Please help me sort this out regarding vet care!

I took Sassy in, (with a stool sample), to the vet about 3 weeks ago. My concern was that she didn't seem to be gaining weight had a soft stool and was showing her third eyelid on occasion, although she seemed otherwise healthy.

The vet checked her over and said she seemed to be fine, but she prescribed Metronidazole antibiotic. I asked if we should forgo the antibiotic and just give her something for the diarrhea since she could find nothing wrong, but she said no, this would get the bacteria back the way it should be.

When we back in for a recheck, she seemed surprised that the Metronidazole antibiotic caused Sassy to have worse diarrhea and said if she doesn't seem better in a week or two maybe we should check for giardia.

Now my question is this. wouldn't it have been one of the things to check for based on my complaint? I also asked her that if Sassy had giardia, then shouldn't I be concerned that some of the other cats might have it too? She said no, because they can only get it from standing water and it shouldn't be a concern for Sassy either if she is never outdoors.

Sassy and Boo have both been outdoors a few times since they are sometimes pretty wily about escaping.

One other thing that is unrelated to this but I also am puzzled about. I told this vet that the other vet I've seen at the clinic said that Nugent's crystals were probably cause by an infection and she said there is no way that happens.

I am just having a few doubts about the vet and what I hear about this may have some sway on where I end up taking my little fur babies to in the future.

I have always had such trouble knowing if I am taking my kits to the best available for them and feel that I need help determining what that is.

I'm so sorry about your troubles.

IMO - get her to a feline only vet and demand a blood/fecal and urine test done to rule everything out. It's a safeguard and costly I know but better be safe than sorry. Third eyelids showing is never a good sign.

Good luck and god bless.

I'm sorry that I can't give you any feedback specific to your cat's health problems. But I do know that if you don't feel this vet is giving you the kind of service you want there's no reason for you to go back there. It's a tough situation because they're the "experts" in the field so you're forced to believe everything they tell you, and you have to trust that they're giving you accurate information. I would go with your "gut feeling" on this one, and if you don't feel the vet is doing the kind of job you expect, I think you should move on and find someone who does. Even if this vet is technically correct on all the information he's giving to you (which I really cannot comment on) if he's not able to fill you with confidence and make you feel like proper care is being given to your cat, then he is not doing half of his job.

Hope you can find a vet who's more responsive!

Originally Posted by tru

When we back in for a recheck, she seemed surprised that the Metronidazole antibiotic caused Sassy to have worse diarrhea and said if she doesn't seem better in a week or two maybe we should check for giardia.

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Are you sure it was the meds and nothing else changed or could have been causing it? Metronidazole/Flagyl is an antibiotic given to cats WITH diarrhea to stop it...

My friend takes all of her cats to a cat specialist as her primary vet. She adopted 2 kittens from me that basically went thru the same process as you are going thru. On the return visit when the meds didn't work they tested for giardia. It's not terribly common and not something they test for first. It turned out that they had giardia, acquired after she adopted them and moved them from Missouri to Colorado. They had immunity to the giardia in my area but did not have immunity to the giardia in her area (it is different across the world).

Her specialist said that giardia exists all over the place and most cats will have immunity to the type in their area. She sees many cats that are moved across country develop a reaction to the giardia in their area. If a cat wasn't moved, it usually shows signs of it very young (or very old) when they can't ward it off properly.

I have no idea if this helps, but thought it was an interesting tidbit of information.

Originally Posted by Jen

Are you sure it was the meds and nothing else changed or could have been causing it? Metronidazole/Flagyl is an antibiotic given to cats WITH diarrhea to stop it...

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Nothing else changed other than giving her the antibiotic. I really didn't think much of that since antibiotics so often cause diarrhea.

At any rate, what I'm wondering is....
Shouldn't she have checked for Giardia when we first went in with a sample or would that not be the normal thing to do?

Why wait till I'm back for a recheck to suggest that we might want to check for that if the stool doesn't seem better after the antibiotic?

I may be way off base here. Perhaps that's not a normal thing to check for. I'm sure if I was a run of the mill cat mom who wasn't always reading on The Cat Site I would never think to question these things, but ya know how it goes.

Then there is the conflicting statements between her and one of the other vets there in regards to Nugent's crystals.

I'm just doin' a lot of pondering here.

Originally Posted by tru

Perhaps that's not a normal thing to check for.

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I don't think it is. To further explain my previous post about the giardia kittens, her vet immediately tested them when she was told that they were just moved 600 miles from where they were born. There was no solid reason to test prior to that.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

My friend takes all of her cats to a cat specialist as her primary vet. She adopted 2 kittens from me that basically went thru the same process as you are going thru. On the return visit when the meds didn't work they tested for giardia. It's not terribly common and not something they test for first. It turned out that they had giardia, acquired after she adopted them and moved them from Missouri to Colorado. They had immunity to the giardia in my area but did not have immunity to the giardia in her area (it is different across the world).

Her specialist said that giardia exists all over the place and most cats will have immunity to the type in their area. She sees many cats that are moved across country develop a reaction to the giardia in their area. If a cat wasn't moved, it usually shows signs of it very young (or very old) when they can't ward it off properly.

