Would it be okay to postpone a vet appointment?

[noani]

Hi everyone,

Long story short I rescued an alley cat who had an infected, big wound on his behind. It's been almost 3 weeks. Stitches came undone, so it has to heal as an open wound.

I take pictures every day to track progress and the wound is much smaller. It's very small now but still open. I clean and put medicine on it twice a day, and it's clean, no bad smell, no sign of infection, healing well but it takes time.
Vet told us until the wound is closed he has to keep the cone and stay in a crate.

We've had two follow ups so far. Both went exactly the same: I got him in the carrier. He was terrified. We went there by cab. The doctor saw us for 5 minutes, wiped down his bum same way I do twice a day at home and said "great job it's healing great but will take more time, come back in X days and keep doing what you're doing".

Now. I don't care about cab fares. Or my part of the stress of putting him in the carrier, and carrying him down (I have a herniated disc but I really don't care if it's to help him).
However, I don't want to put HIM through this stress AGAIN just to be told "well it takes time, great job, there's nothing to say except continue and wait for it to heal, I'll see you in x days". He's adjusting well to life inside, even being confined to a crate for long stretches when I'm at work or sleeping (he has to be in as per vet when unsupervised). But he's been through so much and the vet visits stress him SO much.

The wound has reduced to about a tenth of original size. It is healing well, there is no sign of infection, the edges are healing great.

Do you think it would be acceptable in this case to call and try to postpone the appointment maybe early next week? Or should I try to take him anyway and probably get told... Yeah nothing to say, just keep it up, hey let me take a pic to compare, ok, go home.

I don't know to what extent I should "be allowed" to make a judgment call on waiting a bit longer in order to stress him less, since everything is going great (as it has been throughout) and improving steadily. Or should I just take him and follow their "X days until checkup" policy?

 

[noani]

I forgot to say, the appointment is supposed to be tomorrow and I am considering asking for it to be moved to early next week so there might actually be like news.
I know I'm not a doctor and it's great to follow up and monitor progress through vet but I do fear it will be another ultimately pointless trip that will achieve nothing but more stress for him.

 

[Heart For Cats]

I think you need to switch vets. A good vet would spend more time examining the whole cat and explain everything. Good vets let clients make appointment decisions, ask questions, and answer questions without shrugging off anything. Tell the vet you are very disappointed with the service and will go somewhere else for treatment.

A crate is unnecessary if you are only talking about a wound, not an injury. Let your kitty do what he wants as long as he wears the cone or a t-shirt and stays inside at all times.

 

[fionasmom]

Will your vet accept a pic or that series of pics that you take? I would definitely ask that. Many times a check up is just that....a quick look and I do see your point. Can you ask the vet directly if you could skip a visit? Mention your bad back and the stress of getting you both there. Delaying it for a couple of days is a possibility that you could also bring up to the vet. I think that the best thing to do is to call and ask them what they think about skipping the appointment, but mention the options of picture, difficulty, delaying but not canceling entirely.

 

[noani]

It's not about the difficulty really. I don't mind going at all. I would actually probably feel reassured if we go
I don't want Yoda to go through that stress again.
The Problem is that it's a clinic (where we took him as an emergency when we caught him). So I'll just be speaking to a receptionist when I call.

I've tried other vets. There is only one in my city that I haven't called in the last three weeks. All "generally discourage trying to save strays" and "don't feel comfortable doing follow ups as they are not the surgeon who operated him".

That's Sicily for you. It's just so... Frustrating sometimes.

 

[fionasmom]

A lot of doctors here, including human, will not intervene once another doctor has been consulted.

 

[noani]

I understand it to a certain degree. Depending on the issue... Tbh, I don't understand it in this case.
He hasn't had something way complicated that would require five pages of doctor debrief to follow up on. Just basically .. they tried to stitch him up after cleaning out the wound and removing infected tissue, it came undone so it's just monitoring open wound healing now.

The wound or what's left of it has almost healed (I just compared the pictures again and am shocked by how well he's healed, and can't believe what it looked like and don't know how I managed to do it honestly).

I don't know, it seems like more potentially unnecessary stress on him, but I'm really torn because I don't want to make the wrong decision.

 

[noani]

Quick update:
I decided not to chance it and took him in. Basically he said cool, looks amazing, great job, keep it up, start spacing out the wound care to every other day and the topical as well.
Has to keep cone until wound closed, but can finally(!!!) leave crate for GOOD!
So kinda useless but he said ok we don't need to have another apt, in about a week you can make apt with a colleague (not surgeon but diff vet) so we can get him vaccinated and dewormed if applicable.

I did bring in the suspected flea in a jar. He said he can't recognise them so he can't tell me if it's a flea and just to put frontline or other on them. He seemed grossed out and creeped out by my little flea jar (just a tiny one safely sealed...) He looked at me like "maybe YOU need to see a medical professional walking around with a flea jar lady"

 

[di and bob]

If a vet can't recognize a flea, that is a big red flag to me! I have been in your shoes many times, I DID NOT bring the cat in at all, explaining it was a feral and it would be too traumatized to do it. my vet accepted pictures and my word on the healing. I try to help what cats I can, but there is a limit to my money and my house cats come first. You are experienced enough to know if the wound is healing. I'd use my own knowledge and forget that vet. That cat, like all my strays and ferals, is much better off than it was!

 

[Antonio65]

All "generally discourage trying to save strays" and "don't feel comfortable doing follow ups as they are not the surgeon who operated him".
That's Sicily for you. It's just so... Frustrating sometimes.

Sicily has a very bad reputation for caring ferals, stray or abandoned pets. Not only from the vets (who are very very few compared to other civilized areas of the same country, and it's easy to understand why), but from people too, which prefer to use them as moveable targets to train using a firearm.
Sicily is the region where it is normal to fling a puppy out the window of a car and let the poor little dog on the road. The story of Hola and her companion kitty Micia moved to tears thousands of people up here.
Sorry, but I can't keep myself when it comes to pets and Sicily!

 

[fionasmom]

I don't like the fact that you were insulted by the vet who implied that you have a mental problem, nor the fact that he could not recognize a flea.

 

[noani]

I mean I was kind of joking about that. But yeah overall the vet situation here isn't great. I've spoken to all but one (this one never answered or called back) and it's been the same by and large. Very frustrating, I just want to find a good vet.

Just one in the whole city who actually cares a little bit, who doesn't insist all cats must be fed dry food as it's "easier to digest" (here buy this brand that sends me free samples), who doesn't misdiagnose stress, overgrooming and resulting trouble with hairballs thinking he MUST have an upset stomach or reflux when he retches (because I feed him the evil wet food), who doesn't scoff when I tell her about clicker training and nail trimming (all of which he is very good at actually). But seriously, why do ALL vets in Sicily believe dry food is cat gold??? They can't even explain why when asked, they just say "it's easier to digest" and change subject or just say "NO. DRY ONLY. Why? BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY IT IS".

But I digress. I'm glad Yoda is fine and on the way to recovery and all is going well.

 

[fionasmom]

There are some vets here in the states who still believe that if you feed your cat dry food you will never have a dental problem.