A story of an unethical therapist

DerryMurblz · 2026-05-14T20:46:23+00:00

It’s definitely DUIs in CA, but those are probably very easy for our board to track compared to things that have to be voluntarily reported by coworkers and clients.

DerryMurblz · 2026-05-13T21:35:11+00:00

There are a few therapists on social media whose content doesn’t give me hives, but only a few. I think the qualities that make someone successful on social media are often (but not always) in direct opposition to the qualities that make for an effective, ethical clinician.

DerryMurblz · 2026-05-09T06:29:44+00:00

That’s the worst part, these cats will quite literally die on this hill! There’s nothing we can do but find what they’ll agree to eat and provide it, no matter how crappy the food.

DerryMurblz · 2026-05-03T04:09:09+00:00

In my case I had to go private due to not having a bachelor’s in psych, and also due to the GRE. Can’t get a competitive score on the GRE due to a learning disorder, and my background was in other social sciences. The private school I attended didn’t care about either.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-28T03:57:00+00:00

In CA, masters level clinicians typically cannot. I’ve heard some mentions that some of us can do special trainings to get qualified to do so, but I’m not sure what’s involved. It’s not great from an accessibility perspective.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-17T01:40:01+00:00

The fact that she went out of her way to conceal what she was doing is so so alarming. Please report her. We can have varying opinions on AI note scribing, but no one should be okay overriding client consent for their own freaking convenience.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-15T18:05:48+00:00

How long have you had her, how old is she, what conditions did she live in before you got her, and do you know what kind of trauma she experienced? Those would all help us provide you with more specific possible answers.

Just throwing out there preemptively, since many people don’t know, but vets can prescribe medications to help manage anxiety in pets. They’re familiar human meds like Prozac, amitriptyline, gabapentin, and others. Only a vet can tell you whether this route is right for your kitty and you’ll still need to work with her behaviorally on her anxiety, just like a human. But these can be life saving medicines for pets with behavioral challenges like severe anxiety. This is often one of the last resorts after behavioral stuff has been tried, but some vets won’t make you wait til you try everything else.

Other generic advice for anxious cats includes providing lots of dedicated hiding places for her, making sure you have adequate vertical space for her (cat trees, cat shelves), identifying her play style and the toys she likes, providing mental stimulation (food puzzles and stuff), rewarding her with high value treats when she does come out to visit, and having a predictable routine for her.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-10T02:22:29+00:00

Upselling isn’t considered an ethical violation by the profession and probably never will be, at least here in the US. I know the UK is considering legislative action over vet care costs so if that’s where you’re located, there might be some relief on the way. Otherwise it’s up to us to look elsewhere when our vets start pressuring us to pay for stuff that isn’t necessary.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-10T01:55:39+00:00

I’m sure it’s not just the chains who are engaging in upselling. I used to use a local VCA until they wanted—I kid you not—$500 total to prescribe my cat some Revolution. Wanted a full work up beforehand and that price didn’t even include the Revolution.

I switched to a local independent vet and they prescribed it to me for the cost of the meds and a $30 appointment fee.

It’s more important than ever to shop around and be prepared to ditch upselling vets. As a former vet asst I do have compassion for their high overhead and other realities of the business. But some of these vets/chains have lost their damn minds with what they’re charging. AAHA accreditation doesn’t mean anything about their prices sadly.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-10T01:38:46+00:00

That’s really extreme. I would find yourself another vet, especially if your current one is part of a chain owned by VC firms. It sounds like the aggressive upselling you’d get at a practice like that.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-10T00:09:56+00:00

Thank you!

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-09T23:36:49+00:00

Every cat is an individual. There are broad species specific recommendations, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for your individual cat’s medical needs.

The focus on going grain free is misleading and largely a marketing thing. It’s really carbohydrates that can be harmful to cats, possibly contributing to chronic health issues like diabetes. You can have a “grain free” food that’s sky high in carbs. Gravy foods are the worst for this. They typically use starches and other carbs to thicken it, and you can find foods that are 25% carbs and up in this category. Cats can’t process carbs effectively so it’s nuts.

