How can we make any headway in educating the public

[4 feline house]

when the vets out there are still so undeducated? A woman at work was complaining that she didn't get much sleep over the weekend because her cat was in heat. I said "you know, they have operations for that now". She said "I know, but my vet said since we let her go into heat, now she'll have to have a litter or she will never go out of heat". I clarified that she was talking about a CAT (maybe there was some weird mammal out there I had never heard of) and she affirmed. I told her she needed a new vet, and she sniffed "I'm happy with my vet" and walked away.

I know it could be a case of her misunderstanding the vet, but my dealings with this woman in the past have led me to believe she's a sharp gal, and I also can't believe that a vet advising a client whether to spay or not to spay would not make a better effort to make sure they were properly understood. If I were a vet, and a client called up asking about spaying, yet decided not to do it, I would consider it my duty to double check the reasons why, to make sure they fully understood.

Anyway it works out, a litter will be produced. Either they will breed her to spay her later, or the cat will get out and get pregnant. I'm surprised she's even still in heat this late in the season.

I'm trying to figure out a way to reopen this issue without offending her. I've always gotten the impression she has never really liked me, and her reaction to my suggestion was not taken well (and of course I understand why, there's no nice way to say your vet is committing malpractice).

Has anyone else successfully resolved a similar situation?

[kobieeli]

Have I ever "resolved a similar situation," you ask? Yikes, no!! It is APPALLING that a DVM would say such a thing--and even scarier if that so-called vet actually believes he's right. Could you *politely* suggest that woman get some info on vetmed.com or a similar health site? It just is NOT difficult to get educated about this subject these days. Both of them have their heads so far into the sand it's sad. And dangerous.

[aly]

Ugh, we see so many people in the shelter saying "My vet said (blah blah)" and "My vet told me not to (blah blah)" and every statement is so ridiculous. I actually cannot believe what some of these so called vets say. I was just discussing with someone the other day how disgusted we are with vets who are just there for the money, not for the love of the animals.

I don't know what to suggest in your situation. I hope you can get the woman to listen though.

[TheAntiPam]

Certainly there are vets that give bogus advice and treat pets just to rake in money.

But, don't forget there are plenty of people who only hear what they want. The vet or technician may have been competent and informative, but some owners will edit and skew the message until it is what they wanted to hear.

Plus, people sometimes downright lie about things or embellish a story etc. I once knew someone that heard a story from me, and proceded to tell it as if the story had happened to them... this was a well-educated and nice person. Even when I asked them about it, they really didn't get it that they had just out-and-out lied.

For every good owner and wonderful vet there exists just the opposite - one of life's big pains!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Perhaps you could print off some good information from the internet and give it to her to read. If she does and has more questions then you can tell her you are available to talk if she wants. This way it's her decision. I don't think we can feel responsibility to educate someone if they don't want to be. Unfortanately it is the animals who suffer from their owners ignorance.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I suppose that I am a bit biased as my brother and his wife are both vets and tell some pretty wild stories about dealing with pet owners who shouldn't be. Of course there are always three sides to every story as they say -- his, hers, and the truth. And when it gets to anything dealing with sexuality -- well people can get a little wierd (there was some discussion on here of this recently regarding depriving animals of a satisfying sex life.)

I suspect this woman misunderstood. Perhaps her vet told her the cat should not be spayed WHILE in heat. What I might do is get some articles about spaying and give them to her saying..."After we talked about you cat the other day I realized there's alot about spaying that I don't know so I did some research. What I found is really interesting and I thought you might like to read it too." (I realize you DO know about spaying but, as she seems defensive this may make her more accepting of the information.)

Good Luck!

[purrley]

This lady must have misunderstood what the vet said. He might have said that it would cost a little more to spay a female that was in heat because the vet will have to deal with a little more blood during that time and it's a little more riskier during that time. The vets here will charge an extra $10 to spay a female in heat. What surprised me is that I was told a nursing female will go into heat again immediately - I didn't know that. When I let my Panda outside after 6 weeks of being with her kittens she came back with the top of her neck wet - it appeared she had been mated with. That's when I found out that she was in heat again. I had her spayed soon thereafter and it cost me an extra $10 because she was in that condition and was probably impregnated again.

