The Cat Clinic

Full service feline only veterinary hospital

Preventative Care for Cats

How to Choose your Veterinarian?

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Veterinarian
Veterinarian examining a cat

I was going to title this blog “Why are you mad at your veterinarian?”

Sometimes as a veterinarian during my examination of a cat, I start to give some options for dealing with some of the everyday problems that the cat parent has brought to my attention for instance, occasional vomiting, bad breath, itchy skin, etc. Every once in a while, a cat parent becomes quite agitated with my suggestions. Their face clenches, their words get clipped, the voice is raised and I am not sure why. Why are they mad at me? Maybe they feel I am suggesting that they do the impossible. Maybe they feel they can’t afford some of the recommendations. Maybe they feel that the problem isn’t actually a problem. I really don’t know because the conversation becomes almost impossible to navigate because of the agitation level.

I always feel terrible when this does happen because I feel that I felt short of doing my job which is to be a health advocate for the little cat that is my patient. And I think if everyone who is interested in the best care for their pets would pick the right veterinarian for them, we could avoid this unpleasantness altogether.

Choosing your veterinarian

Now I believe that all veterinarians are kind hearted people who were called to this profession because of their love and commitment to animals. Believe me. No one chose this job because they were in it for the money, hours, lack of stress, emotional or physical comfort, etc. We work long hard hours to make sure your pet is well cared for while we miss dinner with the family every night. We drive our old cars so we can pay our student loans. We cry after we euthanize your pet.

So beyond making sure that your veterinarian is a qualified, up to date, skilled practitioner of veterinary medicine, make sure you like this person. You should feel able to ask questions of this person, learn from this person and communicate easily with this person. Most pet parents eventually have an emotional and difficult conversation with their pet’s veterinarian. So make sure before that happens that the discussions about at home dental care, flea control and diets aren’t difficult. Everyone communicates differently and has different personalities. That’s why there is more than one veterinarian. Make sure you pick the best one for you!

Check out some of the testimonials from clients of the Cat Clinic of Plymouth.

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Breakdown of a visit to the Animal Hospital

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Veterinarian performs an exam on a cat at the animal hospital
Veterinarian performs an exam on a cat at the animal hospital

Entering the Animal Hospital

Ever wonder what all the people racing around your animal hospital are doing? What is the veterinarian looking for in my cat’s mouth? I can remember going to the animal hospital visit when I was small and trying to make sense of everything that was going on in this tiny office full of barking dogs and crying cats. Luckily, we have no barking dogs at the Cat Clinic of Plymouth so things are less hectic feeling.

Well, the first person that you meet might seem to have the most obvious job. The veterinary receptionist will great you and let the rest of the staff know you arrived. They confirm you and your cats information and find out any other information that the rest of the staff might need to know before the appointment begins including new medical history, medical concerns or how your cat seems today. That receptionist takes care of this while also answering sometimes complex veterinary questions via telephone, email and social media. They stay very busy!

Preparing for the Veterinary Exam

Once the receptionist informs the veterinary technician or their assistant, the veterinary technician will again familiarize themselves with your pet and prepare the room to make sure that it is clean and comfy. One in the exam room, the veterinary technician will take a history of basic husbandry questions plus changes in medical history since the last appointment as well as any new medical or behavioral concerns for the veterinarian. We will usually open the carrier and allow your cat to comfortably patrol the exam room of the animal hospital and get comfortable with the new space. Sometimes with a more nervous patient that gets defensive if over stimulated, we will allow them to relax in their own space within their carrier. (See How to get your cat to LOVE its carrier). Eventually, we will ask the patient to step out of their cat carrier. We avoid pulling or dumping them from their carrier if at all possible. If there is a top door or if the top half of the cat carrier can be removed we will use that option sometimes performing the entire exam in the safety of the bottom of the carrier if at all possible. If appropriate the veterinary technician will collect a basic health assessment including heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and blood pressure.

At that point, the veterinary technician confers with the veterinarian allowing the veterinarian to reexamine the cat’s chart in light of any new information that the veterinary technician has discovered during the conversation with you or assessing your cat including prior examinations or treatment plans, prior blood results or radiographs or the new medical history that was provided.

The Preventative Care Exam

The veterinarian then enters the room and hopefully after some pleasantries with you and your feline fur baby, the exam begins. Every veterinarian has their own systematic approach to the exam so that no body system goes unexamined. My exam begins when the patient is exploring the exam room. I watch how they are getting around. Do they get around comfortably? Are there any signs of pain or lameness? I also take note of their attitude and body language. Sometimes I will spend some time on the floor with them before moving them to the exam table.

After some chin scratches and some treats for the patient if appropriate, I usually start with the cat’s head. At this point, I am looking for obvious abnormalities like dirty ears, cloudy eyes, oral disease and enlarged lymph nodes that may require further investigation. Continuing down the body, I stop to check the neck and chest again for enlargements especially of lymph nodes or thyroid glands all the while trying to get more specific information about the issues that were brought to the veterinary technician’s attention.  With my stethoscope safely plugged into my ears, I then listen for heart sounds. This is usually when my client wants to start a story. So between the cats growling, purring, breathing and the client talking, I listen to the heart for specific heart sounds, beat abnormalities and heart rate. I then turn my attention to the breath sounds of the cat, they should be relatively quiet and at a normal rate.

