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- Dec 11, 2014
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One of my cats was diagnosed with kidney disease last fall. She's on a special diet, and like many cats, often rejects the prescription foods. I recently had a paid phone consult with a cat behavior specialist with whom I've worked before to discuss the appetite issue, and the conversation of course addressed her overall condition, medications she was taking, etc. The consultant works for a cats-only vet practice in a role comparable to a vet tech, and strictly speaking her consulting business is separate and conducted outside of office hours. I wasn't planning on an office visit, but since the consultant discussed other dietary options that would require a prescription, as well as additional medications, I agreed. She also wants to show me how to administer sub-q fluids in a different part of the body; my practice only taught my husband and I how to administer them between the shoulder blades, and will have other behavior/management advice.
The visit is a few days from now. I need to ask my regular vet, a practice I've been visiting for all of my pets for many years, for her medical records, and at some point I may need to go through them to get prescription foods so that I don't have to drive to the specialty clinic. And the next time they see my cat, I'll need to tell them if she's on medication prescribed by the other vet. That might be an awkward situation. It's also possible that the cat clinic will automatically send my other practice a summary of our visit as a courtesy, which is fine.
I am not disputing the diagnosis, and I don't intend to transfer care of my cat because for one thing the specialty clinic is considerably farther away, and the less time my cat has to be in a car, the better. I may not need to take my cat to this clinic again, since my nearby practice presumably can manage routine follow-ups regardless of whether I'm doing things that they didn't initially recommend. Also, I have other pets (two cats and a dog), and I will continue taking them to the nearby clinic. How should I tactfully explain why I went to someone else without making it seem I was dissatisfied with their care? (Maybe I am, at least a little, and from prior experience with the cat-only practice when the kidney cat had another serious condition, as well as with another senior cat, their approach is what you might call more aggressive or intensive: prescribing three medications when my regular practice only suggested one, for example. Maybe sometimes that's good, maybe sometimes not, but it's difficult for me to judge).
My priority is trying to help my cat in any way possible and to learn effective ways to handle challenging situations like medicating her, and if I feel I need to get help from more than one doctor, I'll do it. Still, I don't want to jeopardize the relationship with my regular vets, and I hope I don't get caught in a situation where one practice strongly suggests one course of action and the other strongly disagrees! Any ideas on how to finesse this?
The visit is a few days from now. I need to ask my regular vet, a practice I've been visiting for all of my pets for many years, for her medical records, and at some point I may need to go through them to get prescription foods so that I don't have to drive to the specialty clinic. And the next time they see my cat, I'll need to tell them if she's on medication prescribed by the other vet. That might be an awkward situation. It's also possible that the cat clinic will automatically send my other practice a summary of our visit as a courtesy, which is fine.
I am not disputing the diagnosis, and I don't intend to transfer care of my cat because for one thing the specialty clinic is considerably farther away, and the less time my cat has to be in a car, the better. I may not need to take my cat to this clinic again, since my nearby practice presumably can manage routine follow-ups regardless of whether I'm doing things that they didn't initially recommend. Also, I have other pets (two cats and a dog), and I will continue taking them to the nearby clinic. How should I tactfully explain why I went to someone else without making it seem I was dissatisfied with their care? (Maybe I am, at least a little, and from prior experience with the cat-only practice when the kidney cat had another serious condition, as well as with another senior cat, their approach is what you might call more aggressive or intensive: prescribing three medications when my regular practice only suggested one, for example. Maybe sometimes that's good, maybe sometimes not, but it's difficult for me to judge).
My priority is trying to help my cat in any way possible and to learn effective ways to handle challenging situations like medicating her, and if I feel I need to get help from more than one doctor, I'll do it. Still, I don't want to jeopardize the relationship with my regular vets, and I hope I don't get caught in a situation where one practice strongly suggests one course of action and the other strongly disagrees! Any ideas on how to finesse this?