The Cats Mutha

Sorry to hear that Growlybear, I have had nothing but kindness and support from all them!

Hi blucanary, We are not sure what happened to Mignon, it is possible he trapped his tail and yanked to get it out fracturing the base of his spine. There was no external injury and his claws were intact so it dod not appear to be a road accident, it is also possible he was kicked, but I do not want to think about that... Beau's claws were all shredded and it was a clean break about two thirds of the way down his tail so this was more likely a road accident where a car ran over that part of tail. I know, and before anyone says it, I would love to keep my cats locked up and am looking at securing my garden, but I spent my whole life obsessed with cats, rearing them, loving them, reading about them and even did a cat psychology course and I am a believer of letting cats be cats. I have suffered for this as you can see, but my cats are happy and fulfilled with their life and at times, life is just life no matter how painful.

bossboss, thank you for editing your response as I did feel the original was a little personal and hurtful at that. I think you can see from my post that my cats are extremely important to me and the only reason I called BR vet new and shiny and did not mention what you posted about service etc is because I get all of that at LL, new and shiny was all I had that I thought was different between the two. But in response to your now edited post, my story was very long and I ommitted details to make it shorter. I did call for advice when I found him and the blood did not appear until the following morning. I spent pretty much the whole night awake caring for him and ensuring he was not in pain. Had I been advised to take him straight to the emergency vet I would have done immediately. I hope that answers your query. As I said, I do hope that Barry Road does well and they do sound very good but although it is closer to me than LL, after what I have been through with them I felt I just wanted to share my thoughts on a forum where everyone is entitled to their own opinion and support the vets practice that without whom I am not sure what I would have done.

I have 7 cats and a further 2 that have since passed. All of my cats have at some point or another had to have vet treatment and all of this carried out at Lordship Lane Vet Clinic. I imagine the Barry Road one is very nice and shiny and it sounds like they give very good service, but I urge you, if you leave your regular vet for this one without it being due to total dissatisfaction with your regular vet, you must consider the implications it has for them. Understandably, moving from a Bromley vet to Barry Road when you live in ED is more than a good enough reason. I do know that Barry Road is quite a lot more expensive that Lordship Lane and I also know that money is not an issue when it comes to my cats health, but after what I have been through in the last 6 months I felt I had to share. Last December I came home to find Mignon hiding and discovered his tail was completely dead and blood coming from his boys bits. It was late at night so I secured him and rushed him to Lordship Lane vet first thing the next morning without an appointment (they are quite used to me doing that, as soon one of my cats sneezes, there I am rushing them to vet in a panic without calling first). And as usual I was in tears but the receptionists were their kind reassuring selves and I was seen straight away. My poor boy had his tail amputated that day and to make it worse, the damage to the nerves means he can no longer wee and I have to express him and give him medication twice a day. The vet called me as soon as he was out of surgery and the receptionists never moaned about my constant phone calls. He stayed in and I was allowed to visit when I wanted and received full training on how to express his bladder. WhenI took him home the vet gave me her personal mobile number as it was the weekend incase I had problems. I used her number quite a few times to text concerns and I never failed to get the reply I needed. Mignon has since been going almost weekly for acupuncture which really does benefit his bladder and well being, the vet also referred me to a holistic vet who does electro-acupuncture which benefits him even more. This vet is based in North London but my vet arranged for her to treat Mignon at their surgery for no extra cost. About 6 weeks ago I came home to find that Beau, Mignon's brother (both 18 mths old) had a broken tail, the vets was closed so I texted my vet and she asked a few questions and assessed he would be ok until morning, so there I am again, first thing the next day in tears with no appointment. My vet was not there that day so I had to see another one, he was operated on that day and I was called straight after surgery. Fortunately there was no damage to his bladder and only a third of his tail had to be amputated and because they know me, he was allowed to come home the same day. Beau was not himself when he was home I was concerned about his remaining tail as it became very bruised, again I texted and my vet and I was advised to bring him in. We tried more anti-biotics and arnica and more pain relief but this sadly did not work and a couple of days later he was there again to have the remainder of his tail removed. I also took my big shaggy Maine Coon in to be groomed as he developed some awful knots due to the wet weather despite being groomed by me. Whilst he was there I received a call fron the vet to say she had heard him breathing rather oddly and had therefore given him a full check up and although he is fine his heart rate was very fast so we need to ge a cardiac scan as his brother had died of a heart clot, so yet more worry and expense, but when I went to pick him the vet was so reassuring and had spoken to my usual vet to get advise on what to tell me as she knew I was already going through a lot, I found this very touching. I also do not hink I was charged for the check up, and talking about money, although as I said money is not an issue when it comes to my cats, but I do still need enough left to feed them, I am pretty sure they have done me some favours on the bills that I do not know about and have also treated my cats knowing I could not pay until the next week or whenever. So what I hope you gather from rather long story is that if you are happy with your vet and have built up a relationship such as I have, I could not dream of going to a nice new clinic and potentially remove business from my regular vet, what if so many other of their clients moved to the shiny new place and they had to close down, after what they have done that would be evil. And what if I or my cats did not like shiny new vets, my wonderful regular vet would not be there to go back too! Please also remember, especially with dogs that consistency is important, going to the vet is very stressful for any animal, but if they know the vet it can make a world of difference to them. I shall never leave Lordship Lane vets as they have been so wonderful and gone above and beyond for my cats and for me and not just because it is their job and I pay them. I hope Barry Road does do well, but do not leave a good relationship for something shiny and new when your pet has always received the best care before. And you never know, maybe my story will convince you that Lordship lane are the best and try them or not to leave them.

We are with BT and had problems for a couple of weeks with a crackle on the line and the broadband not working. They tried to make out it was our problem but eventually sent an engineer yesterday, we still have telephone poles with overhead wires and the one to our house was really old and rotten it had to be replaced, so may be something worth chacking out!