Once the stethoscope is off I palpate the abdomen of the cat looking for a normal sized liver, spleen and bladder. Once these are identified, I concentrate on the intestines feeling for masses, thickenings, amount and consistency of stool in the colon.  Finally, I run my hands over the entire body of the cat looking for lumps and bumps and health of the skin and coat.  At this point, I will investigate more intensely any areas of concern found on initial veterinary exam. This may include looking at the ear canal with an otoscope or looking at the eyes with a ophthalmoscope.

Preventative Care Plan

Hopefully there are no abnormalities and we can administer preventative vaccinations or draw blood for preventative lab work. If there is an abnormality after discussing with the client, the veterinarian and veterinary technician come up with a diagnostic or treatment plan that the technician can then explain to the owner. If everyone is in agreement, we proceed with the plan. The technicians and veterinarians work together to set up what is needed so that when the patient is ready, we efficiently work through the punch list attempting to decrease stress to the client and the cat.

Veterinary Medical Record Documentation

Once the appointment is concluded, the veterinary technician and veterinarian make sure that all of the exam findings and discussions are noted within the medical record as well as all of the treatments or diagnostics that have been suggested. The clients are walked back to the receptionist to make their next appointment and receive any necessary documents.

So while what I have described here is the protocol of the Cat Clinic of Plymouth and other animal hospitals may have slightly different takes, the basic idea is fairly universal. As always I encourage my clients to ask questions and raise concerns at any point of this process. We are here to be a health advocate for your special fur baby. As their health care proxy, you must be just as comfortable with your experience at the veterinary hospital.

To schedule an appointment for your cat, Contact Us

 

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Hairballs

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Cat Veterinarian, Dr Kelley, Cat Clinic Plymouth, MA
Preventative Care Exam for cats

Hairballs, Hacks, Gags and Gas: Learn why you should schedule your cat’s annual preventative exam today!

When you’re a cat owner, you know all the benefits of living with a furry friend in your home.  Kisses, head butts and loud purrs. Did you expect hairballs on the carpet? Partially digested garbage strewn all over the floor?

Did you expect you cat to belong to the “Speed Eaters Anonymous Club,” where they eat so fast it comes right back up?

Like many cat owners, you may assume these digestive ailments just happen. You may assume they’re normal and chalk them up to coming with the territory of living with a pet. Perhaps they’ve become regular occurrences that you simply handle with mild frustration. Overall, no worries, you say!

The important thing to know is that many seemingly “normal” digestive problems are best to be checked out by a veterinarian. We know there’s a lot of information on the Internet you can read, but nothing replaces a face (yours) to face (ours) to face (your cat) visit with your veterinarian.

When you schedule your pet’s yearly preventative care exam, your veterinarian can discuss and answer all of your questions. During the veterinary exam, your veterinarian will perform a “hands-on” inspection of your cat’s abdomen by feeling each of the organs and evaluation the shape, size and position. They will listen through a stethoscope for any abnormal gut sounds. They may want to take a look at your pet’s poop to check for parasites and harmful bacteria. It’s all about digestion and it’s how to keep your cat healthy!

Schedule your cat’s annual preventative care exam today! Determine what’s normal and what’s not when it comes to your cat’s digestive tract.

Just think, after your visit, you may never have to clean up a hairball ever again.

Why Does My Indoor Cat Need a Rabies Vaccine?

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Indoor Cat Vaccinated for Rabies
Indoor Cat Vaccinated for Rabies

What is rabies?

The state of Massachusetts requires that all cats are vaccinated against the rabies virus by a licensed veterinarian. Rabies is a virus of the central nervous system and is almost always fatal. It is spread through the saliva of the infected animal. All animals are susceptible to catching rabies usually through bite wounds although it is usually carnivorous animals test positive for rabies. Smaller rodents usually do not test positive most likely because they don’t live through the initial skirmish with the rabid animal. Bats are also known to carry rabies and are the highest cause of human rabies in the U.S.

Indoor Cats and Rabies

So if a cat never leaves the house, why does the state of Massachusetts require the vaccine? There are several reasons but here is the most frightening.  Imaging waking up and finding a dead bat with YOUR unvaccinated cat hovering over it. Did my cat kill that bat? Did the bat die from rabies? Did the bat bite my cat? Did the bat bite me?!?!? These are frantic calls that the Cat Clinic of Plymouth and I am sure many other animal hospitals all too frequently.

Usually, home owners are completely unaware that bats are getting into their home until one dies. This becomes a terrible dilemma as the recommendations from not only the state of Massachusetts but also the Center for Disease Control  are to euthanize any unvaccinated animal that has come in contact with either an animal testing positive for rabies or any known carrier unavailable for testing.  They’re asking you to euthanize your beloved feline fur baby. Why would anyone take that chance?

After Exposure

And if you decline to euthanize your cat and your cat becomes exposed, you are required to quarantine them from the rest of the household for 45 days! This is to protect you and the rest of your family from being exposed to rabies, a disease that kills 99.9% of its victims!

So I guess I understand why the state requires veterinarians to vaccinate ALL cats regardless of how they are housed. For a relatively inexpensive, safe and easy assurance against a deadly disease – and doesn’t sound like a fun death, I make sure all my pets are vaccinated against rabies.

Pleasant veterinary visits

Check out the blog on stress free veterinary visits.

NEXT – how safe are rabies vaccines?