# Cat got sick after vet visit?



## Wannabe Catlady (Aug 6, 2012)

Has anyone had this experience? Or am I being paranoid?

I took my cat Boo to the vet for a standard annual exam and to meet the vet as I have just moved to this town. Immediately was skeeved out by the place. Looked outdated and poorly maintained. However, the people seemed nice,and I didn't want to be rude and just walk right back out!

So in the exam room, there was fur on the floor, peeling wallpaper, ect. He was perfectly healthy when I brought him in there (last Thursday) and now he has runny eyes, and I just caught him having a coughing fit. Is this a reasonable amount of time to have a bug manifest? Should I take him to another vet to get re checked out?

Ugh. Just hating myself for not doing better research on vets. If anyone knows a good one north of Milwaukee, please let me know!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

What a shame. I am in need of a new vet, too. Luckily there is no shortage of them within a few miles of where I live. I've had this vet for almost 20 years and they up and moved. I never got a letter, a phone call or saw a sign in the lobby announcing the move. I was just there 3 weeks ago, too. I'm pretty peeved. Found out last night through a mutual friend. The 6.5 mile trip to the new place will take over 20 minutes because it passes by a major mall with horrendous traffic. I know like I sound like I'm whining, but the vet was less than a mile from my house. I've called and gotten in within 5 minutes for emergencies like when Zipper fell down the stairs.

When I visit new vets I will bring the records and NOT the cat. That way I can check them out before committing.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Sorry to hear this. I hate to say it but I think the condition of the vet office is a reflection on the Vet! If I were you Id call any cat rescue or TNR group and ask who the really good cat vets are in the Milwaukee area. I would always go with a younger vets who are up on the latest and greatest in cats medically.

Its been my unfortunate experience with the older the vets, the quality of care is dated. They do not keep up on what is the best, most recent meds and care of animals. Plus they went to school before the No Kill philosophy, they will declaw and crop, and dock ears and tail. They will look at the value of a companion animal differently than a young vet would. 

We had two old vets in our area tell us to just kill all feral cats and they both have botched operations and prescribed wrong meds. Stick with what the people who rescue cats have experienced with all the vets in your area. They know who is good and who to avoid!

Hope your little Boo gets well soon.


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## Wannabe Catlady (Aug 6, 2012)

How rude to just leave like that! I would be frustrated too. 



Marcia said:


> When I visit new vets I will bring the records and NOT the cat. That way I can check them out before committing.


This is definitely what I should have done. Lesson learned!




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## Justteri1000 (May 27, 2013)

Both of my cats used to get sick a few days after a trip to the vets office when I lived in New York. They seemed to have these loud rasping breathing sounds that would climax into what seemed like strangling. Then there would be a few minutes where they would calm down and the rasping would start again. It used to freak me out and would result in an emergency visit to my vet or an emergency vet if it was after hours (and as with respiratory aliments in children, it always seemed to manifest itself late at night.). When I did get to the vet they diagnosed it as tracheitis and would prescribe antibiotics (and a nebulizer for Pooter one time). After the fourth or fifth time I made the connection that it was always after a visit to the vets so I asked about it and they acknowledged that they probably picked it up while at their office, saying that it was fairly common. I used to let the cats explore the examining room while we waited for the doctor to come in. After that, I would not let the cats out of their carriers until the doctor came into the examining room and I never let them off the table.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

It is pretty easy and common to contract air-borne diseases at the vet office.


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## atm53 (Feb 2, 2013)

When I first got my late cat Smoky, I was taking him to a vet here in town. He always got good care there and I can't say he ever got sick after being there, but every time I went, the place seemed dirtier than the time before. At first I thought it was just b/c I would go in the evening, but it got progressively worse and it became apparent no one was cleaning it on a regular basis.  So we stopped going there. I've switched vets a couple of times since for other reasons and the others have all been very clean. I can honestly say if I ever went to a vet's office that wasn't clean, now, I would not go back.


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## wne04 (Jul 1, 2013)

Omg !!! ? Tats sooo scary ! But i too learn ur lesson. I should do the same too.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

WC, no you're not being paranoid....from the description of the office, you're cat likely picked up something there. A good vet should disinfect the examining table and his hands, stethoscope, and the room should be very clean. It seems your Boo picked up something there. Hope you can find a competent one.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

I agree with others. Go with your gut - if the vet seems skeevy, don't go back. But picking up whatever's "going around" doesn't necessarily mean the vet's bad, as it happens quite often.



Justteri1000 said:


> Both of my cats used to get sick a few days after a trip to the vets office when I lived in New York. They seemed to have these loud rasping breathing sounds that would climax into what seemed like strangling. Then there would be a few minutes where they would calm down and the rasping would start again. It used to freak me out and would result in an emergency visit to my vet or an emergency vet if it was after hours (and as with respiratory aliments in children, it always seemed to manifest itself late at night.). When I did get to the vet they diagnosed it as tracheitis and would prescribe antibiotics (and a nebulizer for Pooter one time). After the fourth or fifth time I made the connection that it was always after a visit to the vets so I asked about it and they acknowledged that they probably picked it up while at their office, saying that it was fairly common. I used to let the cats explore the examining room while we waited for the doctor to come in. After that, I would not let the cats out of their carriers until the doctor came into the examining room and I never let them off the table.


In a way, it's a little bit funny to think that your emergency visits brought more visurs to the vets, causing more coughing kitties.


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