Horrible vet visit - need to vent!

Well, nobody likes ALL dogs (I'm personally not a big fan of dogs who try to eat me), but she should have been a little nicer than that. Geez. She could have at least been cordial, with you!

And anybody who spends any amount of time around dogs knows the difference in mouthing and snapping! UGH

I would definately say something to your regular vet about this woman.  She seems like a real umm yeah you know where I am going!  Even if she wasn't "fond" of Buddy, she should have been more professional and respectful towards you.  If she is going to be in that line of work, she needs to adjust her attitude.  By the way,  Buddy should be fine enough to be around another dog on Sunday!  Hope he gets to feeling better!

When I made the appt., the person I spoke to said that the vet was out and there was a substitute.

Talk to your vet (in person or write a letter) and let him know what happened.  Don't just talk to an assistant.
 
Tell him the next time you are told that you will get this substitute, you will go to a different vet for that visit.  People who go to a different vet can potentially switch permanently, so your vet will not want that to happen even once.

I would definetely tell your vet!  Otherwise he's liable to think everything went well with her feeling in for him...Wrong!  Yes, you'd think as a vet she would have been more professional  but not always the case.  Hope Buddy is feeling better[] and has fun on Sunday.

Do you think I should contact my vet about her?

Yes I do.  A veterinary practice is still a business, and no one wants their years of hard work, and great relationship with their clientele, ruined because of an unprofessional attitude.

Thanks everyone!  What I didn't mention in the OP, was that this was just the cap on a very bad day for me.  It just didn't settle right with me.
 
Sue

Yes I do. A veterinary practice is still a business, and no one wants their years of hard work, and great relationship with their clientele, ruined because of an unprofessional attitude.

 
Ditto.
 

I would definately have a talk with your regular vet about it.  I would have been upset too, if I were you. 

ORIGINAL: spiritdogs

Do you think I should contact my vet about her?

Yes I do.  A veterinary practice is still a business, and no one wants their years of hard work, and great relationship with their clientele, ruined because of an unprofessional attitude.

Yep!!

Just the things she said alone where rude and inappropriate. Never should a client be treated like they are an idiot. Even as a tech I will never express my personal opinion to the client. Yes, there is a lot I do not agree with but I will hold my tong back and if it's something affecting the health of the dog I will let the vet know and the vet will kindly inform the client of what is causing the problem but never make the client feel as if they are stupid. I think about it this way, if I was in the clients position how would I feel about what is being said. I still don't know nearly as much as a vet but if the vet thought something I was doing was wrong I'd be happy to take suggestion to fix the problem, just not criticism. All dogs big and small should be treated equally.

Also I avoid calling any dog aggressive, they may just be fear reactive which happens a lot in places they have never been to. Good vets understand this and do what they can to make the dog feel more comfortable, even offer treats. Some dogs even act differently towards different people. The signals the substitute vet was giving your dog may have also come off offensive to him and that may be why he was acting in such a way. People tend to hold their feeling back about what they think about each other, dogs on the other had let you know right out if they don't like you. As much as you didn't like that vet your dog probably didn't like her just the same and with good reason.

To answer your questions I would defiantly tell your normal vet about how you felt.

Okay, I have to add to this. I switched vets twice, partially a third time. The first vet was nice and everything, but the only reason I was taking my animals there was because my mom went to him and when I got my first cat, naturally most children will take their first pet where their parents take their animals. After a while he began to grate on me for little things. The first big thing was after I switched vets and had to put down my Doberman due to a temperment problem(got him from a bad breeder, but was my first dog and I didn't know any better). I did the right thing as he didn't like strangers or kids or other dogs and probably would have ended up biting someone someday, he did bite my mom but that was her fault and she'll tell you it was. Plus, he was going after our Husky, not my mom, she just got in the way, which again she'll tell you that. My mom still goes to this vet and she told him that I had put the dog down and he had the nerve to say he could have found him a home. Then I went to him with my Aussie because she was walking funny and we found out she was constipated for some reason. I told him about trying to figure out her other problem and he flat out said that he doesn't like to label things. I'm sorry, but I want to know what my dog has, not have the vet say well it could be this or this, but I'm not going to tell you what it is I'm just going to tell you what it could be.

