Sometimes Being a Crazy Cat Lady is a Good Thing.
Last week my clinic got a call from one of our clients who wanted to bring her cat in to see the vet because he had stopped taking his thyroid medication. He would bite and scratch the owner when she tried to pill him, so she tried giving it to him in treats. Eventually he figured out the pill was there and would spit it out. Next she had tried hiding it in his food, and once he realized it was there as well he stopped eating all together. So of course the client is worried, frustrated, and doesn’t know what else to do…Kitty is losing weight because he isn’t eating and he’s not getting his medication so his thyroid levels aren’t being kept in check. So we booked her in for a consult with the vet so we could take some blood from him and discuss her options.
I have always been something of a cat lady, and so not surprisingly my first veterinary job was at a cat only clinic. We had always kept transdermal versions of common medications that could be applied within the ear because, of course, cats can be ridiculously hard to get pills and tablets into. These had worked wonders with all our difficult feline patients and one of these I remembered happened to be methimazole, the medication for hyperthyroidism that our stubborn kitty was not getting. I was quick to mention this to the vet as a potential option he could discuss with her, and at first he was reluctant to give it a try. He had never really used transdermal medications before, didn’t know much about them, and had never heard much in the way of results from their use. But he was willing to trust me and go on a little bit of faith and he told me he would keep it in mind when she came in for her consult.
Kitty came and went for his appointment, we took a blood sample and sure enough, his thyroid levels were off the charts. We ended up ordering in a transdermal methimazole pen for them to try and we sent them home with it hoping that it would work.
Then today the vet called me aside because he wanted to show me something. He had gotten an e-mail from the client and she was saying how much better kitty was doing, and how much easier it was now to make sure he was getting his medication. She was so, so, grateful that we had recommended this and it was making all the difference in the world. The vet smiled at me, clapped me on the back, and said “great work.”
This is why I’m becoming a vet tech…This is why we in the veterinary field do what we do. There is truly no greater feeling than being able to help both pets and their owners, and if we can make a difference in the life of even one…Then all of this is worth it.
janainaart
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