Really annoyed at the vet - would love advice

Hi everybody.  I haven't posted here in a while, but felt compelled to post about this.  

Day before yesterday, I noticed a lot of clear discharge coming out of Chowder's right eye and it was slightly red around the outside.  I thought maybe he got some debris in there off the floor and rinsed it out with cat eye rinse from the store.  Yesterday morning it had progressed to being swollen with a lot of discharge and he could barely open it.  I called the vet the rescue I got him from uses immediately and got him an appointment.  He was also due for vaccines, so he needed to be seen anyway.

We got there and the vet told me that he has an ear infection and conjunctivitis, which seemed odd since he seemed perfectly healthy to me before the inflamed eye.  She was going over his original chart from his intake into the rescue and said, "Oh, so I  see he's FeLV+."  I quickly corrected her that the computer printout the rescue had given me says he is FIV+, but FeLV-.  She then showed me the handwritten chart which said the opposite.  She and the vet tech spent the next few minutes discussing which it was and said, "Oh, well the handwritten is probably right.  Let's just say he's FeLV+."  That seems really, really irresponsible to me.  

I called the director of the rescue I got him from and she called the vet to tell them she was very upset about the mix-up.  They are going to draw his blood in two weeks after he is done with his ear and eye antibiotic medication and test him again with no charge to me.

Basically, I just wanted to voice how frustrated I am.  How could they be this careless when it comes to diagnosing a cat's condition?  I know both can be manageable, but I am upset that it wasn't presented to me from the beginning.  Should I look for a new vet or am I completely out of line for being upset?

That is very irresponsible.   Feline leukemia is contagious enough that it would at least be a consideration as far as bringing a cat that is positive into a home with cats that are negative.  If he is positive, which I really hope he is not, and telling someone he is negative is very irresponsible.

I agree.  Thankfully he's my only cat so I don't have to worry about any other kitties contracting it.

There are a lot of vets out there and they are running a business so if your not happy with the service I say switch. Try getting a recommendation from a friend or neighbor.

I would make them treat him free for life

You have every right to be upset. I would switch vets without a second thought.

Because your kitty has a chronic illness, finding a vet that you are comfortable developing a relationship with, and that is responsible, caring and competent, is super important both now and years down the road. 

I wonder what the rescue group did? That is, did they keep a positive cat with negative cats? So, yeah, it's a really bad mistake.

You have a right to know of any illnesses in kitties that you're adopting. Taking in cats with diseases right off the bat isn't for everyone. Not only that, but if there are any known illnesses new owners should be aware of them so that they can provide proper care.

 A lot of vets who do work for rescues tend to cut corners.  Or at least that is my experience with dealing with them.  Not all as there are some really good vets who do really good work for rescues, but I do know of a few here locally that cut corners on rescues animals.  Maybe the rescue wrote it down wrong?

It would seem to me that not only you, but also the rescue group you adopted your cat from, need to get another vet.  We have two rescue groups in our area that I have dealt with on occasion.  They DO seem to acquire the services of the least busy vets in the area.  One could conclude from that the vets in question are not in demand.  And there might be a good reason for that.  That's only the case in my area, so it may not be common.  One can hope.

Another lesson from this:  Never take the word of the group you adopted from as to the health of the animal.  ALWAYS have your own personal vet, and have your new pet seen by them ASAP. 

Raintyger said:

 
I wonder what the rescue group did? That is, did they keep a positive cat with negative cats? So, yeah, it's a really bad mistake.

You have a right to know of any illnesses in kitties that you're adopting. Taking in cats with diseases right off the bat isn't for everyone. Not only that, but if there are any known illnesses new owners should be aware of them so that they can provide proper care.

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His specific case was odd.  He was brought into the vet by a lady as a TNR.  They tested him while he was there and determined that he shouldn't be released as he could infect other cats.  The rescue, of which my good friend is the co-director, took him on financially and tried to find placement.  We ended up being a good match.  So, in short, after he was brought in for TNR he was not exposed to any other cats.

Record keeping can get messed up, especially in rescue and with rescue vets who may be processing many records in a short time.  While working as a volunteer foster for a local rescue, I took in two kittens and I always read the vet records with intakes -- they were listed as male neuters, and they WERE neutered males.  However, both of their vet records showed charges for "Rescue Spay" ($40) and not Rescue Neuter ($25).  The vet himself was not involved in generating the paperwork, his office folks were.  Obviously we couldn't give those vet records to the clients that way so I returned the papers to the rescue office and will be getting new ones after they get their vet's office to correct those.  Anyhow, in the case of the FeLv/FIV combo test, that's pretty important to know, AND if he started out FIV + and FeLV - that could certainly change, since he was trapped in the first place.  BOTH of those can be transmitted by cat bites, so in a case of a trapped cat, he should be retested at a later date before being housed with other cats.  It sounds like your friend did keep him separate, and you have no other cats so you are the perfect home for him.  The most important thing NOW is to treat the conjunctivitis (eye infection) and the ear infection.  After that, when he gets another combo test, you will know if he is positive for just the FIV or positivefor BOTH.  Being positive for FeLV doesn't mean he HAS leukemia, or that he will ever develop leukemia, but if he is FIV + he has a weaker immune system.  We did have one FeLV + kitten in our rescue that one of the workers took home.  He was given interferon on a regular basis and now he tests negative, so YAY!