Would you say something to a friend if you thought their vet was giving sub-par care?



I've used this vet in the past. Once as a back up when my own vet was elbow deep in emergency surgeries, and a couple of times when a friend was unexpectedly called out of town, I took her cats to scheduled appointments. I came away with a bad feeling each time. The office staff changes constantly.



Recently a friend took their 17 year old cat in after finding blood tinged stool outside of the litterbox. Wuzzy has lost 2 lbs in a year but the family has also added two kittens, a baby and a new high stress job in the same time frame. Blood work was taken, not explained to the owners. The vet just sent her home to die (reportedly the vet's words) with low dose prednisone saying it was cancer. That was two months ago. There has been no change in the cat (I've seen her) no more bloody stools, no vomiting. Outside of hairballs and a pulled tendon, this cat has no history of problems.



I'm not sure if I'm getting caught up in my dislike for this vet's awful bedside manner which my friends are comfortable with, or seeing a red flag. My own vet is very middle of the road when it comes to treatment, I'm not sure she'd suggest aggressive treatment if it were cancer at age 17, but she's always made sure I understood what was going on, explaining test results carefully, outlining treatment options.



My girlfriend gets teary eyed when she mentions Wuzzy - grieving has started. Do I push for her to take Wuzzy to another vet? Or just support her as she waits to say good-bye? What would you do?



Elizabeth

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