Vets on call

Last week I felt truly, and briefly, chuffed.  I was out on a house call and, as I approached my destination, I could see an enormous, long-haired ginger cat lying behind the glass-fronted door.

At the time, I didn’t think much of it except that this must be the house; that must be the cat I was due to examine; and there it was waiting for me. As the owner came to the front door, the cat got up and sauntered down the corridor, its belly leisurely swaying from side to side.  To my surprise, the owner told me that her cat had never before waited so calmly at the front door…for anyone!

House calls are of great benefit to pet owners when planned well in advance. They are also sometimes very necessary. Advance appointments that work out well are those where the vet needs to see the pet’s environment, for example, to verify that all is well with a dog that has just given natural birth.

In such situations, your vet would be looking at both mother and pups, as well as the whelping box and environment. I will never forget the case of the German Shepherd that lost half its litter within two days of giving birth at the height of summer, just because the owner thought that, it being August, there was no need to provide insulated bedding for the puppies; or the case of the Dalmatian expected to have a successful litter whelping outside in a wooden cupboard during a freezing cold January. 

Other very good reasons for house calls would be when pet owners need several pets to be seen to during the same appointment; or else to carry out routine vaccinations on a large number of dogs or cats.  Depending on circumstances, you might ask your vet to do a house call to check out long-standing skin conditions or unexpected growths such as lumps beneath the skin, bearing in mind that diagnosis necessitates further tests or surgery, which would be best carried out within the ambience of a fully-equipped veterinary clinic.

On the other hand, for the benefit of your pet, it is important to appreciate that in the case of acute situations and emergencies, clinic visits will produce far better results. The situation is best discussed with your vet, who will guide you according to the case at hand.  If your vet advises you that it is necessary to take your pet to the clinic, it is important to take heed of this advice.  Such cases include, but are by no means limited to, sudden vomiting or loss of weight, acute diarrhoea or anorexia, as well as suspected cases of intoxication or poisoning, or trauma and injury, which may need immediate medical attention that goes beyond what may be offered during a simple house call.  X-rays, blood tests, ultrasound or surgical intervention may be necessary to come to a particular diagnosis or resolve a particular medical condition.

Car sickness in dogs is quite common. So if this puts you off taking your dog to the veterinary clinic, discuss the problem with your vet. There are a number of mild medications that would resolve this inconvenience, the benefit of which is that this medication can also be used for other reasons of car travel with your dog, such as walks in the countryside.

It is important that if you’ve arranged for your vet to visit your cat, make sure that it is already confined when the house call happens. Some cats are shy of vets on house calls and Ginger, I soon found out, was no different.  With the owner and myself trying to cajole Muffin to come out from underneath the bed, I made a mental note to self that my next topic would be about house calls. Muffin never did venture out from under the bed during this particular house call.

The purpose of the visit was to administer Muffin's first cat-flu vaccination…which we successfully achieved on the next well-planned house call.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com