It's hard to find a good veterinarian

[ichy]

Semi-random thought, but has anyone else noticed how difficult it can be to figure out if a vet is any good or not? I had to find a new one on short notice this weekend (cat had a semi-urgent issue, regular vet was out of town until Tuesday) and online reviews seem to have a consistent pattern. Almost every vet's office has about a 3:1 ratio of "this Dr. is good" to "ZOMG he murdered my puppy!" reviews. For those of you with dogs, cats, etc, how did you find the vet that you take your pets to?

 

[SheHateMe]

I read "Vegetarian" in the thread title.


Its been a long day.

 

[MrColin]

I've worked in the industry for over a decade. Client reviews are probably the last indicator I would use. Find a technician that works at the nearest emergency vet and ply them with food. They might not be able to name a good one but they can definitely help you cross a few off your list.
For you, I'd say find one that only sees cats. Some vets, especially older ones treat them like small dogs medically, and thats wrong. I would avoid Banfield (the clinic inside most pesmart stores), ZOMG they will kill your pet for sure.

 

[drum]

I read "Vegetarian" in the thread title.


Its been a long day.

beat me to it

 

[HydroSqueegee]

my wife works for one of the best vets in the area. so... no?

 

[blackdogdeek]

ugh. we got a new puppy 3 weeks ago. the day we got him we took him to the vet we got good recommendations from word of mouth. we were concerned the puppy might have fleas in addition to other ailments the breeders' vet noticed prior to our pickup. our new vet said those issues had gone away and that the dog did not have fleas, much to our relief.

two days later my wife took the puppy back to the vet due to excessive scratching and since our new vet was busy she saw another vet in the office. the new new vet noticed right away that the puppy was infested with fleas so he applied frontline and explained how to administer it in the future. on subsequent visits the new new vet also confirmed the ailments that the breeders' vet reported.

we no longer go to the new vet; only the new new vet.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

My housemate seems to make her vet decisions based on which vets are most attractive and/or flirt with her.

:facepalm:

 

[mrCide]

I find vets to be pretty terrible all around these days. Just a money game. I brought our cat in for something and she basically charged us for $150 worth of stuff, only to later find out she'd just been overgrooming. You'd think after so many years you'd be able to tell what something is. Well, that or just fuck it grab all the money you can. Tried to sell us some $25 "cleaner" for the scab, too.

What a joke. Same thing I've heard about others in the area, too. Unless you know an old school vet or someone who actually cares about what they're doing and isn't just interested in money, but from what I hear it's hard to find.

 

[ichy]

ugh. we got a new puppy 3 weeks ago. the day we got him we took him to the vet we got good recommendations from word of mouth. we were concerned the puppy might have fleas in addition to other ailments the breeders' vet noticed prior to our pickup.

Um, might be a good idea to stop getting animals from puppy mills?

 

[blackdogdeek]

Um, might be a good idea to stop getting animals from puppy mills?

lol that was my wife's primary concern but we did our research to ensure they weren't such. they just are very "natural" in their lifestyle and housing environment.

 

[ichy]

I've worked in the industry for over a decade. Client reviews are probably the last indicator I would use. Find a technician that works at the nearest emergency vet and ply them with food. They might not be able to name a good one but they can definitely help you cross a few off your list.

That's actually how I found my current regular vet. So far I've had really positive experiences with him, but since his practice is a small, single doctor business it's not always possible to get appointments on short notice or when he's out of town. That's why I had to scramble to find someone else for my cat's recent issue.

 

[Cookie]

I chose my vet based on proximity. He's about a 15 second walk from my house. So far he's good, but I haven't had any major issues yet.

I had to go to the emergency 24 hour vet last week when I had a puppy vs porcupine incident that left about 20 quills deep in my dog's face. Someone in the park I was at suggested a good place nearby and they were FANTASTIC!

Word of mouth is a good start I think. Online reviews are usually skewed because people often only bother to write reviews when they are very negative.

 

[ichy]

There's a vet's office only a few blocks from me and while they have a reputation for good care they're also known for being extremely expensive.

 

[dustb0wlkid]

My vet is a two minute walk away and allows all day drop offs for appointments. And they are open until seven. They are on the pricey side, but that comes with a phone call from the vet to explain everything and answer questions, detailed care instructions, and a generally kind and friendly attitude. It's well worth it, imo.

 

[Miramonti]

Online medical reviews of almost any sort are replete with fraudulent reviews.

The best way to find a great vet is to get out of the house and talk to people in your area. There are so many pet owners, and most love to recommend a vet they love and share experiences with vets they don't. You can gain a tremendous amount of insight about your local options this way.

5-7pm is probably the best time to encounter people walking their dogs. Another great place is a dog park if you have one near you. You'll find out who's good, who's expensive or reasonable, who's trustworthy, who's difficult to get an appointment with, etc.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I wouldn't treat reviews as my only source of information, but some information can always be garnered from them. For instance, due to how people tend to report negative experiences much more frequently than positive experiences, any time the positive reviews outnumber the negative reviews I'd say that's fantastic. That probably means that the successful treatments completely dwarf the unsuccessful ones in reality.

