Some of you may remember how last year my country vet wanted to charge
an arm and a leg for removal of my dog's tumor. He had been steadily
raising prices and they jumped after he started building a new house.
I was very unhappy with him for other reasons, as well, and have not
been back. I took my dog a couple times to another vet who mostly does
horses. But I didn't want my cats going there. Besides, they are not
open on saturday.

So I did some phone shopping and got Sheba into a new vet today. She
has been dripping and sneezing. Some vets I called weren't open on
saturday or they were filled up or cost too much. but I found a good
one in the north end of the city easy to get to, although nearly 40
miles away. It is in an upscale part of town.

They actually waived the $20 "squeeze-in" fee and charged me $34 plus
only $6 for the medicine! The clinic has several doctors and is very
clean and well organized. They have separate alcoves for waiting so
you don't have to have a nervous cat near a dog. And their hospital
cages are in separate rooms also for cats and dogs. While waiting, i
watched the techs as they came to get various patients and how they
interacted with them. the pets, one and all, liked the techs and vice
versa. Sheba even liked her doctor, a young woman. She didn't even
howl at the thermometer!

It turns out Sheba has a minor bug with only nasal drainage. It
probably got a foothold, though, from the abcessed tooth she has. That
probably also made her blood glucose rise so that she is back on
insulin, the vet said. So she has Baytil drops for the drip. When that
is done, we will see about tooth removal. I was nervous about
anesthesia with Sheba being 14 and diabetic. But the doctor said she
had an 18 year old diabetic recovering from tooth surgery who did just
fine. So I feel better.

This vet is not pushy about doing un-needed tests, etc like the
country vet. And she is knowledgeable about diabetic pets and
completely comfortable with me doing my own blood testing and insulin
dosage for Sheba. I learned a lot on the Feline Diabetes Message
Board.

Sheba had wet herself with fright as she usually does in the carrier.
The vet didn't mind a bit. Sheba got a bath when we got home. When I
got the towel around her drying her while holding her like a baby, she
was growling and at the same time, frantically licking the nasty water
off her front legs. It was funny.

So I have had a satisfying, productive day. It is a relief to have a
reliable vet on tap.

--
CATherine