Changing vets when you are claiming on insurance already

[Sparklingbrook]

Just got back from the vets with Sparklingcat and I am getting more and more confused each visit TBH.

I think i want to change vets but I am claiming on her insurance, so how does it work? That said it's not a lifetime policy so it's only for about 5 months until the thyroid won't be covered anyway.

We changed without a problem. Harry was diagnosed with heart problems at his old vet and we switched him part way through the claim to one who could do the scans that he needed. Both vets put in a claim for their part of the treatment and Petplan paid both.

Oh that sounds good Pink. I assume the new vets will want to do all the bloods etc again and I guess I will have to pay for that bit as the insurance will have already paid once.

Was there any communication between old and new vets?

My old vet sent all his notes (and there was a lot of them!) to the new vet and they uploaded them on the system. I think the only thing that didn't go across was x rays for some reason but the new vet said he would request them if he needed them. They didn't do any more bloods as they had the results.

Thanks, that would be good. If exisiting vets cooperate.

I don't want to upset the old vets but I see a different vet every time and get told something different every time. I just need some consistency.

That's why we changed. Our regular vet left and we kept seeing locums and the seemed to find something different wrong with him each time. It got to the point I wasn't sure if I believed what I was being told.

It's a shame as they were so good with Harry when there was a regular vet there. She left in January and last I heard they still hadn't replaced her

That's exactly where I am with Sparklingcat.

I was told by one vet that the tablets she was on were the only ones she could have and she was on the highest dose. But today another vet has prescribed different tablets for two weeks to see how it goes.

One said she had CKD then she didn't but she now has the start of kidney failure according to latest vet. Special diet prescribed which she initially loved but after ordering a shed load is now sniffy about.

No prognosis has ever been mentioned, and I am getting more confused each visit.

I was told by the first locus that Harry had a severe heart murmur and most probably heart failure. He had an X-ray and the second locus said he had fluid on his lungs and he was put on medication until he had his scan at the new vets. When he had the scan it turned out he has a grade 1 heart murmur and his heart is fine! (I think I scared the new vet as I'm sure he thought I was going to kiss him!)

We were also told he had CKD and then last Christmas that he was fine. He's still on Ipakitine as he won't eat renal food but we've decided to keep an eye on him and try and hold off from more blood tests until his next check up in June. At one point he seemed to be permanently shaved!

It's so worrying as we have to trust the vets.

It feels like when you take your car to the garage and they say there's something wrong and you have to go along with it. They are the experts! But you could ask at another garage and they disagree.

Sparklingcat has a permanently shaved neck,

I know that the hyperactive thyroid makes her prone to kidney problems and the only way of keeping an eye is blood/urine tests but I think she could go a bit longer between them maybe. Because throughout this (since diagnosis in Feb) she has been fine in herself and doing everything she has always done. She doesn't seem ill at all.

You can ask for a copy of the blood test results to see as well and... ahem, consult Dr Google, as it were. You can then see if some of the kidney disease measures are high or normal range.

Changing vet's won't be a problem insurance-wise, though, and as blood tests are standard lab results, the new vet should be able to look at your previous results no problem.

Oooh thanks that wouldn't be a bad shout at least to start with, because then at least DH could also look at them with me. He asked how it went at the vets and what they said and I struggled to explain.

Then Dr Google.

You don't even need Dr Google all the bloods should have normal ranges with kidneys we are looking at BUN ( blood urea nitrogen) creatinine and phosphorus levels.
There is a small amount of art to interpretation as cats with low muscle mass can a normal creatinine, but chronic renal failure. This fits with the mantra interpret the cat not just the numbers.

They want a urine sample. She did wee while whe was there but not enough. So I have the KatKor again and she's weeing anywhere but on it again. I guess that will be the decider re the kidneys.

The blood is for the thyroid.