Cat cough-advice please
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:50 am
Dear all
I would be extremely grateful for your opinions/ advice on a matter.
I have just returned from the vets with one of my cats who has had an intermittent cough for a while which has grown more frequent and has recently been accompanied by mucus production on occasion. Having done quite a lot of reading online I thought it would be best to get a veterinary opinion. I have been with my vets for 20 odd years but have noticed more recently a tendency to advocate the most costly investigative treatment as a matter of course. I have just taken 2 of my other cats to a different vet for dental work as my usual vets would have charged me considerably more for the same procedure (with bloods, fluid therapy etc; these cats are insured but there is an £1000 limit for dental work ). I really started to question my vets' ethics when they recommended an unnecessary and potential life threatening in-house MRA procedure for another of our cats (uninsured) with a heart murmur and suspected squamous cell carcinoma. We sought a second opinion and found a vet who would x-ray him without the life-threatening anaesthetic but unfortunately he had a severe stroke before the appointment so we decided it was kinder to euthanize him.
The vet I saw today examined my cat and didn't seem unduly worried. His heart and lungs sounded fine. He said steroids might be a solution but that it would be best first to pinpoint the cause of the cough (it could be heart or respiratory related). For this it would be necessary to take him to their heart specialist at their hospital branch (whom I know) , where they would perform a heart scan, x-rays and possible extraction of fluid from the lungs which implies "some risk". I am really unsure whether or not to trust this vet anymore. As I said, I have a long standing relationship with both practices and, knowing they're not the cheapest, have always been willing to spend a bit more for the excellent 24 hr service they provide. However, the reading I have done suggests that a heart scan would not be the first diagnostic test performed ordinarily- that respiratory tests would be done first, as the most likely cause is respiratory/ asthma. I am starting to doubt whether my vet is "pushing" the extra services provided at the hospital branch.
I would be very grateful for your opinions on this, especially from anyone who has already gone through similar investigative tests for potential asthma.
I apologize for the length of the post but I felt I needed to put everything into context. This is a question of principle and whether or not I can continue to trust my vet as much as cost. This cat is insured - there is an £8000 limit per condition and I estimate that the tests proposed would come to at least £1,500. The heart scan with the specialist alone would be around £800.
Many thanks.
I would be extremely grateful for your opinions/ advice on a matter.
I have just returned from the vets with one of my cats who has had an intermittent cough for a while which has grown more frequent and has recently been accompanied by mucus production on occasion. Having done quite a lot of reading online I thought it would be best to get a veterinary opinion. I have been with my vets for 20 odd years but have noticed more recently a tendency to advocate the most costly investigative treatment as a matter of course. I have just taken 2 of my other cats to a different vet for dental work as my usual vets would have charged me considerably more for the same procedure (with bloods, fluid therapy etc; these cats are insured but there is an £1000 limit for dental work ). I really started to question my vets' ethics when they recommended an unnecessary and potential life threatening in-house MRA procedure for another of our cats (uninsured) with a heart murmur and suspected squamous cell carcinoma. We sought a second opinion and found a vet who would x-ray him without the life-threatening anaesthetic but unfortunately he had a severe stroke before the appointment so we decided it was kinder to euthanize him.
The vet I saw today examined my cat and didn't seem unduly worried. His heart and lungs sounded fine. He said steroids might be a solution but that it would be best first to pinpoint the cause of the cough (it could be heart or respiratory related). For this it would be necessary to take him to their heart specialist at their hospital branch (whom I know) , where they would perform a heart scan, x-rays and possible extraction of fluid from the lungs which implies "some risk". I am really unsure whether or not to trust this vet anymore. As I said, I have a long standing relationship with both practices and, knowing they're not the cheapest, have always been willing to spend a bit more for the excellent 24 hr service they provide. However, the reading I have done suggests that a heart scan would not be the first diagnostic test performed ordinarily- that respiratory tests would be done first, as the most likely cause is respiratory/ asthma. I am starting to doubt whether my vet is "pushing" the extra services provided at the hospital branch.
I would be very grateful for your opinions on this, especially from anyone who has already gone through similar investigative tests for potential asthma.
I apologize for the length of the post but I felt I needed to put everything into context. This is a question of principle and whether or not I can continue to trust my vet as much as cost. This cat is insured - there is an £8000 limit per condition and I estimate that the tests proposed would come to at least £1,500. The heart scan with the specialist alone would be around £800.
Many thanks.