[selzer]

I was reading the training thread about the pup being bopped in the nose and it worked its way into vets and vet techs and toenails and I don't know what all.

Does anyone else feel like they have a pretty good group they work with when it comes to the vet.

My vets are very welcoming, I can come with my dog and hang out in the lobby, use the scale, and have the vet techs give them treats. The vet even brought her Beagle up, when my dog was working on being social with other dogs.

We do not agree about every last thing, and occasionally, I am a little upset about something, but they are very helpful and do try to make things right.

The vets always take the time to answer my questions, whatever they are. (I try to ask them during an appointment time, though I have called and asked a few questions as well.)

And I get the impression that they really care about my dogs.

Even the toenail thing, I have never seen them be rough or irritable, or manhandle my dogs. When they do do toenails, they do it matter of factly. The only really negative thing was the cutting off of a broken toenail -- that was grusome, but after it was done, treats around and the dog, though seriously traumatized got over it really quickly.

Sometimes I think our own responses to the treatment our dogs get causes as much if not more trouble than the treatment itself.

 

[Emoore]

I <3 my vet. I grew up in the country, around large animal vets, so I sometimes get frustrated because she wants to do everything "by the book," but she's very gentle and compassionate with my dogs and always takes time to talk with me. She respects my intelligence and doesn't treat me like an idiot, which is also nice.

 

[FG167]

I agree wholeheartedly with your entire post! We love our vet and when we were working on some stuff with Madix they were very open to being practice sites and doing whatever I needed to have done. A wonderful place. Like you said, there have been times when I've gotten upset about one thing or another but overall - fantastic place. I drive an hour to go back to them as I no longer live in that town.

 

[Jax08]

My new vets are great. My old vets were great. There was one vet there I didn't care for so I just didn't make appt's with her. It was other issues that caused me to leave, not their care. My chiropractic vet is awesome. I wish he were closer and I would just go to him for everything.

I just think that there are vets and techs out there that don't know how to read animals and use the fast, rough way rather than finesse. I've seen it first hand.

 

[Lin]

I love my vet! He's great. He's incredibly knowledgable, uses alternative therapies as well, and is still open to learning about new things. When I mentioned I used D.E. as a natural wormer, he asked me if I could bring in the studies I mentioned for him to read. He also was interested in learning more about partial spay.

Everyone there is so great and helpful, they treat me and my pets wonderfully. I am very involved every step of the way, and they're fine with that and encourage it.

I loved my old vet in Lafayette as well. I used to bring all of my rescue fosters to her, and she was really great about talking me through everything and would lay things out with what needed to be done immediately, what to consider to do in the future, and prices of everything. Which is extremely important to me as someone on a budget! The only thing I disliked about her, was she was not open to alternative therapies or raw diet. So we just had a mutual respect to not discuss it.

 

[liv]

I have a great vet! My girl was terrified of the vet after an antiemetic shot that really burned during a fear period (but I had to get the puking stopped, so it needed to happen). My vet has been known to spend 20 mins on the floor with her to make her more comfortable. Every time we go in everyone works really hard to make her more comfortable and she is getting better every time we drop in. My vet also offers to take her off my hands every time we're there! I lucked out, since I live close enough to my breeder that I'm able to use the same vet, and he adores her dogs.

 

[Whiteshepherds]

Great vet here too, can't say enough good things about her.

 

[dogfaeries]

I love my vets (father and son). They listen to me, and even if they don't always agree with me, they seem to respect my opinion.

They are pretty knowledgeable about GSDs which is nice.

Last Monday I had my 12 yo Italian Greyhound PTS. He had cancer and was very sick.
If my vet hadn't been so wonderful, I don't think I could've made it through the vet visit without falling completely apart.

Good vets and staff are worth their weight in gold!

 

[elisabeth_00117]

My "old vet", the one back in my home town that my Dad and Step-Mom still use is AMAZING. Seriously.

He is always ready and willing and get this - EAGER to learn new things about how to treat illnesses. He is always researching, going to seminars, etc. to find out the best way to treat our animals in the least invasive ways.

He has recently in the past 5ish years starting using a more holistic approach when given the chance too. He will ALWAYS try the holistic way first (if it is something he feels comfortable doing with his knowledge and the situation) and tell you the honest truth about what options you have and why this would work or this wouldn't, etc.

