Rant! Vets drive me crazy sometimes.

[moggiegirl]

It’s 3:00 a.m. I can’t sleep and my cats are miserable because I have to separate them until Bella pees. Neither cat wants to use the litter box with the pearls. I’m very angry with my veterinarian for making me worry about my cats kidneys and making me spend a lot of extra money when they most likely do not have kidney disease and having to accumulate a large amount of credit card debt. I have Mickey In a room howling because he wants out and Bellla outside of my bedroom so she won’t pee under my bed since she most likely won’t use the box who knows where she will pee or poop and when. I am calling out sick from work this Monday morning due to stress and lack of sleep and I don’t think I should have to go through this at all. I can’t wait until this nightmare is over. The urine sample I do have from Mickey might not be good enough because I had to extract it from a blanket he peed on. I may not be able to get a sample from Bella. My cats are miserable right now and for nothing. I shouldn’t have to do this at all.

I am very angry with my vet for making me torture my cats for a urine sample. I am NEVER doing this again. If the vet can’t get the urine sample then there just won’t be a sample. They are so much better trained than us, I don’t understand why they put that job in our hands, giving us a product cats hate to use, a tiny amount of pearls for cat litter. First they charge a lot, then they make our lives difficult. I’ve had it!!!

 

[IndyJones]

Sounds like Mike likes the perler beads about as much as my cats do.

If the vet absolutely must have a sample have they discussed the option of taking it directly from the bladder? For this option you would simply need to make sure they have a full bladder when you bring them.

This is the option I use for my cats because as you noticed the perler beads can cause distress for both cat and owners.

 

[moggiegirl]

Sounds like Mike likes the perler beads about as much as my cats do.

If the vet absolutely must have a sample have they discussed the option of taking it directly from the bladder? For this option you would simply need to make sure they have a full bladder when you bring them.

This is the option I use for my cats because as you noticed the perler beads can cause distress for both cat and owners.

The reason they gave me the pearls is because they were unable to take urine samples directly from the bladder and I did my best to see that they had full bladders keeping them away from the litter boxes prior to their appointment. Right now at 3:30 a.m. Mickey is literally trying to break down the closed door to his room and continues to howl. Bella still hasn’t peed. The vet has no idea what me and the cats are going through right now and I believe it’s unnecessary. And it all started with “I don’t know if your cats have kidney disease or not but we want to do some further testing because we have borderline results.” Then their latest blood results are good but they still say “We still need to get a good urine test too or it’s not complete.” Seriously???

 

[moggiegirl]

It’s 5:00 a.m. I am feeling a massive and overwhelming feeling of guilt for locking Mickey in a room and making him feel miserable while waiting for Bella’s urine sample. If I can’t get a urine sample from Bella by 8:00 a.m. which unfortunately means 3 more hours of torture for poor Mickey who keep shoving his paw under the door and meowing non-stop (and Bella isn’t happy either) then I am going to get those litter boxes back to normal, free Mickey, give the cats free access to all rooms, call the vet and say I cannot do this, I am NEVER putting my cats or myself through this again and that going forward if my vet wants a urine sample he is going to have to extract it directly from my cats bladder himself and if he can’t do it there will be no urine samples. I think we spend too much money on vet care for us to do a vet’s job trying to collect the urine samples ourselves with these Perl litter kits with only a tiny amount of litter which many cats hate and don’t want to use. And if that means I run the risk of not knowing that one of my relatively young cats, age 5 and 6 might have early stage kidney disease with no symptoms well like I said humans run the risk of getting hit by cars every time they cross the street but on a day to day basis it’s a small risk. Veterinary care should not have to be difficult. We pay too much for it. I have not slept a wink all night and I feel awful, I owe my cats a lot for the shit I put them through tonight. I owe myself a way out of credit card debt, a day off work tomorrow and some sleep.

