So I was very irritated with my vet

[SamTheDog]

A couple of weeks ago a few days after picking up my pup I took him for his first vet visit. Of course I had been reading on this forum and have been obsessed with the ears ever since. During his checkup she was rubbing and folding his ears, which made me tense. Then I said "hey be careful with the ears, I heard that you aren't supposed to touch them when they are trying to stand up." She said "No thats not true" and started to play with them more and fold them backwards. Whether she's right and its a myth or not, it was very hard to not yell at her. I was very annoyed. Now I have to go back for his next visit and I'm worried about the same thing. Am I wrong here? What can I say to keep the vet off his ears?

[MaggieRoseLee]

Unless there is a real traumatic injury, our pups ears going up (or not) is GENETIC. I mess with my pups ears all the time and 3 out of 3 of the sets of ears went up just like the breeder said and like their littermates ears went up.

I think this is another poor breeder 'Old Wives Tale' thing passed on over the years as a truth. Like 'if your puppy goes up stairs in the first year they will get Hip Dysplasia' type of lie.

Both of those 'lies' cover poor breeding. It won't be the irresponsible breeders fault if the ears stay down and YOU messed with them. And it won't be THEIR fault when your dog get Hip Dysplasia cause YOU allowed your pup to go upstairs.

Both ears and hips (and many other issues in our breed) are primarily genetic and not something caused by a new owner accidentally 'breaking' their new puppy.

[gsdraven]

I'd be mad too not because she touched his ears to begin with but she blatanly ignored your request. I won't work with a vet that can't respect my wishes.

Talk with her at the next visit and explain that this is your dog and she needs to respect how you want your pup handled as along as it is not endangering the dog's life. If she can't do that then I would take my business elsewhere.

[carmspack]

wives tail or not -- the vet did not act in a professional manner - a bit immature, not sensitive or respectful of the owner .

[Jax's Mom]

I'd be really annoyed if my vet acted that way.
In this case, the ears should be fine... Jax had other puppies chewing on his ears the whole time they were trying to come up and they came up... but whould it be acceptable for your vet to say "you're an idiot, I'm neutering him anyway."?
Your dog, your call.

[Josie/Zeus]

It's hard to say because I know how worried you are with Sam's ears. She should have been more sensitive to how you feel about it and not continue rubbing his ears the way you described.

I love our Vet but the vet techs- it's a hit and miss. The last time we were there, I almost lost it. How would like it if the vet tech talks to you like this:

VT: What are you feeding him
Me: Raw
VT: You realize he could get salmonella
Me: When was the last time you've seen a dog that has salmonella?
VT: he will get this and this and this shots shots today
M: Hold the rabies for the next check up, he's only 14 weeks, I don't want to overload him with shots
VT: With all due respect, it's the Vet's decision
Me: No, you are mistaken, my DOG, my decision.

She then started to take his temp, heartrate etc.
VT: Are you planning to neuter him
Me: Nope
VT: Are you planning to breed him
Me: No
VT: Then why don't you neuter him?
Me: It's none of your business, honestly you are starting to annoy me, go get the Vet.


The vet comes in- she is extremely sweet and very smart. She checks Odin, then we talked. The whole time, the vet tech was having an attitude in the room- I wanted to punch her face! I tell the Vet that I will wait for the next check up for the rabies (Odin will be 16 weeks then), she said "no problem". Technically, we can't force you about shots, you could choose not to have shots and we can't do anything about it. The VT face was priceless.

The VT was about 20-22? Obviously she knows it ALL. She was very lucky that I was in a good mood. My husband wanted to me call the Vet and tell her what happened. But I didn't want her getting fired- not in this economy.

[Good_Karma]

I've gotten a bit irritated at vets in the past too. I don't like it when a vet bursts into the exam room and practically yells out a big hello and startles my dog. I don't like vets who do high pitched baby talk at Niko (which freaks him out) and then they scold him for it, and then continue to talk like that in spite of the obvious way it bothers him. And I don't like vets who tell me what I should feed my dog. They can make a suggestion, but if I say I am going to feed ____, then the vet better just say okay and not try to argue with me.

I think it's very important to have a vet whose practice is small enough that they remember your dog and his or her quirks. And of course the vet must listen to you, since you know your dog the best.

One thing about the ears, if you never touch your puppy's ears, he might not allow you to handle his ears when he is older. Just sayin. You can do it gently if you are afraid of messing up the cartilage, but it's not a bad idea to get him used to having his ears touched now.

