When looking for a new vet . .

[JeanW]

is association with an AAHA hospital important to you?

Have you had to go to quite a few different vets to end up with one that will work with you?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

What I did was call around and ask whoever answered the phone to have the vet call me (usually it's going to be after office hours....and if they don't call you back, that tells you a lot right there!)

When I talked to the vet, I asked them how they treated their diabetic cats....questions like:

What kind of food do you recommend?
Do you have a preferred insulin? Which one? Have you tried others?
Do you support home testing? If so, how do you feel about using human meters?...or do you require the use of a pet only meter?
Will you accept blood results taken in the last 30-60 days from another vet or will you want to repeat them?
Have you had cats go into remission?

When you get the answers, you'll have a short list of people you might want to consider further.

Here are some more Vet Interview Questions

 

[JeanW]

Thank you, @Chris & China!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

One thing I find over and over is that the techs and front desk staff often don't reflect the vet. After 15 years at the same clinic I feel as though I intimidate the staff. They see my very thick file and fill my repeats seemingly without question.
I'd like to add one thing. We have a back up vet, just one doctor but very well equipped and there is no nastiness between the two clinics. Vets often drag their feet transferring files and feel slighted that you would dare see another vet. Our alternate vet boarded Noah in May. The vet and the lead tech actually understood what bouncing was and followed my dosing instructions to the letter. Noah also came with an End of Life scenario (not needed) that made sense to them. Having a vet believe that you know what you're doing is very important.

 

[FurBabiesMama]

is association with an AAHA hospital important to you?

Just want to share that the clinic where Mia was diagnosed was an AAHA hospital. The vet told me to feed her Hill's m/d dry food. She said it did not make a difference if she ate wet or dry. I told her she was wrong! (She did call me later to apologize for the 'misinformation' she had given me because, after doing her own research, she found that I was correct and wet food is better.) As a group, the vets there strongly recommended AGAINST home glucose testing. They said it 'damages the animal/human bond." So, the moral of the story is, AAHA certification of the clinic does not in any way mean that the vets there have a clue what they are doing with feline diabetes! (They obviously had not even read the AAHA diabetes management guidelines.)

Have you had to go to quite a few different vets to end up with one that will work with you?

I dropped that first vet right away. I then tried a mobile vet (was REALLY hoping that would work out because it is awesome having them come to you), but she did not want to work with me. She wanted it to be her way or no way. She had told me never to adjust the dose no matter what. I asked her, 'what if her pre-shot test result is 100?' She said, 'give the full dose anyway.' Mia was on ProZinc at the time, and I had data to show that on a pre-shot higher than that, she had gone too low on her current dose. So, any reasonable person would have acknowledged that shooting the full dose ALWAYS on ANY pre-shot would have been dangerous, but she was not a reasonable person, so bye!

It was so stressful. I started feeling like maybe I was crazy. Then, I went to a specialist clinic and saw a well-known internal medicine specialist with a lot of experience, and it was so refreshing. Everything he said was in harmony with what I had learned. I was finally in the right place. The sad thing is that he has since left the clinic to do national consulting. I returned to the vet that I had taken my cats to for many years. I had once asked her about feline diabetes, and she said, 'I don't like it. It is hard. Cats just don't play by the rule book.' Basically, she is a kind, caring vet who does not claim to be an expert on diabetes. She is completely okay with me having educated myself and with me taking the lead in managing this. That works perfect for me!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

does not in any way mean that the vets there have a clue what they are doing

Why we bow down to anyone in a lab coat and a stethoscope is beyond me. It's your cat and while we should be open to new ideas that works both ways.
It's widely believed that George Washington died from a "good bleeding" administered by "doctors".
One hundred years before that people who could afford top of the line treatment got mercury enemas.

 

[JeanW]

Thank you, @Noah & me (GA) and @FurBabiesMama! I appreciate your experience and thoughts.

