Tell me about the vet's

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, a stray cat has adopted me. I let it stay in my house since it was previously owned, totally deaf, 15 or so years old, and disfiguringly malnourished until I started feeding it.

However, she has an open sore on the top of her body a couple inches from her neck, which hasn’t gone away in 2 weeks.

I thought it may have been from a fight, but it isn’t even that since even when I don’t let her out it doesnt start to get better.

Thing is, as someone who never consciously chose to get a pet, I don’t know the first thing about vets.

What should I expect?

– What sort of medical history will they want? I don’t have a medical history for the cat, obviously.
– Similarly, will they be loathe to look at the cat, for fear of communicating a disease to other cats? Or won’t that happen unless the cats are in close contact with each other?
– Around how much will they charge for an initial visit (I am going to shop around but any additional information will be welcome.)
– Similary, if it’s a non-cancerous tumor exposed to the surface they have to take out, how much would that run me (I wouldnt have money on my mind so much except I’m currently unemployed.)
– Will they not like a cat with overly-long claws? I don’t want to have her claws trimmed, as that would impact her outside defenses (I let her out when she wants, as I do not want to restrict her liberty and she is too slow to catch anything. Heck, a bat was flying around the house the other week and she looked at it for a minute then went back to licking herself.)

2

No idea on the costs. It varies by place and what you have done. They may be able to give you an idea on costs if you call them. It’s a good idea to have a recent stray checked out anyway and given wormer/vaccinations.

When I adopted a stray, I took her in for a check up. They asked about medical/vaccination history and I just told them she was a recently adopted stray. They were fine with that, though they did want a fecal sample to test for worms. They did ask that I keep her in a carrier when I brought her into the waiting room, but I don’t know if that’s because she could be contagious or if it was their policy for all cats. They didn’t mind the claws. They’re pretty used to claws. They were more worried about whether she was easy to handle (which she was).

Just tell them the situation when you make the call to set up an appointment. People adopt strays, so they should be used to it.

3

They’ll want whatever medical history you happen to know about the animal, but nobody’s going to jump down your throat for not knowing all the details about a cat you picked up off the street two weeks ago. They will, however, expect you to know how kitty’s been eating and drinking since you’ve had her, how she seems to be feeling, if she’s been vomiting or having diarrhea, that sort of thing.

They won’t be loathe to look at your cat. Seeing sick animals is sort of why we’re there, after all. Since you don’t know about her vaccination status and whether or not she’s positive for FeLV or FIV, though, they might put you in their isolation exam room. Probably not, since those are transmitted through body fluids, but some clinics will do that just to be on the safe side. It would be more likely that they’d want her in the isolation room if she were snotting and sneezing, since upper respiratory infections can spread through the air.

As for costs, that’s really going to depend on where you are. All they can really quote you over the phone is the exam fee and standard stuff like vaccinations, because they can’t know what they’ll need to do until they see what it is they’re dealing with. One thing I’ll warn you about, though–what sounds like a cheap deal can actually wind up costing you money if there are lots of little extra charges here and there. Banfield, in particular, has fairly reasonable prices for a lot of their services, until you get all the add-ons totted up. A little restraint charge here, a waste disposal fee there, and all of a sudden it costs more to go there than to have the same stuff done at the emergency clinic. And don’t dismiss places that include the exam fee in with the vaccines. Twenty bucks for a vaccine sounds like a much worse deal than $8, until you figure in the additional office visit fee. Make sure you do your math. Generally, though, the cheapest place to get vaccines is the shelter. As a general thing, though, they don’t do health checks and stuff. Still, it’s worth looking into.

At any rate, most places will do the exam, then give you their recommendations and estimates based on those recommendations. If they don’t give you an estimate automatically, don’t be afraid to ask for one. I’ve never seen a clinic yet that won’t gladly oblige. And no, they’re not going to think you’re a horrible person for being concerned about money. We tend to be a pretty pragmatic lot about the financial side of vet care. We have to be, because if we ignored the bottom line to help all the cuddly critters, we’d be out of business and not be able to help any of them.

