Vets and those in the know....

[Jasandjules]

Why do vets not have blood pressure monitors for cats/dogs? Are they exceedingly expensive? Am I unreasonable in being put out that my vet does not have one when it looks like my cat will now be blind (because of her high blood pressure) when she could have been saved (worse when she had a long op a few months ago, whilst the vet did the world's collection of blood tests and scans and x-rays they didn't test her blood pressure). We had to rush her to a specialist and we may only be at best able to save part of her sight in one eye. I am pretty fecked off with the vets right now....

[CobolMan]

Our vets has one - it's amusing to watch them trying to take our cat's BP with it Seriously, if you're not happy with the service, go elsewhere.

[Jasandjules]

IN three years and a number of appointments (we have four cats, three dogs, and two of the cats and one of the dogs spend a lotta time in vets....) this is the only time we are peeved. It's just galling that her sight could have been saved if this had been picked up earlier. She's only 12 years old or so and I can't help but be upset about this.

So that's why I want to know if it's a common thing or not to have a moggie BP machine.. (the vet knew right away what the problem was (and the cause) because the cat has kidney problems, and he knew that a kidney problem can lead to BP problems which can then lead to blindness - so I figured that if they knew she had kidney problems and that all this could have followed, it would make sense to test her BP when she was sedated for the OP she only had a few months ago).

[becksW]

We have one at our practice, aswell as an ECG machine, ultrasound, endoscope, radiography facilities and an in house lab, basically most good vets should have this sort of equipment these days.

[becksW]

Jasandjules said:

IN three years and a number of appointments (we have four cats, three dogs, and two of the cats and one of the dogs spend a lotta time in vets....) this is the only time we are peeved. It's just galling that her sight could have been saved if this had been picked up earlier. She's only 12 years old or so and I can't help but be upset about this.

So that's why I want to know if it's a common thing or not to have a moggie BP machine.. (the vet knew right away what the problem was (and the cause) because the cat has kidney problems, and he knew that a kidney problem can lead to BP problems which can then lead to blindness - so I figured that if they knew she had kidney problems and that all this could have followed, it would make sense to test her BP when she was sedated for the OP she only had a few months ago).

They can't do accurate bp whilst sedated, however it is usually possible to do for most cats. It can be hard if you have a fractious cat however and this may prevent getting a good reading (we usually do a few then take the average) but it should have at leaqst been tried (in my opinion anyway)

[Orb the Impaler]

becksW said:

We have one at our practice, aswell as an ECG machine, ultrasound, endoscope, radiography facilities and an in house lab, basically most good vets should have this sort of equipment these days.

Heh! And I wonder why my dad was so keen to retire!

[eharding]

becksW said:

They can't do accurate bp whilst sedated, however it is usually possible to do for most cats. It can be hard if you have a fractious cat however and this may prevent getting a good reading (we usually do a few then take the average) but it should have at leaqst been tried (in my opinion anyway)

It also depends if the cat is already worried about the blood-pressure test, and in order to avoid failing it might resort to a few asprin and or a quick paw-shandy beforehand to reduce the reading.

[littlegreenfairy]

becksW said:

We have one at our practice, aswell as an ECG machine, ultrasound, endoscope, radiography facilities and an in house lab, basically most good vets should have this sort of equipment these days.

A house lab??

Isn't that the doggy version of child slavery?

[mybrainhurts]

littlegreenfairy said:

becksW said:

We have one at our practice, aswell as an ECG machine, ultrasound, endoscope, radiography facilities and an in house lab, basically most good vets should have this sort of equipment these days.

A house lab??

Isn't that the doggy version of child slavery?

Never mind that...

The scary bit is getting the endoscope up the arrus of a Pitbull...

[Jasandjules]

becksW said:

We have one at our practice, aswell as an ECG machine, ultrasound, endoscope, radiography facilities and an in house lab, basically most good vets should have this sort of equipment these days.

They have ECG, Endoscope and Radiography (but they send away for bloods - but get results the same day)... I assume on that basis that the BP machine for cats/dogs is not prohibitively expensive.

ETA - FFS I've just spoken to the vet and they HAVE a fecking BP machine... Now I'm even more peeved that they haven't ever tested the cat's blood pressure when they know she has a kidney problem and they know high BP and all the things which follow could be present.

Edited by Jasandjules on Monday 30th March 08:45

[cslgirl]

Jasandjules said:

Why do vets not have blood pressure monitors for cats/dogs? Are they exceedingly expensive? Am I unreasonable in being put out that my vet does not have one when it looks like my cat will now be blind (because of her high blood pressure) when she could have been saved (worse when she had a long op a few months ago, whilst the vet did the world's collection of blood tests and scans and x-rays they didn't test her blood pressure). We had to rush her to a specialist and we may only be at best able to save part of her sight in one eye. I am pretty fecked off with the vets right now....

My cat has/had the same problem. His eye sort of filled up with blood and he wasn't very happy and seemed in a lot of pain. We took him to the vets 3 times before they found out what was wrong with him. He lost a lot of eyesight because of their delay in finding out what was wrong with him.

He is very old though and is now nearly blind. It cost me a lot of money before they found out the problem - probably over £300. He is on blood pressure tablets but I have since found them on the internet so much cheaper and bought some for him and have cut the vet out of it.

