Looking for new vet, KCMO Metro Area

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nannersfriend

nannersfriend

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I am looking for a vet for Nanner in the KCMO metro, preferably "north of the river" (if you are in KC you know what that means), but I will drive to JOCO if necessary. I'd prefer to avoid mid-town, Independence, and Lees Summit since they would have the longest, most difficult drives. I need someone who will work with me and not flip when I say I'm home testing, have him on all canned diet, want to try Lantus rather than Pro Zinc, etc. We have been to both vets in the small town I live in and I don't like either one. One is probably technically competent, but doesn't seem to CARE. The other is the one the shelter uses, and she thinks that 7U Pro Zinc with 1/3 C Science Diet W/D BID is just perfect for Nanner, even though his BG was so high my meter couldn't read it. That's when we asked to foster Nanner and he went home with us, I just KNEW he would not live for long if someone couldn't monitor his BG #s closely, and it was just too difficult to test him at the shelter. I know of one vet practice in Liberty that we went to before we moved, and I partially converted them about diet and home testing with Flash(GA), but I know they won't go for Lantus - they like Pro Zinc. On the plus side he IS a GOOD vet, but I don't know about the doc who joined the practice right before we moved. We are planning on taking the Civvies back to the vet in Liberty, and I can go there for Nanner if necessary, but am hoping to find someone who's really up on all the best for sugar cats.

Paula & Nanner
 
Welcome, Paula & Nanner :YMHUG:
I live in the Johnson County area - so what I am about to share may not be helpful, as it is a commute from North of the river. However, my furbabies went to Highland Animal Hospital for 10 years & that is where Baby was diagnosed - they were never once not supportive of my plan of care for her (Lantus, diet of primarily Raw, supplemented by canned & home testing) I do not know that they necessarily agreed with me, but they never once tried to influence me to do differently than what I wanted. With that being said, I just switched vets to Hawthorne Animal Hospital because I had a bad experience at Highland (unrelated to care - just not nice bedside manner).
I met with a vet at Hawthorne (Ann Brown) last month & had a lengthy discussion with her about Baby's Feline Diabetes & MY PLAN OF CARE to make sure she was supportive before we switched over to Hawthorne - she was wonderful.. listened, cared & spent time with me and did not charge for the consultation. So, now we have officially switched (Sadi is having a dental there this morning)

Good Luck & Welcome!!
 
Unfortunately, this may also be too far for you, but my vet is Dr. Dinges at Camelot Court Animal Clinic in Leawood, KS. He's been my family vet for 15+ years. My sugar kitty Jason was actually OTJ by the time I first took him to see Dr. Dinges (Jason was a foster that I was treating and ended up adopting), but Dr. Dinges loved the spreadsheet of Jason's numbers I was able to show him and was very enthusiastic about the diet change (I had consulted with him about it because I wanted to change my other two cats' diets to low carb high protein at the same time as Jason's). Dr. Dinges is very good about working with his clients and talking things through with them.
 
Also south of the river, but I can give high marks to Dearborn Animal Clinic on Johnson Drive in Mission (just off of the Lamar exit of I-35). Willie just went in for a rabies shot this week and the surgeon there is GREAT, and from what I can tell, the vet that would likely handle diabetes cases is good also. I also was very pleased with Fairway Animal Hospital off of Mission Road. Dr. Hendershot was wonderful, and was very on board with the diabetes protocol followed here. The only reason we're not still with Fairway is that they don't use the purevax rabies vaccine, and Dearborn is around the corner from our house. I actually left my sunglasses there, and am planning to stop by on Friday to pick them up, and am hoping to chat up the other vet. I would be happy to pass along my impressions.

If you have other health issues and/or need to see a specialist, I also cannot say enough good things about Mission Medvet. Willie has seen 3 specialists there, and one of their ER docs helped me when my Miss Belle passed, and they are truly wonderful over there. Their IM vet is on sabbatical taking boards, though I will say that she isn't a fan of tight regulation as a desired outcome as she believes it is too much effort, but will be supportive if you choose to follow the protocol used here.

I personally would not recommend KC Cat Clinic in Waldo. I think they are wonderful for many things, but found their "my way or the highway" approach to be a bit problematic, especially when their dosing/handling advice with Lantus clearly indicated that they lacked a real understanding of how it should be handled, how it worked, etc.

Keep us posted on how your search progresses!
 
Thank you all for the recommends. I'm probably going to initially take him over to Liberty and see what they say. It's good to know I've got some options if I need them though.

Thanks,

Paula & Nanner
 
Sorry I didn't catch this thread sooner. I have a couple of "North of the River" recommendations. First would be Dr. Rambo at Gladstone Animal Clinic. My mother's cat stopped eating right before Thanksgiving, and so I took him to that clinic. I was very impressed with Dr. Rambo. He seemed very caring and I think he would be cooperative with a proactive owner. My other recommendation would be Northland Cat Clinic. Just one doc there. She was the vet my mother took her cat for most of his life. Mom really liked the vet. Since I adopted my mother's cat, the vet has been very helpful about giving advice to me regarding integrating my mother's cat with my two boys.

I have no experience with dealing with a diabetic cat with these vets. However, I do know they deliver good overall care.
 
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