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cimoreneSnookums started holding one of his ears sideways in the middle of last week. I initially thought that was just a reaction to my massaging it too thoroughly when I tried to clean it, but he kept it up for a few days (albeit on and off). So I googled on the weekend and found some scary pages saying that ear infections can be "particularly" dangerous for diabetics because they are, idk, more prone to infection and might move to the middle or inner ear.
This scared me a bit, so Monday I called his regular vet (after getting back from the health center where I had blood drawn for a checkup). The vet said it did sound like an ear infection and that since they didn't have an opening this week, I should look for someone who did just in case.
I looked at vets in the area and found another one on Google close to his regular vet (so in Kaarina, which is about 15 minutes by bus) which makes it the closest other option with a website. This vet, going by the website, is primarily a home-visit vet doing routine things like chipping and vaccines and litter checkups, who has retired after practicing as a vet in Helsinki since 1970. We figured that an ear infection is a simple and routine issue, though, since all the vet has to do is look at the (unfortunately freely available) ear gunk and then prescribe something based on whether it's mites, bacteria, or yeast. Also she, unlike the large vet practices, had time on Tuesday. Most of the reviews were positive, with like, two negative ones who mentioned a seeming failure of communication (that the vet seemed not to understand or not to hear what was said to her or just ignored it?) and this scared me into taking a benzo, but I googled it and determined that there's no way to injure a cat by looking at its ears really, so we gave it a try. I DID find out that diabetes causes an ear infection issue in that most commercial ear medications include a corticosteroid to reduce swelling and irritation, and diabetics can't have steroids because they cause blood sugar spikes. So I introduced Snookums by explaining that he has diabetes and telling the vet that that means he can't have steroids. I paused and looked steroids up to make sure I had the right word and explained it again. When she had looked at his ear (without a microscope) and was describing how to clean it and saying it should be treated with a medicated ear drop, I mentioned again that many ear drops have steroids and he can't have steroids because he's diabetic. She said, "He's diabetic? So he gets injections?" I said yes. When I got home after like... half an hour of walking through pouring rain (that is, half an hour each way, because it took longer in the rain because it was miserable and I was soaked through), I googled the prescription and found that she had prescribed a medication with steroids in it. I SHOULD leave a review on Google probably? Maybe? This is at least a truly remarkable failure of understanding, with potential consequences, although not like deadly ones (a blood sugar spike just means he would need more insulin, and to stop the medication that was doing it, although if I didn't know it was the medication I guess that could be bad). But the idea of leaving a review like this under my own Google id fills me with anxiety, so I haven't.
So this morning (Wednesday) I got up early to call the official vet for our county, who only takes appointment calls from 8-9 every morning because the office doesn't include a receptionist. I think the county vet is employed BY the county? They do emergency calls for large animals too. Anyway, she said she could fit me in already this afternoon, so... way less busy than I anticipated. She doesn't have a lab and all the resources of the bigger practice I usually take Snookums to, which also has a cat specialist, so I'm not gonna switch or anything, but she was really nice. I asked about the steroid issue and she said that was true, that it's less of an issue potentially with topical medication but it COULD happen, and that because his ear isn't actually infected right now - like, not inflamed, just irritated - we should try a better ear cleaner with some microbe-discouraging drops without any steroids in them, plus an anti-mite shot for each cat. Also she told me our ear cleaner (OTC) that we've been using might have been making the irritation WORSE. A lot of ear cleaners are mildly acidic because creating an acidic environment renders the ear less hospitable to pests, but it also irritates the skin and doesn't break up wax as effectively as an oil-based one. Didn't know that either!
Gotta go back to the pharmacy for the second day in a row now though. The walk to and from her two-little-containers-in-a-wooden-shell office (<10 minutes, mostly through the park) was MUCH nicer and it wasn't raining, anyway.
Both of the cats are gonna have to have their ears cleaned more often, though. Nobody's going to like that.
And tomorrow I have the health checkup related to that bloodwork. Ultimately the idea is that I might be able to get a faster referral to adhd testing (faster than like 18 months' wait, which is what the current status is for that... functionary?... in town, according to the social worker at the employment office). But that means I'll have had to leave the house every day this week and I would like to register a complaint about that.
