Tag Archives: vet

Four Sick Cats

Our house has been turned upside-down lately with all the illnesses going around. I don’t know how it started. Frankie has been sneezing for several months. We even took him to the vet for it back in April but he never really got better. I thought it might be an allergy but it persisted through an entire season.

Floki had a slight eye infection when we got him and a day or two later I noticed him sneezing like Frankie. About a week or so after that, Frankie also had an eye infection, but his was worse than Floki’s ever was, at least since he has been with us. If that wasn’t bad enough, Frankie started sneezing more and had snot coming out of his nose.

We brought Frankie to the vet on Friday and they gave him antibiotics and eye medicine. The next morning he still looked bat but now he was sneezing up blood. I am not a fan of antibiotics but since that is what he got we wanted to give it a few days to see if it would start working.

Also during the weekend, Puck developed an eye infection so we started putting Frankie’s eye medication on both Puck and Flokie as well as Frankie. Chris was the only one who seemed unaffected… until yesterday.

Yesterday morning I heard Chris sneeze a couple of times. That was disappointing because Chris is our rock. He rarely gets sick, probably because he has never had antibiotics or steroids. Those things will really mess with your natural immune system.

By last night, Frankie still looked pretty bad.

20160718_Cats_2267 Frankie

My new job is working for a company that makes natural herbal health products. One of the things they sell is colloidal silver. I thought maybe I could pick up a bottle of that and it would be a good natural treatment for not only the eyes but it can also be taken internally to help treat the sneezing.

Unfortunately, things got worse overnight. Frankie spent the entire night sleeping on the rug by the side door. When we got up the next morning, the door was spattered with Frankie’s blood.

20160719_Cats_2268 blood on door

So Rose decided to call the vet when they opened at 7:30 and was able to get an 8:20 appointment. I had a chiropractor appointment so I was not able to go.

Later, Rose told me that “they just filled him with lots of drugs,” or something to that effect. She said they gave him steroids, antibiotics, antihistamine and probably anything else that was profitable for them. She did say Frankie gave them a very hard time when they tried to get a pill in him. Can you blame him?

So far this pat week Frankie has cost us $500 and they want to see both him and Floki on Friday for vaccinations. Rose’s sister says that Floki got some of his shots but not all. I don’t know what he is missing but I would very much prefer that both of them NOT get anymore shots.

When I got home from work, Rose said she was worried about Chris because he was very lethargic all day. He stayed in one spot on the cat tree, never coming down to eat, drink or use the litter box. He did come down when I got home and I tried feeding him wet food but he wasn’t interested. I decided it might do him some good to eat grass so I let him outside for awhile.

He went straight for the grass like I knew he would.

20160719_185022 Chris

I think that revived him a bit because he suddenly became adventurous and went around to the other side of the house.

20160719_190239 Chris

By this time he seemed much more perky an ventured into the neighbor’s carport. That is when I picked him up and brought him home.

By the way, I did buy the colloidal silver but things are complicated with all the medications we have. So we will put Floki’s eye medicine on Floki, Frankies’s medication on Frankie, and Caeser will get what is Caeser’s. Wait… I mean Puck will get the silver, and we shall see what happens.

Meet Floki, Our Newest Addition

Meet Floki, Part 2

Another Vet Visit For Frankie

Frankie Update

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Frankie does not seem to have improved much, if any, since his vet visit on Friday morning. He started sneezing blood after that visit and that continues. His eye also doesn’t seem much better. In addition, Puck is now having problems with his right eye. We have been putting Frankie’s drops in Puck’s eye too but if it is a viral infection the antibiotic drops won’t do him any good.

Frankie this morning.

Rose is going to try to get him back to the vet on Wednesday, a day she works from home, instead of his scheduled visit on Friday, if he does not improve by this afternoon. If that happens, she will use the Friday appointment to bring Floki in for the remainder of his shots.

Cats sure can be expensive sometimes.

Another Vet Visit For Frankie

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When we adopted our kitten, Floki, on the fourth of July, he had a slight problem with his eye. Along with the kitten, we received a tube of ointment that we had to put in his eye several times a day. Not exactly a good start in the bonding process.

