When you REALLY hate your vet

Debi

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#1
Don't quite know where to post this..don't know if you've experienced the same...but I liked my vet as a person..BUT..his office and the staff were awful. Not to mention EVERY time I took my dog..could have been for nail clipping.......they insisited on lab work..next thing ya know I'm out a hundred dollars. I love my dogs...more than I like most people..lol.so I am more than willing to give them the best care. BUT..I am not stupid. I will not be just ripped off and look the other way. I am going to a new vet tomorrow with my Hammie. Seems he has an ear problem that doesn't always bother him..but when it does, I fret. I miss my old vet. He was gruff, but I loved him so dearly because he just cared...he wasn't in it for the money. He'd do what was necessary and I'd pay...and that was it. I really miss him. My old vet's staff were rude...well, I won't go on. Just wish me luck. I just want someone who will be there when I need them.....WITHOUT LOOKING AT MY WALLET first. I could tell you story after story that you probably wouldn't believe. How did you all find a vet that you liked, respected, and took good care of your pets????? I live very rural..most vets around here only take care of farm animals, so I'm kind of at a loss for choices.
 
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#2
Have you thought about having an honest conversation with your vet about his staff and how you feel about being bullied into unnecessary lab work? He might appreciate knowing about it since you're probably not the only client who dislikes it enough to look elsewhere.

If he doesn't appreciate your feelings about how you are being taken advantage of, well, you won't have to feel bad about leaving or miss him because you'll have found out that he wasn't as nice and caring as he led you to believe.

It's hard to change vets. We had to change ours, not because he or his staff were doing anything wrong, but he is very ill with MS, and as the disease progresses he's unable to handle our large dogs. I also noticed that he was forgetting things and missing things. I have a friend whose husband has MS and talked to them about it. It turned out that he was taking the same treatment as my vet, but was seriously considering stopping the treatment because he said it left him with the attention span of a two year old and he was finding out that his memory was being affected. He explained that it was like the holes in Swiss cheese; there were just gaps in the middle of things he knew. As much as I hated to leave our vet - I dearly love him and his wife - it could have been dangerous for him to have to deal with our dogs, and it wasn't safe for the health of our dogs. I've just explained it to him and his wife as being unfair to ask him to wrangle our monsters.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.
 

Kagome100

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#3
thats all`

just $100 for a dog???? as in shots... My dog buster when I take him to a vet It cost us like $200 to $300 bucks.... My little dog Red well it can go up to $150 to $200 bucks.
 

milo

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#4
same here

hi there i live in the uk and the vet bills over here is very high me and my mum took my dog milo to the vets last month to be wormed and to get a check over and it costed loads!!!!!!!! dont worry its the same amount here too!!!! :p :p
 

HarleyzGal

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#5
I guess I'm really lucky becuase our vet is very honest and has very honest pricing, but there is a male vet that works there and we refuse to see him becuase when my sister took 2 of her rats there to be given treatment for mites he was very very ruff with them. Good luck to your doggy though!
Milo, you live in the UK? Same here! :)
 

Debi

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#6
Just to clarify..when I take my pets to the vet for shots, or surgery, or emergency treatment..I expect to pay for the treatment. What my complaint was is that you can't take your pet to that vet for ANYTHING without them insisting on lab work..they say it's their rule, so you can't even have your dog's sore paw looked at without this huge fee. Maybe I'm old school...I was used to taking my pet to an older gentleman who just took care of whatever the problem was...no additional nonsense. It's sad that you can't have your dog's small cut stitched with 2 stitches and have to pay $523.00. My Addie had a porcupine walk up to her dog house and when she poked her head out...wham, luckily only 4 quills hit her nose. Took 5 minutes to remove at another $400.00. One more, then I'll stop...lol....took my cat because she had a 'hot spot'. He never even examined her..never took her out of the carrier....just decided I had to put her on meds for the rest of her life. I insisted on a shot of cortisone and guess what....she was cured immediately. Anyway...I found a new vet. It's a very long drive, but she was wonderful. She spent alot of time examining Hammie and even with his antibiotic, the charge was only $65.00...just more to my liking...no fooling around with 'tests', etc.
 
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#7
We're very fortunate in our vet. Not only is he very good with the animals and very reasonable (when we had to take Shiva in at 11:00 one Thursday night because she'd ripped a huge gash in her hide he met us at the clinic, patched her together for the night, had us bring her back in the morning, stitched and stapled her back together - and only charged us $220.00!), he's very common sense about things. About every two weeks or so I take my girls in for a "social call" to keep them acclimated to going to the vets, being weighed and handled and making sure they see everyone there as a familiar friend. Dr. P's enthusiastic about that sort of thing, being knowledgeable enough about these dogs (rare, most have never heard of them) to be appreciative of anything that makes examining them easier. There's never a charge for the social visit, even though my girls probably go through at least a quarter of a pound of treats every time!
 

Debi

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#8
Wow, Renee...your vet sounds like a dream. You really are very fortunate!!!!! That's the best idea (providing your vet agrees)...taking them in for social visits. I bet it does make things so comfortable when it's time for an exam! I wish my dogs travelled better. Addie always wants to drive (never appreciated) and Hammie is always sick. I'd love to take them with me sometimes just to get them more socialized.
 
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#9
Try giving Hammie ginger snaps when you have to take him for a drive. The ginger is great for nausea. Mine will eat candied ginger, but they're strange. I don't imagine many dogs would do that. I always keep some candied ginger around in case anyone (me especially!) gets a stomach bug. It was the only thing that helped a friend of mine through her morning sickness, too.
 

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