When your pets are ill.......

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Seddon — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:58:09 GMT

Am glad Bubble is better now

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:41:43 GMT

Bubble is much better today Nick. She is back to her normal self

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Nick Shackleton — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:32:38 GMT

[quote user="Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA"]

2 of my dogs were at the vets today.... Circe was a blood donor, but bubble was ill, she was not well and my daughter called to say she was semi collapsed. I picked her up, she was toxic looking in colour(muddy MM's) and she vomited while being examined(smelled like cow dung... seriously I have never smelled anything like it), then she proceeded to pass mucoid diarrhoea. Bloods normal apart from slightly dehydrated, on examination, poss sore back.... abdo relaxed... evern before and after vomit.. she is rather quiet tonight, but n o V or D. she has had LA abio, vetergesic, and a further vetergesic inj if I feel she needs it, and I will take her to work tomorrow if she is no better.. poor wee bubble

[/quote]

Poor wee bubble indeed

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:12:02 GMT

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sal the 1st — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:39:19 GMT

[quote user="BengalcatRVN"]

When our pets are ill, we become clients and should be treated as such, with our pets recieving the same care as everyone else. Some people have commented I'm mean as my cats go into a kennel and I don't tend to fuss over them every 5 mins. The way I look at it, the sooner I finish my jobs, the sooner we get to go home

[/quote]

agreed

Think Jasper is relieved this week is over tho having spent two days at work

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Wispa — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:33:38 GMT

I cannot praise my vets enough when my little Rusty was ill. because I live a fair distance from work one of them used to come a do a home visit for me. I used to take blood samples at home to save taking her to work as she never travelled well. she was diagnosed as being diabetic, and we managed to tabilise her on just the inofrmation I gave to the vet and his home visits. however, as she became iller it became clear something else was going on. I took her and she got top notch care from my vet. he was impressed at how well behaved she was for a tortie!! we x rayed her, ultrasound and placed on fluids. unfortunately she had delveloped what looked like a renal lymphoma with had spread to her bladder. The whole team were so supportive, especially when it came to the decision to have her put to sleep. we all bend over backwards to help each other animals out, the same was we do for our clients. an appointment is only needed if its routine such as a vaccination.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

BengalcatRVN — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:31:41 GMT

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Seddon — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:35:13 GMT

[quote user="NickyVN"]

Depends on my pet - where poss with the cat and guineas I book an appt as they get very stressed if they have to be at work with me all day, or if OH is off work I take them in tehn get him to collect them when they are ready. My boss is good and looks at them fairly quick but sometimes just have to remind him if we are busy.

Could it just be that your practice is busy and you need to remind/prompt them??

[/quote]

Ye we have been really busy. Thinking about it now i feel really bad for thinking my animals are not thought of as much as clients animals. Perhaps i do just need to keep reminding them

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Stella Skelton RVN — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:51:53 GMT

I'm actually not sure if we have a system in place for staff but i have taken my dog in to be seen and so he was. The vets are good with other staff members animals too. They take the time to ask questions and always treat them soon. They're generally seen after consults before we start anything else, however we do have one vet consulting and one vet on ops so the ops vet can always usually see them. I did also book my dog an appointment for a booster though and nobody complained. x

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Nicola Smith — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:22:54 GMT

Could it just be that your practice is busy and you need to remind/prompt them??

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Katie B — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:04:46 GMT

[quote user="Heather Barlow"]

I just tell the vets the day before that I am coming in with my dog,if necessary. And one usually volunteers to see her. To be honest we have all worked at thePD for so long and are good friends, so there is never a problem. Perhaps things are very different because we do not have paying clients/ what does everyone else think? We are very lucky as we only have to pay the cost of any drugs, and even this is very heavily discounted. So the cons usually only costs pence and surgery only a few pounds usually.

[/quote]

Thats good that you don't have to pay much!

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Heather Barlow — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:26:20 GMT

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Lolita — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:38:54 GMT

Ditto Katie, I have my animals registered with a vet closer to home, I have to pay full price, but at least I know the time is going into their care, and not a quick glance at them, fire a few antibiotics and move onto the next client...my babies are just as important as their clients...and deserve full clinic exams and care etc, do I feel guilty...no because i know if anything is wrong, they wont be waiting in kennels and carriers until someone has a free minute between consults to have a look!

