Wednesday, February 16, 2005
My vet is a moron.
I have an old, sick cat. Among other problems, she has hyperthyroidism which causes weight loss. It is a big struggle for me to get her to eat; I easily throw out 3 cans of food for every one can she eats. So it was very frustrating at her vet appointment today to be told she's lost significant weight again.
The cat weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. The vet brought up her chart on the computer, and showed me the line dropping down from 5.8 lbs last time to 5.12 lbs today. Wait a minute. If she's 5 pounds 12 ounces, in decimal form that's 5.75 lbs. The vet could not understand this concept. He put her back on the digital scale, which clearly read "5 lbs 12 oz", then pointed to "5.12" on the computer. I tried to tell him 12 ounces is 3/4 of a pound, so he needs to enter it as 5.75. He sort of patronized me a bit and said "well we still have a slight loss... see, 5.8 to 5.75." I asked him what the 5.8 meant. He said 5 lbs, 8 ounces. Again I tried to explain that the reading should be then be entered as 5.5 lbs, meaning my cat GAINED a quarter pound (which is significant on a 6 pound animal.) The assistant seemed to sort of understand what I was saying, and the best solution they could offer me was that they would call the company that wrote the computer software for an explanation.
I think I should take my cat to Canada where they have better health care. Or at least understand 6th grade math.
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I have an old, sick cat. Among other problems, she has hyperthyroidism which causes weight loss. It is a big struggle for me to get her to eat; I easily throw out 3 cans of food for every one can she eats. So it was very frustrating at her vet appointment today to be told she's lost significant weight again.
The cat weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. The vet brought up her chart on the computer, and showed me the line dropping down from 5.8 lbs last time to 5.12 lbs today. Wait a minute. If she's 5 pounds 12 ounces, in decimal form that's 5.75 lbs. The vet could not understand this concept. He put her back on the digital scale, which clearly read "5 lbs 12 oz", then pointed to "5.12" on the computer. I tried to tell him 12 ounces is 3/4 of a pound, so he needs to enter it as 5.75. He sort of patronized me a bit and said "well we still have a slight loss... see, 5.8 to 5.75." I asked him what the 5.8 meant. He said 5 lbs, 8 ounces. Again I tried to explain that the reading should be then be entered as 5.5 lbs, meaning my cat GAINED a quarter pound (which is significant on a 6 pound animal.) The assistant seemed to sort of understand what I was saying, and the best solution they could offer me was that they would call the company that wrote the computer software for an explanation.
I think I should take my cat to Canada where they have better health care. Or at least understand 6th grade math.
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