Fuming with my vets - rightly so or not, some advice before I call today

suki1964

Glad you are now feeling that you are sorted

Yes you can go to as many vets as you wish, you dont have to stick with anyone. Myself I had my boys registered with two vets, one close to home and one close to work who in my opinion had the better equipped surgery so if my lads needed anything major they went there whilst the vets close to home got the routine and middle of the night stuff

I have to disagree that all vets needed every possible bit of equipment, that would price too many out of business. Yes YOUR insurance covers you, but many people cant afford insurance once their pets have become older and have pre existing conditions. If they were stuck with vets who were running state of the art practices with no choice - their animals wouldnt get the treatment.

My own vet is a farm animal practice - you have a cow and you get the best of everything. I dont expect the vet to have state of the art surgery for my dog, what he has is adequate and what cant be done there is referred up to another surgery - I can afford my vet practice. If I wasnt happy with the diagnosis and treatment I would move like a shot but although they dont have the lavish equipment they are still excellent vets and I trust their judgement 100%

At the end of the day you need to trust your vet's veterinary skills, not go on bits of equipment they may or may not have. If you dont have trust then I suggest you find another vet.

Hope little one feels better soon

YorkiePud_3

At the end of the day, forget all the carry on re the vet ... the OP was scared and worried, seeing her pet suffering and being in distress.
If the vet didn't have the equipment to use immediately, he or she should have admitted that, giving the OP the opportunity to phone round other vets to see if they could have had this procedure any quicker.
That's one issue ...

The second issue is that the OP was worried sick about her pet ... and seeing her pet getting worse then anyone who has ever owned an animal should be able to have the heart to say YES, I can understand why you got in such a state and it is totally understandable!!!!
... not a telling off for daring to criticise the vet!!

OP I truly hope you can get everything sorted ... grass seeds are shocking things ... I have seen spaniels with red and bleeding knuckles and in agony because of having got the grass seeds in their ears .. they have then burrowed down and caused the skin to erupt on the toes ... nasty nasty things they are, so I truly hope you can get this sorted out for your pet ...

And if you don't have confidence in your vet, then after this procedure I would definitely start asking round ... you can usually find a good, understanding vet by word of mouth ... you have to be able to feel safe putting your pet in their hands ... I totally understand that.

Hope everything goes ok!

RacyRed

KVet wrote: »

An xray machine is the norm in most veterinary practices yes, an endoscope is most definitely not.
<snipped>
In some ways I can see why you are annoyed but if you were THAT worried 2 weeks ago why didnt you PUSH for or ASK for a referral instead of going "why didnt my vet refer me?" If they didnt think it was that bad they wouldnt have unless you asked for it and pushed for it, same with human doctors.

KVet, wouldn't you expect the OP to have been offered an xray or some other appriopriate diagnostic proceedure for her dog if the endoscope was broken? It was the vet who wanted to use the endoscopy, not the OP. Isn't it normal for diagnostic as well as treatment options to be discussed and decisions made by both the vet and the pet owner? This was obviously not done in this case.

In the endoscope's absence the OP was charged for additional consultations and antibiotics until the diagnostic tool became available to that vet practice.

I don't think it is unfair to say that the vet has profited and the poor dog has had her suffering extended by this particular vet's course of action.

As for your second comment, we pay our vets for expertise. If diagnosis was not possible because of broken equipment this should have been fully explained and all options discussed, including referral to another vet. It wasn't, so all the OP had to go on were her own instincts.

You do not have to be a vet to be able to see the very unprofessional behaviour involved in this case.

welshmoneylover

How's the dog doing?

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for asking. She is the same as yesterday really. Not any worse and the lump is the same and nothing has started protruding - not that she will let me look for that long though. Thankfully it will be sorted in a few days time and this is all I wanted. It irritates her more when her collar is tugged so I have her in the harness now when I walk her so it does not irritate her.

It is worse when she is excited as this is when it literally pours out of her nose then. Which is nice and people tend to give her a wide berth and ahe is excited because she wants a fuss. Bless her.

RacyRed

blue_monkey wrote: »

It is worse when she is excited as this is when it literally pours out of her nose then. Which is nice and people tend to give her a wide berth and ahe is excited because she wants a fuss. Bless her.

Poor little mite , lets hope they an get it all sorted out for her tomorrow.

blue_monkey_2

Back from the vets now. She had the scope and on the top section of her nasalpassages they could see some fine strands which they think are from grass seeds. They could not reach to remove them so they have flushed water through her nose in the hope this will dislodge them. She has some anti-biotics and they have sent off some swabs as well.

If the leaking does not stop and the infection does not clear then she has to go back in for another scope.

She is whining a lot tonight and cannot seem to settle at the moment but she has not been back long. She has had some chicken and was ravenous, turned her nose up at her dried food (we do not think she is that keen on it, Eukanuba Puppy, but they say not to change their food too often and this is what she has always had) I'll keep updated as the week goes though.

YorkiePud_3

If the flush has dislodged them, they may be loose and irritating her ... ooohhh you really feel for them, don't you?

If she is eating enough "other" food then I wouldn't worry too much about the dry food for now ... she may not be able to smell it, so it may not seem all that appetising to her and she may go for stronger smelling food that she can get a whiff of!!

CFC

Those damn grass seeds are a nightmare. I had a retriever/spaniel cross who was constantly suffering from them working their way up between his toes and coming out of the top of his leg. Evil little things; and must be exquisitely painful up the nose or in the ears.

emlou2009

my grandad was a vet and used to take me to work with him sometimes when he had a half day, and i do remember several cases of cats and dogs getting grass seeds go between their toes and coming out by their tails and armpits!

OP, i hope the grass seed dislodges itself soon. can they not cut into the lump to take it out? it seems a bit pointless to do another scope if there is nothing in the way, if the infection isnt in the nasal passage then it is probably being irritated by the infection next to it