Then there was my second vet, they were fine to begin with. Then the original vets sold the practice to another vet that was working there and that was fine, he was fine. Then they got a new female vet there who did basically the same type of condescending attitude you got. I brought my second Doberman in there because he was having a peeing problem and she tried to tell me, without outright saying it, that I had no idea what I was talking about, that it's normal for a puppy to pee often. Often yes, but not every 5 minutes and not right after they had come in from outside and peeing out there. She took a urine sample and found out he had a bladder infection, I think she just did the test to satisfy me, not because she thought there was anything wrong with the dog. Well, she gave me some drugs and told me to come back in 2 weeks to see if it was gone. We came back and she again treated me like I was an idiot and acted, again, like there was nothing wrong with him. He did come back with the infection still present so we got more drugs and told to come back in 2 more weeks. This time the vet wasn't there so we only saw a tech and she had the fricken nerve to try to give me housebreaking advice. Yes, that's really gonna help when the dog has a problem, and not a housebreaking problem. This time there was no infection present but the other vet was there and he said it could be something further up so gave me another antibiotic. We went back for his next set of shots and had the vet I liked so I talked to him about the problem and he said they could do a blood test to see if it was something wrong with his kidneys. We did that and it cam back fine, but I was done with that vet and switched. The new one ended up doing some x-rays with dye and found out he had pelvic bladder. Gee, I think something was wrong with him and the previous vet didn't believe me.

But, the new vet also ticked me off because my Aussie has had a problem with throwing up since she was like a year old, except then it was just the bile from not eating as she occasionally likes to starve herself. Then just last year she started throwing up blood and throwing up more often. I took her to the vet and they tried some drugs and while on the drugs she was fine but when she came off she'd start throwing up again. After the last time I talked to the vet and he said we could try a longer course of drugs, as he thought it was a bacteria causing it, while I took the drugs as I knew she wouldn't puke while on them. He also said if the drugs didn't work this time there was nothing we could do and we'd have to live with it, which I wasn't satisfied with. My mom had to take my Grandma's dog to the vet one night and talked to a vet there about Dizzy(the Aussie) and after she told me about him I decided to go there. This vet was willing to prescribe the drugs after I told him she didn't puke while on them. We even went to the U of M because of this vet caring enough and they still couldn't figure out what's wrong with her except maybe Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We tried switching her food but that didn't help so I continued to get the drugs from that vet, but he's a little farther away than I'd like so that was a pain. Dizzy had her yearly check up in February and we had a new vet, one that was new there. I talked to her about Dizzy's problem and told her I had switched vets for that problem and that she was on drugs and they were controlling it but that the vet we saw at this clinic wanted us to live with it and I wasn't going to do that. She was willing to prescribe the drugs. After going to the U, they gave us a lower dose of the drug and that worked to controll it. This new vet gave us the lower dose and also talked about getting it as low as possible. I figured I'd try giving Dizzy the drug once a day and see if that still worked. It did so now she's on an even lower dose and still not puking.

So, even though that was very long and sorry about that, there are bad vets all over the place.  They may be good at one thing, but not another.  I don't like my dog being on drugs, but if it keeps her from throwing up, I'll gladly keep her on them. And on top of that she now has spay incontinence so she's on drugs for that too. So, I know you feel.

Shiva

 

If he's a good vet (which he sounds like it), then I'm sure he would appreciate a letter or in person complaint.  I would think that he would want to know how his clients and patients were treated while he was away so he knows to get someone else. 

I will say after working for 4 different vets each one is so different from each other. For example one was quiet but straight to the point and did a great job informing the client with exactly what they needed to know without saying anything extra. Another one liked to chat with the clients and would try to offerer extra suggestions to help the client out, more like she was the clients friend. Both were about equal in quality, I would trust both completely with my dog and they both did a wonderful job when she went through her surgeries. Sometimes the clinic would get complaints about one vet not being friendly enough but when they saw the other vet they were happy and on the other side some would complain that the vet gave to much info and wanted a more straight forward answer so they would see the other vet and things where fine after that.

It's just like any person, some people just connect with each other better than others. If you don't' feel that connection with a vet then it might be better for you and your pet to see a different vet. It should not matter but often if a vet does not like the client then the animal may not be treated equally as well. I haven't seen it happen at the places I've worked but I've sure heard about it from other techs that have worked for vets they didn't like. I myself refused a few job offers to work for vets I was not happy with, If I don't agree with the way a vet runs his or her practice I really would rather not work there.

Thank you for all the support.  I will definitely say something to my regular vet.  He is back this Tuesday.  I will make a follow up visit for Buddy's eye, which is looking better already, by the end of next week. 
 
Sue