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The 10 Things to Do When Searching for a New Vet

April 11th, 2011

Posted By:
Minette

Finding the Right Vet is Critical!

I hate moving; actually HATE is not a strong enough word for my loathing of the event! Not only is packing, cleaning and unpacking despicable but I dread searching for a new veterinarian!

I am what is referred to as a “high maintenance client” in the vet world. I know that because I have spent so many years being a veterinary technician. I am blessed to have been trained by some of the best vets in the business, and I “know” too much about the inner workings of a vet clinic. I have heard about and have witnessed some horror stories by vets that were lacking the skills they needed.

And, the last thing I need is to wait until an emergency to find a good vet. I believe in building a relationship, so that my vet understands my views and wishes when it comes to the care of my furry children. I also desire a vet who respects my opinions and knowledge when it comes to the veterinary world, and is not threatened by it.

#1 Ask neighbors, coworkers, family, people at church, anyone whom they recommend and why, this will give you a good foundation to begin your search.

#2 Look in your local yellow pages and get an idea where the vets are in your area, hopefully there will be a list of services they offer.

#3 Plan a day around searching for your best fit. Plan a route from vet to vet and make a facility visit to each one. Do not schedule an appointment at this time, just drop by. Pay attention to cleanliness, the environment and noise level, and how it smells.

Keep in mind that all vet clinics suffer from some occasional smelly moments, dogs get sick or have accidents; however the overall smell should be that of a clean facility and should not have a stinky stagnant smell, or one of overpowering chemicals!

Diagnostics and Referral are Important To Your Dog's Health

#4 Interact with the staff and ask for a tour, ask about the hospitals philosophies, policies and services. Write down questions and ask the staff. Most clinics will be happy to show you around, within reason; if they are in the middle of a surgery or an animal treatment you may not be able to view the back area. This is a reasonable response, however you should be able to make an appointment to stop by and see the whole facility either early in the morning, at lunch or at closing time. Keep your eyes out for cleanliness! Surgery rooms should be spotless, and the corners of the rooms should be free of excess fur and dirt.

#5 Ask about what diagnostics are available in house and what things are sent out to a separate lab. Are x-rays, ultrasounds, blood-work, ECG, blood pressure, available on site? What monitors are used during surgeries? EKG heart monitor, oxygen level, heart rate, and blood pressure should always be monitored during any surgery that requires any type of anesthesia.

#6 Does the vet have any specialties or special interests, such as behavior or acupuncture?

#7 Ask when the vet graduated veterinary school and if there are other vets on staff. A veterinarian who recently graduated from school should be monitored by a more experienced vet so they can continue to learn. I personally would never go to a one vet clinic where the vet was practicing alone and had graduated less than 5 years ago.

#8 Ask if they make referrals and in what circumstances and how emergencies are dealt with. A good veterinarian should refer when the scope of the problem is out of their comfort zone. No one can be “Great” at everything that is why there are board certified specialists who must undergo 2-4 years of additional training and pass a rigorous test.

#9 I always ask to make a bathroom break, just so I can again assess the cleanliness of the facility. It gives me another place to check corners and walls and make sure things are clean. I don’t want to leave my dog in a dirty vet clinic, and I certainly don’t want my dog to undergo surgery in a dirty hospital!

#10 Finally if you have found a vet that passes your criteria, schedule a mundane exam for your dog, don’t wait until there is an emergency to find out you don’t like the way your vet interacts with your dog. Make sure your vet gives your dog a thorough exam, she should check his weight, his temperature, his eyes with an ophthalmoscope, his ears with an otoscope, his heart with a stethoscope, and feel his entire body starting at the head and working back to the tail feeling for lumps or abnormalities and feeling each joint to check for arthritis and range of motion!

You are entitled to good, preventative veterinary care! Often I find vets that sail through the all 9 of the criteria, but who fail to take my dog’s temperature, feel him over, or check his range of motion. I want a vet that cares about infection, lumps, and the pain of arthritis in his joints.

