I work at a veterinary office that is exclusively for cats, but have been primarily reading and posting things in the "Psychics" section. Today, curious, I came into "Cats" to see what people in this section are talking about... and was appalled at how many of you are coming here to ask serious medical questions that should be addressed with your vet!

One person described all the symptoms of a cat that has ingested poison - but instead of seeking medical help right away or looking online to see if the plants in the house might be poisonous, there's a very worried-sounding post asking for advice when she states herself that she should be calling a vet. SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE???? :mad:

Another describes a classic case of stroke and states that she "thought about taking the cat to a vet", but instead is listening to a bunch of nonsense from her daddy about how "lots of animals have been acting weird" and wonders if something strange has happened to the environment or something. Are all the strange-acting animals in a small area, like a town, or is daddy just trying to rationalize not spending money to take their cat to the vet because "LOTS of animals are doing it"? :confused:

In short, folks, if your normally calm and friendly cat suddenly turns into the Tazmanian Devil, get the cat to a vet as soon as you can!

The same holds true for the kitty who suddenly starts hiding, stops eating and/or drinking, urinates or defecates in odd places for no apparent reason, or exhibits any other behavior that you've never seen out of your companion before. Cats aren't going to walk up to you and say "Hey, I don't feel good!" - THEY'RE GOING TO ACT WEIRD!!

In short, folks, if you're inner voice is saying "Call the vet",
L I S T E N ! ! ! ! !

hi there,
I've had a bit of a break from these boards but just poked my own head in to see what's going on too.

Today i was looking this up and I can see which threads you are talking about and I can see where you are coming from.
It's always a good idea to take a pet to the vet over anything that's wrong. especially the one with poison! eep! I

At the end of the day, for alot of people it is money. and it is their money.

for them, it could be 200 bux a drop most times to take their pet to the vet( and it goes way up from there) . And sure, it's very easy to sit accross from a monitor and just say that there's such things as coverage but when you get your glasses out and read the fine print you'll find that if your animal actually is sick and in need of coverage, they won't be covered. It's policy to do a physical of your animal before they'll consider covering your pet. I'm estimating if the person has gotten to this point that they feel the need to post a problem, it's a bit late to consider coverage as they'll have to have the pet examined anyways and tehy risk being rejected by this stage. It's much the same for people.

How much is it to post on a forum to ask an expert (if there is one on hand) to see if it's something to take to a vet in the possibility someone else has the same problem with their pet prior to taking it to a vet no matter how big or small?

Free.

maybe they are just confused that the problem their cat is facing is or isn't a problem they should take it to a vet over. They simply don't know that. Consider for a second they don't work in a vet like you do.

I have a cat that has just recovered from cancer. first sign i did take her to a vet.
But to back up a bit, I didn't know it was cancer. I didn't know the first thing to ask the vet to get her checked for cancer. I've never ever had a loved one with cancer before and I've never studied about it and I've never gone to vet school.

Turns out she had cancer of the bladder. I knew nothing of what to ask for, what I was supposed to do to her, for her, pills, what the names of the pills are, the different names of the surgeries..how long she was going to be in the hospital...

I felt pretty stupid for a while standing in front of this genius of a doctor who obviously knew his stuff and talked in big terms I couldn't understand. I felt horrible because I was helpless for my little kitty. What's worse is I felt like a horrible owner because I didn't know this stuff. I just felt like some moron that had a cat pee blood on the carpet rushing her off to the hospital.

you know what occured to me after that?

I don't know how to fix a cat.
I didn't go to vet school.
I didn't know what to ask for.
I was confused. and scared and upset.

I was no expert.

so i took her to one.

I guess that's why they are the vet because they know this stuff.

I'm allowed to be ignorant prior to knowing something. As is everyone else.

this girl who described a "classic stroke" let's not assume she's an expert about that.
She doesn't know that and her dad probably doesn't know that. And the certainty of her cat dying or having a stroke hasn't even been confirmed yet. They probably aren't these horrible cheap people. They might just be confused pet owners.

I'm glad that there is at least one expert here that can inform and that's nice of you to come here and offer some free advice though keep in mind not every poster is well informed and not everyone posting is trying to get out of paying for their pet if their pet is in fact sick and/or dying.

Very good post. I was wondering the same thing. Where are some of these posters heads. What are they thinking. The best advice if any of those symptoms happen and I know I have answered a couple of them myself and it is hard to believe that they are just going to wait. Do not treat it as if it was a emergency. I think part of it is laziness. The reason being is internet has been able to connect us all, and people rely so much on the info on the internet they think that it will help. That this is the first resource that is easiest without bothering to make that trip to the vet. Also it is free.

Joe

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Originally Posted by JoeCanada76

Very good post. I was wondering the same thing. Where are some of these posters heads. What are they thinking. The best advice if any of those symptoms happen and I know I have answered a couple of them myself and it is hard to believe that they are just going to wait. Do not treat it as if it was a emergency. I think part of it is lazyness. The reason being is internet has been able to connect us all, and people rely so much on the info on the internet they think that it will help. That this is the first resource that is easiest without bothering to make that trip to the vet. Also it is free.

Joe

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Having come back to this post for the first time in a long while, Joe, I had to smile at your comment. Somehow I can't picture most of these people holding a crying child and looking on the internet to see if that odd angle to their finger means if might be broken, yet they'll do so for a crying cat. In the recent past, I've had more and more people calling about "payment plans" (which 90% of vets don't do because people don't keep their promises), so yes, the internet is free, but could cost your pet's life...

Right on, Tiggerella... I've always maintained that a pet owner should imagine their pet was their child, and then decide what they should do about the pet's 'problem'. Animal and people are enough alike that if your child had a temp, or was throwing up for unknown reasons, or diarrhea, or stumbling around, you would be in the car, on the way to either the hospital or Dr.s office without a thought of what might be wrong.

It's also interesting that most posters don't attempt to answer any questions someone may ask in order to better understand the problem before trying to give a reply. Without any more specific information from the poster, the best answer we usually can give is to see the vet.