Some vets are afraid that you will faint and injure yourself etc or become
upset when they draw blood--not necessarily from the sight of blood but from
the way you hold the cat to do it. Just lots of things. I am very lucky and
my vets let me be there with my critters. I can understand where they are
coming from but I really don't like it. If you feel good with the vet though
she may be a keeper.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion
and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their
fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: catatonya
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: choosing a vet -OT
It's a big decision. And I always second guess my decisions. It's hard to
know what to do. I think I'm going to stick with this vet (Dr. Roesner) for my
situation with Bob, and then meet the vet that's a parent in my class as well.
Dr. Roesner didn't react negatively when I told her Bob had once been positive
and had lived his life with 2 positive cats. I suggested we do a retest just
in case, and she agreed it wouldn't hurt to rule it out. He was negative, of
course. I hate to jinx myself, but I have retested my negatives so many times
that I really think I'm wasting my money to do it whenever one of them gets
sick.........
She does seem like a 'good' vet and had a good rapport with Bob and me. She
took my concerns about 'taking him to the back' for procedures very seriously,
and told me she would always do what she could in my presence. (They brought
him and a litterbox into the room with me to wait for the enema to 'work'
although they took him to the back to give the enema, for example.) The front
office, and all staff were/are very nice and seem informed. This vet also told
me not to worry about the money when making my decisions about what to do or
not to do. She said that we could work that out, and she didn't even know me.
So that's a good sign.
t
t
MaryChristine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
many places don't HAVE cat-only clinics, so it's not even an option....
i've worked with both, can't say that either kind were intrinsically BETTER.
the chemistry between vet and cat, the openness to new ideas and learning is
what's paramount to me--i've seen pompous, know-everything, don't-talk-to-me
cat-only vets, and i've had general practice vets who talked to me as i were
another professional. if my cats like them, they seem to like my cats, and they
work with me, that's a major factor. (like when i called my housecall vet and
asked if he had room to take on a few more cats, cuz i'd started a new job that
needed a vet.... he asked how many, and i said, um, well, 500..... he was
silent for a moment, but didn't hang up or say no.... yep, he's still my vet.)
i don't know of any local vets that absolutely do not declaw, but i've also
never ever been to one who pushed it--it'd NEVER bee suggested to me, it's
never been offered as part of a spay/neuter deal, i don't declaw, tho i have
some rescues with both front and all-four declaws, but i don't think i would
have realized from my own experience that so many people just thought it was
the done thing to do, nor that so many vets and veterinary chains push it so
aggressively as a money-making item. so it's never occurred to me to even ask.
i agree with marylyn that i'd MUCH rather have a good, compassionate, aware vet
doing a declaw if one had to be done--even if the reason is one that many of us
would NOT consider valid--with the most up-to-date procedures, pain medication
and follow-up than someone who pushes it on all cats.
i don't really have that much trouble with the vets taking cats in the
back--but the only time i take cats TO the vet (as opposed to the vet coming
here to the house, where, clearly, everyone sees almost everything!) is when
it's for surgeries that my housecall vet can't do.
having tired of chasing cats throughout my and other folks' house while
trying to get bloods, ken now takes them out to his new, larger van to do it,
but i'm welcome to go sit with them if i want to. i usually don't, as i know
how ken treats them, so i trust him with them. one thing that's been mentioned
in a lot of places that i'll probably do if i leave town and have to break in a
whole new set of vets (a thought that absolutely terrifies me), is to make an
initial appointment to tour the clinic--and if you're not welcome to, take that
as a warning bell right from the start.
what vet clients--and human patients--tend to forget is that WE PAY THE
BILLS, we are the customers, and we don't have to settle for things that make
us uncomfortable.
see how the FRONT-OFFICE STAFF TREATS YOU, on the phone and in person. we
(a nationwide rescue group, with vets all over the country we work with) had a
long-standing relationship with a wonderful vet, with an incredibly
well-equipped facility--and an office staff that was atrocious. rude,
inefficient, uncaring--but no one had the guts to say anything to the vet....
guess who was asked to be the one to do so.....
find out IN ADVANCE how the vet will handle emergencies, and emergency
PAYMENT. as some of you know, i've been disabled for many years, but worked
part-time til 1991, since then i've been on disability based on part-time work.
i couldn't afford to rent a litterbox in most large american cities.... so a
major surgery, or a catastrophic illness is not something i will EVER be able
to handle upfront. but i have NEVER found a vet, other than ER ones, who was
not willing to work with me. but i told them about my circumstances at the very
beginning, and always made every payment, so that when the times came when a
big bill needed to be stretched out, i already had a history with them. places
that will NOT make arrangements for payment are, to my mind, not the people i
want caring for my animals--yes, it's a business, and yes they need to pay
their bills and i understand that--but if they're passionate about the
human/animal bond, they are not going to make people choose pain and death for
their animals due to an immediate shortage of cash.
this is a good discussion to have; maybe input from lots of us could be
edited into a separate page on the site for folks on, "what to look for in a
vet," or, "interviewing your next vet?" we used to hold periodic chats on this
with vets, to see what the best client for THEM is--it's possible i could get
one to come to the list and talk about that, if there's interest (she's a
cat-only vet....)
On 9/28/07, catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
How important is it to you when looking for a vet that it be
1- a cat only clinic
2-doesn't declaw
3 doesn't take your cat 'to the back' to do everything?
That is what I had and lost. When Bob got sick last week I took off the
morning to call and get him in and there was no doctor coming in at all until
2:00. So I tried this highly recommended new vet I'm seeing and she seems
very knowledgeable and thorough, but doesn't meet any of those criteria. She
is far away, but they are open until 9:00 every night and Saturday and Sunday.
That would keep me out of the emergency vets whom I hate..........
I'm just at a loss as to what to do. I don't know of any other vets in
my area that don't declaw. The new vet at my old vet's office was required not
to do it as part of the sale of the practice. But she just does not seem good
at all, she does everything in the back as well....thus wondering if I should
put up with these things and use this new vet I feel is very knowledgeable or
keep looking. And I have been looking and looking. :(
tonya
--
Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors!
Maybe That'll Make The Difference....
MaryChristine
AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 289856892
