Introducing the "Cat Guardian" - companion for your cat to the vet, with or without you present.
It is beneficial at times to have a 2nd pair of eyes to help you, especially if you are overwhelmed with work, caregiving, overload of information and tests after tests.
Are the tests necessary? Is the clinic or vet you've chosen suitable?
Sometimes, the pet owners themselves do not know how to communicate pertinent information to the vet, unless completely probed. I encountered a client who kept complaining about his cat peeing outside the litter, but failed to mention till much later that the cat pees 6-8 times a day (too many times for a healthy cat).
This new service is very close to my heart, and I will tell you why.
Before I do, I apologize in advance to all medical care professionals out there who may find my post offensive. However, I have very good reasons.
Everyone sees things differently. This includes your vets.
What one sees as overeating and being greedy, may be a hidden thyroid or diabetic condition.
Personally, I had to take so many tests at the polyclinic for just one doctor to realise that my heart was racing not due to the 2nd covid vaccination jab (which is what we initially thought), but due to my low iron levels, and I had to go for 4 appointments before one of the doctors figured it out.
Doctor A puts me on supplements, my levels go up. I’m told to stop.
Doctor B says doctor A shouldn’t have stopped it because it was helping me.
Doctor C says let’s stop and see what happens.
3 diff doctors, 3 different opinions which can affect my quality of life.
Similarly, Vets are humans, they may make mistakes or see things without fresh eyes. Even if they don’t, their nurses may.
What’s worst is, animals can’t talk.
I've encountered 4 different misdiagnosis in the past 4 years, by different clinics:
1) I was told that the cat likely needs to have a leg amputation as her knee joint was infected. Turns out, the vet just read the X-ray wrongly. The already injured cat was visibly bruised when she came back, due to their rough handling. She already had a gaping wound on her leg and they kept stretching her leg and telling me that she was fierce. Terrible experience for the cat.
2) Same cat was operated on a cat 7-8 times by a different clinic, but the wound never healed. Turned out the cat had bacteria in the wound and the first test was a false negative. The test was never repeated and the operations to stitch her up continued. The bills amounted to $10K and finally I brought the cat to another clinic, and that vet redid the test and voila, the reason for non healing was that bacteria was present. Poor girl had it tough. She went to 3 different clinics before the right vet treated her. The vet was shocked that so many surgeries was performed on her. She's happy and well now.
3) My own cat was misdiagnosed for arthritis. A week later, he couldn’t walk. I brought him to a hospital for a second opinion, where he had a CT scan. It was a heart issue with neuro, and possible cancer. He was then misdiagnosed again by the primary clinic a for Horner’s syndrome (most common sign is 1 big, 1 small pupil) when his eye became swollen. Turned out, it was an abscess and a tumour behind the eye. Again, I found this out because took it upon myself to seek an eye ultrasound (not referred by the primary clinic) because I felt the diagnosis of Horner's wasn't right.
4) I requested for an X-ray for a community cat who was limping more than usual. The cat had a car accident many years ago who limps and I wanted a thorough check done. However, he was given just a jab, ear cleaning and physical exam. Did I mention how hard it is to trap a community cat? The clinic was so busy that day and I believe he fell through the cracks.
5) A nurse accidentally dispensed an overdose of antibiotics for a kidney cat, because she didn’t hear the vet properly. The vet told her 0.48ml and she dispensed 0.8ml. No one realized this error till I questioned why the dosage seemed higher than all the previous times I've encountered this antibiotic. Unfortunately, the drug was already administered and it was time to try to counter the effects.
The cat died less than 2 months after, and though there's no way to prove, I believe it was due to the overload of subcut fluids to rectify that mistake, that pushed his body too much, and other complications occurred. The cat had an undetected heart issue, and the overload of fluids overloaded his heart, amongst other complications.
WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS?
Don't get me wrong. Vets are our pets' lifelines. Vets and nurses are overworked and underpaid. It is a tough job dealing with pet owners who are sometimes stubborn and do not follow instructions.
What I am saying is this - No. I am not a vet. I am not an expert BUT believe me when I say that some vets are better as GPs for basic care, and they should be professional enough to tell you, "I think you need to see a specialist. I’m not well versed in this".
If it wasn't for my own experience over the years dealing with different cats, different clinics, different medications, illnesses, I wouldn't have picked out all the errors I had highlighted above or know when it's time to shed the loyalty and go elsewhere.
So how will a normal, pawrent, who may not have experience, or much knowledge pick up when something is wrong?
Think about it as would you, as a person, go to only 1 GP for everything? No. That's why people go to polyclinics and get referrals to specialists because 1 doctor cannot diagnose everything under the sun.
At the end of the day, it’s not about who’s our favourite doctor or loyalty. It’s about which doctor is best for the cat, which is why in difficult cases, I even seek a 3rd opinion, if required, and put together all 3 perspectives to get a better understanding on how I, as a caregiver, can provide better care for that particular cat.
For example, a 2nd opinion from a recommended vet, suggested a pain relief patch as a cheaper option to daily syringes, which cost $17 per syringe. It never crossed my mind, and now that I know there is such an option, I will ask the vet if it is a possible option, if I ever have a cat needing constant pain relief, in the future.
We learn, sometimes from errors. We learn, sometimes, that we did not communicate the right information to get the right diagnosis.
I am introducing this service to those who need it, so hopefully you will not encounter what I encountered.
Learn more from the FAQ.
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