Cheap veterinary care?

One of my cats is losing weight and getting some bald patches. He is only 3-4 years old, indoor cat, acts normal and seems OK besides the weight and hair issue. We would bring him to a vet f we could, but I am unemployed and my fiance is a student, we simply do not have the money. We tried to see if there were any veterinary schools around, figuring they might be able to help on the cheap (we get our haircuts at the stylist school for cheap, get dental care from the dental school for cheap) but there are none around.

Any ideas?

I would call the vet and tell them you don't have the money, but maybe if you tell the the symptoms they would be nice enough to point you in the right direction (maybe). Or call the local humane society.

Sell the cats to the chinese and buy a dog

Yeah, id do what Bombadil suggested. Id call up a clinic and tell them your situation with your sick cat and your financial status. Some clinics have special discounts for the unemployed and students, but you will have to prove that you are. A few years ago we were able to get some of our kitties fixed at a discount by useing my cousins unemployment and disability. If they dont have any programs like that, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

The quicker you get your kitty checked out the better, I know you want him/her to stay with you for anouther ten years!

We do want him around, despite his incessant need to remind us that 'meow'.

Good tips everyone. I will get dialing...

My cats used to get bald patches and running sores, until we put them on decent food, they only eat royal canin fit 32 now, healthy fat and shiny coats.

We have always fed all 3 of our cats IAMS, not sure how good it is though. It is expensive though, so it should be good.

Our cats used to overgroom due to flea issues, but we dot them every few months now and it is not an issue. The balding cat never did over-groom and seemed to be immune to fleas, even when the other 2 had flea issues (overgrooming, excessive scratching).

God, I feel so shitty about this. I can spend $40 on weed stuff but not $150 for a vet vist and a few tests. I am a piece of shit

The weight loss thing is not good though. I am kinda like a cat person, I have 6 of the buggers and they are like children, but still sometimes all we can do is give them a good life, the cancer tests are quite expensive yeah, maybe ask the vet if you can pay in 3 installments or something?

how would you feel if your roles were reversed and your animals were looking for cheap health care for you.

Like I said, I feel pretty shitty.

I'm going to go out and invest in a good scale tomorrow to monitor the cat's weight. Who knows, he may not be losing weight, it may just look that way, I may just be worrying too much since the bald spots got worse. He still eats and plays and acts normal. I had a dog with bald spots when I was younger, she lived to 14 without problems

I've been monitoring the fuzzy fucker's weight the last couple days. 11 pounds, just like his last vet visit over a year ago. I guess I was just freaking out because my parents cat had to be put down recently. Thanks again for the help everyone, I threw some rep liberally