A good vet is worth every penny

A big part of having pets is making sure their medical needs are taken care of, which means finding a good vet. Unfortunately this can be hard to do, there are a lot of areas underserved by veterinary medicine, and a lot of bad, lazy, and mediocre vets in the world.

But there are also a lot of good vets out there, and with multiple cats who have multiple chronic health issues, I’ve spent a lot of time and money at vet clinics in the past six years. Trixie’s Story tells a lot of the tale of the vet challenges we’ve had over the past years, and Finn and Pixie have had a few of their own as well.

When it comes to having a good vet, I’ve found the following are most important:

• Willingness to listen: yes, they have the training and knowledge to identify and treat illness. But if they’re not willing to listen to the pet owners and take in information about the pet’s symptoms, response to treatment, and ability to be treated, that training is at best not helpful and at worst actively dangerous. (See again Trixie’s Story, and the vet who massively overdosed her medication then ignored my follow-up that she was having serious side effects.)
• Accessibility: a good vet is great, unless you can’t ever get in to see them or get a call back for questions and potentially serious issues. For a short while we saw a “cat specialist” vet, and while the kitties were thrilled with the calm, quiet, dog-free atmosphere, I was definitely not thrilled when they (mis)diagnosed Finn with a potentially contagious ailment then never responded to my follow-up query asking if I needed to separate him from the girls or have them tested for the same ailment. Our current vet designed their clinic with responsiveness in mind: they have enough staff to make sure every area (front desk, vet techs, and vets) has good coverage, they hold same-day appointments open so that minor issues can be seen quickly before they become major, and they accept follow-up questions via email so non-urgent questions can be answered or directed to an appointment as appropriate.
• Access to specialists and/or current research: in a previous life, we saw a vet who considered it perfectly normal for a cat to itch so badly she pulled fur out. There are still vets in practice who think it is normal for cats to throw up frequently (spoiler alert: it’s not.) Being up to date on research means they can identify those odd symptoms and know about new treatment options. Access to specialists means a better diagnostic process for serious issues. Our current vet consults with various specialists in our region, and also has some specialists come in-house to see their patients on a regular basis.
• Geographic accessibility: many cats don’t like car travel, so the shorter the trip the better. We’ve driven almost an hour to see specialists in the past, and by the time we got there and home Trixie and I were both at the end if our tolerance, her for the travel and me for her screaming. Our most recent and current vets are about 10 minutes away and it makes the whole process a lot less unpleasant. Some vets eliminate this entire issue by providing in-home vet exams, so no traveling is required at all!

There is a wide variety in the availability of veterinary care, and finding the vet most suited for your cat can take some research and trial, and the willingness to advocate for your pet (and fire vets if needed.) Their long term health is worth the effort, though, especially when dealing with complex health issues.

A whole other related issue is the cost of veterinary care, and the feasibility of pet insurance to cover some cost. That is a whole separate article worth of information, and a lot has been written elsewhere already. But for my cats, I signed them up for pet insurance when I adopted them, and that insurance has covered thousands of dollars worth of treatment over the past five years, more than I ever could have saved in advance at some points, and more than I will ever pay in premiums.

All of this has come up again because Pixie was very sick last week and we were able to get in and see our vet very quickly to get her on new medication and start working on a new treatment plan. And today Finn had to make a brief visit to the vet clinic for a “delicate issue” which required medical expertise and three people to resolve.

Finn was happy to come out of the carrier and explore while we waited for the vet to join us, but he was shocked when he found out we were going to do WHAT to him!!

Also, shout out to Travel Cat for making a really fantastic carrier that is sturdy, cozy, maneuverable, and highly secure with clip latches on all the zippers. The kitties like to hang out in the carriers at home because they’re a nice safe place to burrow.