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Hello,
and welcome to
Cat Puz zles!
How
to Have Meaningful Communication With Your Veterinarian
By Myrna Milani, BS, DVM
When Mary Harris
arrived home after leaving her beloved Max at the veterinary hospital,
she felt totally lost and more than a little anxious. Although Max's
veterinarian was kind enough, his jargon-filled description of Max's
problem and the tests he wanted to conduct overwhelmed her.
"Even if I
understood what all those words meant, I still wouldn't know what I
want to know," Mary explained later. "I don't care what the
problem means to Dr. Jones. I want to know what it means to Max and
me."
In an ideal world,
all veterinarians would receive training that would enable them to communicate
in a meaningful way with pet owners. Until then, however, owners who
share Mary's views need to take the initiative. One easy way to ensure
that you cover all the bases regarding how a particular medical problem
or procedure will affect your pet involves focusing on two areas:
Your
pet's physical health
Your pet's behavior
Chances are your veterinarian automatically will give you information
regarding any physical effects of the problem because that's the focus
of his or her training. However, if that person provides this information
in a manner you don't understand, say so. Most veterinarians don't deliberately
try to confuse owners. They just forget that owners don't speak the
same language they do. Consequently, it's up to you to remind them.
If you find it difficult to concentrate in a busy veterinary setting,
don't feel embarrassed to ask the veterinarian to write down any critical
points for you. Many veterinarians also will provide pre-printed hand-outs
describing many problems in simple language that you can read at home.
Because veterinarians often don't think about how a certain medical
problem may affect a pet's behavior, you may need to remind them about
this. Will Snoopy's surgery make him groggy? Will her sore leg make
Daisy snappy? Will Misty's medication cause her to break her house-training?
By knowing about any behavioral effects in advance, you can make preparations
to avoid or cope with these if and when they arise.
Coping with the
behavioral changes associated with pet medical problems brings us to
the second half of your fact-finding mission: How will your pet's problem
affect you? One convenient way to simplify this for both yourself and
your veterinarian is to view the problem in terms of the four kinds
of limits that underlie practically all human-animal relationships:
Financial
Time
Emotional
Physical
Some owners feel incredibly guilty asking about the cost of any proposed
medical treatment, but that's foolish. Most of us need to budget our
money and knowing how much FiFi's surgery or medication will cost allows
us to do this. Knowing the cost beforehand also enables us to discuss
time payments or other financial arrangements to pay for the care, if
necessary. Sometimes veterinarians only will suggest what they consider
the optimal treatment which also may be the most expensive, but they'll
propose other, less costly but equally viable options if they know owners
can't afford this. However, if the owner doesn't bring this up, the
veterinarian probably won't either.
Does this mean you're putting a dollar value on your pet? Not at all!
Knowing how much Dizzy's treatment is going to cost and how you're going
to pay for it relieves you of all the worries associated with that part
of his medical problem. That, in turn, keeps you and your veterinarian
from becoming involved in negative fee-related discussions later than
might undermine your relationship and your pet's well-being. It also
frees you to focus all of your energy on helping your pet get well.
Additionally, pet
owners need to address any time limits they may have. If you work a
12- hour day and your veterinarian wants you to give Eggbert one pill
every 8 hours, you need to discuss this. Even the very best medication
won't work if it's not given as directed. Worse, failure to do so could
make your pet's problem worse.
Even though most
of us like to say that we'd do anything for our pets, the fact remains
that most of us do apply certain emotional limits to our animal companions.
Some people fear to open their pets' mouths to stuff a pill in. Others
find the smell of that icky ear or the sight of that swollen eye enough
to make their stomachs churn. As far as that pus around Frankie's "private
parts" goes, well, forget about that! If you feel that way about
anything associated with your pet's medical condition, admit it. Sometimes
the veterinarian or a helpful technician will show you some tricks that
will enable you get over those negative feelings. If you can't, more
and more veterinary clinics offer daycare service during which staff
members do all the medicating, bandage-changing, or other tasks some
owners find emotionally trying. However, once again you may not know
about these options unless you ask.
Most of us also
have physical limits that affect our response when our pets experience
medical problems. Giving weekly baths to exuberant golden retrievers
with skin problems can exhaust a physically fit twentysomething. If
you're a senior citizen with arthritis it can be downright painful.
Even the most placid animal may prove impossible to medicate if owners'
eyesight or coordination makes it impossible for them to get the medication
where it needs to go. Treating pet problems that pose little threat
for the average owner may be downright hazardous for those with suppressed
immune responses. If your veterinarian doesn't bring up these issues,
bring them up yourself for the sake of your own health as well as your
pet's.
Admittedly, the
idea of asking your veterinarian to supply this information may seem
a bit daunting at first. On the other hand, addressing all of these
behavioral and owner-related factors can have as much or more influence
on your pet's recovery as the most sophisticated surgery or drug. The
nature of the human-animal bond guarantees that our pets will pick up
on our anxiety and confusion and it will effect them both physically
and behaviorally, and almost invariably negatively so. To avoid that,
take a few minutes and think about your pet's behavior and what kinds
of changes would bother you most and how you would handle them. Think
about any financial, time, emotional, and physical limits that could
come into play if your pet developed medical problems. That way when
those problems arise, asking your veterinarian for that information
won't cause you any embarrassment. It will seem like the most natural
thing any loving pet owner could do.
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Copyright 2005, Myrna Milani, TippingPoint, Inc, Charlestown, NH All
Rights Reserved Worldwide
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Would you like
to read about cats? Myrna has written some great articles about them
and other animals and the human-animal bond. To read them, go here:
www.mmilani.com
Publishers, you
are welcome to reprint this article in its entirety provided you retain
the above resource box and include this notice, plus notify us of the
day(s) you will be running it.
I care. If any of the links above do not work, please
email me
with the name of the link here:
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