What to look for in your family vet

[Brigitte Cowell]

Dantes, that's such a good point! It is true that many vets cop out by blaming a health condition on being a purebred cat. Generally people are happier when they have someone to blame other than acknowledging that health issues happen in the general cat population.

How ridiculous that the vet thought the Ragdoll was a long-haired Siamese... such different body types!

I also find the vet looking at my Georgie and making a comment about how he's been eating too much, but then I explained that the British Shorthair is actually supposed to be a round chubby cat and he was in show condition... of course he does look kinda bad next to the svelte Savannahs, LOL!

 

[Dantes]

I also find the vet looking at my Georgie and making a comment about how he's been eating too much, but then I explained that the British Shorthair is actually supposed to be a round chubby cat and he was in show condition... of course he does look kinda bad next to the svelte Savannahs, LOL!

Exactly, 5 seconds of research will tell you that the cats are judged on (in the case of Ragdolls) being BIG and/or (in the case of British Shorthair) Round, but the vet is so busy judging YOU that the cat doesn't get the right attention.

Back to "Why didn't you just adopt a cat from the shelter?" Answer: "Why didn't you adopt your children from an orphanage?"

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Yes, funny how public opinion thinks we should all adopt from a shelter but we should be free to continue breeding ourselves ;-)

 

[Kristin]

Exactly, 5 seconds of research will tell you that the cats are judged on (in the case of Ragdolls) being BIG and/or (in the case of British Shorthair) Round, but the vet is so busy judging YOU that the cat doesn't get the right attention.

Back to "Why didn't you just adopt a cat from the shelter?" Answer: "Why didn't you adopt your children from an orphanage?"

Yes!! The one vet I really don't like make comments on Zeddie's small size and price tag.....yet owns horses -_-

 

[Rafiki]

When I moved out to the Los Angeles area, I found my first vet in the yellow pages. His ad stated that he would NOT declaw cats. I thought that was a good start. He also had a few rescue animals that were office pets including a stray dog that he was treating for abuse - chemical burns. My cats loved him but we moved away from there. From that point on, we had numerous vets. Some only lasted 1 visit as Mandu was a good judge of character and attacked a few.

We met our current vet when we needed to put our male Himy to sleep. We wanted to avoid the sterile vet office so we looked for a home vet. It was as good an experience as it could be. We placed him on the bed (plastic under the towel) and we were all there with him - my husband and I, the vet, her assistant and our other cat. We decided at that point that we had found our new vet.

What do I like about our new vet? She comes to the house so it is much less stressful for the cats. When she arrives, she spends at least 15-30 minutes talking to us and asking us questions before she examines the cats. The cats just roam around her as she sits on the floor. Her exams are never rushed, she is thorough and always double-checks her calculations. She explains everything she is doing. The last time that she was here, she stayed about 2 hours. She does titers as she does not believe in over-vaccinating. She has a background in oncology and is homeopathic. She discusses all the pros and cons, makes recommendations but lets the owner decide. When Thimbu had CKD, we discussed doing acupuncture as she had other animals make dramatic improvements but did not criticize me when I opted not to do it (Thimbu was already 19 at the time). While she is not necessarily an advocate of raw, she is not opposed to it and simply asks good questions regarding the source of the meat and what supplements we are giving them. After the exam, she always shows me the treats she wants to give them and makes sure that they are OK by me. Her first concern is the cats but she is respectful to their humans.

 

[cbain]

When I moved out to the Los Angeles area, I found my first vet in the yellow pages. His ad stated that he would NOT declaw cats. I thought that was a good start. He also had a few rescue animals that were office pets including a stray dog that he was treating for abuse - chemical burns. My cats loved him but we moved away from there. From that point on, we had numerous vets. Some only lasted 1 visit as Mandu was a good judge of character and attacked a few.

We met our current vet when we needed to put our male Himy to sleep. We wanted to avoid the sterile vet office so we looked for a home vet. It was as good an experience as it could be. We placed him on the bed (plastic under the towel) and we were all there with him - my husband and I, the vet, her assistant and our other cat. We decided at that point that we had found our new vet.

What do I like about our new vet? She comes to the house so it is much less stressful for the cats. When she arrives, she spends at least 15-30 minutes talking to us and asking us questions before she examines the cats. The cats just roam around her as she sits on the floor. Her exams are never rushed, she is thorough and always double-checks her calculations. She explains everything she is doing. The last time that she was here, she stayed about 2 hours. She does titers as she does not believe in over-vaccinating. She has a background in oncology and is homeopathic. She discusses all the pros and cons, makes recommendations but lets the owner decide. When Thimbu had CKD, we discussed doing acupuncture as she had other animals make dramatic improvements but did not criticize me when I opted not to do it (Thimbu was already 19 at the time). While she is not necessarily an advocate of raw, she is not opposed to it and simply asks good questions regarding the source of the meat and what supplements we are giving them. After the exam, she always shows me the treats she wants to give them and makes sure that they are OK by me. Her first concern is the cats but she is respectful to their humans.

That's a good Vet, she reminds she reminds me of one of our Vets.

 

[Patti]

And patti I know about spay and neuter. To make sure no ketamine, and for vaccine only dead strain no live strains? I think that was most of what I heard to check. anything else to pay attention to?


"Those who wander aren't always lost"

Actually both are debatable, and both relate to cats in general, not necessarily specific to Savannahs. Many breeders use modified live vaccines, and although I've only used killed on my F1s and F2s, I will use modified live on my later generation Savannahs if push comes to shove.

As for the ketamine, there have been reports of adverse outcomes for years, again not just with Savannahs, but these days I think most vets use ketamine as part of a cocktail of drugs, which seems to work much better. I still prefer using propofol simply because I am more familiar with the drug, but since I'm not the one actually doing the surgery I'd rather the surgeon who is doing it be comfortable with whatever anesthetics he is using, so I usually defer to his preference.

 

[Bekki]

Thank you for that!


"Those who wander aren't always lost"

 

[Amy Therese]

Thank you for that!


"Those who wander aren't always lost"

 

[Amy Therese]

I think finding a vet who has similar beliefs as you is important. I like holistic vets who believe in both western and eastern medicine because both have their place in health so this is the type of vet I found.