Right before I start I want to make this clear, this is NOT aimed at anyone member in particular and I DO NOT want this to turn into a slanging match.


Its become apparent to me that a few of us for one reason or another have differing opinions about giving advice on treatments or procedures over the internet.

Things seem to fall into two camps.

Camp 1:
Err on the side of caution (could be described as over zealous)
often advice vets input early on
Give advice based on experience and veterinary advice
Do not give information about POMV drug dosages
Tailors their advice based on the OP's experience (newbie or with 30+ litters behind them), and takes into account that this is a public forum that newbies will read.


Camp 2:
Give advice based only their own experiences (could be described as carefree)
dont necessarily advise a vets input or not until later on (follow a different timetable)
Give advice as if everyone is an experienced breeder
Give advice on drug dosages




Now I think you know which camp I fall into, but i am trying to be impartial here. There has been so much tension on the forum lately, i wondered if you people would mind telling me which sort you would prefer?

I realise that the two camps, not everyone does everything in each and most people fall somewhere between the two.


I thought i would give you an example of both types of advice for the following situation.

Retained placenta in a moggie queen who is 12mo on her first litter with 4 healthy kittens - time 11am friday morning.

Camp 1: A retained placenta is fairly common. Keep a very close eye on her until after lunchtime, if there is still no sign of it then give your vet a ring as they may need to invervene. It potentially very dangerous for the placenta to be left for too long as it will cause a nasty infection.

Camp 2: I would see how she goes over the weekend, I've had queens retain them for 2 or 3 days without any problems at all, I'm sure it will come out by monday.


There are problems with both answers,

camp1 - could be classed as being a bit of a zealot and if misinterpreted could be seen as saything this was a dire emergency and that their cat is guarenteed to get very poorly.

camp2 - could be seen as being slack with their advice, even dangerous and so putting the cat and her kittens at risk.


Please note again this is not aimed at anyone in particular I just want to get the feelers out there as to what people prefer (especially the newbies on the forum). I am 100% sure it wont effect the way i give advice or the way others do, and we will always have differing opinions on right or wrong. However as the threads can get heated i thought this would be a good neutral ground (no mans land) for the quieter forum members to have their say.

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I've not been here long, and I take a pick-n-mix look at the post from the dog and cat forums.

I'm a qualified and registered Veterinary Nurse. If I gave out advice that turned out to be detrimental to an animal in my job I could be held accountable for that (it used to come down to the vet surgeon, but now registered VNs are accountable for their actions), so I would always err on the side of caution when giving advice, especially if someone calls the hospital and I haven't actually seen the animal. I write down any advice I give on the animal's clinical notes so I have written evidence should something untoward happen (I work nights sometimes and often have people call for advise).

On a forum we never have the full story, even less so than were you talking to someone over the phone. So, I would always err on the side of caution when giving advice. People often don't take advice to the letter and will pick out the bits they like and ignore the bits they don't, often to the detriment of the animal.

A forum should not replace a veterinary opinion, examination, or diagnosis. Indeed, only a VS can diagnose a problem.

Likewise I wouldn't give out drug dosage information, as its likely you don't have the full story. And things that aren't POM-Vs, but that animals can have (i.e certain painkillers), I would NEVER give out information on, over the phone or on a forum, as 1. too much information can be a bad thing, and 2. if people think one drug is safe they may think another is, or if it's safe in one species they may presume it's safe in another species.

You just don't know who is reading, and what way they may take things

I am firmly in camp 1.

I may move into camp 2 at times, but never on an open forum, possibly in private (phone, email, PM) and only with people who have the experience to know the different nuances of whatever is being discussed.

None of us on here are vets, none of us are there looking at the cat with the retained placenta (or whatever). In the vast majority of cases the posters asking the questions are not just forum newbies, but complete novices to the feline birthing process. Even simple questions asked directly to someone like this are often answered incorrectly. We have to figure that “margin of error“ into any reply or advice we give. We also have to accept the fact that these forums are trawled by non-registered members just looking to avoid paying for a vet.

Advising someone to phone a vet can never ever be wrong. Let the vet decide if it stays at a phone call or a consultation is necessary. I don’t see this as scaremongering or overzealous, I just see it as plain common sense.

Advising someone to “just chill out and let nature take its course” can be wrong and fatal. This type of advice is slipshod and sloppy, and potentially VERY dangerous to the cats of those trawling forums like this just to save them the costs of a visit to the vet.

No, not aimed at anyone, of course not.

Liz

Liz its not. You are not the only person on this forum i have disagreed with you know! I'm quite capable of pi$$ing off a multitude of people .

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I would agree with erring on the side of caution. I tend to stay out of posting on the breeding forum as I know nothing about it, but I always read the threads. Of course it is always important to realise that some people have little experience in breeding so being cautious is a necessity. And of course always being advised to seek veterinary advice (even over the phone) in the first instance is important.

The only thing I would like to say is that sometimes, when somebody has done something you don't agree with (a typical example being a moggie getting pregnant by accident) it can come across as being a little too "attacking" and could make people stop posting completely when they need advice with a situation, which in turn would lead to the cat not getting the right help or attention when it needs it. I'm not expecting people not to have an opinion on these things and keep schtum but sometimes when there are three or four posters all telling somebody how irresponsible they are (or something along those lines!) it can put people off posting.

Please nobody take anything personally from this post, just putting my two cents in.

Absoloutly, and i am one of those passionate people involved in rescue who could be seen as attacking, its a fair criticism!

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Oh BBM, I totally agree that when you have seen the rescue side of things (most of us haven't) it will probably make you even more infuriated when these situations arise, knowing that more kittens from BYBs mean rescues are becoming more overcrowded, and cats arent being rehomed as there is always an abundance of kittens available from these BYBs. BUT I only said what I said because I don't want people to be put off posting, or even have people leaving the forum, and in turn, their cats not getting the right help.

I think it's pretty obvious which option I would choose .

Chez I totally agree with you, the only thing is that unless we are seen to 'disapprove' (probably the wrong word, but is the only one that comes to me right now) what's to say the same wont happen again and again with the same cat. If we just gave advice, they would see nothing wrong with what they are doing.

Though this is really only a valid point to new members who joined specifically for help in this situation, sometimes the mind boggles when experienced PF members who access to all this information still end up in the situation. But I accept that it does happen.

The other trouble is the written word. It almost always comes across differently to the reader. Especially if the reader is the person in that situation. What can be genuine concern and advice can be read as an attack quite easily. I'm not sure what can be done, if anything about that?

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Camp 1 DEFINATELY!!!

I would rather have advice that errs on the cautious side, afterall we're dealing with lives here and with the example given, I would want to know what could "potentially" go wrong in that situation.

When ever I think somethings not right with my cats I always take them straight to the vets to be on the safe side. I'm not saying I think everyone should do this, but personally this is what I have always done and will continue to do.

I'm not a breeder yet but our first breeding girl will be old enough to come and join our home end of this month and we are mega excited, she's a beauty.

Out of all the forums I have been on, this is the one I always come back to due to the helpful advice given and the people on it.
When one of my boys was ill last year I was given valuable advice from cat owners who had been in the same situation and their advice and helpfullness was a god send at what was a particularly stressful time for me due to what my boy was going through.