Meanwhile, Frankie had a sneezing problem. It’s not a new problem. We brought him to the vet in February and the said it was a respiratory infection and gave him the standard steroids and antibiotics that all vets give for all problems (read about it here). Not long after we brought the kitten home we noticed that he would sneeze once in a while. We weren’t sure if he caught the problem from Frankie or if he already had it.

On Wednesday, maybe Thursday morning, we noticed Frankie seemed to have the same problem with his eye as Flokie did, although by then Flokie was almost better. I called vet that Frankie went to for his Urinary Track Infection but they could not get him in until late Monday. Since I was at work, I texted Rose the information and their phone number but did not hear back from her about it.

By Thursday evening, Frankie’s eye was worse and his sneezing attacks were also more frequent so I left a message with his other vet, the one that didn’t cure his sneezing problem, and was able to get him an appointment at 8:40 on Friday morning.

Since I had to go to work, Rose followed me to the vet, which is very close to our house. We got there around 8:30 and they ushered us into an exam room. Once inside I opened Frankie’s carrier but he was hesitant to come out. I think the sound at the end of the video below is the door opening, which is why the video is so short.

Frankie refused to come out for the vet tech so we had to take the top of the carrier off.

She carried him into the back room to get his weight and conduct super-secret experiments on him before bring him back. He quickly settled back into his carrier where, I suppose, he felt most comfortable.

A few minutes later the vet walked in and Frankie immediately hissed at her. I’m not sure why but maybe he remembered her from his last visit, or it could be she did something to him minutes before behind closed doors.

She mentioned something about his eye infection possibly being from herpes or a few other things I don’t remember. I also heard the word “ulcer.” She put some kind of dye in his eye to better see any scratches, which she did find one.

At that point it was 9:00 and I had to leave for work. When I got home it seemed that Rose didn’t have a clear idea what was wrong with him. Some kind of infection, which we already knew. She said he got a shot of antibiotics (shocking) and antibiotic eye drops as well as pain relieving ointment that we have to put in his eye several times a day.

This morning his eye seemed the same and his sneezing was worse because now there was drops of blood everywhere. Of course, I didn’t expect him to get better overnight.

Here is Frankie after 3 p.m. this afternoon.

I just don’t like that our cats get antibiotics, steroids and who knows what else every time they go to the vet. Those antibiotics have got to wreck havoc on their digestive systems. That is probably why Frankie is so susceptible to illness. They solve a problem in the short term but create long term health issues.

Chris is our oldest and fattest cat and has never been to the vet for a health related issue (knock on wood). He has been vaccinated a couple of times because it was mandatory for residence in a couple of places that we moved in to, but he never received an antibiotic, steroid, or anything else for that matter. Hmmm… I wonder why Chris is not sneezing?

I like and respect veterinarians and I think sometimes their services are invaluable, but other times I wonder why I keep going. What do you think? Am I being unfair to vets?

Tigger’s Near-Fatal Binge Eating

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Tigger is no longer with us but his memory will always be here. I was thinking about Tigger today and how we almost lost him due to a new food that was so good but so bad. Let us get into the way-back machine and travel back to Thursday, March 22, 2007. Wait…No! Let’s go back about a week or so before that.

This is Tigger with his buddy Alex taken shortly before the indecent, Feb 24, 2007

Princess, Tigger, Abbey and Flash, Jan 28, 2007

I got a coupon for a free bag of a new cat food called The Good Life Recipe. This was back when I thought Iams was a relatively healthy cat food and that is what our cats were eating. This new food was like giving popcorn to a seagull. They loved it and ate like there was no tomorrow.

Even though I wasn’t as knowledgeable about cat food then as I am now, I knew it was too good to be good for them. I figured I would let them finish the bag. Later I would buy the small bags of it and give them out like kitty treats. It worked and it was way cheaper than real kitty treats.