I have no idea if this helps, but thought it was an interesting tidbit of information.

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Amy,

We both must have been responding at the same time. I had to leave the keyboard after starting my response to Jen.

Thanks for that. That is one of the things I was wondering about, (why she hadn't checked for that in the first place). I was kind of thinking it was one of those, "get you back for more visits & testing", when I am already having to post date checks to take care of what's in front of us.

I know everything will eventually get worked out with my kits, but I want to be sure I'm ding my part in trying to provide them with the best available that we can afford.

As far as feline vets in this area, the only ones to be found are at the U of M that is more than an hours drive from here and short of needing very complex care I can't imagine affording them or the time in the car for the cats.

Ever hear of L-Lysine? You might want to get her on a little of that just to help boost her immune system and make it stronger to help get rid of whatever is wrong with her.

I don't believe that giardia would be a routine thing to check for. Soft stools can be caused by many different things, a dewormer just in case and a some pumpkin or a tiny bit of plain or vanilla yogurt will help if the diarrhea is from worms.

The slight thrid eyelid showing...they say if it is showing that means the animal is getting sick. But I have seen a handful of cats that have it showing a little. As long as the eye isn't watery, crusty, or swollen and red, I wouldn't worry too much. It may just be a slight irritation. If a small cold is coming on, again l-lysine along with antibiotics would be great. I would think something like Amoxi should be fine. Only reason I questioned the Metronidazole is because it is used to STOP diarrhea.

sorry to ramble on, but bottom line is:
L-lysine
a broad spectrum antibiotic like amoxi
some pumpkin or yogurt for diarrhea (a tablespoon or two)
wet and dry food (good quality of course, but don't switch her yet until you get her bowels back in order).

Did you do a search for a feline Vet on the AAFP website? http://www.aafponline.org/findadoctor.php

You can just put in your state and it will give you a big list.

Originally Posted by Jen

Ever hear of L-Lysine? You might want to get her on a little of that just to help boost her immune system and make it stronger to help get rid of whatever is wrong with her.

I don't believe that giardia would be a routine thing to check for. Soft stools can be caused by many different things, a dewormer just in case and a some pumpkin or a tiny bit of plain or vanilla yogurt will help if the diarrhea is from worms.

The slight thrid eyelid showing...they say if it is showing that means the animal is getting sick. But I have seen a handful of cats that have it showing a little. As long as the eye isn't watery, crusty, or swollen and red, I wouldn't worry too much. It may just be a slight irritation. If a small cold is coming on, again l-lysine along with antibiotics would be great. I would think something like Amoxi should be fine. Only reason I questioned the Metronidazole is because it is used to STOP diarrhea.

sorry to ramble on, but bottom line is:
L-lysine
a broad spectrum antibiotic like amoxi
some pumpkin or yogurt for diarrhea (a tablespoon or two)
wet and dry food (good quality of course, but don't switch her yet until you get her bowels back in order).

Click to expand...

Yep, yep, I have a ton of Lysine on hand in powder and gel. I also have read that it can be normal for cats to show the third eyelid when tired and that seems to be when hers has shown.

My main question here was opinions on the vets giving conflicting advice and if it was normal for them to not check for Giardia when they are presented with the symptoms I mentioned.

Right now she seems ok and I still have to catch her using the box to see if the soft stool has cleared up. I'm sure that will present soon.

Originally Posted by Mia mouse

Did you do a search for a feline Vet on the AAFP website? http://www.aafponline.org/findadoctor.php

You can just put in your state and it will give you a big list.

Click to expand...

Mia mouse,

Yeah, I have checked there before. That's how I know how it's a good distance for me to find a feline specialist. We have another vet in town that I'm pretty comfortable with that has a full hospital facility though. A woman I know that does a lot of rescue work told me she would never leave a cat there overnight because of things she had seen and heard, so on her word I had kind of avoided them for a while. However, they are one of the few in town that do work with rescue groups for discount spay/neuters for people needing help and also fixing ferals for the TNR program.

My last feral was fixed there and when the owner/vet brought the feral out he patted me on the back and thanked me for helping those cats. Lippy must have been cat 30 or more that I had fixed and that is the first time I heard a vet say thank you for my involvement. I was a little flabbergasted about that and even kind of ashamed that I had been avoiding this vet on hearsay that never even said much.

This vet does not take appointments. If you have a sick cat or dog then you take the pet in and they have the longest open hours of anyone in town. I had heard good things about him many years ago for his work with horses, and they have a large busy practice so they must be doing something right.

I'm with the one I've been using right now because they took Care Credit and that was the only way I could get the last of my guys fixed and up to date on shots. I seem to always end up with conflicting thoughts in areas such as this because I start wondering if I am being disloyal when considering making changes.

It's kind of funny. Most of my life I've told people that the two most wasted emotions are guilt and worry because neither accomplishes anything and I always seem to bring them both into play when making decisions.

There, now that I've written another novel, I'll shut up!