Be a good client!

The Right Vet and Your Compliance Ensures Good Pet Care

Schedule appointments for regular care prior to being overdue
Be on time or early
Understand, vets deal with sick animals and emergencies despite their best efforts they often get behind
Call in case of an emergency, if your vet is unequipped to handle the emergency she may refer you to an emergency clinic
Subscribe to preventative medicine, adhering to advice for disease prevention and medications (heartworm, flea and tick) and geriatric (dogs 7 and older) blood-work, urinalysis and any other diagnostics your vet recommends.
Remember your vet went to vet school! She is a wealth of knowledge and knows more than you do about the care of your dog. If you are in doubt about the recommendations don’t search opinions online(you can find anything you want online), but that doesn’t make it correct. Seek and read veterinary journals or seek a second opinion.

Be careful and be knowledgeable when seeking a new vet, and once you find one that you trust; build a good relationship so that you can rest assured if there is an emergency you and your dog will be in good hands!

11 responses to “The 10 Things to Do When Searching for a New Vet”

Jana Rade writes:

Finding a really good vet is much harder than it might seem, as we found out the hard way. The tips you list is a place to start. But there are times where you don’t really know how good your vet really is until “the poop hits the fan”

After you pick your vet, do your homework and keep them on their toes.

[Reply]
@ April 11th, 2011 at 16:33
Morgan writes:

I would also recommend asking about thier support staff – as in do they have a full time Liscensed/Registered/Certified (depending where you are) Veterinary Technician. These are an important part of the staff and often times it is this person monitoring your pet’s anesthesia, cleaning your pet’s teeth, and working hard on your hospitalized pet’s needs. These individuals go to school and have to pass a test (or more depending on location) to gain thier liscense and are very knowledgable and useful. Most current veterinarians use a vet tech to allow themselves to see thier patients while knowing that any treatments and care needed for thier other patients is being performed with the utmost care and ability. Many veterinarians still use assistants that are illegally performing jobs (such as intubating, handling controled drugs, placing IV catheters, and monitoring anesthesia) that most states have ruled illegal for none licensed personel to perform. Would you want your pet to have potentially substandard and illegal care? It isn’t always about the facility and the vet, the support staff is important too!

[Reply]
@ April 11th, 2011 at 18:08
Susan writes:

Make sure you meet every vet on the staff because when you have that emergency, you will not be able to pick your favorite vet.

A good friend of mine lost her dog to malpractice because the new vet at the clinic was the only one their for the emergency. Her favorite vet and the only vet she had ever seen at the clinic was out of town. The monetary compensation and the new vet losing their license (it really was malpractice) did not ease the hurt or bring back a beloved family pet.

[Reply]
@ April 12th, 2011 at 10:09
Mike Willis writes:

Would you use this same system when looking for a boarding kennel,and is there any additional things you would look for. Thanks Mike…….

[Reply]
@ April 12th, 2011 at 10:36
annie wright writes:

I’ve owned dogs for nearly 50 years, and had no trouble, then we moved to a small country town. Our dog had injured himself, and the only local vet xrayed him and diagnosed hip displaysia. I asked if it was possible to operate and she curled her lip and said it was hardly worth it. (He was part pittie). She put him on pain killers which had to be increased a year later. Two years later we were paying $900 a year for drugs (rimadyl) and he wasn’t improving.
A change of vet was needed,
We went 50km to another vet who immediately diagnosed a cruciate ligament rupture. (Nowhere near the hip)
We were referred to a specialist vet and paid $3500 for the repair which gave him instant relief and no more pain killers. He said if he’d had our dog when the accident happened, it would have been a fraction of the cost.
Later he became ill, and back to our vet 50km away. It was cancer of the spleen, and another costly operation. Sadly he died two months later. It was a hard decision to make, he was our whole life, but there was no chance of recovery from another bout of cancer. Our vet was compassionate throughout, even gave me a cuddle.
We then found another crossbred puppy, and three days later she was ill. Parvo, even tho we’d been told she had been vaccinated. Once again, back to our vet, with the instructions todo what he needed to. He saved her life.
Now he only works three days a week. We’ll have to tell our wee girl to only get sick on those days, although having said that, he gave up his day off to operate on our boy to remove his spleen.
He’s a vet in a million.