Now, getting back to the story. Rose and I had met our mortgage broker after work and then had a late dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the way home. We both had our own cars so when we left I followed Rose home. I was delayed in traffic and when I got home I saw Rose’s car in the driveway with the lights on, the engine running and the driver’s door open but there was nobody in sight.

I don’t know what was going through my head at the time but I would imagine it was nothing good. Inside, Rose was frantic. Tigger was having trouble breathing and we needed to get him to a vet right away. Our kids, Chris and Nick, were just about to bring him to the vet but they didn’t know where to go so they called Rose shortly before she got home.

We didn’t know where to go either. This was before we could open our phones and ask Google. Rose drove and I held Tigger on my lap. He was really struggling to get air and I worried we would lose him. Rose was even more worried than I because she kept repeating that he was going to die.

She called her sister, Felice, who knew of an after hours vet in Port Richey but that was too far. We headed that way anyway and I tried calling information to see if I could find one closer. At that time, information had transitioned from a real person to a worthless robot that was no help at all so we made the trip to Port Richey.

They did several tests and found that Tigger had a large blockage in his esophagus so they put a long instrument down his throat and pushed it into his stomach. We will never know for sure what that blockage was, but since he was found at the food bowl, I’m sure he ate that new food so fast that it got caught in his airway. At $500, that was the most expensive free bag of cat food in history.

Nowadays I feed them a much higher quality dry cat food that they like but not enough to binge eat it. I would get rid of it completely if not for Chris’s stubbornness about eating wet food.

So that’s Tigger’s story. I like reminiscing. I think soon I will write about how we came to adopt him and his brother, Flash.

Puck has Fur Again

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As some of my readers know, our Puck has struggled with an over-grooming problem since shortly after we moved into our new home just over a year ago. He licked most of his fur off of his legs and backside.

The first vet we brought him too said he had a flea allergy even though the vet never saw any fleas on Puck and neither did we. Nonetheless, and gave him a steroid and antibiotic along with flea medication. I don’t know what brand it was but I do know we were buying Advantage at Petsmart after that for a ridiculous amount of money.

None of that worked although he did get slightly better for a short time before getting worse again. Off we went to vet number two several months later. He checked the records from the last vet and then did a test for mites. When that came back negative he decided to go the natural route first and put Puck on a special diet to test for food allergies. We tried that for a while but that ended in failure.

I didn’t want to go back to the vet and subject Puck to more useless drugs so I did nothing for a while. Eventually I brought him back to the second vet’s office where Puck was seen by vet number three. This vet was the owner of the clinic.

He examined Puck and saw no fleas but, like the first vet, assumed Puck had a Flea allergy. He gave Puck a Steroid and antibiotic, which all vets love to do, and started him on a flea medication called Activyl. He said Advantage no longer works in Florida even though Petsmart has no problem selling it here.

I hate to admit it but these invisible fleas seem to have been the cause of Puck’s problem because he now has fur again, It hasn’t fully grown back yet but there is a noticeable difference and his skin feels smoother.

Compare these to the one below taken several months ago.

I don’t like that I have to put medication on our cats every months but I am glad Puck is finally doing better.

Emergency Vet Visit.

36 Replies

I suppose I should have noticed it earlier but I didn’t. On Sunday, after returning from a trip to the grocery store, I had all my reusable bags together on the floor. Frankie got on top of them and squatted down like he was going to pee on them. I wasn’t sure if that was his intention but I yelled at him and startled him pretty good. That night he climbed on Rose’s dresser where Rose had some clothes stacked up and Squatted like he was going to pee again. I yelled at him again, wondering what the heck is going on in his mind.

Tuesday evening, after coming home from work, I noticed Frankie get in the litter box, squat to pee, and then get out without peeing. Two minutes later he was in the box again trying to pee. That concerned me and I decided to keep an eye on him. I also decided that after work on Wednesday I would stop at the pet food store to see if I can get a holistic remedy for urinary tract problems.

Wednesday morning I noticed he was still having trouble peeing. I looked up potential causes and one major concern was a urinary blockage. Some of the websites said the blockage could be fatal. Some of the symptoms of that was lethargy and crying while trying to pee. Frankie had neither one of those problems. He was still running around the house chasing Puck and he gave no indication that he was in pain while trying to pee.

