Manny's Day At The Vet....

[sabian]

I'm just kind of rambling here but, changing vets has been interesting to say the least. If anyone see's red flags feel free to comment.

My long time vet sold their practice and I tried the new vet that bought them out and just haven't been impressed which, is a whole other story but, I figured since I was basically changing vets anyway I would try one closer to home. It's about 30 mins. to the old location and I have one about 7 minutes away.

So, I read some reviews online and they were pretty good and decided to make the change. I went in the first of the week to start getting Manny set up in the system and get records transferred. She said she would call my old vet and get the records. I told her I thought he was a Siberian. The next day she called me and said they only had records for a Maine Coon which was Tama that passed last year. Come to find out she though I meant Siberian Husky! I think it just automatically came up that way in their system.

I also wanted to make sure he had been tested for FeLV and FIV. I figured he had since I got him from the Humane Society. The girl said his records didn't indicate that he had. I emailed the girl I got him from at the Humane Society to see if she knew. She checked with the vet they use and sure enough it hadn't been done. She was very apologetic and said that they were tagged that all animals that they brought in were suppose to be tested and she wasn't very happy about it.

Ok, not really a big deal but, that may complicate me getting another cat if he comes up positive!

So...I have blood work done, check for FeLV, FIV, parasites, worms, all his standard shots updated, pretty much a complete physical. Everything went pretty well. Manny was pretty stressed at first but he calmed down after we were there for a while until....dun,dun,dun, we tried to get blood. They let me stay with him the whole time because he's so shy and we felt like it would help him relax. He done awesome all things considered. The problem was when they tried to find a vein to get blood. They tried his neck 4 or 5 times, one of his hind legs and nothing. Finally flipped on his other side and found a good vein in his left leg. By this time he had had enough of being poked on and just wanted to get away. We gave him a break and he just hid behind me on the bench in the exam room. After he calmed down one of the assistants help me do the swab for his DNA test kit I had ordered and we decided not to do the hair sample so not to upset him anymore. I can manage that but I wanted to make sure the swab was done right.

While we were waiting for test result I gave him treats and just let him relax. The vet came in and gave him his booster shots and went through the test results which thankfully all came back negative and his blood work was fine. Sigh of relief!

So the poor guy must have been poked around 10 times with needles, a thermometer up his butt and the little thing they use for a stool sample. Who can blame him! I would be upset too! I thinking....this is going to set him back 6 months with all the progress he's made of coming out of his shell.

I get him home and open the carrier and he runs out and looks around. It was like he looked around and realized he was home and breathed a sigh of relief. He went upstairs and got something to eat and drink and I let him go outside for a walk. He stayed out for about an hour and was ready to go back in. I knew he had to be getting tired so, I decided to go out and do some mowing. He followed me downstairs and wanted to go back out but, I made him stay in. I started mowing around 3 - 3:30 and came back in around 5:30 to get something to drink and he was sitting in the kitchen but I could tell he had just woke up. He just jumped down of the couch when he heard me come in. I went back out for another hour and worked. When I came back in he was lying on the couch on one of my sweat shirts I had laid there for him. He loves to lay on my clothes. He didn't bother to get up. It's 1:20 am now and he's been pretty much zonked out since 5:30 pm. I think it all finally caught up with him. I'm sure he's sore from all the poking too. He seems to be moving kind of slow when he does get up to switch positions or another sleeping spot.

The whole ordeal stressed me out watching him go through that so I know it stressed him as well. I'm so use to my MC Tama that passed last year I'm just not use to going through that. Tama had no fear and would have purred the whole time they were sticking him with needles and nobody would have had to hold him. I would just carry him in without a carrier and set him down in the waiting room and he would meow and visit everybody in the waiting room. I really miss him.

Anyway, everything turned out ok and he seems to have handled it well. I don't think it scarred him to bad or caused a set back. I'll know more tomorrow or Monday one, once the soreness goes away and he gets rested.

I was over all pleased with the new vet clinic and the pricing wasn't that bad. We'll see how things go but, I sure miss my old vet too.

I'm glad to have this day behind me!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm glad you are pleased with your new Vet. I doubt Manny is too sore from all his "pokes", really. However, he may not be feeling all that well, simply because many cats have a slight reaction to being vaccinated. Most of mine get pretty lethargic for the first 24 hours after getting them. I'm guessing that's why he slept so much yesterday, and may continue to do so for much of today.

 

[neely]

i can relate to how you're feeling about your vet selling the practice and having to make a switch. When our longtime vet retired we tried the vet who bought the practice but were extremely dissatisfied. I was very picky about who I was going to see for future visits and did my research ahead of time. Just like you I wanted to get my cat in the system and the records transferred. I agree that Manny was most likely tired between the day's events and leaving his familiar surroundings, (home). I'm glad you are pleased with the new vet albeit miss your former vet. It takes awhile to build a rapport with a new vet but hopefully you won't have to switch again for a long time.

 

[sabian]

I'm glad you are pleased with your new Vet. I doubt Manny is too sore from all his "pokes", really. However, he may not be feeling all that well, simply because many cats have a slight reaction to being vaccinated. Most of mine get pretty lethargic for the first 24 hours after getting them. I'm guessing that's why he slept so much yesterday, and may continue to do so for much of today.

i can relate to how you're feeling about your vet selling the practice and having to make a switch. When our longtime vet retired we tried the vet who bought the practice but were extremely dissatisfied. I was very picky about who I was going to see for future visits and did my research ahead of time. Just like you I wanted to get my cat in the system and the records transferred. I agree that Manny was most likely tired between the day's events and leaving his familiar surroundings, (home). I'm glad you are pleased with the new vet albeit miss your former vet. It takes awhile to build a rapport with a new vet but hopefully you won't have to switch again for a long time.

mrsgreenjeens Manny gave me a little bit of a scare. I got up this morning and he looked like he felt pretty bad. He was laying on the couch and I reached down to pet him and he gave me a broken meow. I don't know if he ate or drank last night but I gave him some wet food which he normally gets at night and goes crazy over. He just sniffed it and walked away. He was really lethargic. A couple hours later he went back to his bowl and actually passed up the wet food for dry but only ate a few kibbles. I also noticed he had, had a loose stool sometime during the night. At this point I was thinking of calling the vet!

I seen him go to his bowl a couple times and just eat a couple kibbles and walk away but still no water. At least he was trying to eat though. Around 4 or 5pm he finally ate a good bit and went and drank some water. Since then he's gone to his water bowl and drank for a few minutes each time. He also asked for his wet food but not till about 12 am tonight. He ate most of it but, I didn't give him as much as normal. I can tell he still isn't 100% but he's over the hump I think. I've had cats in the past that shots obviously made them feel bad but, it effected Manny a little more than I'm use to.

neely I tried to stick with the vet that took over the practice like you did but, it was just one blunder after another. On top of that the prices almost doubled. They built a brand new building and seem like they were more concerned about appearance than service. The old building was fine and served the purpose.

I'm not a very trusting person anyway. I try to be as self sufficient as possible. I do all my own work on my cars, AC, plumbing, electrical, etc. I know if I do it, it will be done right. If I could I would work on my own cats but, that's out of my league unfortunately.

I done my research on the clinic I changed to. My gut feeling is, it will work out. Only time will tell though! There are several other vets in my area I can try if need be. Hopefully it won't be necessary.