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Hi everyone,
This is going to be a long post, so bear with me.
A few weeks ago, my kitty Celeste got a flare up of what we think is feline herpes. She got a small infection on her lip, mouth and gums (happened before when she was a kitten) and it looked to be very painful because she would not eat without a LOT of coaxing, even though she was clearly hungry and would come and wait for her food. Being worried, I took her to the vet clinic we had been using since I brought her home at six weeks old. I trusted them since they had always treated her well and they have a number of good vets there -- but it is a walk in clinic and every day a different doctor is there. They work on rotation.
This particular day Celeste had a vet I had never met before. He came in, said hi, looked at her chart for a good few seconds, asked me what was going on, and then looked at her mouth. He said she had an infection, most likely some form of dermatitis. I thought it a bit strange that he didn't mention nor ask about her history of feline herpes virus, but I'm not the professional so I just let him do his thing. He said he would give her some antibiotics and then mentioned that we could either give her a blood panel now, to make sure her levels were good, or to wait and see if the antibiotics were making her better to avoid unnecessary charges. I knew her not eating was cause for great concern so I elected to just do the panel now just to be safe. He took her in another room to do, what I assumed to be, the tests.
When he came back with her he said he would have the results in a day or two and that they would call and that he also tested her for ringworm just in case. I asked if there was anything I could do to help her since she wasn't eating and was visibly uncomfortable and he said she looked well nourished and was hydrated and because of the location of the infection they didn't really give any topical stuff. He said to give the antibiotics some time to work and then come back if she wasn't better and he would have the results from the blood test soon. I thanked him and went to the front to get her antibiotics.
Now, Celeste has always been a very good cat and has pilled fine. I've had to give her a round of clavamox before for a URI, ten days, liquid, and she took it fine with minimal protests. It helped her quickly and she did well on it. Assuming that was what I was going to get I asked if I had any medication at the front desk. The receptionist looked at the bill, said no, that he had given her an injection and that I was all set.
This raised some alarm for me... I took a look at the bill and saw he had injected her with convenia. At the time I had no idea what convenia was, just that an injection of antibiotics sounded strange to me. So I left and did some researching on the drug and was thrown into a paranoid frenzy reading about the possible side effects. I was angry that he hadn't properly informed me of what he was going to do in the room he took her in -- I had no idea he was giving her a shot of antibiotics, just that he was "giving her some." I felt very uncomfortable with the fact that he hadn't explained the drug or why he was going to do it. And most of all, I don't understand why he went straight for the convenia despite the fact that Celeste has always taken liquid or pills fine, and he hadn't even asked.
Am I being overdramatic? Celeste ended up being fine and recovering, with no side effects from the convenia other than lethargy -- but did this vet handle it improperly? What are your thoughts?
This is going to be a long post, so bear with me.
A few weeks ago, my kitty Celeste got a flare up of what we think is feline herpes. She got a small infection on her lip, mouth and gums (happened before when she was a kitten) and it looked to be very painful because she would not eat without a LOT of coaxing, even though she was clearly hungry and would come and wait for her food. Being worried, I took her to the vet clinic we had been using since I brought her home at six weeks old. I trusted them since they had always treated her well and they have a number of good vets there -- but it is a walk in clinic and every day a different doctor is there. They work on rotation.
This particular day Celeste had a vet I had never met before. He came in, said hi, looked at her chart for a good few seconds, asked me what was going on, and then looked at her mouth. He said she had an infection, most likely some form of dermatitis. I thought it a bit strange that he didn't mention nor ask about her history of feline herpes virus, but I'm not the professional so I just let him do his thing. He said he would give her some antibiotics and then mentioned that we could either give her a blood panel now, to make sure her levels were good, or to wait and see if the antibiotics were making her better to avoid unnecessary charges. I knew her not eating was cause for great concern so I elected to just do the panel now just to be safe. He took her in another room to do, what I assumed to be, the tests.
When he came back with her he said he would have the results in a day or two and that they would call and that he also tested her for ringworm just in case. I asked if there was anything I could do to help her since she wasn't eating and was visibly uncomfortable and he said she looked well nourished and was hydrated and because of the location of the infection they didn't really give any topical stuff. He said to give the antibiotics some time to work and then come back if she wasn't better and he would have the results from the blood test soon. I thanked him and went to the front to get her antibiotics.
Now, Celeste has always been a very good cat and has pilled fine. I've had to give her a round of clavamox before for a URI, ten days, liquid, and she took it fine with minimal protests. It helped her quickly and she did well on it. Assuming that was what I was going to get I asked if I had any medication at the front desk. The receptionist looked at the bill, said no, that he had given her an injection and that I was all set.
This raised some alarm for me... I took a look at the bill and saw he had injected her with convenia. At the time I had no idea what convenia was, just that an injection of antibiotics sounded strange to me. So I left and did some researching on the drug and was thrown into a paranoid frenzy reading about the possible side effects. I was angry that he hadn't properly informed me of what he was going to do in the room he took her in -- I had no idea he was giving her a shot of antibiotics, just that he was "giving her some." I felt very uncomfortable with the fact that he hadn't explained the drug or why he was going to do it. And most of all, I don't understand why he went straight for the convenia despite the fact that Celeste has always taken liquid or pills fine, and he hadn't even asked.
Am I being overdramatic? Celeste ended up being fine and recovering, with no side effects from the convenia other than lethargy -- but did this vet handle it improperly? What are your thoughts?