The truth is I had a dilemma. I am starting a new job next week and today was my day off from my old company, but I’ve been working on my day off for the new company for the last few weeks. I didn’t want to be late for work before actually starting full time.

I called my wife, who is on a business trip in San Diego, to see what she thought. She said I should bring him to the vet, so I called to see when I could bring Frankie in. This was the same vet that Puck went to for his over grooming problem.

The vet’s office hours start at 9 a.m. but I called at 8:15 just in case someone was there. Someone answered and when I explained the situation she said to bring Frankie in right away because they consider that an emergency. So I quickly finished getting ready, put Frankie in his carrier, and drove up to the vet’s office, which is almost 15 minutes away. Frankie was very good the entire trip. I never heard a peep out of him.

When I arrived they put us in an exam room and then said something about leaving him there. I said “Wait, no one said that I would be dropping him off.” The woman then explained that the doctor has surgery in the morning and doesn’t start looking at patients until 10 o’clock. In addition a condition like Frankie’s almost always requires a long-stay, usually overnight. Part of me wanted to just stay and wait for the doctor because leaving him complicated everything but I took her advice and went home.

Around 9:30, shortly after I got home and was getting ready for work, I got a call from the vet who said Frankie does not have a blockage. That meant I could pick Frankie up, which I promptly did. I just wish I had listened to my gut and stayed at the vet’s office.

The bill was $296. The vet gave Frankie an antibiotic shot (big surprise) and the medication that he said was for anxiety, or something like that. He seemed to think that Frankie’s problem was psychological. I didn’t agree with that because Frankie is not like Puck. He doesn’t get it nervous and stressed like that.

I was in a bit of a hurry so I just paid the bill and left with Frankie. I dropped him off at home, quickly got ready, and left for work.

After work I stopped at the pet food store and asked the woman what she had for urinary tract infection. She said she had just what I needed, a product called PetAlive UTI-free. In fact, she raved about how wonderful it was. The only problem was that it was $40 for a very small bottle, but I figured if it works it would be worth it. I looked it up later and found it for nearly half that price on Amazon. I think sometimes I am better off not knowing.

When I got home I looked at the medication that the vet gave me. It’s called Prazosin. According to Wikipedia it is a sympatholytic drug used to treat high blood pressure and anxiety, PTSD, and panic disorder. That was a surprise because usually the vet prescribes antibiotics and steroids. This time he prescribed antibiotics and whatever the hell this is.

I decided not to give this to Frankie. It’s bad enough he got antibiotics again, he doesn’t need some weird drug for panic disorder. I’m very surprised that this doctor calls himself a holistic vet. I will say, however, Puck is doing a bit better since his last visit so maybe I don’t know everything. Even so, I would rather try to this holistic stuff that I bought first before subjecting Frankie to anti-psychotic drugs for a urinary tract infection.

The bottle of UTI-Free contains many very tiny balls that dissolve in water. I was told to put a pinch in Frankie’s mouth six times in three hours. I suck at forcing stuff in cat’s mouths so I added a pinch of the stuff to a little butter on my finger and let Frankie lick it off, which he gladly did.

I gave him a little more this morning by adding it to his food. So far I have only seen Frankie in the box once this morning, which is good, but I was not in a position to see if he actually peed or not.

What do you think? Any advice on this matter would be appreciated.

P.S. The WordPress editor wants me to replace words like indication, contains and position with simpler words. I don’t want to do that because I think they are simple enough. Please let me know if any of these words give you trouble.

Puck Visits the Vet… Again

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Puck’s last vet visit left us with some hope. We went to a new place called The Animal & Bird Medical Center of Palm Harbor for Puck’s over-grooming problem. The vet put him on a limited ingredient diet and didn’t push the steroids and antibiotics that most vets use to solve all problems that cats have. He did suggest antibiotics as an option but did not push it. He also suggested a Feliway diffuser to help with Puck’s stress, which we bought and plugged in between the Catio and living room.

