Pavel's all bunged up again

This is likely the least likely title and blog entry ever. Pavel is my 14 year old cat and he is the love of dh's and my life. Pavel's constipation is heavy on my mind and i need to talk about it and the events surrounding it.  We've had two other Siamese's in the past; they however were allowed out whenever they wanted and neither ever was constipated (that i knew of) One lived to a ripe old 19 and the other was killed by a car at age 10. When we got Pavel we agreed that he would be strictly a house cat.

Not saying he's never been outside though.  When he was young i trained him to walk on a leash and we'd go for walks, not far, just in our own backyard. And while i worked in the greenhouse his leash would be attached to a rod in the garden which enabled him to romp freely around in a large circle.
Now, if we would have kept up his visits with nature he might not have the constipation problem that he has now developed.

Too late we learned that constipation is typical with the Siamese breed. No regrets though; we'd still have him and love him anyway.

However its a hard thing to see your precious little baby in pain and so you do whatever you can to help relieve his agony. And then when theres nothing more you can do its off to the dreaded veterinarian clinic and all its horrors dishonesties and unknown factors. This time it was a brand new clinic with a brand new vet....and no recomendations from anyone....

Our old vet had retired and i didn't like the way the place was being run without him there. Last year we took him to a new place where the vets seemed nice enough, and they managed to remove some  old feces without putting him under a general anesthetic. Then their bill came and it was four times more than we expected and all i could think was dammed vets! they always do this. They insist on shots, or boosters, blood tests and x-rays, medicine and special food.  $800. later we're walking out with our cat relieved of a turd or two,  not knowing if the constipation will continue. What if he won't eat their special diet food or their meds? One of the things they sold me was a 2 oz. bottle of lactulose for $30. I asked at the safeway pharmacy for lactulose and they offered me a full litre for $10.
If theres one thing i cant stand its getting ripped off and that was a doozy. Never going to trust that vet again.

And of course Pavel hated their stupid food and he hated the meds as well.And he hated us for trying to make him eat them and he grew suspicious of us when we went to pick him up. So we carried on by trying some home remedies like pumpkin, molasses, metamucil etc which he wouldn't swallow. I did get various oils into him but he hated them and the food and therefore was still all bunged up.

So yesterday was new vet day. Travelling day is horrid for a cat to put it lightly; lots of purple tongue, panting and crying.So we get there and the receptionist greeted us with "we never try to make you pay more that is needed; our rates are very low. We are here because we love animals and will never over charge, you can trust us completely"

I felt relieved but suspicious. You know the old "she doth protested too much"

So they needed fresh xrays which we agreed to.  Then for the anesthetic and procedure but said no to the blood tests. We bought the food they wanted to sell us and some $12. laxative in a tube which smells like pure molasses, which it probably is available for $1.  Then they sent us away for 3 hours before we could come back and get our baby.

We were shocked to find him still asleep and icey cold upon our return. They said that was normal....? We brought him home and i took him to bed immediately wrapped in his Snuggie as well as a down quilt and i held him close but he remained cold for 12 hours or more after that.  Dh was also doing relay runs to the dryer with blankets which he heated and brought up to place under Pavel, but nothing seemed to warm him up.

We all fell asleep from exhaustion and in the morning he was a little more alert and a little more warm, praise the Lord. Now tonight hes feeling 100% better but still refusing food and water.  I don't know what to do about that except force feed and water him and we very messily did.

Meanwhile i was looking over the vets bill while i had a coffee and guess what.  They overcharged us by $30. and change. So $30. isn't that much, but its a place we'll never do business with again; if they'll gyp you in money what other ways do they gyp you?

It just makes you lose faith in people when this happens and it seems to happen to us a lot. A so called "friend" installed new flooring in our basement and i just happened to check over his bill - he was $100. off....in his favour of course.  Could have been honest mistakes but really, these are professional people. I've also noticed any mistakes are never in our favour!

I suspect, but have no proof of this but i think Pavel wasn't even treated at that vets office. I think they took him to another location in a cold vehicle and he was returned via the back door just as we got there.
Maybe i'm an overbearing, suspicious, untrusting mom but i sensed something was going on at that clinic and it was more than simply their overcharging us. I'm going to confront them re our bill but can't very well ask anything about did they send Pavel out to another location because i dont know why they would do that and i can't make any sense of it. But it bothers me mightily. Your cat is like your kid - you take your kid to school and as far as you know hes safely there in that school all day.  But what if one day you found out somehow they had transported him to a different location for the day without you knowing.  Well, i'd be livid!  I am livid.

Sorry for yet another longggg post. Just had to rant. Now i'll climb in bed with the poor little bugger and croon sweet nothings in his ear and cuddle him all night.  Hopefully my loving will loosen him up!