Dog Community

Avoiding Dangerous Veterinarians

Kris L. Christine

Posted : 6/25/2008 5:47:44 AM

"Avoiding Dangerous Veterinarians" [/b] by Jan Rasmussen, award-winning author http://www.dogs4dogs.com:80/vet .

ottoluv

Posted : 6/25/2008 11:57:18 AM

How convenient, you can buy her book or audio on that page @@

AuroraLove

Posted : 6/26/2008 3:32:30 PM

Or you can go on your local craigslist and ask for reccomendations....its free. People are MORE then happy to share their bad experinces with you

Kris L. Christine

Posted : 6/27/2008 5:43:23 AM

Personally, I think the advice to check to see if there is a vet tech or someone who stays with surgical patients left over night in a clinic is excellent. A friend of mine had her scotty neutered and the vet insisted that it stay overnight. No staff was on-hand during the night and there was a violent thunderstorm (her dog, goes wild over loud sounds) and tore out all the stitches and was a mess the next day.

Some dog owners are unaware that there is no 24/7 staffing at veterinary clinics where they have left their dogs overnight after surgery.

ronross

Posted : 6/30/2008 2:23:58 PM

Personally I will never again have an operation done in a facility where there isn't a vet on hand overnight. I was talked into removing the spleen of an elderly cat against my better judgment by a vet who went off on a long weekend before the procedure. Since it was a small clinic the surgeon who came in was a freelancer. She called at 7 to tell me George was resting and the operation appeared to be uneventful. At 10pm she called to tell me George had stopped breathing on his own and she was unable to return to the clinic so I had to take him away.

It took almost 20 minutes for a terrified tech to let me in and I had to take George crosstown to be pts. I'm sure that the clinic's policy was to have a vet on call in case the worst happened but something came up and the freelance surgeon wasn't available. I'll never know why the clinic vet due to come in the next morning wasn't available to perform the euthanasia but this was a nightmare that still haunts me.

Ron

Kris L. Christine

Posted : 6/30/2008 4:57:37 PM

Ron,

What a horrible experience, I am so sorry about your George. Your situation raises another very important point -- make sure the clinic has a vet on call 24/7 and on-site staffing overnight for surgical patients who stay.

Kris