[CarrieJ]

I think it's very important to have a vet whose practice is small enough that they remember your dog and his or her quirks. And of course the vet must listen to you, since you know your dog the best.

Absolutely.

Don't feel bad about firing a vet. That's my motto since Alice started having seizures.
First vet, did do EKG and blood but only prescribed Pheno. Didn't talk about nutrition, didn't talk about combination of meds. Everytime she had an episode we'd call, and get "give her another pill" to the point her blood level was on the very high therapuetic range and she was still having seizures. When I called him to report side effects like excessive hunger and "drunky butt" He told me, "Sometimes you just have to put up with behavior issues"
(later I realized that that clinic's price for the pheno was astronomical)

Wrong! As Donald Trump says, "You're Fired!"

Second vet was better but sold her practice (without telling patients).

Third vet (in two years) I really like, small practice...only Dr. He was the first to look at her seizure log book and say, that without the blood work the time and type of seizures that she was having her Pheno seemed high.
He actually listened to my concerns and has started lowering the drug.

Aside from that rambling story; the bottom line is the vet is a doctor...It's license to "practice" That means they're not good at it yet and still need to practice. They need to listen to your concerns.

Oh, and if the vet tells you to isolate the puppy and not take it out for the first five months of it's life...Find another.
You can take a pup out if you are responsible about it.

[KZoppa]

i actually left a vet because he insisted that Riley and Zena were related and that because Zena has hip displacia that Riley automatically would as well. And they Zena would as she got older start biting people. He ALWAYS pushed things. He didnt listen to me. He basically had that high and mighty "well i went to vet school, did you? no, okay then i'm the boss" attitude. I wasnt the only one having problems either. They lost 75% of their client base because of that attitude. They assumed because they have the degree that they didnt have to respect me as a pet owner giving them my business. If a vet cant respect your wishes, they're no good. hope your next visit is better. if not, definitely find a new vet. You want it to be a positive experience for both you and your pets.

[selzer]

I think your vet is right and it will not hurt the pup, but she should have been a little more tuned to your anxiety about it.

In fact, I kind of like when a vet takes the time to calm a pup down and or touches them in areas a lot of dogs have trouble with, paws and ears. It will make taking care of issues in the future a lot easier.

I would not fire a vet for something like this, or you might run out vets before you have a real nasty situation with one. But that is just me thinking the worst.

People will fire a vet for discussing the dog's weight with them. That is ludicrous. If a vet sees an issue and does not feel free enough to discuss it with me, then I do not need that vet.

As for the what are you feeding Vet tech, everyone's an expert. She probably has three dogs doing great on Science Diet.

Things that I dislike at a vet's office:

1. When they fail to mention that their surgeon is out of town when you call in the morning to tell them that your bitch is in labor. Only a good long relationship can overcome something like this.

2. when they take the dog out of the room to draw blood or give shots. I prefer to be right there. Sorry. They were doing this for a little while, but recently they have gone back to their original way of doing it right in the exam room with me present. I do not like when they have to stab the dog more than once with the needle, but I want to know what my dogs have been through, even if it is hard. I stood there and watched the c-section -- that was really hard. But that was not my current vet either. If I can watch that, I can see handle watching them take a temperature, give shots, and take blood.

3. If they are afraid of the dog even if the dog has shown no signs of aggression. I will suggest a muzzle if they have to do something painful or scarey to my dogs, though none of my dogs have ever tried to chew on them. My vet is great on this, never had a problem with them being scared just because of my breed of dog. I have suggested a muzzle a couple of times and we used it, but it was always my choice.

4. One of the techs has a very high pitched screachey voice she uses to greet dogs and puppies. None of my dogs liked her. I finally told her to tone her greeting down a little. Now all my dogs seem to like her.

I am very fortunate, I have been dealing with my current vet and his office for almost thirty years now. I like them both, and I appreciate that they respect my opinions on things, are free with information, and do not seem put out when I go elsewhere for some stuff. I really appreciate that their first answer to everything is not surgery. They do not always jump to diagnostic tests, sometimes they will treat for a common disease indicated by the symptoms and if that solves the problem, good they saved me some money. If not, we dig deeper.

They run low-cost speuters that I would never do (because I would want the bloodwork), and the vet who still does surgeries does speuters for the shelter. They do a lot for the shelter. But they never give me a hard time for being a breeder, and they will give my name out. A lot of my dogs look the same to outsiders, so they always ask me who I have with me, but that is ok. What's bad is when I get their names wrong!