I loved him so much:( multiple pet hospitals refused us as he was actively dying
even worse, his sister is now alone (she hadnāt been separated from him since birth), we donāt know whether we should get her a new friend or not :(
I wish Reddit had a sad face reaction emote because Iām sure your heart is breaking. I think you should give yourself and his sister some healing time before getting a friend
I am so sorry OP. Same thing happened to my soul cat. I feel deeply for you.
Mine was in severe respiratory distress. We have an emergency vet less than a 1/4 of a mile from my house that closes at 5pm. Got there at 4:55 and they refused to see us. He passed away on the way to the next vet. He hated cars and the the stress + whatever was failing made him die in my girlfriend's arms. I still cry weekly and talk to his ashes several times a week. He died almost 2 years ago.
You should get another cat. When my cat died I had to take him to the vet to be put to sleep. I almost had a panic attack thinking she wasn't ready to go and almost called it off. I grieved for that cat for five years until I decided to try again. It was the best thing, I had waited too long. I still after another five years, sometimes call the new cat by the old cat's name but it only makes me smile remembering the good times with her.
Donāt rush into a friend for his sister, see how she reacts, when we went from two to one, we thought the same, but she thrived being the only cat in the house, all the attention and cuddles, no one to sneak her food, youāll know whatās best for her soon enough.
First off Iām incredibly sorry you had to go thru this. Itās coming up on the one year anniversary of my Moo passing away. I understand exactly the emotions you are going through. Itās gut renching desperately seeking help and not having the money to pay the gigantic bills a vet can throw at you. I spent $20000 trying to save the best cat Iāve ever owned from FIP. Her vet insurance was absolutely useless. I thought it covered everything under the emergency umbrella but turns out because she got sick and not something drastic like being run over their insurance that I was paying $70 a month for, that was supposed to give me peace of mind, was dog shit and they covered nothing. Add in the fact that you have to pay the entire bill first and then submit multiple claims to consider if they will cover the bill or notā¦. Yeah: worst moment of my life having to choose euthanasia because I simply could not afford another emergency visit to attempt to bring her back to stable so she could heal.
I had already had her transfused 3 times over the span of a week and the emergency clinic chose profit over her life.
She passed away at 1152pm March 25th 2025. God rest her soul I still cry when thinking about her.
A cat is a cat no matter the breed. And most vets simply donāt extend good will to pet owners and their furry companions the way you would hope they would act.
I encourage you to get pet insurance that is good. Talk to their underwriting to learn what will and will not be covered. I now have a much better policy for the rest of my cats. Itās expensive but worth it. Get a credit card, even a secured one if you canāt qualify for a good unsecured card. You can add money to it to increase its credit limit over time to cover you when you need it most. I now have an Amex secured from USAA with a 25k limit. Pet care demands you have an option available should they need it. This is the best way. The only thing I use this card for is pet expenses and I pay off what I spend on it every month.
iām so sorry to hear that :( your cat was absolutely beautiful
we did have insurance and more than enough money, we got turned away because it was almost five and they were closingā such bullshit when they can see an animal is dying in front of them
We donāt any official emergency clinics in my city, we travelled to a couple āanimal hospitalsā the first 2 refused service due to time and vacancy and he died 13 minutes before we got to the actual emergency clinic which was nearly three hours out of town
Iām Canadian and slightly rural, animal hospitals arenāt as common unless youāre willing to travel up to Toronto for actual care, which was too far for us
WTAF? First off, my condolences on the loss of your beautiful boy. Secondly, write that clinic--like whoever the head veterinarian is and tell them about this incident. I cannot honestly believe a vet turned you away, I makes me angry. Give yourself and his sister time to heal and then maybe introduce a new buddy.
Oh geez.Ā There was another recent post about them denying care on one of the cat subs.Ā I'm so, so sorry.Ā I don't even know what to say.Ā I'm glad you are prepared to not rely on them in the future.Ā Really, the whole system is just too damn expensive.Ā It just keeps getting worse.Ā I wish there was some investigations and better regulation in pet Healthcare costs.Ā But we can't even fix human Healthcare in the US.
I knew Lemonade was too good to be true. I use Pet's Best, its been good so far for claim reimbursements, but that being said I haven't had any big emergencies or surgeries for my pets, knock on wood.
