Feline Thyroid Disease - Answer to Comment

I'm sure you're a lovely person, but did you just in this thread about feline thyroid disease tell a distraught pet owner they probably shouldn't have put down their cat as there "might" have been something [expensive] they could have done?

Just going to a vet is trauma enough for an animal. If it's old and not in pain and seemingly happy enough, just let it age and die. Everything dies of something and your cat will appreciate your love and caring much more than trips to the vet and administering medication or other treatments.

Animals can't understand the correlation between medical treatment and cure (or death). If they are dying, it will not occur to your animal that these traumatic trips to the vet and traumatic administrations of treatment are to make them feel better. Let your pet live a natural, drug-free life and only intervene on a medical level if they are in noticeable discomfort of pain. It is awful to lose a living thing you love but this whole medical approach to saving your pets is overdone by vets who are in most cases some of the richest people you'll ever meet by capitalizing on your love for your animals.

I have a cat with a heart murmur. They tried to tell me she needed daily medication and weekly treatment so she didn't die. How would she die, I asked? For after all, taking her to the vet made her pee and/or poo all over the car (or myself or my vet) out of pure terror. Oh, she'd just drop dead they said, no pain, no symptoms. I opted to let her live her life. She's still alive, 14 years in, and may drop any day now but at least she's not a victim of the humanization and medicalization of animals that the animal health care system would like you to invest all your money in.

Dear Anonymous,

It doesn't appear that you read completely the question and answer about feline hyperthyroidism you are referring to. Karen wrote to me specifically to ask me to help her understand what happened to her precious cat, what the vets did or didn't do, and what might have been done differently. When we lose a dear pet, we often torture ourselves wondering what happened if the vet didn't give us all the answers. Not knowing, not understanding can be more devastating emotionally than the actual loss.

I answered Karen's questions about feline thyroid disease thoroughly and my answer was not about doing something "expensive". I reassured her repeatedly that nothing that happened was her fault because it wasn't.

It is my responsibility first to the animals I serve and then to the loving people that care for them to tell the truth and when it may involve undesirable answers, I go out of my way to say things gently and not to impose guilt. I would NEVER deliberately tell a distraught pet owner that they shouldn't have euthanized their cat.

However, again, it is my responsibility and the reason this website exists, to educate all cat owners everywhere about things that could be done to improve the quality of life for our beloved cats. Sometimes we learn our most valuable lessons in hindsight and it is important to learn from those "mistakes" so that we can take care of our future pets in the best manner possible.

Karen wanted to know what went wrong and I told her to the best of my ability. I clearly told her:

"There is no way for me to tell which of those things caused her decline or if it was even a combination of them. It sounds like you did everything in your power to help her and that you cared exceptionally well for her. What happened is by no means your fault and perhaps no one's. Unfortunately, your kitty had one of those rare serious liver reactions from the methimazole and that certainly is no one's fault."

Karen wrote back and thanked me for helping her to understand what happened as did other readers who are here to learn so that future pets can benefit from what we all learn from each other.

Regarding your statement:

"at least she's not a victim of the humanization and medicalization of animals that the animal health care system would like you to invest all your money in."

Veterinary Medicine has fortunately achieved great advancements over the last years in our ability to care for animals and keep them comfortable and happy and living longer than ever. The education and technology we use to do so costs. Wouldn't it be great if it didn't? I would love to treat all animals for free as I'm sure most of my veterinary colleagues would like to do also because we are in the profession we are in because we love animals so much we want to devote our lives to them. However, the materials and equipment we must purchase and utilize and the staff we must pay and the overhead in running a practice does not allow most of us to do so because we must make a living like most other people and the technology and materials we use to help animals is not free. Quite the contrary.

I also do not charge to answer questions on this site and have no vested FINANCIAL interest whatsoever in promoting to Karen or anyone else the fact that they should spend money on treatment for their cat. I spend hours most days, including Saturdays and Sundays, answering these questions online at no charge. Only those friends and family members closest to me have any idea the amount of work I put into this website. I don't get a financial kickback if I convince a reader to go to their vet. I don't even know their vet. I do, however, have a great emotional interest, a passion for helping the cats, all cats, that I so dearly love.

I never quite understand people who are so suspicious and mean-spirited toward professionals who charge for their services. Unfortunately, veterinarians get the brunt of that. Far fewer people question the cost of their own physician or surgeon or hospital, etc. Do you have any idea how underpaid veterinarians are in comparison to our other medical counterparts such as human physicians, dentists, etc.? And yet our training and cost of education is just as rigorous and expensive, sometimes more.

I suggest you reread the question and answer at this page about feline hyperthyroidism and also consider what I have said and what others commented on the page. Obviously, you have hit a sore spot of mine and I hate that I had to go on and on about it, but when someone SO misunderstands me and misunderstands veterinary medicine and cat care, I feel it is my responsibility to stand up for myself and the professional I am so proud to be a part of and the animals I so dearly love.

I ask you in return, Did you really say:

“Just going to a vet is trauma enough for an animal. If it's old and not in pain and seemingly happy enough, just let it age and die. Everything dies of something and your cat will appreciate your love and caring much more than trips to the vet and administering medication or other treatments. “ ?

Is this how you care for yourself and your loved ones? I am certainly glad you are not in charge of my personal care and that of my family and my animal family! I personally had a cancerous tumor removed just last week and it was a traumatic, painful, scary, expensive and still incredibly uncomfortable experience, but thank God for technology and the ability for me to be healed and live longer! I am SO happy my children didn’t say about me “Just let her age and die. Everything dies of something and Mom will appreciate our love more than trips to the hospital and medical treatment.” If my children had felt that way, I don’t think I would have thought they loved me very much at all!

Likewise, when my own cat Calvin became diabetic almost a year ago and appeared that he could possibly die, should I have let him “die of something” ? A year and many blood glucose readings and insulin injections later, he is better than ever, loves life, is adored by me and many others and if he could thank me, I know he would. But he doesn’t need to. I am the lucky one to still have him. If I wasn’t a vet and I had sought treatment from a vet for Calvin and they just let him die, I would be SO unhappy ….and furious! And they would have engaged in malpractice.

Calvin, my 14-year-old Diabetic, VERY happy Cat!

I have never been a person who could easily lie. I try very hard to be gentle with my words, but if my patients or my readers ask a direct question, it is part of my oath as a veterinarian and as a human being to answer honestly. That is what I did with Karen’s question and what I do with the numerous questions I receive daily from all around the world.

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