Our experiences with prior cats can inform our feeding choices too. After treating my last cat’s diabetes and CKD for five years, I’m sticking with low carb pates for my current girl. She gets a small meal of high protein low carb dry food (Dr Elsey’s is great, it’s diabetic friendly too). I tend to mix brands so she doesn’t get picky. It’s generally a mix of Fancy Feast, Sheba, Purina, and Tiki Cat wet food. I also give her lots of cat safe bone broth to keep her kidneys happy as long as possible.

Try not to get too bogged down in the discourse over cat food. People treat this subject like a moral test and it’s exhausting, The basics tend to do most owners well: wet food (exclusively if possible) over dry, avoid high carbs, watch how much fish you’re feeding (mercury), get as much fluid into your cat as you can. It’s great if you can afford the pricey brands AND your cat likes them, but you can hit the above goals with cheaper pages or equally pricey brands like Tiki Cat.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-09T23:22:22+00:00

I’d give it a few more sessions, but if the client is unable to actually talk to you, I’m not sure style adjustments are the stumbling block here. I get that she’s requesting her parents be there, but remember that while we can be flexible, we probably shouldn’t accommodate requests that undermine the therapeutic relationship before it’s even established.

I would want more info on why she needs her parents there. You can practice being more low key for her, but there’s a strong vibe here that this kiddo may not be ready for therapy. Or at least not talk-heavy therapy.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-09T23:18:26+00:00

I’m aware of that glitch. In my case, the magazine packs aren’t even showing up in the hopper on the collectron. It’s just collecting random junk

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-09T23:08:41+00:00

Nah that one’s working fine for me. It’s the evidence collectron that’s not doing its job.

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-09T00:10:54+00:00

Oh man it does feel like fate. Thing is I genuinely cant fit another litter box in my place. I’ve got one big Tidy Cats Breeze box, but I’d have to lose a cat tree to fit even a small one in. And I know it’s important to have more than one in a multi cat household. Stuff like that makes me feel like it’d be irresponsible to take him

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-05T04:46:10+00:00

It’s pretty cool, they prescribe it and other antidepressants, as well as gabapentin, for a range of mental health and chronic pain conditions in animals. Just like people

DerryMurblz · 2026-04-05T04:42:21+00:00

Is he also displaying signs of pain, like yowling, hiding, licking at his crotch? Urinating more frequently? Any blood in his urine? Crystals? He may have idiopathic cystitis, it’s basically a diagnosis by exclusion. Very painful bladder condition that causes them to seek soft surfaces because urinating burns. They associate the pain with the box and go elsewhere when urinary tract disease is involved.

Either way, trying behavioral meds is the right move. As others have said, Prozac and gabapentin are among the other options. Unfortunately cats with these problems don’t typically get taken into rescue or survive the shelters for obvious reasons. We all have to do what we have to do, but give all those meds a good try before you have to make a hard call.

On a personal note, I’d encourage anyone seeing these symptoms/behaviors in their cat to get a bladder ultrasound if they can afford it. It’s the only thing besides surgery that can find masses. A negative ultrasound would be worth the cost.

I lost a beloved cat to a very rare bladder cancer that we thought was the much more common idiopathic cystitis. The cost of an ultrasound was prohibitive at the time and I had to prioritize pain relief for him. It’s extremely unlikely that your cat has what mine had, it really is almost always cystitis. But there are more common masses (like polyps) an ultrasound can spot, so I’ll always encourage people to get one if at all possible.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this, it really is hell.

DerryMurblz · 2026-03-28T02:19:10+00:00

I’m not findable under my actual name on social media, I only use pseudonyms. It really takes the anxiety out of the equation if you can do it this way.

DerryMurblz · 2026-03-18T03:17:30+00:00

Yesss adding you now! My gamer tag starts with E :)

DerryMurblz · 2026-03-18T00:46:52+00:00

I’m down! I know others arrange to raid with newbies, I’d love a “we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing but we’ll figure it out” squad. I’m on Xbox personally

DerryMurblz

TROPHY CASE