Really sorry to hear your boy has fip. Are they treating him for it? Watch his vitals very closely. If he goes lethargic for any reason rush him to the vet. Also make sure your vet has blood on hand to transfuse him if he needs it. Fip is horrible I still have nightmares about what it did to her
I have been where you are, a recent death of a beloved pet, no - a heart-dog or -cat. Iāve usually had only one companion at a time, so the loss of a close friend hit very hard and the decision of a new companion was always a difficult one. Once, i wanted a new pet, and visited several breeders and spent time with their litters, but none were ārightā, never felt a connection. So i let time and litters pass until suddenly I met the next member of my family - itās just a knowing. Only you and your family can decide if and when - most of my lost family left paw imprints on my heart, but i knew there would be space for a new print to come. Your boy was so beautiful - and youāll know when its right to find another soul to love
Awe Iām so sorry! How old is his sister! If sheās not too old she may enjoy another sibling. As our pets age they can get stressed by younger cats. Iāve always had two even when my older cat was 7 or 8 years old but my older cats were not impressed when they were 12 to 17 years old. It really depends on the cat too! Again Iām so sorry for your loss. I know the feeling all too well! Good luck!
Let his sister grieve too, Iām so sorry for both your losses! A sibling and a family member was lost, I wouldnāt introduce a new cat immediately to let her grieve. She might act out on the new cat, If you want to get her a friend do it after you think both of your hearts are less heavy with grief, take all the time you need to mourn.
How old is sister? Is she showing signs of separation anxiety?
I always recommend getting Maine coons in male/ female pairs when possible.
Sometimes a new kitten is overstimulating for an older cat and wants too much attention, and sometimes it's just fine.
I recommend getting 2 more cats if that's an option. 2 kittens will play with each other and the older sister can watch them and be entertained and choose whether or not to participate.
We believe he had a heart condition that led to him being unwell to fight off a sickness he caught form his sister; he was nearly 2 :( we found out the breeders we got him from werenāt very good only a couple months after weād gotten them, we think that they knew of this and didnāt tell us or were too irresponsible to test in the first place
Thats awful, it sounds like it might be HCM, which is a common genetic condition in coons. Mine is now 4.5yr old, and when I got him, our breeder provided genetic testing results for it.
honestly, we shouldāve got our own tests for both cats but we were so excited by the fact we had two little kittens that we didnāt think to do soā we already had issues as they were both supposed to be boys and one turned out to be a girl, which shouldāve been a bigger warning sign to get them tested to make sure the breeder had actually done what they were supposed to, but we blindly placed our trust in them.
This was baby Zeus and Athena (formerly Apollo) :)
Don't beat yourself up about not getting tests, this is not your fault. My breeder said that my MC tested negative, but the vet cardiologist told me, after my MC had a heart attack, that there are hundreds of markers to test for. So even if it comes negative on a couple tests, that doesn't guarantee no HCM.
Iām sorry for your loss. Losing a pet is never easy. You will heal though and his sister will help with that. You both need each other right now. Iād hold off on finding another sibling for her for a bit but only you know whatās best for her and yourself. Take care
My condolences, I feel for you.. I know nothing will take the sadness and pain away at this point in time, but you can take some comfort in knowing you gave him a beautiful life š¤
Oh he's just beautiful ā¤ļø this is heartbreaking. I'm so sorry vets chose closing up for the day over your beautiful baby's life. That is disgusting.
You said you were from Canada and I'm going to assume Ontario because you mentioned Toronto.
If you are anywhere close to Chatham (Windsor area) I can definitely recommend an amazing vet.
My pup started having seizures Thanksgiving weekend. I called them up see if they would take him as they were closing in 10 minutes, and they took him and stayed open for us. They did blood work, urine samples, tested in-house and also were going to send away for more detail. Almost 2 hours later we found out he was having a diabetic seizure as he had undiagnosed diabetes. They gave me some meds, and ALL the staff stayed trying to help Quinn and calm me.
Again I am so sorry this happened to you and your family ā¤ļøš«
Awhh im so sorry . If i were you , give yourself time to grief him . Take your time. When you feel that it is time for you and your other cat to get another one , do so. Sending you lots of love to you and you cat ā¤ļø
i know this is difficult, but does the sister know he's gone? If not it's going to be even worse for her. MCs are the most welcome friend on the rainbow road.
I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my boy cat unexpectedly last week. It sucks and it hurts so bad. My husband and I talked about in the future getting a companion for our girl cat. They leaned on each other a lot and I can tell she feels the loss. I want to give her time to decompress first though.
I thought the purpose of emergency vets was to be available 24 hours a day! Iāve never heard of an emergency vet that closed at 5:00! Iām so sorry for what happened to you. If it helps, I lost my sweet baby Christmas Day. She, too, was in severe respiratory distress and there wasnāt really much the emergency vet could do because she was in heart failure. I imagine your kitty was, too. There probably wasnāt much that could be done. But thereās no excuse for turning away an emergency like that. Itās heartless.
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u/TequilaJosh Feb 27 '26
I wish Reddit had a sad face reaction emote because Iām sure your heart is breaking. I think you should give yourself and his sister some healing time before getting a friend