What to Do when your vet asks you to do the impossible

There are many reasons why you may find your veterinarian’s advice impossible to follow. Your work schedule may not allow you to give your pet eye drops every 6 hours, or you may need two people to successfully give your cat needed medication and you live alone. Your vet may have recommended a prescription food that you can’t really afford, or that your pet simply won’t eat.
If your vet’s instructions or recommendations are going to be impossible for you to follow, please speak up. Veterinarians are trained problem solvers, and they will work with you to find a more easily given form of medication, such as a liquid or transdermal formulation, a more doable dosing schedule, or a different prescription food. As we often say to our clients, a food can’t work if your pet won’t eat it! Fortunately, several companies make prescription diets, so if your cat or dog doesn’t like one brand, ask your vet if they carry another brand’s version. The Cat Doctor & Friends carries many flavors and the two major brands of prescription diets, so our finicky feline patients will have a choice. Thanks to our online store (www.catdoctor.com), there will be even more choices for both, easier to give medications and prescription diets. If you can’t afford a prescription diet long term, ask if there is an over the counter diet that might work, once the initial problem being treated has improved.
Please, if your pet’s initial treatment plan doesn’t prove doable or worse yet, isn’t effective, let your veterinarian know. If you feel that your attempts to medicate your pet are hurting your relationship with your cat, dog or horse let us know. If your pet is experiencing side effects, please call. Give your vet a chance to come up with a plan B or even a plan C. We became The Cat Doctor to help cats and their families, and we understand if you tell us we are asking you to do the impossible. Working together, we will find a way! To schedule an examination call 661-259-5288.