She didn't look at either of them. I just told her where his numbers had been going the past few days. His scheduled "appointment" yesterday was not really so much an appointment but a quick test and check of his numbers by her. Also, we were there over an hour early because I got panicky when his numbers started to drop again, figured if things went crazy I wanted it to happen there rather than here! So we were only there maybe ten minutes, she didn't even charge for the visit, it was so brief. I'm really not kidding when I say that, at this point, I think I know more about feline diabetes than she does. When I first asked her, several months ago, if he might have diabetes (based on my observation of his behavior and symptoms) she ruled it out without even testing him, and if he's not hte first diabetic cat she's treated, I don't think there have been many before him!
Your experience of trying to get Squallie diagnosed is pretty much identical to what I went through last year. The vet in question gave a diagnosis of "old lady" and dismissed me as a hysterical pet parent, and point blank
refused my direct request to have diagnostic tests run on Saoirse who, incidentally, was clinically a
poster kitty for diabetes at the time.
I've said it once. I've said it twice. Now I'll say it a third time: Your vet made a
HOWLING ERROR yesterday and unnecessarily put your cat in harm's way. That 22 should have scared the
living carp out of her. It did out of me.
You need a vet who is there should there be an emergency (e.g. hypo, ketones), and for day-to-day management of Squallie's diabetes and all his other health concerns you need a vet you can
trust. You need one who: will listen to you; who will
look at your cat's data; one who acknowledges any gaps in their diabetes knowledge and who is willing to learn more. Most of all you need a vet who will work in partnership with you in caring for Squallie and keeping him safe on the insulin he needs.
I don't have the communication skills to couch this in softer terms. I would rather risk being a bit (a bit?!) blunt and give you my honest opinion (and it's only my opinion; other members' opinions may differ):
I would not take any dosing advice from your current vet for my cat.*
If I was in the same situation with Saoirse and there was a choice locally I would look to move to a practice that was more diabetes-literate, who would listen to me, and whose vets paid much greater attention to their patients. The door wouldn't hit me on the way out.
Mogs
ETA:
* I'm not saying this based on the knowledge and experience I've gained through studying FD and managing Saoirse's diabetes over the last year. Even if it was this time last year when I knew hardly anything about diabetes I
still wouldn't have taken any advice from your vet for my cat. I would have listened to my cat's body
screaming at me that the doses were too high. I am so thankful you are home testing.
.
) You need to let her know about the diet change if she doesn't already, including the change in the % carbs between the foods. BTW, how far along are you with the transition (i.e. what percentage of daily food allowance is wet, and how much the high carb dry food)? Also, do you have a target date for completion of the transition?
