept on paying the vet for
nothing, let my poor dog suffer through more rough days; or gotten rid
of my dog???  Just because I didn't want to pay excessive vet bills?

No, we all do the best we can, and when bad times come, we deal with
it. The same as people with kids do when they lose their job or fall
on hard times. They don't get rid of their kids. They work harder to
make ends meat.

Be very careful what you suggest to others. If every you should lose
your job or be faced with some hardship (injured and off work, or in
the hospital), don't come complaining here. You might get your own
advice offered back to you, and you wouldn't like it. You don't know
other people's situations, and many people can successfully care for
their animals even if they do struggle once in a while. There is no
reason to attack them for not throwing away their money when
unnecessary.

I don't call the doctor everytime I get a fever or cough, nor do I
take my cat to the vet every time he hacks up something he should not
have eaten.

Meghan & the Zoo Crew  
Equine and Pet Photography
http://www.zoocrewphoto.com

My opinion of you might be a notch higher if you had the balls
to post normally. One of Mary L.'s posts frustrated me so
I called her an "idiot." (Sorry, Mary. Short fuse that day,
I guess.) But I did it with my IP hanging out. Have the courage
of your convictions, woman! Lose the pussified anonymizer!
This isn't alt.hackers.malicious, after all.

I don't have a problem with that reasoning and wouldn't criticize
someone for doing so. In this instance, that is NOT what is happening.
The OP came here wanting a diagnosis and a course of treatment so she
wouldn't have to go the vet. She knows full well that a vet visit is the
likely outcome and said so, but is looking for justification for doing
nothing while her cat vomits *several times a day* and has done so for
*several days.*

It doesn't help that one or two people posted they have a cat that barfs
(a lot of us do) while completely ignoring the fact that in this
instance the frequency of the vomiting and the period of time this has
been going on for is far beyond what might be considered "normal" and
they  gave the OP the justification for not taking the cat to the vet
that she clearly came here looking for.  
It happens too often here that people so obviously skim over posts
without paying attention to important details. This really has to stop
because it doesn't help the cat and can result in harm.

Megan

                                   

It's also interesting to me that you have a total of four posts archived.
Perhaps you are a new poster, or perhaps you're using a sock puppet addy to
divert criticism?
At any rate, it makes no difference whether the OP is using her own e-mail.
Whatever anyone thinks of her post, it's pretty bad form to send hate e-mail
from a newsgroup. You obviously don't desire mail, either, since your e-mail
addy is a fake.

Sherry

Pet lover <xxx@xxx.com> wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav:

I actually had a neighbor use my Usenet a lot because his ISP didn't
offer it and he had some groups he wanted to follow.  I set up an
"identity" in my newsreader, but sometimes he forgot, or I forgot to
switch it back, or whatever, and I was accused of major sockpuppeting.

Believe it or not, some people are really great friends with their
neighbors.  Almost a la Kramer, he could just come in.  (He was gay, so
it's not like I would be *really* compromised if indecent.  LOL!)

That was me (servant to Holly and Duffy).  As far as I know, this is the
only time the "new" MaryL (the one who originated this thread) has posted.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

Excellent suggestion.  This is the first time I have seen a duplicate
"MaryL," but I will add a number to my signature if it occurs again.

MaryL (the "original" ... or maybe the "old" one)