Unfortunately, after giving the diet and Feliway a good amount of time to work, we saw little improvement. I then tried changing their water and gave them bottled spring water. Puck seemed to improve slightly after that but then got worse again. I hesitated to bring him back to the vet for fear that they would use the nuclear option of steroids and antibiotics but I had to do something so I made an appointment for last Saturday.

My wife went with us this time and just as we were ready to put Puck in his cat carrier, Frankie went inside of it and I couldn’t get him out. I tried reaching in and pushing but that didn’t work. I then picked up the carrier and turned it so the opening was facing the floor but Frankie held on like he was Spidercat. I finally had to shake it to convince him that maybe there were better places to nap.

Puck was good and didn’t cry one time on the way to the vet but when the vet tech needed to get him out of the carrier he decided to apply the lessons he learned from Frankie and made it very difficult for her.

After the vet tech left, Puck just stayed where he was. If that was Chris, he would be exploring the exam room.

We saw Dr. Murphy, the owner of the clinic. Dr. Murphy had a lot of good reviews when I was originally looking for a new vet and I noticed he was trained in traditional and holistic medicine, which is what I was looking for. Puck saw another vet the first time we came but I wasn’t disappointed. He seemed to know what he was doing.

The Doctor ran a flea comb through what was left of Puck’s fur and found no sign of the little buggers but he still suspected fleas might be the culprit. I have not been a fan of putting poison on the cats and even bought a container of Diatomaceous Earth, which is a natural, edible product that kills fleas, to spread around their napping areas. Rose is more concerned about effectiveness and has insisted we treat our cats with Advantage for several months now. That started when Frankie escaped and came home with a flea.

We told the vet we were using Advantage and he said it no longer works in our county because the fleas have become resistant to it. Later he said that it doesn’t work in the entire state of Florida. That was a shock because it is very expensive. It’s $58 for six treatments on Amazon but we were buying it locally at Petsmart and paying around $80 or so, with the two pack being much more per dosage. A lot of money for a product that doesn’t work.

He said Revolution works 90% of the time and it has the added benefit of preventing heartworm. He seemed to think it is very safe for the cat. He also recommended another product that was even better but only controlled fleas. That product was called Activyl.

In the end, Puck ended up getting a shot of Steroids and antibiotics. I think I should find a supply of steroids and antibiotics and start treating cats in the neighborhood for a fee because that is always the solution. Do you think I’d get in trouble? Actually, the vet was very nice and really seemed to care so I need to trust that he knows what he is doing.

We also got a tube o Activyl for each of the cats and the doctor put it on Puck. He said he wanted us to use that for six months and by then we should know if fleas are Puck’s problem. After six months, he recommended we switch to Revolution for the added heartworm protection.

Rose was also convinced she saw tiny black spots on Chris and Frankie’s tails, indicating fleas were there, even though there were no fleas found on any of the cats. Nevertheless, she also had them add a shampoo to our bill which ended up to be about $230.

When we got home, Chris and Frankie were more interested in Puck’s carrier then they were in Puck.

It wasn’t long before they forgot about that because Rose decided to wash their tails and backside. Chris was first and he was miserable to deal with. He spent the entire time growling, hissing and crying while he struggled to get free.

He then went into the living room to groom himself. Frankie was very curious what happened to him but he soon found out. At least Frankie was a little better behaved than Chris.

It wasn’t long before Frankie was in the living room grooming himself too.

I sure hope this works for Puck because I don’t know what else we can do.

Frankie Visits the Vet

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Frankie has been having sneezing attacks for a couple of weeks now and I avoided taking him to the vet because I didn’t think there was much they could do about a cold. After about a week he was sneezing less but a few days ago he started sneezing again. This time there was a lot of Phlegm that went with it. It wasn’t long before we had cat snot all over the house.

Sometime late Friday or early Saturday we noticed a little blood mixed with the mucus on a closet door near where Frankie just sneezed. We decided then that a vet visit was required but Saturday was the only day we could bring him so I called Puck’s latest vet as soon as they opened to see if they could squeeze him in. Unfortunately, they were already overbooked and they closed at noon so I had to try another vet.