 

[DrPizza]

Word of mouth works great - but you need to pay attention to whose mouth you are listening to. If someone can't, for example, determine on their own if their dog has fleas (sorry; no offense meant) and needs to take the dog to the vet for that determination, I'm not sure I would consider their opinion as qualified. You really need to find a few knowledgeable people. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, a vet tech from an animal hospital (if you can get so lucky.)

There's a vet near me who *still* insists that if he gives a cat a feline leukemia shot, that the cat can't develop it down the road. The truth is, if the cat has already been exposed, it's generally too late for the shot. That vet is always busy, has a lot of customers, but the customers don't realize that the vet has done nothing to maintain his knowledge (in the words of the vet tech at the regional animal hospital where we were educated about feline leukemia and where they diagnosed our cat that the local vet couldn't figure out what was wrong with for several days.) Basically, that vet is perfectly qualified to neuter or spay an animal, give annual shots, check their gums, and maybe a few other routine things. Anything else... you're better off somewhere else.

Our current vet - that guy is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. He never ceases to amaze me. When we got fainting goats, we were the first in the area. He came out for something routine - shots or something. The next time he came out, it was obvious he had done his homework and knew as much as anyone out there about that particular breed.

 

[shortylickens]

Its even worse if you have something exotic, like a Ferret. I had to search for days to find one with experience.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

A good place to start is any clubs or breeders around for your particular breed/critter. I've been quite fortunate over the years with the vets we've used. One huge flag I've found are vets who don't do their own surgery. We're not talking about specialized procedures, we're talking about vets who do NO procedures.

 

[BladeVenom]

I've worked in the industry for over a decade. Client reviews are probably the last indicator I would use. Find a technician that works at the nearest emergency vet and ply them with food. They might not be able to name a good one but they can definitely help you cross a few off your list.

People who don't understand a field will likely judge the person on their personality, and not on their technical merits.

 

[KeithP]

lol that was my wife's primary concern but we did our research to ensure they weren't such. they just are very "natural" in their lifestyle and housing environment.

LOL. I am sorry but no animal should come from a breeder with fleas or other ailments.

-KeithP

 

[MrColin]

I find vets to be pretty terrible all around these days. Just a money game. I brought our cat in for something and she basically charged us for $150 worth of stuff, only to later find out she'd just been overgrooming. You'd think after so many years you'd be able to tell what something is. Well, that or just fuck it grab all the money you can. Tried to sell us some $25 "cleaner" for the scab, too.

What a joke. Same thing I've heard about others in the area, too. Unless you know an old school vet or someone who actually cares about what they're doing and isn't just interested in money, but from what I hear it's hard to find.

A big part of the problem is that they usually have six figure debt when they graduate, yet they haven't really learned that much in many cases about clinical medicine unless they get poverty wage / or even unpaid internships out of school to learn the clinical stuff. Lots of them go into it thinking they will make crazy bank right out of school and the reality check they face leads them to justify doucheyness.

 

[MrColin]

There's a vet near me who *still* insists that if he gives a cat a feline leukemia shot, that the cat can't develop it down the road. The truth is, if the cat has already been exposed, it's generally too late for the shot.

This is true for all vaccines. If you have polio, or measels, or mumps, or any immunizable disease, a vaccine is not going to help, and will likely distract your immune system from the more pressing issue of your viral disease. Any vet that clearly does not understand this should be reported to your state's veterinary licensing board.

 

[MrColin]

A good place to start is any clubs or breeders around for your particular breed/critter. I've been quite fortunate over the years with the vets we've used. One huge flag I've found are vets who don't do their own surgery. We're not talking about specialized procedures, we're talking about vets who do NO procedures.

I wouldn't even take a free dog from a breeder TBH. Before I even start on that however, if you are asking a breeder for advice (kind of like getting gynecological advice from a pimp IMO) the ones that use vets at all will usually have two. One super cheap one for day to day stuff with loose policies on sending home random meds and supplies, and a really good one who's usually way more expensive but knows wtf they are doing. You want the second one if they aren't strictly a specialist.

Probably a Bulldog breeder would be best to ask because those dogs usually can't concieve naturally and very often can't give birth without a c-section.

Definitely take straight medical advice from breeders with a grain of salt. IME they all think they know more than they do and its often wrong. Also, a dog breeder who breeds more than one breed of dog is more likely to be only in it for the money, any idiot can let a couple of dogs screw and call themselves a breeder. Lastly, purebred = inbred and AKC papers really don't mean squat, especially in terms of the animals health, don't even show that stuff to your vet, they are not in any way useful.

 

[DrPizza]

This is true for all vaccines. If you have polio, or measels, or mumps, or any immunizable disease, a vaccine is not going to help, and will likely distract your immune system from the more pressing issue of your viral disease. Any vet that clearly does not understand this should be reported to your state's veterinary licensing board.

Actually, there are many diseases that you can be vaccinated against post-exposure to prevent them from developing. Tetanus, rabies (though that's also treated with the rabies immunoglobulin or whatever it is, in addition to 3 or 4 shots of rabies vaccine), I think hepatitis A,...

In case of feline leukemia, they haven't really developed the disease; they've only been exposed to animals with the disease.