u/hey_littlesongbird

Hi Reddit, I have a very silly question for you today.

My boyfriend and I plan on adopting cats together in the near future. In the past, when I’ve taken my cats to the vet, their chart is set up with my last name, since I’m the sole owner/primary caretaker. But if both my boyfriend and I are the owners, whose last name should they get?

We’re thinking about doing a hyphenated last name (so if parent A is Jones and parent B is Smith, the cats would be Jones-Smith). Would the vet allow this? Or does the cat’s last name need to match one of the parents exactly?

This is a very unserious question, I know, lol. But I thought it’d be a fun hypothetical. What do you think? Has anyone else been in this particular scenario?

ETA: WOW I did not expect so many replies in such a short time lol. Thank you to everyone who commented! Consensus here seems to be they should get my name since I’ll most likely be the one handling vet visits and such. It helps that I already have an account (?) set up at the vet I’d want to continue going to. I might still see if they’ll let us hyphenate though, just because I think it’d be cute… and also really funny.

I’ve already asked the vet about this, it’s not a UTI or blockage or anything like that. He is currently struggling with a mystery non-regenerative anemia (haven’t been able to narrow down if it’s FIP, lymphoma, or something else) so he’s constantly at the vet, getting blood tests done, etc. 2 y/o male cat.

It started when I switched his litter to paper pellets. It was the only option I had as he has PICA and started eating clay litter, which is obviously very dangerous. He used the pellets fine at first but then started peeing on soft surfaces, like bath mats and rugs. Those are easy to clean so it wasn’t a huge concern until he started peeing on the landing at the bottom of the stairs. Now he goes there continuously. He still uses the box too, only ever poops in there, but the landing is still an issue. I switched him to paper crumble in the hopes the texture would be similar enough to clay and he’d go back to exclusively using the box but no luck.

I’ve cleaned it with Nature’s Miracle and a spot cleaning machine multiple times but to no avail. I’ve started putting pee pads down so he doesn’t totally ruin the carpet. Putting a litterbox there is not an option, I live with my mom and she won’t let me. In the meantime I’ve moved one of his cat trees near the spot and started feeding him there in the hopes that he’d start to associate the spot with the tree + food but no change yet.

This is causing a lot of fights between me and my mom and I’m desperate for any tips/tricks that may work. Thank you.

Trying to decide if I should proceed with FIP treatment even after the PCR (?) test came back negative.

Info: cat, 1 year 10 months, neutered male, DSH, around 8 pounds

History: I’ll do my best to keep it brief but he’s had ongoing issues since March. Originally diagnosed with mycoplasma haemofelis and prescribed doxycycline and prednisolone. Hematocrit didn’t improve after over a month of treatment (couldn’t get it above 10%) so we saw a specialist May 7th. Prior to this appointment he had a pretty drastic decrease in appetite and lost quite a bit of weight, got down to around 6.5 pounds where previously he was just under 10. Did a bunch of testing and after inconclusive results put him on marbofloxacin and increased his steroid dosage. Appetite came back tenfold and he regained weight. Follow-up 2 weeks later (May 22nd) showed his hematocrit back up to 20% (highest it’d been since our very first appointment in March) so that seemed to have resolved. Discontinued the Marbo. However he still has an enlarged lymph node behind his ear (first noticed at the appointment on the 7th) and had started accumulating fluid - had a distended belly, swollen paws and legs, etc. Vet got a sample of his fluid and a urine sample. Sent fluid off to test for FIP and had urine tested for histoplasmosis. Went ahead and started him on treatment for FIP, got a 5 day supply. I did not feel like I saw much improvement on this new medication. However, within the last few days, his fluid accumulation has completely drained (I honestly think he peed it all out, there was so much in the litter box) despite having not been on that FIP medication for several days. FIP and histoplasmosis tests both came back negative.

Linking to another post of mine that has more details about his mycoplasma journey. Extra info in comments.

Current clinical signs: aside from the enlarged lymph node, nothing. No fluid build up, eating and drinking normally, good energy, mostly using the litterbox but occasionally pees outside of it. I suspect this is more due to the litterbox being dirty (again, SO much pee just from a day or two) and I recently completely changed it out. Swelling/fluid accumulation went away a few days ago.

Located in TN, USA.

Vet wants to proceed with FIP treatment but I really haven’t seen other symptoms of FIP besides the one swollen lymph node. There had previously been concerns with his spleen being enlarged, but that was believed to be caused by the mycoplasma and vet didn’t say anything about it at his last appointment so I’m unsure whether that resolved or not. The reason I hesitate to go ahead with treatment is the cost. I’ve already spent thousands on vet appointments and have my own personal hospital bills to pay.

Should I get a second opinion? Is there any other way to confirm FIP? I’ll do this treatment if I must but everything has just taken such a huge financial toll on me. Thank you in advance.