ETA: We went to the pharmacy for the 2nd day in a row and the pharmacist had to order the anti-parasite stuff, which will arrive Friday, so I definitely am now scheduled to leave the house every day this week.
This scared me a bit, so Monday I called his regular vet (after getting back from the health center where I had blood drawn for a checkup). The vet said it did sound like an ear infection and that since they didn't have an opening this week, I should look for someone who did just in case.
I looked at vets in the area and found another one on Google close to his regular vet (so in Kaarina, which is about 15 minutes by bus) which makes it the closest other option with a website. This vet, going by the website, is primarily a home-visit vet doing routine things like chipping and vaccines and litter checkups, who has retired after practicing as a vet in Helsinki since 1970. We figured that an ear infection is a simple and routine issue, though, since all the vet has to do is look at the (unfortunately freely available) ear gunk and then prescribe something based on whether it's mites, bacteria, or yeast. Also she, unlike the large vet practices, had time on Tuesday. Most of the reviews were positive, with like, two negative ones who mentioned a seeming failure of communication (that the vet seemed not to understand or not to hear what was said to her or just ignored it?) and this scared me into taking a benzo, but I googled it and determined that there's no way to injure a cat by looking at its ears really, so we gave it a try. I DID find out that diabetes causes an ear infection issue in that most commercial ear medications include a corticosteroid to reduce swelling and irritation, and diabetics can't have steroids because they cause blood sugar spikes. So I introduced Snookums by explaining that he has diabetes and telling the vet that that means he can't have steroids. I paused and looked steroids up to make sure I had the right word and explained it again. When she had looked at his ear (without a microscope) and was describing how to clean it and saying it should be treated with a medicated ear drop, I mentioned again that many ear drops have steroids and he can't have steroids because he's diabetic. She said, "He's diabetic? So he gets injections?" I said yes. When I got home after like... half an hour of walking through pouring rain (that is, half an hour each way, because it took longer in the rain because it was miserable and I was soaked through), I googled the prescription and found that she had prescribed a medication with steroids in it. I SHOULD leave a review on Google probably? Maybe? This is at least a truly remarkable failure of understanding, with potential consequences, although not like deadly ones (a blood sugar spike just means he would need more insulin, and to stop the medication that was doing it, although if I didn't know it was the medication I guess that could be bad). But the idea of leaving a review like this under my own Google id fills me with anxiety, so I haven't.
So this morning (Wednesday) I got up early to call the official vet for our county, who only takes appointment calls from 8-9 every morning because the office doesn't include a receptionist. I think the county vet is employed BY the county? They do emergency calls for large animals too. Anyway, she said she could fit me in already this afternoon, so... way less busy than I anticipated. She doesn't have a lab and all the resources of the bigger practice I usually take Snookums to, which also has a cat specialist, so I'm not gonna switch or anything, but she was really nice. I asked about the steroid issue and she said that was true, that it's less of an issue potentially with topical medication but it COULD happen, and that because his ear isn't actually infected right now - like, not inflamed, just irritated - we should try a better ear cleaner with some microbe-discouraging drops without any steroids in them, plus an anti-mite shot for each cat. Also she told me our ear cleaner (OTC) that we've been using might have been making the irritation WORSE. A lot of ear cleaners are mildly acidic because creating an acidic environment renders the ear less hospitable to pests, but it also irritates the skin and doesn't break up wax as effectively as an oil-based one. Didn't know that either!
Gotta go back to the pharmacy for the second day in a row now though. The walk to and from her two-little-containers-in-a-wooden-shell office (<10 minutes, mostly through the park) was MUCH nicer and it wasn't raining, anyway.
Both of the cats are gonna have to have their ears cleaned more often, though. Nobody's going to like that.
And tomorrow I have the health checkup related to that bloodwork. Ultimately the idea is that I might be able to get a faster referral to adhd testing (faster than like 18 months' wait, which is what the current status is for that... functionary?... in town, according to the social worker at the employment office). But that means I'll have had to leave the house every day this week and I would like to register a complaint about that.
ETA: We went to the pharmacy for the 2nd day in a row and the pharmacist had to order the anti-parasite stuff, which will arrive Friday, so I definitely am now scheduled to leave the house every day this week.