I called Puck’s first vet and they were able to squeeze him in that morning. I liked that vet but I prefer vets that only use drugs as a last resort.

Chris was fighting with Frankie most of the morning and we even had to lock Frankie in our bedroom while we went out to bring Rose’s car to the shop. When we got home and let Frankie out, Chris started picking on him again so we decided to leave with Frankie a bit early. Rose was able to go with me to the vet this time and she picked up Frankie and put him in the carrier. When she picked him up, he let out a noise that made me think she was hurting him.

After the short drive to the vet we waited about five minutes in the waiting room. Someone brought in a cat in a bunny cage and that got Frankie’s attention.

They then moved us to an exam room and I opened up Frankie’s door but he was hesitant to come out.

When the vet tech came in to look at him she decided to take the top off the carrier and leave him in it.

She had to remove him to get his weight.

Then it was back into the carrier.

They did have to take him out again to take his temperature, (which was 104.4 instead of the normal 102.5) and then back into the carrier again.

I don’t remember her telling us exactly what was wrong with him but I think it is a respiratory infection. She gave him a steroid and an antibiotic and sent us on our way.

I am starting to see a pattern here. Almost every vet I have been to solves almost every condition with steroids and antibiotics. I’m not sure what the point of going to veterinary school is if all problems are caused by a steroid and/or antibiotic deficiency. After they learn that, what do they do with the rest of their time?

The Failure of Puck’s Special Diet

12 Replies

Puck has had a problem with his skin since not long after we moved to our new home at the end of May. The first vet said he was having a reaction to flea bites, even though she could see no fleas and gave him a flea treatment as well as steroids and antibiotics.

That didn’t work and I didn’t want to subject him to more drugs so I put off doing anything for a while and finally brought him to another vet who said he thought it was a combination of nervousness and an allergy, possibly a food allergy. The only way to know was to put him on a 90 day limited ingredient diet that did not contain the proteins that he was already eating, such as chicken, beef and salmon.

I bought a Feliway diffuser to help with the stress and changed his food. The vet wanted me to give the diet 90 days to work because it could take that long for the old proteins to leave his system but after about five weeks Puck was making no progress and actually seemed like he might be getting worse.

20160110_Cats_532

I decided to abandon the diet early and try something else. Of course, I didn’t know what to try and thought very hard about what could be different about our new home. The only thing I could think of was the water.

We had bottled water in our other house and I gave the cats spring water in two of their three water bowls. The third was a larger bowl in the back room that was mostly in case something unforeseen kept us from coming home for a night or two. When we moved, I decided to not keep the water delivery service and instead I would buy a Big Berkey Water Filter. They are close to $300 with the Fluoride filter, which we couldn’t afford at the time since the cost of moving was so great.

Since then, something was always more important to spend our money on, so I am still buying water by the gallon at the supermarket. Since that is such a hassle, I have been filling the cat bowls with tap water. I know, that sounds selfish to be drinking spring water while the cats have tap water but most of it gets dumped out every morning and I always thought it was temporary. So a week or so ago I started filing their bowls with spring water.

Another thing I wanted to try was to eliminate cleaning chemicals, at least for a while, after learning that some cats are allergic to them. I tried this before and even have a spray bottle filled with vinegar and water under the sink but Rose is one of those people who thinks the smell of chemicals is a sign that the house is clean.

To my surprise, she was willing to go along with the chemical free cleaning so last week I cleaned the floors with vinegar and water. When she came home she immediately commented on how the floors didn’t feel right. They felt like floors to me. I don’t know what she was talking about but the next day she re-moped the floors with a nice, comforting, harsh chemical. So much for that idea.

It has been over a week that the cats are off the tap water and I sometimes look at Puck and think he is looking better and sometimes I’m not sure. I guess I will know in a few weeks. Wish us luck.

New Vet, New Hope

22 Replies

Puck’s grooming problems have not gotten any better since his vet visit visit a few months ago. I hesitated bringing him back to the vet because I did not want to subject him to more drugs that would not help the problem.