[ October 30, 2001: Message edited by: purrley ]

[thelmalu99]

I like Edwina's Sec's idea. It's true that sometimes people become defensive when others try to give them advice. Maybe if you made it seem like you did some research for your own information and just thought you'd share it with her she might be more accepting.
My cousin has two poodles-male and female-and I am constantly trying to convince her to have them "fixed". She insists that she can just keep Sasha locked up in a room while she is in heat to keep Brian away from her. Sacha has already been "with child" twice, so it's obvious that this idea is not working, but she still has not taken them in. I'm still trying to convince her, though. It's tough trying to talk some sense into hard-headed folks.

Edwina's Sec-I'm the one who posted about depriving cats of a sex life. In one of the books I have about cats, the author claims that cats should not be spayed/neutered because this deprives them of a sex life. According to him, they should instead have tubal ligations/vasectomies so that they don't lose their natural desire to mate. I thought this was strange and posted about it to get everyone's reactions.

[4 feline house]

Y'all all have some very good suggestions. I will try to "accidently" bring up the subject again and maybe she'll be more open.

I would normally think she must have misunderstood, but she seems so bright, otherwise, but it is equally hard to believe a vet could say such a thing.

When she first began her story, I thought what she was going to say was that the vet wouldn't spay her while she was in heat. I was already prepared to educate, because virtually all vets will spay a pregnant or in-season cat. Surgical instruments and techniques have become so advanced this is no longer the problem it was in the past. In fact, my vet no longer charges extra.

But no, she had an even wilder story!

Surprisingly, there is nothing on the internet I could find that addresses this. Every single site I visited only discussed the advantages of spaying before the first heat. Not one listed myths concerned with waiting until after the first heat. Maybe because this is so far out, it has never come up before!

I'll print out some good sites anyway, it still may convince her.

On a sort of related note - longtimers here know of my upstairs neighbors and their ghastly decision to get a couple of kittens a little over a year ago. Well, they are fully mature, unneutered males now, and evidently they started spraying the house, because they have been spending more and more time outdoors - no matter what the weather. It is still way too early in the season to be "cold", but a couple of nights this month the temp has dipped into the forties. Last night, I opened the front door and to my surprise, there was poor little George (looks like Thelma's Charlie) curled up in the cold on my doormat. The people upstairs were home, and he had to have known it because they were making their usual inconsiderate noise. I put some towels in a box and took it out for him, and he curled right up and evidently stayed in it until early this morning.

A little bit of education, compassion, and thinking of a creature other than yourself goes a long way. Too bad there's no required idiot test that people have to pass before they can be allowed to become responsible for a living creature. I know not every one knows everything, and the most intelligent and compassionate of pet owners can still make mistakes, even fatally, but people like those clods upstairs just shouldn't be allowed!

[Tebaldi]

Another approach might be to approach the vet (if you know who s/he is) for a friendly chat. They might be concerned to learn how their advice has been misinterpreted and may speak to your colleague again or supply pamphlets with accurate information about de-sexing.

I too get distressed when neighbours leave their cats locked out for long periods of time in all weathers. There is an old tradition of "putting the cat out" just before retiring to bed that many people still follow. Perhaps this practice comes from the days before kitty litter & cat doors were invented.

Most people will provide at least a rudimentary kennel for a dog but many expect a cat to find shelter & fend for itself. On really wet days I have brought my neighbour's miserable cat inside & towelled his soaking fur as he has nowhere to shelter when his people are out.

Conservation groups in Australia advertise in the media, emploring people to keep their cats inside at night because of the damage they do to our nocturnal fauna. People also need to understand that they must allow their cat access to adequate shelter from heat or cold at all times.

I feel like writing a short pamphlet about this and putting copies in people's letter boxes in the hope some will read it and change the way they treat their cats.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Thelmalu- forgive me! I in no way was casting aspersions at you for bringing up the topic. I'm a bit passionate on this subject and believe that author is a bit off in left field so to speak. My husband's son used the argument for no collar on his dog that "he (the son) wouldn't like a piece of leather around his neck so he is sure the dog doesn't either." I believe that is irresponsible anthropomorphism just like men who say they can't bear to neuter males dogs because they can't bear to think of anyone cutting on "jewels." The point I was clumsily trying to make is that some people get even more confused and befuddled when sexuality enters the picture.

[thelmalu99]

Edwina's Sec,
LOL, I wasn't upset at what you said. I was just explaining what the post had been about (also for the benefit of anyone who hadn't read it).
No worries!