Claws don’t phase us a bit. Like Maddy says, we’re used to claws. If they truly are overly long, though, they need to be trimmed. It won’t hinder her defenses to get the tips knocked off, and it will keep her from hurting herself. Cats can lay themselves open with their own claws scratching, sometimes, and excessively long toesies can get caught in carpets, bedding, furniture, etc. and get kitty hung up. A nail trim wouldn’t be a bad idea at all for her.

Good luck with your new kitty!

4

**CrazyCatLady ** - how do vets generally regard clients who get their critters vaccinated at the pet shop’s “every other Saturday afternoon” vaccine clinics?

Noble humans that are just trying to save money on a commodity service? Or skinflints that risk their pet’s health with cut-rate services?

And, as long as one’s pet isn’t puking, snotting, sneezing, bleeding, scratching, etc., is apparently happy and appropriately active and has no chronic conditions, how important are annual checkups? In other words, why should I spend $135 for a checkup which seems to include little more than checking weight, looking at the ears and teeth plus $35 for a 6-in-one booster when I can get the shot for $20 at the clinic and save $150? I could understand the need if blood tests were part of the deal, but the only time I recall blood being drawn was for a worm test.

5

Ludovic, you are a nice person :slight_smile:

6

Since you’re a pet novice, I’d recommend you ask co-workers for vet recommendations. There can be a big difference in vets and the amount they charge. Then call around.

You’re a good person for taking in this unfortunate cat.

StG

7

Are we talking about a vaccine clinic done by a vet, or are we talking about a store employee administering shots from the farm store? In the former case, they’ll tell you to go for it. That’s how my girls get their vaccines, at the shelter. In the latter case, they’ll tell you’re likely chucking your $20 down a rathole. Store vaccines aren’t always shipped and stored properly, and the relevant proteins denature and become useless in those cases. So it’s a tossup at best whether you’re actually vaccinating your pet or injecting colored saline. Because of that, the vets I’ve worked for consider owner-administered vaccines to be equivalent to no vaccines in terms of medical history. It’s not something we generally get pissy about, because most people just honestly don’t know that there’s the least bit of difference. So we just explain to them why self-vaccinating isn’t a good idea so they can do better in the future. Unfortunately, I usually wind up having this conversation right after I’ve had to tell someone their puppy has parvo.

As far as checkups go, you should get them done at least every other year. When I was in primary care practice, we caught a lot of things the owners just hadn’t noticed because they’d changed so gradually. Weight loss and masses were usually the two biggies, though we caught a lot of early-stage heart problems during checkups. If your vet is only doing weight, ears, and mouth for an annual exam, you need a new vet. An exam should include feeling the animal over for masses or deformations, looking for gross abnormalities in the eyes, checking the mouth for dental disease and masses, checking the ears, rooting through the hair coat and looking at the skin, auscultating the heart and lungs, and palpating the abdomen. That’s at a bare minimum. If there are any owner concerns or anything seems abnormal, a more detailed exam should be done on that system. If you’re not getting that from your vet, find a new one.

Also, if you have a dog you have to go in at least every other year to get a heartworm test so they can continue to dispense your preventative.

8

My mom’s vet tried to tell her she had to get our dogs tested for heartworm every six months even though they’ve been on preventative continuously for years. She raised a big enough stink they agreed to waive the tests for now. I could see doing it every couple of years, but not twice a year. Especially at about twenty-five bucks a pop per dog.

They’re otherwise very good, though. And yes, they have to make a living, but the testing too often just seemed to be a way to soak her for more money.

9

Guess we’re doing OK then. The vaccine clinics around here are done by a traveling band of vet techs, rather than store staff.

As for getting touchy-feely, that seems to be an ongoing process, especially at bath time (Is that bump on her side getting any bigger? Is that new bump a skin tag or a tick?) and the occasional game of “lion tamer” - she hates it but we have to look at the teeth one way or another. And, I’d like to think when she’s getting her teeth cleaned at the groomer’s, they’re paying at least a tiny bit of attention.

Frankly, I think the dog gets more medical attention than I do.