How Many Vets Actually Like/care About Cats?

Azazel · Sep 1, 2018

Megsnan said:
Ha. Yeah but if they can save my cats life then that’s all that matters.

Well obviously if I was in a situation where they were the only option and it was life or death then sure. But I wouldn’t choose them as my regular vet when there are others who actually care about cats.

Boris Diamond · Sep 1, 2018

My first vet was on the recommendation of a dog person. That vet bragged that he knew more about cats than anyone in town. His wife had cats, but he did not talk about them with respect. I think he was more $$$ oriented than anything. His wife, the office manager, insisted on over scheduling him, so he rarely had sufficient time with each patient. They had nutty staff and high turnover. We did not have a happy parting.

My present vet has two Ragdolls and even though she is slightly allergic to them, she wouldn't live without cats. All her staff love cats and enjoy mine. They always have me in the examining room with my cat. She is soooo knowledgeable about cats and has great advice about them. I like her very, very much. I am so glad I changed.

dustydiamond1 · Sep 3, 2018

We went through 3 or 4 vets and I was ready to try a different clinic when Dr Kate came into our lives. She tells Miss Gypsy, that's what she calls her, Miss Gypsy, how wonderful it is to see her because she is so nice to work with and how sweet and pretty she is. Dr Kate always takes time to explain how things are going and constantly pets our girl. She mostly works with cats and horses, my kind of person. The staff are great and the waiting room is nice and big but if Dr Kate leaves, hopefully we will be able to go with her, if not I think I will try a different clinic.

Notacrazycatlady · Sep 3, 2018

I lucked into a great vet. She's the one behind the whole TNR effort here locally, so I met her when I got my colony TNR'd and started volunteering at the TNR monthly clinics. When I got Angus, it was an easy choice just seeing how much she cares about feral cats. She loves animals in general, she actually stopped to pick up a turtle she saw on her way to a TNR clinic because there was a growth on it's neck preventing it from retracting its head. While she was doing the spays/neuters, she put it in a cage with water and lettuce and had me and another volunteer tracking down info on reptiles and finding an expert who could offer advice (on a Sunday). She's also an avian vet and one of my bird-owning friends needed her for a budgie emergency over a weekend and Dr. Reen met her at the office at 6:00 on a Sunday night to put stitches in a parakeet. She also doesn't believe in doing extensive tests without a concrete reason. She's very mindful of the costs associated with vet care and doesn't inflate the bills. She also spends a lot of her own time and money on the TNR effort. She's just a pure animal lover.

mikameek · Sep 3, 2018

Has anyone had the experience that while you are not a vet, you seem to know more about your cat than the vet? That was one of the reasons I got uneasy with the very first vet I took Mika to. He was always uncomfortable and seemed to be hesitant to work with Mika. Now, I was a brand new cat owner then and had not found this site but once I did and I started asking him questions based off of the knowledge I got here, it really seemed like I knew more than him. Now that I think about it, the only time I saw him ever touch Mika was when she went and rubbed herself on him first. I left for other reasons (he most DEFINITELY was just in it for the $$$ and my mom's friend recommended them to her when she inquired on my behalf about where to go, my mom relayed the story and her friend said "Oh, well, they are more of a dog place.").

My problem is that now, finding a vet that I can trust and will take care of Mika well (but isn't going to drain my very sad and small college budget) is a bit difficult. I also feel like because I don't know much about what Mika is actually suffering from, lots of guesswork is involved which makes her treatment expensive. I think right now what I'm looking for in a vet is someone that I feel I can trust completely and will look at Mika like I do.

dustydiamond1 · Sep 3, 2018

Notacrazycatlady said:
I lucked into a great vet. She's the one behind the whole TNR effort here locally, so I met her when I got my colony TNR'd and started volunteering at the TNR monthly clinics. When I got Angus, it was an easy choice just seeing how much she cares about feral cats. She loves animals in general, she actually stopped to pick up a turtle she saw on her way to a TNR clinic because there was a growth on it's neck preventing it from retracting its head. While she was doing the spays/neuters, she put it in a cage with water and lettuce and had me and another volunteer tracking down info on reptiles and finding an expert who could offer advice (on a Sunday). She's also an avian vet and one of my bird-owning friends needed her for a budgie emergency over a weekend and Dr. Reen met her at the office at 6:00 on a Sunday night to put stitches in a parakeet. She also doesn't believe in doing extensive tests without a concrete reason. She's very mindful of the costs associated with vet care and doesn't inflate the bills. She also spends a lot of her own time and money on the TNR effort. She's just a pure animal lover.

dustydiamond1 · Sep 3, 2018

mikameek said:
Has anyone had the experience that while you are not a vet, you seem to know more about your cat than the vet? That was one of the reasons I got uneasy with the very first vet I took Mika to. He was always uncomfortable and seemed to be hesitant to work with Mika. Now, I was a brand new cat owner then and had not found this site but once I did and I started asking him questions based off of the knowledge I got here, it really seemed like I knew more than him. Now that I think about it, the only time I saw him ever touch Mika was when she went and rubbed herself on him first. I left for other reasons (he most DEFINITELY was just in it for the $$$ and my mom's friend recommended them to her when she inquired on my behalf about where to go, my mom relayed the story and her friend said "Oh, well, they are more of a dog place.").

