Finding Your Veterinarian

We are joining Cat on my Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop

Gooseberry barely awake for his selfie

While Gooseberry is a ham for the camera, others are quite shy:

Mulberry Spot saying "No, you can't see my black nose!"

I’ve been lucky when it comes to finding a veterinarian. My first excursion in hunting for a veterinarian started when I was a sophomore in high school. I needed to do some volunteer work for a school project. Because I wanted to go to vet school I decided to volunteer at a local veterinary hospital. The closest one was Eastown Animal Hospital in Des Moines. Dr. Denhart had just bought the hospital and was still getting set-up so he needed help. He offered to show me the ropes in exchange for my help cleaning kennels.

I believe the first animal I took in to see him was my pet goose, Cornelius, who was limping. An X-ray showed nothing wrong so we had to assume it was just a sprain. Eventually I was hired (for $1.90 an hour) and took my animals to him for three years. Later I would work in several different clinics with many wonderful veterinarians. My latest veterinarian was a friend first. When my previous veterinarian decided to retire, I switched to this clinic. So you see, I was lucky.

However, if I wasn’t so lucky I hope I would have gone through these steps to finding a veterinarian:

1.     Do your research. Ask friends whom they recommend. If you have a cat, look for a cat-only clinic. Check to see if any clinics are AAHA approved, and Fear Free Certified. These certifications should give you the assurance that you are visiting a modern, progressive facility. However, to be AAHA certified, clinics must adhere to some pretty strict guidelines. Even without that certification some clinics may be pretty good depending, of course, upon the veterinarian and staff.

2.     Make an appointment. Once you’ve found a clinic you think you’d want to go to, offer to pay an examination fee so that you can tour the clinic and visit with the staff. It wouldn’t take long, just 15 minutes or so until you feel comfortable. Find out if the clinic is clean and organized. Are the kennels for cats separate from those of the dogs? What about the waiting areas – are they comfortable? Do they have separate dog and cat areas? Do the receptionists greet you immediately when you enter? Were they friendly on the phone?

3.     Take your pet. If you feel this clinic has passed your inspection make an appointment to take in your pet. Maybe it is only for a good physical or maybe your pet is due for vaccinations or a geriatric panel. This will give you a chance to visit with the veterinarian and see how he/she treats your pet.

4.     Visit another clinic. Maybe the first clinic is the one you go to or maybe you need to visit more than one to find the right one. It will be worth it in the end. You won’t have to worry about where to go in an emergency.

As I wrote last week, having a primary veterinarian has its perks. You’ll know what to expect and they will know you and your pet. If you have a primary veterinarian already how did you find them?

Primary veterinarians

We are joining the Cat on my Head Sunday Selfies today and Jabberwoky Glitter is our model. 

Who do you see when your pet needs vaccinations? What about in an emergency? Would it be the same veterinarian for both situations?

Jabberwoky Glitter won't look at the camera!

Do you have a primary veterinarian? Having a primary veterinarian is important not only in emergencies but also during routine visits. Even if you only go once a year, your primary veterinarian knows your pet and has a record of him. If you don’t see a veterinarian regularly, how would they notice if something has changed?

My veterinarian takes photographs of anything abnormal or just a little different so that we can compare it on our next visit. That applies to little things like a discoloration or a wound, not just alarming things like lumps and bumps. Your primary veterinarian keeps up on the latest in veterinary medicine and can inform you if anything applies to your pet’s situation.

B.W. Huckleberry wanted in on this too

If you don’t see a veterinarian regularly what do you do when an issue arises? Do you head for whatever clinic is closest, or do you begrudgingly drag your pet to a specialty or emergency referral clinic? Neither of these options gives you personalized service because they don’t know you or your pet. At a new clinic they will immediately ask for your pet’s vaccination records. If the vaccinations are not up-to-date they may decide to give them or wait until the issue is alleviated first.

Not all communities have referral clinics and/or emergency facilities for pets so your primary veterinarian is your only choice in emergencies. But if you had a choice who would you choose? If the emergency is after regular hours will they agree to come in for someone they don’t know – you?

No, the time to pick a veterinarian is before your pet has an emergent condition. Pick one, scope out the clinic/hospital and determine if they can meet your needs for your pet. Next week I’ll write about how to find a veterinarian.

Gooseberry's return visit

Hi everyone! I’ve decided to try to restart my blog for a bit. I stopped blogging a few years back because my loss of Mewdy Blue just took my heart. But now my cats are telling stories that I have to share. I’ll probably only posted once weekly because my day job of writing articles for magazines keeps me plenty busy.

Gooseberry came on the scene in 2008 and quickly decided that Mewdy Blue was his hero. He’d follow the older cat everywhere, to Mewdy Blue’s tempered annoyance. When his hero died Goose (his nickname) acted lost. He wandered around on his own and seemed as if he had lost his heart much as I had. But today Goose is much better and back to his crazy self.

I sometimes compare him to Waffles of Glogirly fame. He loves to leap high in the air for his toys. He also races up and down the stairs as I move his stick toy (feathers on a stick). And he’s quite the talker. He and I have long conversations at times. I think he must have some Siamese in him.

Last week I was petting Gooseberry near his tail, something I do all the time, and I felt a bump. He is 11 years old now so I’m always on the lookout for lumps and bumps. I got him into the veterinarian last Friday and scheduled him for a lumpectomy. Thursday of this week he had his surgery as well as blood work and everything went well.

This morning I woke up to see Goose sitting proudly on my bed and I slowly realized something was wrong. He didn’t have his e-collar on. That meant that he also chewed out all of his sutures – both layers of them! So today we were back at the veterinary office getting staples in this time. He’s fine now and I’ve fashioned a kind of anchor for his e-collar. I tied it to his harness (which he hardly ever wears anymore) so it will be harder if not impossible to get off. Of course I’ll have to watch him closely until that incision heals but I’m more optimistic now.

The only trouble now is that I have to wait up to a week to hear the results of his biopsy. I had another cat years ago who had a lump much like this one and it was a mast cell tumor. He had a lot more over the years and eventually died of them. He did, however, live to the ripe old age of 19 so that’s a plus. Please send prayers and whatever you have Goose’s way won’t you?
I've never done a blog hop before but I'm going to try to do the Sunday Selfies blog hop so here goes. Here's the link to the Cat On My Head blog, the host of this hop: https://thecatonmyhead.com/