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Compensation culture causing animals to suffer?
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[Deleted User]
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5 years ago I took my cat to the vet who diagnosed cystitis from an examination and a description of the cat's behaviour.
A course of antibiotics was prescribed and administered and the cat was fine in no time.
Last week I took him to the vet with the same thing, only this time I am told to change his food and take a urine sample. Taking a urine sample involved cleaning out the tray he never uses (because he likes to go through the cat flap) and putting in some non-absorbant litter, keeping the cat indoors (he hates to be locked in) until he performed and then pipetting the wee into a tube.
After all this, I took the sample to the vet, informed them the cat had done a stool and was told the sample would be no good, so I'd have to do it again.
I think that watering his food down has improved matters for him as I've had no more week in the bath (which is a symptom) but I am thoroughly annoyed that I've had to go through all that, I'm still not sure he's fine and he's probably suffered more than he needs to.
When I had the same problem last year (!!) I went to my GP and was asked to provide a sample but was prescribed antibiotics at the same time to alleviate the problem whilst waiting for the test results.
This also how my cat was treated in 2004, but I wasn't asked for the urine sample.
I voiced my disapproval in reception this morning when I was told by the receptionist and this afternoon the vet called me. He said "things have moved on". Well if they have, they haven't moved on for the better, an animal who cannot speak and tell us how much discomfort he is in cannot have treatment until a rather tricky sample is obtained and deemed fit for examination. In the mean time he may well be suffering. When once his treatment was as good as that on the NHS, now it is not, yet the vet it trying to make out it has somehow improved!
I was cross and I told him so. It's bad enough how the compensation culture has stripped a lot of quality of life away from us in the form of denying us freedom of choice or the opportunity to use our brains and make up our own minds about anything, but when animals who rely on us are suffering and can't tell us about it, then it's fundamentally and morally wrong, wrong WRONG!!! :mad:
A course of antibiotics was prescribed and administered and the cat was fine in no time.
Last week I took him to the vet with the same thing, only this time I am told to change his food and take a urine sample. Taking a urine sample involved cleaning out the tray he never uses (because he likes to go through the cat flap) and putting in some non-absorbant litter, keeping the cat indoors (he hates to be locked in) until he performed and then pipetting the wee into a tube.
After all this, I took the sample to the vet, informed them the cat had done a stool and was told the sample would be no good, so I'd have to do it again.
I think that watering his food down has improved matters for him as I've had no more week in the bath (which is a symptom) but I am thoroughly annoyed that I've had to go through all that, I'm still not sure he's fine and he's probably suffered more than he needs to.
When I had the same problem last year (!!) I went to my GP and was asked to provide a sample but was prescribed antibiotics at the same time to alleviate the problem whilst waiting for the test results.
This also how my cat was treated in 2004, but I wasn't asked for the urine sample.
I voiced my disapproval in reception this morning when I was told by the receptionist and this afternoon the vet called me. He said "things have moved on". Well if they have, they haven't moved on for the better, an animal who cannot speak and tell us how much discomfort he is in cannot have treatment until a rather tricky sample is obtained and deemed fit for examination. In the mean time he may well be suffering. When once his treatment was as good as that on the NHS, now it is not, yet the vet it trying to make out it has somehow improved!
I was cross and I told him so. It's bad enough how the compensation culture has stripped a lot of quality of life away from us in the form of denying us freedom of choice or the opportunity to use our brains and make up our own minds about anything, but when animals who rely on us are suffering and can't tell us about it, then it's fundamentally and morally wrong, wrong WRONG!!! :mad:
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Comments
I'm not sure why you are cross with your vet. Is it because he didn't prescribe antibiotics immediately? It is not good for animals (or people for that matter) to take antibiotics unnecessarily ~ this is how resistance to antibiotics builds up plus antibiotics themselves can make animals feel unwell.
If your cat has recurrent bouts of cystitis, you & your vet need to know what is causing this ~ it is not simply a case of treating the symptoms every time ~ you need to get to the root cause. Many cats get idiopathic cystitis (no known cause) & if this is the case with your cat, then the cause could well have behavioural root, in which case you would need to be referred to a qualified feline behaviourist for help in sorting this out.
I suggest that you have a chat with your vet & explain your concerns calmly & don't allow him to fob you off with "things have moved on". That is not an acceptable explanation & he should credit you with the intelligence to understand what he is doing & why.
Good luck ~ I hope your cat feels better soon.