Need Barn Cat Advice - Fell in Love, Pet Insurance, and Medical Attempts Gone Bad

[ytr45]

Please folks no snarkiness, I’m all tied up in knots about this. This fall I got a lovely (unferal-ish) feral rescue. This is a friendly maine-coone looking guy that has a doggie personality. He wants to be picked up and petted, and follows me everywhere. I fell in love, yes I admit it. I was concerned that he had a lot of cysts on his face, so I bought some pet insurance and took him to the vet. This kitty is worth it.

The vet found out he had an upper respiratory infection caused by chlamydia and gave me clavamox. No worries, I have insurance, right? When I went online to upload my claim, the website said there was a 14 day waiting period, so my claims would not be paid
I didn’t submit anything.

Later the vet switched me to compounded chicken flavored doxy, but that caused violent vomiting. When I googled it, it seems like allergic reactions to doxy are common in cats.

So now I don’t trust that vet for not mentioning that to me. Poor Kitty!!

So, I guess I need to go back to clavamox, but I don’t really trust the vet anymore. Why didn’t she give me a heads up on the potential doxy reactions? The violent vomiting was terrible, I thought I killed him, and this kitty takes meds without any scruffing or “burritto’ing” or anything. He’s SO SWEET.

I’m thinking I should go to a different vet, get clavamox again, and then resubmit whatever claims I can, knowing they’ll probably realize the omittance of the earlier chlamydia bloodwork.

A part of me is afraid of pumping yet more money into this endeavor and wonders what would happen if I did nothing.

I would any non-snarky advice. thanks.

[NancyM]

Well, pumping money into pets is what we do, isn’t it? If you have decided that you are not impressed with the care from one veterinarian, you may well move to another, and perhaps get better, or different advice, which may or may not help to solve the cat’s issue. All it takes is “money”.
I can’t comment on the insurance thing… I don’t do that.

[Simkie]

Well…one option would be to switch vets and start fresh. Don’t disclose previous testing or treatment. It’s not ideal to not disclose, but does get you a fresh slate to start with, and clears things up for insurance reimbursement.

[Zevida]

Sorry your kitty isn’t well!

Unfortunately all meds have side effects. Personally I won’t give any cat of mine clavamox ever again because I’ve had multiple kitties have bad reactions. Sounds like your cat is the opposite. I’d go back to the drug that was working. I wouldn’t hold it against the vet but also if you want to find a new one find a new one! It’s about your comfort.

As for insurance they have waiting periods for exactly this reason - it’s not fair to know the cat is sick and then have insurance pay. So you just have to deal with this one on your own.

[SonnysMom]

And that is potentally insurance fraud

[ratherberiding1999]

About the doxycycline- it can be irritating to the esophagus and it’s recommended to follow doses with a syringe of water. If you want to stick with the current vet, ask if they’d be willing to do the clavamox again rather than the doxy. Or go to a different vet for a second opinion, bring all the records from the current vet and let them know what worked and what didn’t.

With pet insurance, they’re really good at considering everything to be a “prior issue” and not covering it. And also not paying for follow up things from the first visit if the first visit wasn’t claimed. It depends on which company you have but you should be able to call the support line and talk with an agent who can help walk through options regarding claims for past and upcoming visits.

Best of luck to your kitty!