Hi all! I took my eldest baby (1 year 3 months) in for her yearly vaccines today. I did research to find a government certified vet, which is needed to take the cats out of China. (I didn't realize that the first time around, I just assumed the vet wouldn't be allowed to operate if they weren't certified, how silly of me...)
So for starters, they were out of the Rabies vaccine - which you think they could have mentioned when my Chinese friend called 2 days ago to ask if they were open today and if they were government certified to vaccinate cats for air travel. They didn't know when they'd get any back in, but they put my name on a waiting list and said they would call me.
Then, I asked them to give her the vaccination in her leg, because last year the other vets had vaccinated in the scruff of the neck and there was a bit of a scare with a large knot forming in my boy's neck a few weeks after his vaccination. The vet today didn't have any idea why I would request such a thing, so I explained that cats can get cancer at injection sites, which they had never heard of. They said if they gave it in the leg, "it could leak". I tried to explain again that if cancer later develops, the leg can be amputated, but the neck cannot. After a bit of back and forth about "leaking", they finally admitted they'd never done it in the leg before / didn't know how, so at that point I gave up, not wanting them to mess it up somehow.
So anyway, I'm going to have to take her back, probably in October, to get the Rabies shot. And then near New Years my boy will need his next round of shots. And honestly, given my terrible experiences with vets in China, I'm really hoping to leave China next summer with my kitties (that's not the only reason, but a very large contributing factor - I really love my cats.)
So my question is, does anyone have any idea how I could possibly educate them on how to give the shot in the leg? I know that's probably something Western vets learn in school, but didn't know if there was a printout I could take with pictures or something. People in China are usually fairly flexible, so it's possible that they might do it how I ask if I can give them something so they know how to do it. Or should I just give up, hope for the best with this year's set of vaccinations and pray I can get them back to civilization in time for the next round? I know vaccination site sarcoma is rare, I just hate to take chances.
So for starters, they were out of the Rabies vaccine - which you think they could have mentioned when my Chinese friend called 2 days ago to ask if they were open today and if they were government certified to vaccinate cats for air travel. They didn't know when they'd get any back in, but they put my name on a waiting list and said they would call me.
Then, I asked them to give her the vaccination in her leg, because last year the other vets had vaccinated in the scruff of the neck and there was a bit of a scare with a large knot forming in my boy's neck a few weeks after his vaccination. The vet today didn't have any idea why I would request such a thing, so I explained that cats can get cancer at injection sites, which they had never heard of. They said if they gave it in the leg, "it could leak". I tried to explain again that if cancer later develops, the leg can be amputated, but the neck cannot. After a bit of back and forth about "leaking", they finally admitted they'd never done it in the leg before / didn't know how, so at that point I gave up, not wanting them to mess it up somehow.
So anyway, I'm going to have to take her back, probably in October, to get the Rabies shot. And then near New Years my boy will need his next round of shots. And honestly, given my terrible experiences with vets in China, I'm really hoping to leave China next summer with my kitties (that's not the only reason, but a very large contributing factor - I really love my cats.)
So my question is, does anyone have any idea how I could possibly educate them on how to give the shot in the leg? I know that's probably something Western vets learn in school, but didn't know if there was a printout I could take with pictures or something. People in China are usually fairly flexible, so it's possible that they might do it how I ask if I can give them something so they know how to do it. Or should I just give up, hope for the best with this year's set of vaccinations and pray I can get them back to civilization in time for the next round? I know vaccination site sarcoma is rare, I just hate to take chances.
