I am not asking for medical advice, or a diagnosis. My cat will be seeing her vet this afternoon.
But I need to know, is blood in a cat’s urine considered an emergency or at least, an urgent situation?
This morning, at I discovered that my 14-year old female cat, Chelsea, had urinated on my bed. The entire stain was pinkish, with a couple of fair-sized reddish brown spots in the center of the stain.
Chelsea was treated for a UTI a few years ago. She would urinate outside the litter box, but there was never any blood involved.
I called the vet’s office, horrified, and explained the situation to the young lady who answered the phone. She tried to give me a Monday appointment, almost three full days from now. When I expressed shock and disbelief (an understatement), she explained that the office was short two veterinarians this weekend. (It’s a four person practice.) I told her that regardless, I did not consider this a situation that could wait until Monday. So she had me hold while she consulted a doctor. The result of that conversation is that I could bring my kitty in as a walk-in this afternoon.
Perhaps this was more of an IMHO type question. At any rate, I was asking because I didn’t think that the woman on the phone did an accurate job of assessing the seriousness of the problem, and I was troubled by that. I would hope that anyone answering the phone in a vet’s office would either know what constitutes a serious health problem, or, if unsure, would ask a veterinarian or experienced vet’s assistant before suggesting an appointment some time in the future.
As it turns out, my kitty has a rather serious bladder infection. She’s on a course of antibiotics, and will likely be fine. But, though I didn’t ask the rather busy vet, I can’t help but think a three night wait could have been dangerous.
Don’t have an answer, but a similar story.
A few years ago, we left our dogs with a friend while we where gone for a few days. By nine o’clock the next morning one of them had vomited 6 times and had bloody diarrhea. The sitter called our vet and the person who answered the phone said she could get the dog in around 4:00 that afternoon. Our friend decided that wasn’t soon enough and took the dog to the Vet ER.
We switched vets partially becuase of that. When my dog throws up all night and then starts in with bloody diarrhea, I want them in NOW, not 7 hours (or three days) later. I’m sure vets (and doctors) get this all the time, but if you feel it’s something that can wait a few hours (or days) the receptionist needs to convey/rationalize that feeling, not just tell me that they can see the dog later.