Medical subsidy for cat with injured tail, Duan Duan (Liew Fong Yin’s)

We have subsidised RM155 for this case.

From: fong yin liew <phingedie@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Subject: Cat with serious infection of the tail
To: chankahyein@gmail.com

Dear Dr. Chan,

I am a student from University of Malaya. I stay in one of the hostels and have been feeding some strays for some years. A few months back a kitten suddenly had a wound to the tail, half the flesh of the tail was ripped off. I’m not sure how it happened, whether a car went over the tail or someone shut the door on its tail. I put medicine on it, but eventually the bone dried up and fell off by itself. However, the remaining part of the tail which was ‘skinned’ in the accident was on and off a raw wound, it healed but because of the friction/cat’s licking it frequently became raw again. I did apply wound-healing medication & gauze but because the cat kept licking the healing wound, it just never healed completely. The cat is now a young adult. Recently the tail took a turn for the worse. The flesh seemed to be eaten away and there was a bad smell; I feared it was a serious bacterial infection, so I brought it to the vet clinic for amputation. After checking, the Dr. found that the tail was being eaten away by maggots. My friend and I agreed to share out the cost of the operation, since it was an ‘external’ op I thought at most it would be around RM100++. But after making a calculation, the Dr. told us that the cost would be RM300++, she even gave a rough breakdown of the cost:

General anesthesia: 50

Medication: 30

Op: 150

Consultation: 25

Collar: 25

Boarding: 30

We were quite shocked at the cost, but because we felt very badly for the suffering cat, we told them to proceed with the operation so that the cat would get well as soon as possible. The cost of the operation is quite heavy for us, and yesterday I sought out Dr Veeranoot, I got to know her through a friend. She suggested that I email you, and I was wondering if we could be helped with the operation cost. The cat will be discharged either today or tomorrow, and Dr Veeranoot has kindly agreed to lend me her cage and litter box for the care of the cat until the operation wound heals. I will also try to ask for a reduction in the bill from the vet. Please do let me know if I can apply for any financial aid, your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon.

Regards.

Liew Fong Yin