Your cat though will no doubt adapt to some loss of eyesight. I have moved home and my cat has settled in well and has no problem moving around. (Although he didnt see the guttering pipe on the floor he ran into lol).

[becksW]

cslgirl said:

Jasandjules said:

Why do vets not have blood pressure monitors for cats/dogs? Are they exceedingly expensive? Am I unreasonable in being put out that my vet does not have one when it looks like my cat will now be blind (because of her high blood pressure) when she could have been saved (worse when she had a long op a few months ago, whilst the vet did the world's collection of blood tests and scans and x-rays they didn't test her blood pressure). We had to rush her to a specialist and we may only be at best able to save part of her sight in one eye. I am pretty fecked off with the vets right now....

My cat has/had the same problem. His eye sort of filled up with blood and he wasn't very happy and seemed in a lot of pain. We took him to the vets 3 times before they found out what was wrong with him. He lost a lot of eyesight because of their delay in finding out what was wrong with him.

He is very old though and is now nearly blind. It cost me a lot of money before they found out the problem - probably over £300. He is on blood pressure tablets but I have since found them on the internet so much cheaper and bought some for him and have cut the vet out of it.

Your cat though will no doubt adapt to some loss of eyesight. I have moved home and my cat has settled in well and has no problem moving around. (Although he didnt see the guttering pipe on the floor he ran into lol).

Glad to hear your cat has adapted. Just a note, you will still need to see the vet for a repeat prescription at least every 6 months sometimes every 3 (assuming the tablets you are buying are POM drugs) to monitor your cats progress.

[bigTee]

It's the cat scan and the lab report that add most of the cost.

Edited by bigTee on Monday 30th March 11:33

[Jasandjules]

cslgirl said:

My cat has/had the same problem. His eye sort of filled up with blood and he wasn't very happy and seemed in a lot of pain. We took him to the vets 3 times before they found out what was wrong with him. He lost a lot of eyesight because of their delay in finding out what was wrong with him.

Ours just had really dilated pupils, no blood at all.... It was a lot of the time, not even all the time, but we are pretty protective parents so got an emergency vet appointment, then got an emergency with the specialist that afternoon (they had to open up the surgery to see us Saturday afternoon). We are looking at around 1k just to treat her right now, but the money doesn't bother me per se, I'd pay three times that to save her sight. I am just put out that she is going to lose sight in at least one eye and possibly both because our vet didn't take her blood pressure despite diagnosing her with a kidney condition two years ago. She could have had both eyes in good condition for years to come if they had only tested her blood pressure regularly - it's not like she isn't there every three months for a check-up and bloods to ensure the other feckin' tablets are helping her kidneys.

She gave no indication at all she couldn't see, she was wandering about quite happily, jumping up on the side to get her food, jumping on to the arm of my couch to demand attention, and jumping on and off the bed at night. I don't know if she can see a little bit, but either way you wouldn't have known at all that she had problems seeing.

I just cannot believe that she is likely to lose her sight because of this, it's really upsetting. And maddening that I think it could have been prevented, the poor little thing will have to spend the rest of her days with limited vision because of this.

[cslgirl]

Jasandjules said:

cslgirl said:

My cat has/had the same problem. His eye sort of filled up with blood and he wasn't very happy and seemed in a lot of pain. We took him to the vets 3 times before they found out what was wrong with him. He lost a lot of eyesight because of their delay in finding out what was wrong with him.

Ours just had really dilated pupils, no blood at all.... It was a lot of the time, not even all the time, but we are pretty protective parents so got an emergency vet appointment, then got an emergency with the specialist that afternoon (they had to open up the surgery to see us Saturday afternoon). We are looking at around 1k just to treat her right now, but the money doesn't bother me per se, I'd pay three times that to save her sight. I am just put out that she is going to lose sight in at least one eye and possibly both because our vet didn't take her blood pressure despite diagnosing her with a kidney condition two years ago. She could have had both eyes in good condition for years to come if they had only tested her blood pressure regularly - it's not like she isn't there every three months for a check-up and bloods to ensure the other feckin' tablets are helping her kidneys.

She gave no indication at all she couldn't see, she was wandering about quite happily, jumping up on the side to get her food, jumping on to the arm of my couch to demand attention, and jumping on and off the bed at night. I don't know if she can see a little bit, but either way you wouldn't have known at all that she had problems seeing.

I just cannot believe that she is likely to lose her sight because of this, it's really upsetting. And maddening that I think it could have been prevented, the poor little thing will have to spend the rest of her days with limited vision because of this.

I can understand you are peeved about it, but you have caught it out and saved some of your cats eyesight. My cat had 2 episodes when his eye changed colour, the second time, he lost a lot more eyesight than the first. A good way to tell if your cat can see anything is drop something in front of it, like a piece of cotton wool and see if your cat follows it. I was ever so upset to think my cat would lose his sight but it has been about 8 months now and he has adapted so well. The funny thing is when he is sitting on the mat waiting to come in sometimes there are birds/squirrels running around him and he is none the wiser- which also saves me the hassle of clearing up his kills lol. Like you say, you wouldn't have known the eyesight was bad which shows how well they can cope.

As long as you can prevent the eye episodes appearing again, it should be fine - and we use blood pressure tabs to sort that out which hopefully your vet will administer. And if you find out which ones you are prescribed, get them off the internet a lot cheaper if your cat will be on them for the rest of his/her life.

Best of luck with your cat!