The Cat has Chlamydia Or at least that's what the new vet, as recommended by the maintenance guy here, seems to think has caused his current bout of conjunctivitis. Beta and I checked out the new vet this morning, and I liked him the way I haven't liked a vet since I was on Long Island. He was competent, and very cost conscious, and answered questions. He was talked about preventive medicine, and we discussed some naturopathic methods for dealing with the cats if it turns out we have something viral that's going around the cat's eyes, which he says often work better than what he could prescribe. We talked about the kittens, and when they should be spayed/neutered. He wants to screen the cats for Bartonella (the bacteria that causes cat scratch fever) first, and treat them, so I'll run them over for the blood draw soon-though he says "Oh, there's no charge for the office visit, I just take the blood, and have you ship it to the lab, because if you send it to the lab directly, it'll cost about 30butifIsendit,mylabsendsitottoanotherlab,andchargesmeanother30 but if I send it, my lab sends it ot to another lab, and charges me another 30butifIsendit,mylabsendsitottoanotherlab,andchargesmeanother75." Um, wow. That's really nice of him. Beta should be fine in about ten days.Tags:cats
I was amazed at how little the visit cost; $68 including the office visit, and two medications-one injection of an anti-inflammatory, and the topical ointment for the next seven or so days. I realize that some of this is just that there are things that are cheaper in Florida than in NJ, but wow, our NJ vet charged almost that much for an office visit, before the vaccinations.I suspect this guy would advise me it's not worth it to vaccinate for things like FELV for cats who never leave the house. Our vet in NJ was pushing that vaccine. I think this vet really took into account what our needs are, and didn't try and make me drag the cat back for another visit if he's not getting better, but told me what to do and how. And what complications to look for. When I was a kid, our vet had been a farm vet, until almost all the farms were gone. He was the kind of guy who looked at the dog and said "Give her some glucosamine along with her food" way before that was a common treatment. Before all the flea treatments like Frontline were around, he had us giving the animals brewer's yeast and garlic, to reduce our flea issues. I want someone who is going to look for those kinds of treatments and solutions as well as more medicalized ones. It made me feel really good about taking the cats to him.
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And you may ask yourself-Well...How did I get here?
She's moving out in all directions
That I was a billboard
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