Okay, Ann Arbor type people...  Me and da cats are moving to the area, so I
need a recommendation for a vet.  Why do you love them, and where are they
located?  =)

17 responses total.

I take the cats to Ann Arbor Animal Hospital on Liberty near Stadium.  Don't
know if they are that great or not, but our family always went there and I've
never had a reason to get pissed and go elsewhere.

I use Brookeside Vetinary.  They don't charge for office visits if they're
getting something done.  If you go for shots, you only pay for shots.


They're pretty far north of Plymouth Road, but they'll give you good
directions if you call them :)

Chelsea Animal Hospital. Worth the drive from Ann Arbor. Get Dr Rohde if 
you can; Dr Harshbarger as second choice.

I've heard good things about the Ann Arbor Cat Clinic... all they 'do'
is cats.  I'm not entirely happy with the place I take Sasha, so I
may be switching to the Cat Clinic- I think that's where jiffer takes
Scott and Pinky.

We also use the Ann Arbor Cat Clinic.  They only do cats and
seem to have only female vets.  I think they do fine work but
tend to get very aggressive with older dying cats, pushing for
treatment when it's time to instead let the animal die with some
comfort and dignity.  They can be expensive.  I'd recommend them
only if you can be a real part of the decision making.

Mary- how are they about vaccinations?  My first vet (a really really
cool guy in Saginaw) warned about over-vaccinating cats, but the vet
I currently go to is horribly pushy about vaccinating cats (even
totally indoors ones) for things my first vet told me were unnecessary.

They are pushy about vaccinations, heartworm, mosquito-proofing,
etc.  You have to know when to say no.

Ah... okay.

I have switched vets.  (Long story with a sad ending.)

From here on out I expect I'll be seeing Dr. Singh, out of
Woodland Animal Hospital, on South Main.  This clinic
is located in the same shopping plaza as Busch's and Great
Harvest Bread.

We brought him a very sick cat he'd never seen before.  He
was wonderful and gave us hints of treatments I wished I'd
followed earlier.

I really can't tell you how impressed I was.

Heh, that is the same vet I currently go to, but I couldn't remember
the name.

I've heard that the Ann Arbor cat clinic is hit-or miss.
Many people have told me that there are very good vets there, and really
horrid ones.  I guess there are some that you never would want to tend to your
cat.

I would need someone to move a mountian to get me to switch vets from my one
in Manchester.  I know it's a drive, but tragedy had to have an emergency
ovariohysterectomy.  It was a close call, she had a cyst in one of her
ovaries that was leaking, and infected.  Gross.  The husband/wife duo
that I trust her with said that in their 13 then years of practicing
veterinary medicine, they had never seen anything like it.  What did it
for me, was that they called a couple times during the following two weeks
to make sure that she was recovering fully.

If your cat's  vagina is leaking yellow/green mucus, take her to the
nearest vet.

bon appetite!

Well, I took Morticia to the Ann Arbor Cat Clinic.  They gave me several
options on shots, but didn't push when I said, "No...maybe later" or "I don't
think that's necessary."  Their response was, "Well, she may want it because
of <this> or <that>."  I weighed the arguments for or against, they answered
my questions thoroughly, and they didn't give me that evil look when I said
no.  

The lady who took Morticia was very kind.  She let me walk Morticia back to
the cages and pet her before she had to be put inside.  They also let me store
the cat carrier there so I didn't have to haul it home.  (Ugh...Katie, I
really need to get this back to you...I'm sorry it's taking so long).  I got
to call them that afternoon to check on her, and they gave me a full report.
When I picked her up, they explained a lot about the surgery, how she'd feel,
what to expect, when to call, and told me that at the slightest weirdness,
no matter how panicky I thought I was being, to call them at any hour.  Cool.

One of my main reasons for going there is that it's only a few blocks from
where I live.  =)  I can't stand to hear kitties crying in their box.

I have to go back in several days to get her sutures taken out, but she's
already pulling at them a little.  She was simply bathing the area yesterday,
but today I saw distinct tugging.  I don't know if she's doing that because
it itches, hurts, or if she's genuinely trying to pull them out.  I'm going
to call the vet tomorrow morning to see if there's anything I can do, or if
there's some kind of cream or whatever that we can put on it.  Despite this
little "problem", I'm happy to see that she's eating and drinking.  She's
kinda limping around and acting fatigued, but no more than a human does after
surgery.  Poor thing.  Her hair is also growing back very quickly.  I'm giving
her lots of love, and she lets me touch the area around the sutures if I'm
gentle.  I know some cats are very touchy there, even months after the
surgery, so I'm relieved that she won't be like that.

There is research out there that immunizations cause sarcomas.
They're not sure whether it's the vaccine itself or the needle
so vets are being asked to give vaccines in specific locations so
this can be tracked.  Too, they are being encouraged to discriminate
between risk of exposure and the risk of vaccination.  An indoor
cat is probably at a higher risk from the feline leukemia vaccination
than from the disease.  But vaccines are a money cow, so lots of vets
are still pushing shots for everything.

Did they offer Morticia a peri-operative Fentanyl patch, for pain
control? 

No, they didn't.  I asked them if she'd be in much pain, and they said she'd
be a little sore but that I could call them if she looked like she was in
definite pain (not eating, hiding in corners, etc).  I would assume that if
she was doing that, they would prescribe something.  I can see how they
wouldn't just give it to people since some would give it to the cat without
any indication.  Ouch.

When I first took Sasha in (two years ago now... wow..) my vet told me 
about the sarcomas study... one of the reasons I don't get unnecessary 
vacinations for her...  

I have them do the vaccination in a different place every time.
I don't want my cat to be a statistic.

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