Foreign bodies guideline?

[Trisha Elric]

So, I have a cat who threw up a piece of fabric (maybe a quarter inch thick). He's a fat cat and he's on a diet food but it doesn't seem to be working. Having seen that, I'm a little concerned he's been eating some other garbage around the house and wanted to look into it. He's not been acting strange or anything and this has been going on for some time with him getting regularly seen by vets, his stomach's been felt and his poo's been tested, blood tests for things, etc., no one's ever raised any alarms.

So I called up our vet about it (who has always been great to us except when it comes to my cat with FLUTD, who usually has to be bullied past the demands to bring him in every single time he has an episode to stress him out for 0 benefit), and explained my concerns. I got completely stonewalled by a guideline that this was a "foreign body problem" (because he threw up a piece of fabric...) and there was absolutely no way they'd make me an appointment, he has to be seen by the emergency vet.

I'm usually the kind of cat mom who will bring her boys in for any damn thing (and have!) and I'd actually called earlier to make sure something happening to the other cat wasn't an emergency (and he's being seen soon by his PCP). But I just don't see where the emergency is here, and if I have to bring a cat in every single time they throw up something they shouldn't have eaten, I'm going to stop being honest with my vet.

Has anyone else heard of this guideline? Is there a way around it? Are they expecting something to happen other than people just getting frustrated and not taking their animals in at all? I'm up to my eyeballs in doctor and vet appointments, just had the worst day in living memory, and it's snowing buckets. So I'll admit this is a bit of a vent post but does anyone else have experience with this kind of thing?

Thanks in advance and apologies for the bitterness, this has really soured my grapes.

 

[Meowmee]

So, I have a cat who threw up a piece of fabric (maybe a quarter inch thick). He's a fat cat and he's on a diet food but it doesn't seem to be working. Having seen that, I'm a little concerned he's been eating some other garbage around the house and wanted to look into it. He's not been acting strange or anything and this has been going on for some time with him getting regularly seen by vets, his stomach's been felt and his poo's been tested, blood tests for things, etc., no one's ever raised any alarms.

So I called up our vet about it (who has always been great to us except when it comes to my cat with FLUTD, who usually has to be bullied past the demands to bring him in every single time he has an episode to stress him out for 0 benefit), and explained my concerns. I got completely stonewalled by a guideline that this was a "foreign body problem" (because he threw up a piece of fabric...) and there was absolutely no way they'd make me an appointment, he has to be seen by the emergency vet.

I'm usually the kind of cat mom who will bring her boys in for any damn thing (and have!) and I'd actually called earlier to make sure something happening to the other cat wasn't an emergency (and he's being seen soon by his PCP). But I just don't see where the emergency is here, and if I have to bring a cat in every single time they throw up something they shouldn't have eaten, I'm going to stop being honest with my vet.

Has anyone else heard of this guideline? Is there a way around it? Are they expecting something to happen other than people just getting frustrated and not taking their animals in at all? I'm up to my eyeballs in doctor and vet appointments, just had the worst day in living memory, and it's snowing buckets. So I'll admit this is a bit of a vent post but does anyone else have experience with this kind of thing?

Thanks in advance and apologies for the bitterness, this has really soured my grapes.

I don’t know about guidelines, I guess different dvm have different criteria. I was worried about fb with Quinn a while back and took him to regular dvm, I was lucky to get a fast appointment. He had not vomited anything up. All was ok on xray etc. they gave him cerenia and pepcid shots and planned to do ultrasound if he was still not ok.

Maybe your dvm felt they could not do surgery if needed or thought it was an emergency. For me I would not wait if any of my cats vomited up something, I would be too worried they could be getting damage to their bowel.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I agree that it might be a Vet by Vet guideline. What did you end up doing? I probably wouldn't have done anything as long as the vomiting has subsided and the cat was acting normal, but that's just me. (if it had been a piece of string and I thought more should have come out, that would be a different story)

 

[Trisha Elric]

I agree that it might be a Vet by Vet guideline. What did you end up doing? I probably wouldn't have done anything as long as the vomiting has subsided and the cat was acting normal, but that's just me. (if it had been a piece of string and I thought more should have come out, that would be a different story)

I held off, it was the one little piece and he'd actually been eating and everything normally well before I made the call. (He is now banned from the craft room however.) I have to take my other one in on Saturday so maybe I can set up an appointment then. In a way it's fortunate in that it's not a single vet but an animal center, so I get someone different at the counter every time I go.

After the fact I've realized I wasn't clear on the phone about the problem and the person was probably right to be concerned based on how I put it, but I just couldn't get across to them that this wasn't an emergency situation and they kept guilting and chiding in ways I just wasn't emotionally prepared for. I hope that works on people who legitimately need to take their animals in and just don't want to, and I realize I'm biased, but I don't think that describes me in this case.