When I expressed an interests in dogs (more so than the average teenager) he invited me to a "behind the scene day" at his clinic on a slow day. I got to go into the rooms with him to meet patience and their owners, watch a few minor operations (draining blood from a ear (it looked like someone blew it up like a balloon and he had to make an incision to release the blood), I also got to walk dogs that were being borded with them (in an enclosed area with a staff member).

He is always willing to help out over the phone when he can and has even (on more than one occassion) stayed late so we could bring in a sick animal - without charging us for the time he stayed over!!!

One time when our elderly cat was VERY ill and close to the end, it was 10pm at night and we had been at the vets office that morning he called us from home to ask how she was doing and gave us his personal home number incase of an emergency through the night.

And this past summer when my beautiful Beau needed assistance to the Bridge, he was away from the office and shopping with his family in the USA (about 2 hours away). One call to his office and his secreatary called him, told him what was going on and he was at my Dad's house within 2 hours. Didn't charge us at all for his travels, the vet check or anything besides the items used to send her off... he sat with her and rubbed her head and said his own goodbye; "you had a good life old girl, your a sassy one and that's why you've been around this long, you can go now, you did your job and you were loved" I remember that like it was yesterday.

Honeslty.. I can't say enough good things about this guy and his team. Makes me smile just thinking of them.

The vet I use for Stark is okay.. I am not happy with them but I go there because they are the best in the area.. staff is nice but it's just not the same.

 

[Stosh]

I am NOT exasperated by my vets-- there's 2 women and a man, they make housecalls, work on any size/type of creature and care for all the animals at our local zoo. They don't make appts, you just walk in and see one of them. When Stosh was shot last month, they wanted to see him every 48 hrs and they never charged for the visits or exams, just tests or procedures. They've all called on their way home from work to check on him or explain things they've researched. I can't say enough good things about them. What I've appreciated most is their honesty, the way they lay out a plan of treatment options and the costs involved and let me make the most informed decision without pressure. And Stosh just lights up when he sees the vets, the staff, they all love him and he just adores all of them. He's happily wagging his tail and trots off with them to go get weighed or whatever. That's the acid test for me.

 

[Larien]

LOVE my vet! Prices are unbeatable, staff is knowledgeable and friendly (one tech is a GSD fanatic!), facility is top notch, very large and with a lot of state of the art equipment and it's own labs, and super nice, excellent vets. I switched to them last year and could not be happier.

When Scout died of bloat at the ER vet that night, they must have faxed my vet clinic the info, because I got a card a few days letter signed by everyone with a nice note - meant a lot to me, since it didn't happen at their place.

 

[EMarie59]

Well, I am about to meet my new Vet as I didn't have one out here in WV this coming Thursday.

However, the one thing I liked about this vet is that someone I knew here had brought in some strays who had fleas. The vet in the town here wanted to charge for the visit, etc, and this woman didn't have much money.
The place that I am going to take Chance, and when I told them the situation over the phone, told me to just come in and pick up the pills to get rid of them.
When I called them the other day to set up the appt for his neutering, rabies, etc, they told me that they knock 10.00 off each thing that I will need done as he is adopted.
Not bad prices either. 95.00 for the neuter. 14.00 for the rabies. I have yet to find out about the teeth cleaning, but it don't matter, he needs it done.

 

[Larien]

Yeah I love when my vet CREDITS! With nine vet-going pets at home, I can sure use it! I referred some friends and got 10 bucks for each one, and 10 off every cat when they get checkups because they're rescued.

And for comparison, my old vet (the one my parents used before I was old enough to say WAIT A MINUTE HERE...) had no lab of his own or anything beyond an XRay. When Scout was alive and having his skin problem that no one could solve, one trip to the vet for skin scrape and culture, some ointment and an exam cost... are you ready... FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. And he didn't fix it! Same stuff at my new, better vet: 119 dollars, and he was CURED within weeks. I was so ticked that my mom had been allowing us to get ripped off by that bandit for all those years!