I live in a small town. There are about 5 vet offices here and I swear most of them are CRAZY - and not good! The most recent vet I had here sent me a "Letter of Termination" and said that since I didn't follow their plan of care I was endangering my cats and they wouldn't have anything to do with me. My cats and I are not welcome to ever return." I really really liked the temporary associate vet there who was from Birmingham, AL but I can't see her anymore. And one of the vets told me I should expect to take my kitty home and she will die. Left that one and went to the next one and so on and so forth.

Now I go to the animal hospital 3 hours away in the big city and they are a good practice and seem to mostly really know what they're doing but the vet won't work with me on Pretty Girl's diabetes and her dosing. So . . I'm looking again. @Chris & China, I read the Vet Interview Questions. Thanks.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

but the vet won't work with me on Pretty Girl's diabetes and her dosing

We're on vet #5 and they're a little over an hour away (live in a small town too where the few vets we have are mostly large animal)

Once I got my script for Lantus, China hasn't been back to a vet for her diabetes since. The only thing she goes to vet #5 for are her dentals and when she needs something else (like when she had a nasty URI)

Other than that, I did what the people here told me to do. No vet is going to have the real life experience that the experienced people here do and I valued that experience a lot more than the few hours of training vets get in school.

When China does go to the vet, I tell her "She's on X units of insulin and her blood glucose usually runs between Y and Z".....and that's the end of the discussion. If she does feel the need to butt in with some advice, I smile, nod my head, say "I'll have to think about that" and then we go home and I continue to do what the people here tell me to do.

 

[JeanW]

Once I got my script for Lantus, China hasn't been back to a vet for her diabetes since. The only thing she goes to vet #5 for are her dentals and when she needs something else (like when she had a nasty URI)

Other than that, I did what the people here told me to do. No vet is going to have the real life experience that the experienced people here do and I valued that experience a lot more than the few hours of training vets get in school.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I probably wouldn't look for another vet but I go out of town for a week at a time every month or two (elderly parents need a lot of help). And I have to board Pretty Girl in medical boarding as there is no one at all here that I trust to care for my diabetic kitty. The current animal hospital 3 hours away will return her to their care plan when I bring her there - including 2 units Lantus morning and 1 unit at night and no free feeding - and I'm not happy with that. When Pretty Girl comes home she is well in some sense of the word but clearly unhappy and absolutely famished. So . . . these are some of the reasons I feel like I need to find someone else and hopefully soon. Going out of town again mid-August.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

"Letter of Termination"

Being a vet comes with responsibilities. They cannot just send you on your way to teach you a lesson.
Personally I think you're better off without him/her. That is shameful behavior, no surprise why people come here when they're in need of help.
This is The Canadian Veterinary Oath.
“As a member of the veterinary medical profession, I solemnly swear that I will use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society.
I will strive to:

• promote animal health and welfare,

• prevent and relieve animal suffering,

• protect the health of the public and the environment, and

• advance comparative medical knowledge.

I will perform my professional duties conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.
I will strive continuously to improve my professional knowledge and competence and to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards for myself and the profession."

My own human health story is not that I fell through the cracks in the system. They made the crack wider and shoved me in and later on a neurologist actually used the word "shameful" to describe what had happened to me. Still makes me grind my teeth!

 

[HereKittyKittyKitty]

Is there a Find a Vet kind of website like there is for doctors where patients recommend or warn about their docs, where people might say if their vets are happy with home testing?

I asked this in another thread, but I think it's where there's very little traffic, so...

… or can we recommend vets (no negative reviews) on fd?

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

I don't think the board would be happy with negative reviews, too much legal risk.. If anyone in the Toronto and further west region needs two highly regarded vets, a cat sitter or the best dog kennel ever (in ground pool with water slides designed for dogs) just ask.
The cat sitter that kind of just forgot to drop by here years ago is long gone, what a shame.

 

[HereKittyKittyKitty]

Anyone have any suggestions for a vet in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota?

Thank you.