What could I do instead of being a vet?

Can anyone recommend a good- by 'good' I mean caring and on call for emergencies- vet in Brussels?

• After 3 days of constant frustrating care from me and my family and following the vet's reassurances that the 2 month old male kitten we found sick (-wounded leg, skinny, gasping, very under-nurtured and very weak-) on the street and took to him could be treated by us at home, and after a sudden deterioration, the poor baby gave his last breath in my sister's hands last night as we were getting ready to take him to an animal hospital hoping to save him. All this because despite our two visits to the vet and despite our insistence that the kitten was in a really bad shape, he advised us to keep giving him medication and liquids at home and that there is nothing else to be done other that the shots of fluid he gave him at his office and what he told us to do at home. If he had just told us once (when we kept calling him in anxiety about the kitten's declining health) to take him to a 24h animal hospital or any other vet with ER facilities (incubator, a drip etc), instead of reassuring us that there is no danger, maybe poor little red would have had a chance. This guy was our old vet (before we moved). And we went to him because when we found the kitten 3 days ago and called our regular vet at 20.20pm and told her we needed to bring the kitten over to her (she has ER facilities), she said that she was leaving at 20.30 and could not wait. I am not saying they are bad vets and I do know they have so many animals (and potential deaths) on their hands that they cannot be expected to act panicky or stress at every sick animal. But I am really fed up now because I want a medical expert who will be there for both human clients and animal patients at their hour of need, EVEN if that is OUTSIDE office hours. And my family are not hypochondriacs nor do we take the cats at the vet with every scratch they get. We are taking care of 6 cats now and after these past three days we now feel suspicious of our current vets and completely lost as if there is no REAL and heartfelt medical help around for animals when you need it the most. Please if anybody knows of a really professional vet, one who will not be dismissive of our concerns and who will BE there on emergencies p-l-e-a-s-e recommend him/her to us. I feel nauseous thinking of the next time something will happen, because now I do not trust our two current vets. If you know of a vet who can really be trusted (not only to be a good scientist but a concerned human being as well) and who has no problem to help and see or take care of a cat even outside office hours please let me know! My dad just buried little red, and we will all feel guilty for ever for having listened to and trusted the vet and for not having taken the kitten to the animal hospital as soon as we found it and insisted they put him on a drip and give him his medicine intravenously for a couple of days till he gets better. If he still had died after that, at least we would know that we did our best and he had no chances left. And at least he wouldn't have suffered as much. Now we will never know, and all we can think of is baby red's last 3 days of torment during which he did try to live (we fed him liquids and his antibiotics for his respiratory problem with a syringe and up until yesterday afternoon he co-operated and happily swallowed the liquids) but could not make it.

• Answer:

  Hi Natalia...first I'd like to say how sorry I am to hear of little red's passing. It sounds like you made an extraordinary amount of effort to help nurse him as best as you were able considering the circumstances. I thought perhaps the best way you could locate a good veterinarian in Brussels rather than entrust a strangers recommendation who's criteria could be much different than yours or your family's idea of excellent care would be to interview several veterinary clinics around your home - one for regular veterinary care and alternatives for emergent care. Here are some websites that offer a list of questions you could use as a guideline adding some more of your own when you interview veterinarians of interest: http://cats.about.com/od/healthconcerns/a/newvet.htm http://www.avma.org/animal_health/brochures/choosing_vet/choosing_vet_brochure.asp http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14014/selecting_a_cat_veterinarian.html?cat=53 http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=475