 

[Elaine]

I like my vet. We don't agree on things, like the way I feed my dogs, but we generally agree to disagree. I am the one in charge of my dog's health care and my vet helps me. It is not the other way around so I get what I want done. They also help out with working around my work schedule, like hiding meds outside after hours so I can pick them up after work.

Unfortunately, I'm shopping around for a new vet as I hate how they over restrain every dog that comes in there. I'm not about to let them do that to my current GSD and possibly ruin his good attitude. I will finish out my old, mild mannered, greyhound there though; he doesn't care they restrain him like a wild animal.

 

[Davey Benson]

There's a huge difference in vets.

I like my clinic. They have a good staff. They allow me to provide imput in reguards to the care of my dogs, and other animals. They cut me a break on rates (preferd customer discount?) They have good bedside manor, and my dogs like them. I drop by frequently with one of my dogs to "weigh in" and they keep all the records on computer, and send me out notices automatically for any vaccination updates or what ever. They allow me to go back to the room with the dog, (just like a regular doctors office) and I can stay with my dog (providing it's not a major procedure) and be there to assist, hold, etc. I get to pickup a lot of free samples, and get nice simpathy cards when one of my "fur kids" passes away.

My only complaint with them would be that perhaps they aren't as well versed on dog specific issues as some other clinics might be, they don't specalize, but they are more general for all animal care. When my first GP got ill, I had to take her to a university hospital to get her diagnosed properly, and I feel that it was something my clinic should have been able to diagnose.

 

[bianca]

I really like my vet, the only thing I don't like is the prices. He takes time to explain all options, doesn't mind me bringing in research I've found, loves my dog, supports my decision to feed RAW as he has seen how much better in general her health has been since the change over. And most importantly, my dog loves him...tail going flat out, trying to sneak kisses in!

 

[EMarie59]

Yeah I love when my vet CREDITS! With nine vet-going pets at home, I can sure use it! I referred some friends and got 10 bucks for each one, and 10 off every cat when they get checkups because they're rescued.

And for comparison, my old vet (the one my parents used before I was old enough to say WAIT A MINUTE HERE...) had no lab of his own or anything beyond an XRay. When Scout was alive and having his skin problem that no one could solve, one trip to the vet for skin scrape and culture, some ointment and an exam cost... are you ready... FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. And he didn't fix it! Same stuff at my new, better vet: 119 dollars, and he was CURED within weeks. I was so ticked that my mom had been allowing us to get ripped off by that bandit for all those years!

WOW on 9 pets, God LOVE you!
WOW on the rip-off vet.
Amanda at the shelter told me how the vet down the street charges them 150.00 for a neuter. That is 60.00 more than what they charge for adoption. Needless to say she about fell off her chair when she heard how little it was costing to neuter Chance.
If I were them I'd be looking for another vet.

 

[Locknload]

I love my vet, but I used to work there (and still do on accassion) so maybe I'm a bit biased. She even left me keep a key to the office with permission to use it when I needed the facilities. I have a running tab there which helps alot with 20 critters. She even allowed me to bring in my goat one time when she had an ulcer on her eye.

But the main reason why I love my vet is because she really knows her stuff when it comes to animal doctoring.

 

[doggiedad]

i use 2 Vets. i have a traditional and a holistic Vet. i like
both of them. when my dog was a puppy i could bring him in
as much as i wanted too. the Vet or one of the techs would
always give him a mock exam and treats. the office cats use
would come over to my pup for a puppy mauling. everytime we went to the Vet i would say "do you want to go to go to the Vet" or
"let's go to the Vet". now when i mention the Vet my dog gets all
exicited.

it's a good feeling being confident with your Vet.

 

[smdaigle]

I love my vet. With large dogs you're going to spend some $$$ and while we joke that their must be a boat somewhere with our dogs' names on it we also feel like they do a good job and give us sound advice. The dogs are comfortable being there and most of the vet techs have been around for as long as we've been going there (15+ years). Our first 2 GSDs had more medical issues than I'd care to recall but each time, we'd talk about options and our vet would give us options - aggressive down to more conservative options. We never felt pressured one way or another. They follow-up by phone anytime a dog has been seen due to illness or injury and they were very compassionate after Retta and Rex's deaths. We also board with them and again, the dogs do well and never resist going. No complaints!