 

[moggiegirl]

Update: Neither cat used the Perl cat litter and I was unable to get an acceptable urine sample from either cat. The vet informed me in order for them to get a urine sample directly from their bladder in the future I will have to remove access to the litter box at least 5 hours before the vet appointment. If only they told me that before. At this point I have decided to skip it.

 

[arr]

I’m sorry you are going through this, it sounds very frustrating. My cat broke his hip and all the bills including the visit to the emergency vet and his hip surgery only cost around $2,000, which I felt was very reasonable. Maybe it matters where you live. I guess vet care is a little cheaper in the rural Midwest.

I love my vet, I hope I never have to change. He only recommends vaccines every three years, he talked me out of a dental cleaning for one of my cats, said she really doesn’t need it yet, especially since I brush their teeth at home. My one cat who throws up occasionally and has no other symptoms at all, he said we could go down the path of running test after test but it would be expensive, cause stress to my cat, and in his experience, was unlikely to turn up anything notable. He never pushes prescription food, supports how I choose to feed my cats, and recommends alternative therapy whenever he can.

 

[IndyJones]

Update: Neither cat used the Perl cat litter and I was unable to get an acceptable urine sample from either cat. The vet informed me in order for them to get a urine sample directly from their bladder in the future I will have to remove access to the litter box at least 5 hours before the vet appointment. If only they told me that before. At this point I have decided to skip it.

I have never had luck with the perler beads. Most cats seem to rather hold it till they wet themselves or express their feelings on your belongings.

Give your cats some chicken breast or whatever people food they love as a treat. They earned it.

I honestly kind of would question a vet that performs unnecessary testing on an animal that is healthy and too young to need a senior panel. Is this the only one in your area?

My vet usually says around 7 or 8 is when to start baseline senior panels, at this point cats are just starting to slow down. I didn't have it done on my oldest until he was 12 and it came back normal.

 

[IndyJones]

I’m sorry you are going through this, it sounds very frustrating. My cat broke his hip and all the bills including the visit to the emergency vet and his hip surgery only cost around $2,000, which I felt was very reasonable. Maybe it matters where you live. I guess vet care is a little cheaper in the rural Midwest.

I love my vet, I hope I never have to change. He only recommends vaccines every three years, he talked me out of a dental cleaning for one of my cats, said she really doesn’t need it yet, especially since I brush their teeth at home. My one cat who throws up occasionally and has no other symptoms at all, he said we could go down the path of running test after test but it would be expensive, cause stress to my cat, and in his experience, was unlikely to turn up anything notable. He never pushes prescription food, supports how I choose to feed my cats, and recommends alternative therapy whenever he can.

My vet like yours only does rabies and distemper series every three years as well. They also explain everything that they are doing and give all options to choose from.

 

[moggiegirl]

I have never had luck with the perler beads. Most cats seem to rather hold it till they wet themselves or express their feelings on your belongings.

Give your cats some chicken breast or whatever people food they love as a treat. They earned it.

I honestly kind of would question a vet that performs unnecessary testing on an animal that is healthy and too young to need a senior panel. Is this the only one in your area?

My vet usually says around 7 or 8 is when to start baseline senior panels, at this point cats are just starting to slow down. I didn't have it done on my oldest until he was 12 and it came back normal.

I absolutely will be extra sweet to my cats and spoil them and give them extra love. I told them I am sorry and that I wish I could explain it to them. I think if they could understand they probably would have volunteered their pee but they don’t. Actually I had my cats medical records sent to another vet to get a second opinion and they went by the test results from my previous vet a year ago. I switched them to a mobile vet to hopefully reduce stress which didn’t happen this time. While the current testing is incomplete without the urine samples I am pleased that their bloodwork passed with flying colors and that they at least seem healthy. I know I am taking a small risk in thinking the probability of them being healthy is in their favor based on their blood work even without the urine test to back up the blood work but I cannot afford any more vet bills this year.

 

[LeiLatte]

Oh my gosh I agree… I feel like they think we’re the money trail with all of these tests and they still say “I don’t know” or “I don’t see anything”. I had to stop going to our “trusted” vet over this