Vet rant

I got a stand in vet when Smudge got her annual check up yesterday because someone was out sick and I couldn't see my regular vet. He drove me nuts. It was like he'd just read "Taking Care of Cats for Dummies".

I mentioned I foster kitties, run a feral cat trap-neuter-return program, and volunteer at the local animal shelter. First sign that maybe I know something about cats...

1. He asked how many cats I had - I said 3 and told him their stories (2 "failed" fosters, 1 semi-feral), and he asked how many litter trays I had. I said 2. He said "well the general rule is that you should have 1 per cat plus one extra, so you should get 2 more". I said "well, that's not exactly a hard and fast rule. I mean, I have 2 large, deep litter boxes, and 3 small cats. I use good quality clumping litter which is kept a few inches deep, and I scoop at least once a day, so it's never very dirty. I imagine this is better than 4 small litter trays with low-quality smelly litter that I only clean every couple of days. If I ever had any inappropriate peeing, or urinary tract problems that could be caused by them not wanting to use a dirty litter tray, then yes, I will get extra litter trays, otherwise I believe it's just fine as it is." He sort of huffed and puffed and said "well that's just what's recommended". I mean gee, surely it's better to get more information than just spout off stuff he learnt in vet school??

2. He asked if Smudge was on any flea treatment, and I said yes, Advantage. he then said "well make sure you apply it every 4 weeks religiously". I considered holding my tongue, but decided against it... I said "well actually I've talked to Dr Chen (the usual vet), and she said since I'm not fostering at the moment, and they really don't go outside (just little occasional trips to chew grass right near our front door, and even then it's really only Stumpy), and we've never had a flea problem, it was fine to do it more like every 6 weeks so they're not absorbing too many chemicals unnecessarily". He didn't like that either...

3. I brought along all of Smudge's records including her records from the animal eye doctor, and told him all about her eyes, and what we'd done, and she'd had an eye checkup the previous week and passed with flying colours (they're not particularly good, but they shouldn't get any worse). Then he read the reports, looked at her eyes, and told me all about the condition trichiasis which she has, and that her vision probably wasn't all that good, and how I shouldn't let her be an outside cat because of her eyes, but it shouldn't bet any worse blah blah blah.

I was like ARRRGGGHHH!!!! ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME?!?!?!?!? I'd said they're indoor girls, and Smudge rarely goes out anyway, and it's always little supervised trips outside, I'd seen the eye specialist numerous times, and had told him all about her eyes, so obviously knew enough already, and had JUST had a check up, so you could assume that the specialist had already told me all I needed to know....

4. He asked what I fed the cats and I said Felidae wet and dry. And he asked what sort and I said "just the regular Felidae for Cats and Kittens". He said he'd never heard of it, and I should try to feed them a good high quality diet. I had to explain that Felidae was actually a fairly well known brand, and the dog version was called Canidae (also fairly well known), and it was actually a premium quality pet food.

It was SUCH a frustrating time, and he was a fair bit older, and it seemed he just wasn't keeping up with current vet trends, or wasn't used to dealing with cats and cat problems, or he just refused to listen and wanted to spout off textbook info without finding out any information from me. My other 2 kitties go there for their checkups which I'd told him, so you'd think my regular vet would have discussed basic kitty care if she thought I needed it.

I mean, that's why I love my other vet, she understood my experiences, and asked the right sort of questions, and knew I was sensible enough to follow a "less strict" kitty care regime where I thought appropriate. For future vet visits I'm going to make it clear that I ONLY want to see my vet, and if she's not available, I'll reschedule.