To clarify things a bit, the practice belongs to the male vet. They do
farm animals as well. The female is a fairly new grad, has a new baby,
and works only part-time but seems to genuinely care about animals. She
got me interferon from her husband who's in another practic. The staff
doesn't think much of her because she's "slow." I try to schedule
everything when she's on but in the case of this kitten, I knew she
would have to consider answering to the male vet if she did anything he
wouldn't approve of. They each take call one week on and one week off.
If he's on, I can count on just driving an hour to the expensive
emergency hospital. The last cat crisis was a cat who was off his feed
for a day, developed sudden onset of panting respirations at 10 PM. I
called and got this guy. He told me these don't turn out well at all.
Hate to see you spend money unnecessarily. If he makes it through the
night, bring him in about 9 AM and we'll check him out. Not! I hung
up, headed for the hospital, ended up doing CPR on the interstate while
my daughter drove, and the hospital continued CPR but lost him. They
thought it was a fast moving deadly virus and he may have been immune
compromised, which is why I'm retesting all cats for felv. So I suppose
I did waste my money and the vet was right but it only cost me $37 for
CPR and the knowledge that I tried my best to save him.
Another scenario- one of his receptionists is a bleeding heart for
animals. She fell in love with a big, regal longhaired orange male stray
that had a broken hip. He was going to operate on the cat because he
knew she liked it so much and she was frantically looking for a home
for the cat. He tested it for Felv, it tested positive, and he put it
down and had it in the freezer before she came to work so it would be
too late to plead for it. She knows I have several felv+ cats and,
while I definitely don't need anymore, would have taken him - and
probably paid for the hip surgery as well to save his life. This guy
means well but thinks he has to save us cat lovers from ourselves. The
receptionist is now dating the guy. We normally plot together to save
an abused animal but I've see the same kitten in there within the past
two months with the same leg broken twice now by a six year old brat.
The kitten is not even five months old. The owner has paid megabucks to
have it repaired - the first time by a specialist - and now wants to put
the kitten outdoors when it recovers. All I need is an
address.......but can't get it. The receptionist claims she'll snatch
the kitten but I think her dating the vet will now preclude her from any
rescue efforts ever again. If this was a child, he would be obligated
to report the abuse. But since its a client and the client owns the
kitten and is willing to pay to have the broken limbs repaired, we must
protect that confidentially. Surely, with this back injured farm
kitten, the owner could have cared less if someone wanted to assume its
care and the bill. Diana