Annie

[Reply]
@ April 12th, 2011 at 15:39
georgia gilham writes:

Ask whether they administer combo vaccines – if they do – don’t go there.

[Reply]
@ April 12th, 2011 at 15:46
Melinde Pretorius writes:

@ Jana. You are absolutely correct. It is not easy finding a good vet. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I really thought I had the best vet in the country until my miniture Pincher were attacted by 3 Sharpeis. He was in hospital for 3 days, where they obviously treated the wound etc… I took him home after that and had to take him back after a week to remove the drainange pipes. When I got him back he was a different dog. It’s been 2 years and he HATES men and children. He is aggressive and I have to lock him up when people come to visit. All this just because a Vet did not know how to work with a dog. My darling Dakota will never be the same again.

[Reply]
JLMiller Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 8:22 am
Was it the vet or being attacked that affected yr dog???..being attacked by 3 other dogs is traumatizing enough to permanently affect a dog..! My sis’s dog has a very difficult time going through door ways because of a baby gate that fell down and made a loud slap sound when it hit the floor. The poor dog is now petrified of that door way and for years after…if you didn’t see any abuse at the vet I wouldn’t necessarily blame the vet for yr dog not being the same after treatment unless you know for sure..I hope yr dog will gain his confidence back! XXJ

[Reply]
Melinde Pretorius Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
It’s true. I think that is part of it. Absolutely. The reason I say it is the vet: When I took my dog back to remove the drainage, the vet sedated him in order to remove the drainage and the flesh that died around the drainage. I left him there as I had to run a few errands.
About 3 hours later, I went to fetch him. 1. As I came through the door, a little kid was teasing him through the cage! Hitting the cage!
The vet took him out for me (still covering him with the blanket) 2. When I got to the car I took him out of the blancket. They did NOTHING! Didn’t remove the drainage. “they forgot about him” Now, 3 hours later, obviously he is not sedated anymore. When I consulted the vet, he took Dakota around the corner and pulled out the drainage! took a blade and cut off the flesh. He didn’t sedate my dog again…

I really hope that he will return to his lovable self…
Thanks for your comment

[Reply]
@ April 12th, 2011 at 22:21
Carol Szarek writes:

We LOVE our vet. It’s not a big fancy office, but it also doesn’t reflect, in our bill. We’ve never been milked out of money from him. Shoots from the hip, and can be brutally honest, even when the truth sucks.
In all the time we’ve been seeing him, we’ve had 4 dogs, and 2 cats. And while he is doing their exams, I have always asked if they needed their teeth cleaned. And with all of them, he has said no, it was not necessary.(Our dogs have always had beautiful teeth. And, he does not try to scare you to death, with the horrors of rawhides. He says the thing that might hurt them, is that they will probably get into a fight over the rawhide.) How many vets jump on that question, with both feet, whether they needed it or not? I talk to so many people that their vet either thinks they are stupid, don’t care, or just highly take advantage of people who love and care for their pets.
There is a vet clinic, less than 2 miles from, my home, but, I refuse to go there, as I feel they do a LOT of uneccessary, costly procedures. I think they are just plain greedy! We drive around 10-15 miles, to another state, even, because good vets are hard to find.
I prefer the small, personal clinic, that doesn’t gouge me, so I can spend more $$$ on my dogs, and not their vets!

[Reply]
@ April 13th, 2011 at 20:53
costina thompson writes:

as a good client, always be truth to your vet and staffs, don’t hide anything from them so that they can give in their best and the necessary drugs and prescriptions.

[Reply]
@ April 20th, 2011 at 06:06