Dear Pullet Thank you for your wise advice. I want to apologise as I did not intend to come across as hateful towards the vet. After re-reading my post, I can see how it could have been misunderstood. I am 50+ yrs old and a PN MT,ASCP.MLT. ( My discription as a layperson was in regards to veternary sciences). One of the things that I’ve learned through my 30 years of (human medical) experiance is that not all Doctors, regardless of their field, graduate in the top 20% of their class. 
As you pointed out all of us are human; and so I say with all due respect that regardless of education and or degrees we all are capable of the same foilibles as the common man/woman. (There has never been a negative experiance with any veternarians in my life time.) I admire your forthrightness and hope that you never lose the self confidence that you have displayed tonight. Your empathy and compassion will carry you through to a wonderful and successful future. “If you do what you love, you will never fail.” Best wishes in all ways, Tink.
Get a large eyedropper. Mix Ensure(not chocolate, obviously. plain vanilla) 50/50 with Pedialyte. Give him two eyedroppers full every few hours. I’d mix a tiny bit of powdered Acidolpholus (get some for humans that comes in small gelatin pills, and just open one up and pour a little powder into the mix).
Well, I guess this is moving into MPSIMS territory now.
Called the “All Cats” clinic here in town, asked a few questions, and the vet asked me to fax Phantom’s paperwork over to her so she could take a look at it, and see if it was worth stressing him out on a cross town drive. She seemed guardedly optimistic for treatment options, so we went in to see her. She prioritized the testing and procedures he’s going to need. Instead of throwing scary things and lists of bills at me, she started off by recommending a single chest xray, to see if fluid had built up in his lungs, which would have made him far harder to treat (and much less liklihood of success), allowing me to make a decision to go forward with treatment or not. The xray came back ok, no fluid.
She sat and took time with me, and realistically discussed the prognosis, and gave me some stories of similar animals, both with successful and unsuccessful outcomes. She listed the things he had going for him, and the things he had working against him. She felt that he still had a fighting chance. Most important to me, she took time for me to ask questions, and genuinely seemed concerned about Phantom. She promised that she would never persue a fruitless course of treatment. Their office helped us out to apply for some sort of “vet credit card” sort of payment plan, and then we had more options available to us.
We decided to go ahead with her recommended course of testing and treatment, which, incidentally was less than the other vet’s “battery of tests” alone. They’re starting off by rehydrating him thru IV fluids and inserting a nasal feeding tube with a slow pump to push food into him. I realize that there may be something bigger causing the problem, but she seemed far more interested in saving my boy for the short term by rehydrating him and stabilizing him, treating the symptoms first, then figureing out where to go from there. Even if Phantom doesn’t get thru this, as he very well may not… I think I’ve found a new vet. Extremely reassuring, and careing. Wow.
Time to go sleep now, and wait for vet calls. Phantom’s brother Ghost is begging for some attention, and today he doesn’t have to fight his brother for the coveted “right armpit” sleeping spot. Pet your kittys today folks.
-Tired and soggy, but with a straw or two to grasp at now-
Av8trix
One thing- dudes- I have had very bad experiences with those “24 hour emergency” vets. They seem very interested in many expensive tests, and not truely interested in your pets health. Unless your pet is bleeding or has a broken bone or some similar obvious injury, I suggest strongly that you wait until the morning and see your regular Vet.
From every experience I have had- those “24 hour emergency” vet hospitals are just very expensive places for your cat to die. 
Good Luck Av8trix, and good luck to Phantom, too. Looks like you found a good vet there.
Glad you’ve found a vet you’re comfortable with. I am sending positive thoughts to your baby, and giving extra ear scritches to mine in his honor. Hope everything goes well.
Firmly in MPSIMS territory now.
We got a call from the vet a couple hours after we left. They began treatment, but at some point in there, Tummer just went to sleep, and didn’t wake up. He was so tired.
We went to the vet to pick him up, and the staff was extremely careing and sympathetic, the vet herself seemed genuinely heartsick and surprised that he went so quickly, as she thought he’d hold on long enough to at least begin treatment and see how he progressed. Today, when we took him in, she quoted us a cost of four hundred dollars and some change. Nearly all the procedures and care itemized on that list had been performed. After he passed, she wiped everything clean from our bill, except for the office consultation. She looked genuinely grieved, apologised that she couldn’t help more, and thanked us for giving Phantom the chance to live. I feel badly that I wasn’t there to hold him as he went away, but I’m comforted that he was being taken care of by people who cared. If anyone needs a recomendation for a vet in my part of the woods, I wouldn’t hesitate.