I did some research and even though holistic vets are rare in this area, I did find a veterinary practice that understands natural medicine. It is called the Animal and Bird Medical Center in Palm Harbor, Florida. They were pretty highly rated and my only concern was comments about how expensive they are but I figured that a little extra money would be worth it if I could find the root of Puck’ problem.

I made an appointment for 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. As usual, I put the carrier out early so the cats would get used to it being there. Of course, everyone has to smell it or get inside of it first. When it was almost time to go Puck knew something was up and got nervous. He led me on a big chase around the house. Fortunately I closed our bedroom door so he couldn’t hide under the bed. That would have been a nightmare. As it was I had a hard time catching him.

The car ride was not bad. Puck did not cry or make any attempt to get out of his carrier. He just quietly accepted his circumstance.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

We got to the vet about 20 minutes early and I started filling out the paperwork right away. Before I was finished, Puck’s name was called and we were ushered into a nearby examination room. A couple of vet techs were there and they helped get Puck out of his carrier. It was a much quicker start then our last vet visit where we waited a long time for someone to show up. They weighed Puck and did whatever else vet techs do. They then left saying the doctor would be in soon.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

We waited about 5 minutes or so before the vet came in. While we were waiting, Puck didn’t know what to do with himself.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

He eventually settled in under a chair.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

I thought it would be better if he wasn’t under the chair when the doctor came in so I picked him up and put him on my lap.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

When the vet came in, he asked some questions and then examined Puck. He also looked at the records from the last vet. He said that he thinks that there is a few things going on. It, could, in part, be a psychological problem, he told me, but he also had said there is a physical aspect to the problem as well.

Puck has small bumps on his body that is some kind of skin condition and I don’t remember what the vet called it. He did indicate it is probably an allergic reaction to something. He also said it could be the result of mites and wanted to eliminate that possibility so he suggested doing a test for mites.

Looking over the previous vet records, he notice they gave Puck steroids and antibiotics. He said steroids can be effective but they are like using a nuclear bomb when all you need is a gun. He also said the effects do not last very long so he was not a big fan of recommending steroids for Puck. He did, however, suggest that antibiotics might help him. His main concern was finding the source of Puck’s allergy. He suggested a limited ingredient diet that consisted of limited proteins. In other words, a cat food that not only has limited ingredients but also has protein from only one animal that is not likely to be in his current food, such as rabbit or bison. He also suggested getting a Feliway plugin to help with the psychological end of this problem.

He left for a while to work up his recommendations. Puck just stayed on the exam table. I picked him up to put him on my lap but Puck decided he would feel better behind my back where it was safe.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

When the vet returned with his recommendations I agreed that he should do the test for mites but I said I would prefer to wait on the antibiotics to see if we can find the problem naturally. He left and came back a short time later with one of the techs and scraped a few of the bumps from Puck’s skin.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

When he returned he said that there were no sign of mites. That was good news and bad news because if there were mites at least we would know how to treat the problem.

When I went up front to pay, I was pleasantly surprised to find the bill was less than $85, about half of the last vet. That is because drugs are expensive and solving problems without drugs is usually healthier in the long term and cheaper too. The expensive part is the special food I have to buy. The vet had it for $64 for an eight pound bag of rabbit food and about $2.50 a can for the wet food. The wet food was actually reasonably priced but I needed to find a cheaper source for the dry food because I needed to feed three cats for three months. Feeding Puck one food and Chris and Frankie another is just too difficult.

The ride home was better for Puck. He seemed less nervous and even seemed interested in looking around.

Our cat Puck's vet visit

When we got home Puck was the center of attention for a little while.

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But ultimately it was his carrier that got the most attention.

IMG_20151212_120720 chris and frankie

All in all, I am happy with this vet and would go back again. We were there for a long time, perhaps an hour and a half, but I never felt ignored. The vet and techs spent more time then usual (at least more time than I am used to) with us and most of the rest of the time was spent waiting for recommendations or test results.

What do you think? I’d like to hear about your vet.

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