How do you find a good vet?

birduk

I am hoping someone can help me find a recommendation for a vet. I move around every couple of years and mostly found a good one through luck rather than judgemnet.

I don't really want to go to a 'generic vet'- you know the national types that are found in the back of a pet store, but a good local one. How do you go about finding one? Are there recommendation websites?

One of my cats had to have a major opperation a couple of years ago, so I would ideally like to transfer her info before the vet sees her. Is this possible? Is it like when we go to the dentist?

Daft questions I know! But kitties need their annual jabs next month, so I need to get this sorted. Thank you!

Croatoan

Word of mouth and trial and error I'm afraid.
And generally, but not always, out of hours work tends to be done by the "generics". We were with a small vets but 90% of the time we ended up going to the generic because stuff happened OOHs. In the end we just decided to move to them and tbh have been happier with their service than the small vet.

Waterfalls

the surgery i work for takes referals aswell as 1st opinion for orthopaedic and soft tissue. we accept old referrals clients on to our 1st opinion books as long as its been year since the pet was last seen.
so best to give the surgery a call as ask them and see what they have as a policy. which ever new vet u chose will just request the history form the previous vet used

krlyr

Compile a list of questions and see if you can have an appointment made to grill your potential new vets. A decent practice shouldn't object to this, and those that do - well, it'll act as a handy filter, I wouldn't want to use a vet that can't be bothered to spare 10 minutes to reassure an owner that their pet will be in the best hands.
I would ask stuff like how their emergency service works - mine is in-house, which is fab as I know I will see the same staff as we see during opening hours and won't be shipped out miles to a different surgery. Ask what procedures are done in-house, what specialists they have or refer people to (and then you can look up the reputation of them too), basically ask everything you can think of.
Vets are able to transfer notes but if your current vets wanted to get a bit petty, they could charge you for providing a copy. I've not heard of anyone who's been charged for having their pet's history sent to their new vet though
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/guide-to-professional-conducts-for-veterinary-surgeons/2a-disclosure-of-information/

This page may be worth a read
http://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/find-a-vet/choosing-a-veterinary-practice/

bugslet

Might be worth saying broadly the area you are moving to and get a recommendation from people on here. I'd certainly recommend the one I use if you happen to be heading near west Manchester.

birduk

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately word of mouth is no good to me as I have just moved to be a student (and most students don't have pets!). I was in the High Peak and am now in Leicester.

Kitties don't really need any follow up at the moment, but I would like their notes just in case something similar arrises. Oldest kitty also had some bloods about 6 months ago that it would be good if the new vet had a copy of.

I like the idea of going to have a chat with the vet/practice. I might try that one first.

narabanekeater

Birduk I can help. Im also in Leicester. If you message me what area your in I will help

rising_from_the_ashes

I would also say word of mouth ..... do any of your neighbours have pets?

I'm on the lookout for a new one too - have been with mine for years (and in fact stayed even when I moved a fair distance away as I'd been so happy with them) but things have changed and their out of hours service is now around 25 miles away (not great if you need your pet seen quickly ...... ) and tbh I was less than impressed with the service when I needed help quickly with Ben .....

I may well pop into a few and have a look - I did when I first got here (didn't know anyone either) and there were a couple that I'm sorry to say, I wouldn't have dreamt of taking my pets too!

Sooz00

I'd definitely go and have a look around the various vets practices are speak to the vets, nurses and reception staff to get a feel for the place. If any practices are not happy to spare their time to show you around and talk to you, then I'd be wondering why and give them a wide berth. When I moved vets 6 years ago, I looked around 4 or 5 vet practices and spent a good half an hour at each (at least) as I have cats with ongoing medical problems and needed to know how they could/would deal with them. Not only that, but I'd had two bad experiences at other vets which have made me somewhat neurotic and so I needed them to know that and be okay with it in order for me to build that trust up again.

The things that were most important to me were ability to treat my pets, ability to deal with me, compassion, the out of hours service, the services/specialisms offered, in-house facilities and equipment, the standard and cleanliness of kennels and cat wards, that they had isolation wards, that (at the time) they offered prescriptions, the ability to see the same vet where possible for continuity, vets happy to take telephone calls/give advice, and their general open-mindedness. The practice I chose had no problems at all talking things through and showing me around. I am still with them now and have referred many people their way.

I did have an odd experience at a practice I didn't choose. The person who showed me around was the practice manager and she couldn't answer any of the questions I asked but was determined to very enthusiastically tell me all about her redecoration plans and the colours she's chosen. Funnily enough, the colour scheme wasn't my first consideration

Re. vets records, under the data protection act, they have to give you/forward the records if you ask but they can make an admin charge. When I changed, the old vet sent everything over and didn't charge but that could be to do with the blunders he'd made and the specific circumstances.

Fridaycat

When I first moved to Shropshire, I found a good vet by getting in touch with the Cats Protection lady and asking which vet they used. I figured if the vet was good enough for them, then they would be good enough for me. That was over 14 years ago and I have had nothing but fantastic service from the vet in that time.

(As well as the vet recommendation, I also ended up getting a little kitten at the time, called Friday, so more than one good thing came out of that conversation :rotfl:)

gettingready

Would love to know the answer to that question myself.

I am very limited as to which vet I can use, with 4 - 6 cats in house at any one time and large dog and no car - got to be within walking distance (dog) or cheap cab fare (cats) so I am generally with a vet hospital that is open 24/7 and 20 min walk from where I live.

Am I happy with them? Reasonably happy but they charge and absolute fortune which is an issue, especially now.

So today 4 of my cats went for their boosters/vaccinations to a charity vet who is not very far away but involves 2 bus rides each way , with 4 cats at once - impossible. Thankfully, Paddypaws (from this forum) ofered me a lift there and back in her car, could not have done it otherwise.

The total price was less than a third of what I would have paid at my regular vets....