Thread: Maine Coon not putting on weight

Originally Posted by quass

Well, they said she is bloated and her belly is full of food, her kidney looks larger than usual as do the bile ducts? The vet is now reffering us to a specialist for more tests, they have taken some more blood. More waiting now, and then more tests and more waiting does it ever end.

She suspects a liver shunt or heart condition now....

Poor little Martha having to go through all of this but if there are answers at the end of it thats what you need,still thinking of you all...x

So sorry to read this update. Little Martha remains in my thoughts - and sending furry hugs to you both x

We also are thinking of you both ... fingers crossed you have some good news very soon xx

Thanks for the kind comments.

More blood was taken for a more specific liver analysis, I never knew they would have to do so many more blood tests, I assumed the original first complete blood test would have covered everything! She has had three since...

She has been given Amoxicillan which should cover her for two weeks to help fight any infection, the X-ray and scan have been sent on to a specialist, they have confirmed my appointment for tomorrow. They also gave her some pain killers in case she was in any discomfort (although I am not sure how long they last for).

Today she has been running around a lot more and playing like a kitten should, she has improved a lot in the past couple of weeks, she is growing a little, but with the other issues, there is still something not right that needs to be fixed if possible (she keeps getting very bloated).

I've been in touch with the breeder the past month or so, she has offered to take Martha back into her care and look after her as well as refunding us the full purchase price, whilst it is a nice gesture, it's not what we want, we want our little baby to get better and stay with us.

It does seem now that they are really onto her case which is good bless her,whatever the outcome from all of this is you are going to get an answer to her problems.
So pleased the breeder would have had her back but even more pleased you are keeping her,thanks for updates & everything crossed for you all,keep improving little girl...x

What a farse!

I popped Martha to the referal practice, it turned out to be 'Vets Now' (great :S ). They had taken over the practice.

I went in, and saw a 'specialist'. I explained Martha briefly to her, and asked about the results and X-ray they were sent. She didn't have them.....

She then sugested they do their own three more blood tests (this would have taken her up to 7 blood tests now), ultrasound (this would be the third) and x-ray's (for the third time) followed by a biopsy which they would do with needles but may need to open her up!

I told her that wasn't going to happen. I asked for her to get the results and x-ray's from our vets as planned before we decide on a course of action. She sugested we leave her there until they get the results and we 'should' get her back today. I was not happy at all, I said that they were to do nothing with her until they had the results in her hand, she said she would get them off of the vets right away. I stupidly gave a payment on my card for £50.00 (which was a pre-authorisation I found out now, I had no idea how they worked at the time or that it was one). I thought maybe she was in the right place and it was in her interest.

Upon leaving the practice I had second thoughts, she has been very active and more playful than I have ever seen her in the past couple of days, but this is no doubt due to the antibiotic she was given. I hated leaving her there to be put in a cage again and maybe later poked around. I had to attend an important call with work, so whilst I popped home and took the call (that I couldn't get out of for two hours) my wife called the vets and explained that we were unhappy as the whole point of the consultation was to discuss the results and go from there. She agreed we were to bring Martha home until they had the results. My mother kindly went back and collected her dropping her back with me.

I later called to thank my mother and she mentioned that the receptionist advised her that they would be charging us £197.00 for the 'consultation' (that lasted all of 10 minutes because they didn't have the info I went there to discuss). I called them to dispute, and they basically said tough, there was nothing they could do, that is what they charge for seeing a 'specialist' and they have my card details and will process the payment.

I then chased up the blood results with my vet this afternoon. To add to the crazyness they only just called me at just after 7pm when they got them back from the lab, this means Martha would still be stuck there with no progress at all. The vet said that her bilirubin count was a little high but nothing major, it was .63 and they would expect .1 - .5 He then said that bile acids before a meal was 12.2 and should be .1 - .5 and after they fed her an extra fatty meal it was 16 and should be between .5 and 10.0. I asked him what he meant about 'before a meal' he said it is a fasting blood test. GREAT! They never said anything about that, I took her in because she wasn't breathing well, which turned out to be because she was bloated and totally full of food. They never mentioned anything about fasting and taking the blood test later, they just took the blood on Monday morning. He then said that we can speculate as to how accurate the blood test is in that case if she was not fasted.

So another wasted test and wasted money, I'm certainly glad Martha has been doing her own thing to try and get well because the vets certainly don't have a clue!

I'm shifting vets before the end of the week to a hospital my mother uses for her rescued dogs which has all facilities in house and works 24/7. They are a little more expensive but we have had enough of this now.

The only good thing is that for some reason Martha is looking a lot better and acting like a kitten should at the moment, so she is certainly not feeling down any more.

We are now going to have a serious discussion about the next steps as it looks as though throwing money at our vets and the 'specialist' isn't the answer.

These are the type of people who give vets a bad name thank goodness I work for a small friendly corner shop practice,ok we don't have in house lab.but then boss always reckons that if you have then to justify it you have to make good use of it which normally means everything that passes through the door "requires" a BS, I work with a vet who has 38yrs under his belt & my word when he retires he will be a big loss to the animals & clients. I feel so sorry for poor Martha & hope that when all her notes go through to the new vets they will be able to do something for her without a lot more pulling about & the referral practice were in the wrong not making sure they had them, as for the payment after all the notes have been put through I would write to their practice manager & say how unhappy you are about being charged a full fee for a "consult" which couldn't even take place,if you get the same "thats tough"on paper you then have the opportunity to say you are looking into taking it further.I think it is b****y disgusting. That said so pleased the little girl seems to be doing better & is happier in her self so fingers still tightly crossed that it continues,come on Martha....xxx

I would dispute the 197 charge with your credit card company, just because they have your card information doesn't give them the authority to charge your account.

They have no authority to charge your card without your *explicit* consent. If they do so then they are committing one of the many criminal offences (in England & Wales) related to fraud. If they do charge your card then you should in the first instance contact your card company and "dispute" the charge. You will be required to write to them if after investigation the merchant (vet) pushes back. You will say that the vcharge was made without your consent and the amount was never agreed regardless of them having your card details on file - which you probably never realised, you should say.

Find a new vet. That's what I have done after the "last straw" trying to charge me £8/tablet for tablets that are available for £3.50 online *or* wanting the same in presciption costs. While vets operate in a protected pricing cartel you still have some choice. Exercise it.