Cat Scratch Fever

$744.12

That's how much my cancer kitty cost me today. Sheesh. And she didn't even have chemo.

China hasn't been eating right since she stopped Sucralfate two weeks ago, which she was taking to coat her esophagus three times a day after taking Vibramycin twice a day and possibly getting some erosion of the esophagus or ulcers somewhere else in her digestive system. She seems to be hungry but she eats a few bites of food and then seems to find it hard to get down, and she has started up her habit of carrying food around in her mouth and dropping it places she likes to sleep (like, my bed.)

So, I called the oncologist hoping to be able to renew her Sucralfate prescription over the phone, but was instead referred to internal medicine to make an appointment to bring her in ASAP. Drat! I knew that would probably mean some expensive tests, but I was HOPING that maybe I'd get out of there for $200 or something.

Nope, $744.12.

One cool thing today, the doctor came in with China's file...the thing is the size of a big hardcover dictionary! It sounded like this woman had never seen a file so large for a cat. Heck, I have my own file on China and it's not THAT big. She was like "well, I started looking over China's file but there's too much information for me to go over everything." Haha yeah...considering she'd probably charge me for her time if she did. The consultation was $120...imagine if she'd had to read a whole dictionary of info first?

Anyway, they suspect that China may have Bartonella henselae, a bacteria that isn't usually tested for because it doesn't seem to affect cats in any way, it only means that they could perhaps give a human Cat Scratch Fever if they scratch you or lick an open sore you have or something and THAT isn't even very risky unless you have an auto-immune disease like HIV/Aids. So, it's not that likely and the test is expensive , and cats don't usually seem to be affected by having it, therefore it isn't usually tested for. However, more recently it has been found that cats CAN be negatively affected by Bartonella henselae if they have some sort of thing wrong with them like oh...say....cancer????!!! And if maybe they are taking oh...chemo drugs and different antibiotics and steroids that may weaken their immune system? Gee...I wonder what very expensive cancer kitty that sounds like...

And I also wonder...I get scratched by China when trying to give her medication ALL THE TIME. Could I have Cat Scratch Fever????

TED NUGENT - Cat Scratch Fever , 1978

Ermmm...does Ted Nugent have a TAIL????