Hopeless Vets

My first experience with a vet: took my cat in to be desexed, the vet thought he was a she and opened him up. Stupid

2nd experience: took my Mainecoon into a vet for a microchip, this vet must not have been familiar with Mainecoons - and that there average weight is about 10kg (my Rosey is 8kg) and the vet was very critical and said my cat was overweight. Stupid

3rd experience: my cat developed a chin problem, the condition was misdiagonized twice Stupid

4th Experience: I had my healthy cats vaccinated due to a cattery regulation. 12 months after the vaccination all 4 cats developed cat flue, 1 almost died, thus I am strongly oposed to vaccinations, (money making plan)

So unless your cat has fleas or worms - don't bother taking it to the vet, talk about hopless and only in it for the money.

I've met some hopeless vets in my time, but a vet that can't tell a male from a female.......that takes the cake! Wonder how he got through vet school.

There are some very good vets out there, though. Just takes some looking.

My first experience with a vet: took my cat in to be desexed, the vet thought he was a she and opened him up. Stupid

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4th Experience: I had my healthy cats vaccinated due to a cattery regulation. 12 months after the vaccination all 4 cats developed cat flue, 1 almost died, thus I am strongly oposed to vaccinations, (money making plan)

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The herpes virus vaccine is not 100% effective, however it can help avoiding the kitty from getting the flu, and if they get, it will probably not be as strong as if they were not vaccinated.

So unless your cat has fleas or worms - don't bother taking it to the vet, talk about hopless and only in it for the money.

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I disagree - I have 2 very good vets, and I trust them - this doesn't mean I don't do my research... I Think it is up to us to do our homework, but we need to have a vet that we trust to take care of our kitties. We are nowhere qualified to take care of them without a vet.

When we first moved here I went to a very bad vet because I did not know it was bad.
They said Coco had lung cancer when it was severe asthma and a uri.
They were shut down by the state of california and the owner is in jail.
Do not say vets are good for only a few thing and are out for money.
I would have lost Meeko at 3 month if a vet had not saved her and Coco in 2001 if she had not been saved.
The vet does not even charge me for Cocos ultrasounds all the time.
I got free blood panels at my old vet.
Not all vet are bad.
You just ended up with a bad vet.

The Flu Vaccine has two parts in infancy, and then you need to update it every year, perhaps yours ran out and you got unlucky?

I had a bad vet not long ago who inadvertantly with bad advice caused the death of one of my beloved kittens, and the grief is overwhelming at times, because I know now if I had gone to another one for a second opinion sooner, I may have saved her and I hate him for not treating her properly, and I hate myself for trusting him.

Originally Posted by emilybieman

My first experience with a vet: took my cat in to be desexed, the vet thought he was a she and opened him up. Stupid

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Wow. Even I know how to tell that; the pair of testicles hanging out, or the sack where they used to be, is a dead giveaway. Never use a vet that knows less than me.

Wow, I guess I've been lucky with vets. I've had some I liked less than others, and have kept looking after the first visit, but no nightmares like you have experienced. My problems have always arisen from not vaccinating or from not going to the vet soon enough.

Don't give up on all of them, there are way more good than bad out there.

They spend as much time and money on education as does a human MD, but instead of being guaranteed an inflated income from insurance and Medicaid their prices are held in check by what the market will bear.
They are faced with the choice of treat an indigent clients pet in hopes they will pay or letting it die.
Their patients regularly pee, poop or puke in the lobby, examining room or on the vet himself. Only a pediatrician runs as much risk of being bitten by his patients, and those aren't likely to weigh up to 180 pounds and have a full set of sharp teeth.
The majority have to do it out of love for animals, if they were only in it for money they would be doctors. Or politicians.

I've only had 2 vets (the first retired), both were highly recommended and are wonderful with my cats.

Hope you can find a better vet in the future, perhaps ask around people that you know.

Originally Posted by ebrillblaiddes

Wow. Even I know how to tell that; the pair of testicles hanging out, or the sack where they used to be, is a dead giveaway. Never use a vet that knows less than me.

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Unreal. Just mouth dropping unreal.
Another giveaway, oh, the lack of a vagina!

Originally Posted by Trillcat

Unreal. Just mouth dropping unreal.
Another giveaway, oh, the lack of a vagina!

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True, but the testicles are more obvious (especially on some cats...we had this one, once...), and that vet probably needs the clues as obvious as possible.

Originally Posted by emilybieman

So unless your cat has fleas or worms - don't bother taking it to the vet, talk about hopless and only in it for the money.

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i am sorry you had a few bad experiences with a vet (or a few) but this is potentially dangerous advice. If you had one or two bad experience with a human doctor (be it child or adult) would you advocate that no one ever see a doctor again in their life?

There are some vets and human doctors that are only in it for the money. When you run into one of those find another one. By large and far I have yet to meet one vet that was in it solely for the money. I am sure that they are out there but I think they are few and far between and def. not the norm.

Originally Posted by emilybieman

My first experience with a vet: took my cat in to be desexed, the vet thought he was a she and opened him up. Stupid

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If your male cat only had one testicle down, then the vet would have to open the cat up to find the other one. It could be anywhere from the end of the cat up to his sternal area. If the vet was "unethical" he could have removed only the testicle that was down & charged you for it. Your cat would have been sterile, but he would have spraying behavior & would fight with other male cats. You wouldn't have known the difference, & would have imagined your cat had litter box problems.

In the case of a vaccine that was given a year prior, there would be no way to know it the cat flu your cats got, was covered by the vaccine or not. There are hundreds of fast virus's out there that do not have a vaccine. Blameing cat flu on a vet, who saw your cats 12 months prior doesn't make any sense. That would not be any different if you got a flu shot for yourself. Flu shots only cover the most common flu that was around the last season, if you catch a new strain, you aren't covered. Your cat wasn't covered either.

Originally Posted by bluekat

If your male cat only had one testicle down, then the vet would have to open the cat up to find the other one. It could be anywhere from the end of the cat up to his sternal area.

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But...if that was the reason for a more complicated procedure, the vet should have explained it to the owner afterward, so that she'd know her cat's health history.

I have dealt with vets I like a lot, and some I liked less. I've found that those who also do large animal work usually aren't great with cats.

But we have a vet now who clearly loves cats (she's adopted 3 from the shelter who are "office cats"), loves dogs, and really cares about her patients. I've seen her cry over very sick cats, and her partner vet, formerly a zoo vet, is great, too.

And they do operations on cats for $35-50 that a doctor would charge $1000-35,000 for on humans, so the accusation that they're in it for the money just doesn't hold water.

What Mr. Blanche said - given that it's harder to get into vet school than med school in the US these days, given the costs of running a practice, I'm still totally amazed at how relatively inexpensive my cats' treatments have been, and the amount of time my vets have spent with me, explaining, and re-explaining, treatments, etc.

That's not to say there aren't bad vets out there, just like bad human doctors, but I can only wish I got as much time and one-on-one attention from my own doctors, as I do with my cats' vets.

I was floored by a comment one made to me when I took my girl in for a post-treatment check-up. She thanked me for coming in - she said there are many owners who never both coming in for the check-ups afterwards. And it was all of $20, and I went home immensely relieved about Dharma's anal issue - and that didn't count the four phone calls I made to ask questions about her reaction to Clavamox, etc., during the treatment.