My problem is that now, finding a vet that I can trust and will take care of Mika well (but isn't going to drain my very sad and small college budget) is a bit difficult. I also feel like because I don't know much about what Mika is actually suffering from, lots of guesswork is involved which makes her treatment expensive. I think right now what I'm looking for in a vet is someone that I feel I can trust completely and will look at Mika like I do.

Check Yelp for reviews and ask around at school. Could you post somewhere that you are looking a good vet? Good luck. Keep us updated.

mikameek · Sep 3, 2018

dustydiamond1 said:
Check Yelp for reviews and ask around at school. Could you post somewhere that you are looking a good vet? Good luck. Keep us updated.

I did get a list of places from the shelter I took Mika to when I got her checked out (I found her off the streets out here). I haven't looked at all the vets on the list (I did go to one off of that list because my roommate did but the vet I met there hasn't really impressed me. I still felt like I knew more than her and when asking questions she seemed to be surprised I knew as much as I did.) but I worry about the others on the list because I think its a more of a general "These places have free wellness checks" list then a "These are good cat vets" list. There is an app our school uses for a variety of things so I may post there about it.

Azazel · Sep 3, 2018

The problem with recommendations from shelters is that they often give recommendations to clinics that endorse them. I also find online reviews to be unhelpful because the average cat owner knows nothing about cats and just rates a vet clinic as being good if the people working there are nice. Nice is great, but it doesn't amount to knowledgeable.

molly92 · Sep 3, 2018

mikameek said:
Has anyone had the experience that while you are not a vet, you seem to know more about your cat than the vet?

Yes, definitely! Part of it is, even with absolutely terrific vets, you know your cat better than they do because it's your cat. You're just around them more and you get a sense for certain things that a vet is not going to pick up on in a 20 minute visit.

I recently set up an appointment to get radio iodine treatment for my cat's hyperthroidism 2 hours away. We got there, had a checkup, and the vet decided that she didn't have hyperthroidism after all. They drew some more blood and sent us home with a dewormer. It didn't make sense to me. I've never had a hyperthroid cat before but the description fit. But the vet was focused on the numbers and not the cat in front of her.

A week later her bloodwork came back, and what do you know, this time it was confirmed hyperthroidism! Also confirmed for me that yes, I do know my cat! And while obviously the vet was right not to do the procedure unless she was sure, I wished I'd trusted myself more and pushed for more diagnostics while I was there the first time. We're going back next week, and this time I've promised myself not to assume the vets are going to do everything they can-I'm going to double check!

I do get that lots of people are actually clueless about their own animals, and vets just can't trust what the client says. So it makes sense that the vet chose to give more weight to the bloodwork values than the symptoms I described. Turns out in this case though, the bloodwork was atypical. She wouldn't have known that. But I could have been more insistent.

(Also there are just lots of vets that don't know much about cats, which this thread is proving!)

Azazel · Sep 3, 2018

molly92 said:
Yes, definitely! Part of it is, even with absolutely terrific vets, you know your cat better than they do because it's your cat. You're just around them more and you get a sense for certain things that a vet is not going to pick up on in a 20 minute visit.

I recently set up an appointment to get radio iodine treatment for my cat's hyperthroidism 2 hours away. We got there, had a checkup, and the vet decided that she didn't have hyperthroidism after all. They drew some more blood and sent us home with a dewormer. It didn't make sense to me. I've never had a hyperthroid cat before but the description fit. But the vet was focused on the numbers and not the cat in front of her.

A week later her bloodwork came back, and what do you know, this time it was confirmed hyperthroidism! Also confirmed for me that yes, I do know my cat! And while obviously the vet was right not to do the procedure unless she was sure, I wished I'd trusted myself more and pushed for more diagnostics while I was there the first time. We're going back next week, and this time I've promised myself not to assume the vets are going to do everything they can-I'm going to double check!

I do get that lots of people are actually clueless about their own animals, and vets just can't trust what the client says. So it makes sense that the vet chose to give more weight to the bloodwork values than the symptoms I described. Turns out in this case though, the bloodwork was atypical. She wouldn't have known that. But I could have been more insistent.

(Also there are just lots of vets that don't know much about cats, which this thread is proving!)

This is exactly what "holistic" health care is supposed to be about. It's supposed to take into consideration the fact that a living being's health goes beyond just a single medical condition or diagnosis given at the point of care. And this means that the living being itself is an expert in their own health and that its caregivers are also experts in its health.

In the vet world the word 'holistic' has come to mean "eastern medicine," but when I think of holistic I think of a health care professional who uses an approach that implements the above philosophy.

How Many Vets Actually Like/care About Cats?

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

Thread starter

Boris Diamond

Cat Valet

dustydiamond1

Minion to Gypsy since October 2016

Notacrazycatlady

TCS Member

mikameek

TCS Member

dustydiamond1

Minion to Gypsy since October 2016

dustydiamond1

Minion to Gypsy since October 2016

mikameek

TCS Member

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

Thread starter

molly92

TCS Member

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

Thread starter

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