How to get off on the right paw with a new vet

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stacia

stacia

Member Since 2014
Brief history: My Tasha was diagnosed last August. Despite our vet (Dr A) having a diabetic cat of her own, we're not thrilled with her approach. She's not on-board with home-testing, has no interest in the spreadsheet, never recommended a change in diet, and her response to everything is to blindly increase Tasha's insulin dose when I feel strongly the spreadsheet doesn't indicate that. We're on a sliding scale with Prozinc, the high end being 1.0u and the vet wants her on 2.0u min.

After months of no real progress and not being able to get Tasha to settle into a spot where her numbers make any sense to us, we're taking her to a new vet tomorrow. Dr B is part of an all-cat clinic as opposed to Dr A's all-animal practice. We're hoping that means more specific knowledge and training.

Also, their boarding is highly-recommended and we're STILL having issues with Tasha and the cat-sitter. The cat-sitter can't test her BG and can barely inject her. I'm not really comfortable with the situation when we travel right now. But Tasha's never been boarded because she turns into a demon at the current vet.

How do we start off and establish a good relationship with this new vet? Any tips for questions to ask? What info to present so we don't seem over-the-top? My intention isn't to insult the other vet but at the same time I feel like I should be up-front about what we want for Tasha's care. If they can't provide that, we should keep looking, right?
 
Take a copy of Tasha's spreadsheet with you so the vet can see how she is doing on her current dose. You can also discuss her diet and insulin. If you are following a specific insulin protocol, bring any info you have and also discuss it with them. The more knowledgeable you appear to the new vet, the more seriously they will take you. If the vet tries to dismiss all of this or makes you feel like you are doing everything wrong, they are not the right vet for you. It needs to be a partnership between you and your vet.

My experience with all cat clinics has been positive. There have been a couple vets that tried to discourage me from testing before every dose, which was ironic, since they worked at the same clinic that taught me to hometest. However, I also explained that I will continue testing and if they wanted to see their BG data, I would be glad to share it with them. We agreed to disagree on hometesting, but I would continue testing before every shot. I was also able to show them with this data some weird patterns that seemed to occur with their BG readings. In this case, I had two diabetic cats and at least once a week, their pre-shot number would drop to the 50-60 range. The rest of the time it was much higher.

The few times I had to board any of my diabetic cats, I always left very explicit instructions about testing before every dose and the dose & don't shoot information. I also gave them my meters and they had to use them for testing. My vet was very good about following my instructions and they were also able to see the weird pattern for themselves.
 
I've been worrying about the same thing for the past couple of months. Since then, I had a TERRIBLE experience with one vet before I said a word, and a GREAT experience with newest vet from the start. I think it's more to do with how right for you the vet is than how you approach it.

My advice would be to gently explain upfront that you are willing and able to hometest, give them your spreadsheet, and to state your goals for BG control. (i.e. remission, or to be able to confidently leave Tasha in petsitter's care while you travel.) I think vets expect owners to not want to do treatments at home, or expect that if the owner is too overwhelmed with the cost/effort of diabetic treatment they'll not treat or put the cat down. The vet needs to know you're all in on her care. Then sit back and let the vet take a history, do the exam, and either work with you or dismiss what you've said and dictate treatment that goes against your wishes. If that happens, just say thank you, then pack up and leave. Don't burn your bridges in case you want to try a different vet at the same practice. ;)

I hope this helps. Good luck to you and Tasha. FWIW, her numbers look good. I hope she makes more progress, but even if she doesn't, what you've done so far is very good. You've got some nice green nadirs, and I'd be thrilled to see a curve that good on Nipper. :)

Cheers,
Lori
 
Thanks for the replies and encouragement. It sounds like overall I should just present myself as involved, educated, and open. I just want to do what's best for Tasha's health and feel like I have a doctor who's doing the same. I don't have that now.

I do intend to take her spreadsheet. And I'm pleased with her curves. I wish her PMPS was lower but I'm not sure what to do about it. The current vet says to just give her higher doses across the board. She's also adamantly against dosing with anything but the u40 syringes and anything less than .5 increments, doesn't believe in a sliding scale...

We travel a fair amount and since Tasha was diagnosed in August, it's been a nightmare. We really need to find a solution and I'm hoping either a new vet can help us level Tasha off to a more reasonable place with the cat sitter or their boarding accommodations will be something Tasha might enjoy. At the current vet (they do offer boarding), we can't even leave her a full day for dental or other procedures without them calling us to get her ASAP because she's psychotic.
 
Thanks - those will be helpful. Of course she decided to be too low to shoot again tonight. Snoozing now, happy as can be, curled up in a blanket. Her number is rising so we fed her but no injection. I want to hand her off to the new vet tomorrow and say "YOU figure this out!" But I do love the fur-freak.
 
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