Our 13 year old cat has been ill since Friday. I should have taken her to the vet Sat. but she continued to eat and her biggest problem was diarrhea. I knew she hadn't gotten into anything strange nor given any strange food. She is on a strict diet and we don't feed human food to out cat.
Now my dilemma, should I take her to our old vet, who is o.k., but over the years shows less compassion for the animals and more interested in getting paid. His fees have certainly increased. And last year when our old dog was dying, he ordered a lot of test to valedate his diagnoise. The dog died before all the test results were in, but we were still charged for them, to the tune of 800 dollars.

Now closer to us by really a short distance is a woman vet. She recently took care of our Cockatiel, she was very compasionite, gentle with the bird, and was most fair as to her bill. The clinic owns a cat so I know she at least tolerates them.Our old vet doesn't take care of birds, so we went to her.

But, and this is a big BUT for me, over the years we have lost animals to female vets. I know, people say well the animal was sick and vets don't 'kill' animals. But these were cases that the female vet was insistant that they were right, when later it was proven that they were incorrect in their diagnoise. I do believe that the vets in question were new, they were youngish and they all seemed to have an attitude. One was a vet at the U of Calif, Berkley!

This female vet that we recently went to with our bird, doesn't seem to have that 'female attitude' but then she is a bit older.
So who do I take poor Maxine to, she feels crummy as her eyes tell me so. I feel bad that I didn't take her when the first bout of diarreah hit, but I thouht it would pass.

Any idea or feelings. I have to call Monday am to make an apt.
Thanks for sharing

Dodo

to the one who cares more about the being than the payment. if i had any doubts that either of our vets cared less about our pets than about getting paid, we would (and did) find somewhere else. you said she seems to both care about her patients and doesn't have a god complex. she sounds like the one to me.

good luck with your kitty. i hope she can be fixed up.

kris

I agree with Kris. Both our vets are female (one for the dogs, another for the birds) and the reason I go to the dogs' vet is that our previous vet was incompetent and brusque. He never called the animal by name, never spoke to the animal, only to us, and when my little Yorkie dislocated his hip (I came home and found him hanging by that leg in a papasan chair -- I didn't even know he could get UP in that chair!) and I rushed him to that vet, I said, "I think he dislocated his hip" and the vet said no, his leg was broken. Then he took X-rays and I was right and this vet said to me, "You're a better diagnostician than I am." WHAT??? You went to veterinary school and I majored in English and I know more than you do? That was that for HIM. Next time, I went to the vet my parents used and raved about and it's a practice with several vets so you don't always get the same one, but every one of them calls the animal by name, calls them stuff like "Sweetie" and "honey" and pets them and is very gentle with them and in the records, the critters' names are down as (for example) George Wilson. Not just "George." It's a little thing, but it means they, like us, consider the animals members of our family.

They don't take care of birds, unfortunately, so I had to choose the only avian vet in our town, but she is just like that. She talks TO the bird, she calls the bird "sweetie" and they always have at least one helper in the room, usually two, to help towel the bird and assist as they examine him or her.

Another thing: Both vets always refer to the animal in question as "he" or "she," never "it." The icky vet sometimes said "it." HMMMPH.

ALWAYS, always, choose the vet who CARES about the animals. Even if they're not as experienced, caring is more important. Our avian vet is fairly young, but when we took Bonnie to her in an emergency after Jade bit her toe, she couldn't have been more concerned (she told me to call her every day the first few days when it was touch and go, and SHE came to the phone, she did not have me leave a message with an assistant!). Bonnie pulled through and eventually the toe fell off and now you'd never know it happened except for her only having three toes on one foot.

Yup, quess you gals are right, I'll go with the lady vet if she can take me tomorrow. I sort of feel disloyal to dog vet as he has always been our vet, even spayed Maxine 13 years ago. But over the years he's hardened I guess and it's a shame. Maybe he's just tired but he's too young to retire.

Lady vet even called over a weekend about our bird Issy, to see how she/he was doing. Now dog vet would never do that. So I hope Maxine will be comfortable with her, but then when I think about it, she hates all vets and just curls up into a ball and hopes it all goes away.
Well thanks for your input, I think all will be o.k. if we can stop this diarreha, shes old and we sure don't want to loose her. We lost our dog last year and that was tramatic enough for awhile.

Thanks

Do

I suggest giving the vet you took your bird to a chance. I think the followup phone call spoke for itself.

In the interim - you can offer a teaspoon of yogurt to help sooth your kitty's stomach. Yogurt will help rebalance the bacteria in her digestive tract. Also, try to encourage lighter meals by offering a little food at a time instead of all at once. This helps slow down what is being passed. Make sure she is drinking plenty of water too.

When you go in to the vets - take a sample of the poo. The answer might be there or not. Depends on the cause. So many things can cause this - parasites, bacteria, coccydia, giardia, e-coli, virus, food poisoning (eating something out of the trash or walking through something like the juice from raw meat), walking across a recently mopped floor, walking thorugh cleaning products or furniture wax or even something was off with her food, drinking milk.

Took Maxine to Lady vet this morning, she was a doll with Maxine, called her sweety and gave her some good loves. Maxine can be a sweety when she wants to be, other times,,,a typical cat. Anyway, no parasites in the stool, we have no idea what started this bout but shes old and who knows. Anyway, shes on some antibiotics and the shot should quiet her digestive tract. She suggested Yogurt too, but I doubt if Maxine will eat it, she's a funny cat and will only eat her special food. Anyway, her eyes look brighter this afternoon and I think she's feeling better, she's back to eye-balling the birds
Thanks gals, I'm glad I chose Lady vet, she was nice and cheaper then my regular one but that was not the case, I really didn't care.
So thanks and Hugs
Do

I'm glad your kitty is starting to feel better.