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Katie B — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:10:20 GMT

I take my doggy to a different vet as when I first registered him, I didn't work in a vet. I find it is better as I and he would fret if he could see me walking around with other animals. Plus he gets treated like everyone else. As far as I'm aware the practise charges for everything so I don't feel like I or he is missing out.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Louise Allen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:55:14 GMT

i used to have a problem getting my animals seen where i used to work. I worked in a hospital then. It does seem that our animals dont always get the same treatment, when you think theyd get better. for routine things like vaccinations etc i think its fair enough to say book them in at end of day so you dont take client apps but if there is something you are concerned about they should be seen earlier like any other persons pet. I know ive had to have some of mine admitted for things and got very frustrated that they were always checked last by a vet and you felt you were nagging them by constantly trying to get someone to look at them! I think if you are very worried about something just be assertive and say I want them looked at asap!! and if all else fails then threaten to take them somewhere else!! that would soon get some one to look, would be a tad embarassing to say your own vets couldnt deal with you! Luckily where i am now there are only two vets, and it is a smaller practice so its generally quieter and easier for you to be seen! Your pets are your priority so dont worry about upsetting anyone if they cant help you have to do whats right for your animal!

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Seddon — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:23:06 GMT

The last part of my msg didnt come out right but not sure how else to explain what i mean. Its as if because we are staff we are willing to put others animals first and leave ours to cope with it, hope that makes sense.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Seddon — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:20:28 GMT

Thanks for your replies, just wanted to make sure i wasnt being cheeky by not making an app. She got checked over this eve and still not really sure whats going on with her but she has some katalax to take over next few days (blockage in her stomach/oesophagus not ruled out!) and she needs a dental .

I honestly dont mind waiting for the vets to have a spare 5 mins, esp since i havnt got an app, sometimes i just feel like because its a staff pet its not as important. Im sure thats not the case tho.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

FINNIGAN — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:01:19 GMT

we can book apptmnt but dont need to we just grab a vet first thing, they are really good and we get priority too

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Vicky RVN — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:53:26 GMT

If i am off work but need to bring one in i'll book an appt. But if i'm in i'll bring them in and the vets will have a look. They're never left for ages without being seen though. We don't pay consult fees, even if we book an appt.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Phrin Vernon RVN — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:43:11 GMT

I tend to just take mine in and grab a vet when possible.

Recently I was concerned about my pooch limping - she is an odd shape, and her elbows take a lot of strain. I asked one of the bosses who has an ortho interest to look her over, and he gave her a full exam, albeit in the staff room, had me walking her out so he could see her gait, and also spent a while discussing the potential problems she might encounter in years to come. As it turned out she was fine , and I was very happy with the exam she had.

With the cats, I'll just bring em in and plonk them in a kennel until the vet is free. Luckily they are both pretty laid back, and seem to enjoy the experience.

We don't get charged for vets time, just drugs & consumables at cost, so for me it seems 100% fair to have to wait for a quiet few minutes for the vet to deal with them.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Elvira — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:24:59 GMT

We are not supposed to use appointment slots either but I will no longer have my cats hanging about half the day waiting to be seen. A couple of years ago I took one in at 8 in the morning to be sedated and groomed out (I can't groom him, he tries to kill me and as he's a 9kg Maine Coon I don't argue!) and he was left til late in the afternoon. 6 days later he came out with the flu and over the next week all 7 got it. One of the others was very distressed and found it difficult to breathe. I took him for 2pm appointment, he was left in his carrier til nearly 5pm when the vet gave him some Ronaxan and said he'd be ok. By 9pm he was at the RVC. I'd had to take him back to the duty vet who referred him as we feared he would collapse. He was there for 3 days and cost me about £1300. I live about 4 minutes away from the practice and at that time went home at lunch time. I don't mind waiting a bit, the same as everyone else, but I won't have them waiting ages; I'd rather pay the full price and have an appointment if that what it takes.

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Seddon — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:10:41 GMT

I put the cat on the obs board but she still didnt get seen. Im not sure whats best to do in the future. Seems naughty to take up a consultation if the vet doesnt charge me for a consult (sometimes they dont/sometimes they do) but then i feel cheeky just expecting my cat to be seen without an appointment

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Lynn Perry — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:54:14 GMT

Silly question I know, but when you say that you're not allowed to use appointment slots, do you mean at all or do you mean that you're not allowed appointments on days you're working (ie, you're meant to bring them in on your own time)

Re: When your pets are ill.......

bongo — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:42:16 GMT

were not allowed to use up appointment slots for our pets, they get seen as and when poss, obviously if its something urgent they would be seen asap as would any animal. only time I have booked an appt was on a sat when the dog was unwell and was my weekend off, dont think they minded this too much!

Re: When your pets are ill.......

Sally Howe — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:21:21 GMT

I tended to book an appointment or put them on the ops board.

As it's just me and a vet now it's easier.