this review has been a long time coming - the short version is, i highly recommend larkspur and dr. smith to anyone who is deeply invested in their cat's care and wellbeing.
my husband and i are committed cat people and have always had a multi-cat household. we have primarily seen a different, general practice vet for basic health concerns, but when our most senior cat developed (presumed) nasal/lacrimal duct cancer, i really wanted another opinion and additional advice. it is not an especially common cancer, and due to its location and overall progression, its associated treatments are both invasive/extreme and often have a low success rate.
he had already been to the vet countless times that year - probably 12-15 visits in a 4-month period. we knew we didn't want to pursue "curative" treatment, but were open to palliative care options and weren't receiving much guidance from our usual vet. i was consumed with anxiety and anticipatory grief, and felt very lost as to how to proceed. in hindsight, my deepest desire was to do the "right thing" for our guy, but i felt ambivalent as to what the "right thing" might be.
my husband saw how torn up i was over our cat's illness and suggested seeing a more cat-focused vet - a vet that might have seen similar cases to ours. we both knew of larkspur because of its proximity to the nearby low cost spay & neuter facility, so i made an appointment and took him in.
the front desk queen and office manager, sarah, whom i had communicated with via phone and email, is perfect in that role and immediately put me at ease.
i cannot say enough about dr. smith's expertise. i have read some of the other reviews about his bedside manner, and all i can say is that there will always be different strokes for different folks. i personally knew we were in very good hands instantly. he examined our cat again and asked me a lot of thoughtful and detailed questions. because i am a freak that does a lot of research, i knew what he was getting at with most of his questions - he really tried to sort through all the less devastating alternatives in a relatively short period of time. unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, he came to the same familiar conclusion - it was some type of cancer, and the prognosis was not great.
i say a "relatively short period of time," but when i say that, i am referring only to the exam. dr. smith spent a generous full hour talking things through with me. he patiently explained our options as he saw them, and walked me through the next steps to explore those options if we chose to do so.
he also gave me a much-needed come-to-jesus, which i will distill down to its essence - it is okay - more than okay - to just take him home, love him, observe him closely, and make that hard decision at the start of his eventual decline. i did not have to continually take him back to the vet. i did not have to put him through any kind of expensive and almost-as-invasive diagnostics to satisfy my personal "need" to know or, at best, potentially open up another option or two with regard to palliative care. perhaps most importantly, he made it clear to me that this was not only "a" choice, it was a kind, loving choice - for myself, and for our cat.
i did not fully appreciate this wisdom until much later. i appreciated his time, his willingness to educate me and share his expertise, etc., but it took some processing time for me to fully recognize the gift he gave me. i also didn't want to accept it as an option at first, but ultimately, it is what we decided to do - and i am forever grateful for it. we had another happy, high-quality-of-life 15 months together (nearly unheard of for cats with this presumed type of cancer), and when he had his first seizure, we knew it was the very first sign of the decline dr. smith mentioned, and we knew it was time to let him go.
we only saw dr. smith once, but he made a huge, significant impact on me. i will always be grateful to him for his patience and compassion, and would recommend him to anyone.