We took him to my parents homestead, and buried him in an extra large (Tummersized) plot, next to the poodle he used to terrorize (and outweigh). His scratching pad (thoroughly gutted), a giant sized bag of catnip, and his favorite stale towel went with him. He’s got a gardenia bush for evening shade, and the morning sun rises on that spot, just like a cat ought to have.
Thank you dopers, for giving me the support and information I needed to try to save my boy.
…and most especial hugs to Tinkrtoy…
As I work at an emergency vet clinic I would like to respond to this but I fear that I would not be as eloquent and kind as Pullet’s earlier response. First of all, I believe your comment is a non-sequitur as I do not believe at any point the OP said she had to go to an emergency clinic. In fact from the discussion it seems she saw her usual veterinarian initially.
I am sorry you had a bad experience but you are wrong about emergency clinics. If people who worked at emergency clinics were only interested in making big money and not the pet’s health, there would be no one working at emergency clinics (or any vet clinic) because you don’t make “big money”. Emergency clinics have a higher overhead than day clinics and a lot more stress, so yes, fees are going to be a little higher. Same goes for human emergency rooms.
It is bad medicine not to run some diagnositic tests before treating an animal. Many problems can have a broad range of possibilities and tests are needed to rule out or rule in certain conditions. You could come in with your dog whose been vomiting and a little listless and it could be something minor from a GI upset from eating garbage to an intestinal parasite to pancreatitis to an intestinal foreign body that it causing the intestines to necrose (die). The only way to figure out which condition we have is to run fecals, bloodwork, x-rays, maybe even a barium series and if the clinic has one, an ultrasound. We always offer the best course of treatment which includes thorough diagnostics. In some cases when the pet seems stable we can offer supportive care until the client can see their regular vet but when the pet’s condition is obviously critical we are going to encourage the best course or treatment which includes diagnostics.
Also, there are many more emergency situations requiring immediate care than just broken bones, bleeding and obvious injury. Waiting to get your pet care can sometimes make the condition and chance for survival worse.
**Av8trix>**I am sorry for your loss.
Hi,
First I want to offer my condolences for the OP’s loss… 10 years is way too soon to lose a kitty :(.
As a manager of a veterinary (regular small animal practice) hospital, I just wanted to second Wile E’s (hey, thats my cat’s name ) post. Diagnostics are important tools and just like human doctors, vets are obligated to present the “best” medicine to their clients. If they fail to offer all recommended diagnostics, they can be held liable for malpractice. Our ER clinic is awesome, and although they are about 25% higher than the regular hospitals, they are clearly committed to saving pets lives. I was recently at the ER clinic a few weeks ago picking up a clients pet to be transferred back to us and spent the time waiting looking through hundreds of pictures and thank you notes from clients whose pets had been saved or at least eased through their final hours by the ER staff. It was impressive and really sent a message of compassion and caring.
I was glad to see the second vet the OP went to had the vet care credit plans- we just introduced that to our hospital and I’m excited for the doors it can open up for people on a budget. Vet medicine is more costly than it used to be, but its better than it was 10 years ago and more of our clients are looking for the very best thing they can do for their pets. All hospitals owe it to their clients to present those options while providing compassionate care. It may cost more to offer the best medicine- but in the last ten years, I’ve seen a definite increase in the happy endings.
Av8trix - I am so sorry for your loss. I had to have my 20 lb kitty euthanized last year for a variety of reasons and still mourn him.
Pullet – I think I love you. Notice that I’m very close by, but like Tinkrtoy, I’m an old gal (albeit from California).
Sigh.
Av8trix - I am sorry for your loss. I hope it is a comfort to you to know you did your best.
thanks for taking my criticism so well, Tinkrtoy. I like you again
Av8trix, I’m so sorry to hear that Phantom is no longer with us. It sounds like he had the easiest, softest passing anybody could wish for, so that is some small comfort. Like Snakescatlady said, take comfort also from the knowledge that you did your very best.
Hugs and kisses (I’m a girl, the kisses are platonic 
)