Dr Liesel van der Merwe is a small animal medicine specialist. Send her your questions: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dr Liesel van der Merwe

I was working on voting day at the vet hospital and a client arrived with a very feverish five-month old cat. We could find nothing obvious on our general examination. Cats are sometimes like young children and may develop a fever from some arbitrary virus which goes away with one or two doses of an anti-inflammatory.

I suggested we try this and that they leave the cat with us overnight. Even though we cannot take new patients, we are staffed 24/7 for our hospitalised patients. My rationale was that the hospital is not open between 7 pm and 7 am, so if they were worried overnight, they would not have easy access to a vet.

The owner declined to admit her cat. When I asked her why, she said she didn’t trust us. You can imagine my surprise. The client wasn’t even mildly embarrassed by her comment. So, now I ask: Why come to a vet you don’t trust? Rather find another vet you do trust. There are many vets available in the city, even in smaller towns. What am I supposed to do? I injected the cat with anti-inflammatories and sent them on their way.

It is a very different feeling when I am discussing a treatment plan with a client who needs to understand the process compared to when I am discussing a treatment plan with a client who either doesn’t trust me or vets in general, and feels we are just out to make money off them.

I describe an effective management team for a patient as being dependent on: a receptive owner, who is rational and honest with expectations and limitations; a vet who is the same and is also prepared to spend time to explain things properly to a client so that they are able to make the best decision for both them and their pet; and the patient who, if it is a majorly aggressive dog or cat, cannot get the best care possible, as the risks to the vet and staff are too great and once the patient is sedated, we are limited in some of our clinical diagnostic clues.

At this stage in my career I’ve stopped trying to persuade clients that they can trust me. If they don’t feel comfortable with me, they need to find another vet they do click with. People have personalities and some just do not mesh well. The stress caused by a constantly suspicious or unhappy client is not worth the income gained.

Additionally, I’ve realized that, especially here at the teaching hospital, people seem to think we are experimenting on their pets. The faculty has a research centre, which is totally separate from the veterinary hospital. It may as well be on a different planet. So, when terms such as “we are going to run some tests” are used, we refer to blood tests and other diagnostic test to help diagnose your pet’s condition.

Sometimes, when a condition is difficult to prove, it may be simpler to start treating what we think is most likely, as I was proposing for the cat. We are not using experimental drugs, but a known treatment to treat a symptom and then monitoring for a positive response. The same as a GP would do.

As you may hear from the tone of this column, I was quite offended. These are really the exceptions and most people appreciate that we are trying to help them and their pets. It is also becoming harder to do so as money is becoming less “available” for luxuries – a category where veterinary treatment often falls.

Please, try your best to stash a little away every month to help when vet care is needed. The costs of running a veterinary practice are soaring, just as much as costs elsewhere. We are unable to subsidise treatments just because we love animals.