Do vets really care?

It's truly unfortunate that incompetents can remain in business. There
must be a regulatory body for vets in your area where you can report
your complaints.

"Cheryl" wrote in message ...
In ,
Linda Hartley composed with style:

[...]
Apologies for those of you who think I am nuts but I care
passionately about animals...who cannot speak up for themselves..so
someone has to.

You're not nuts. I'm sorry you've gone through this and a lot of us
are right here with you. I think this is part of why forums like this
have evolved, because vets don't know everything nor will they
probably ever. Just like human doctors. We have to arm ourselves
with information to help them help our friends. Sounds so unfair, I
know. I think more of them need to defer to specialists faster;
before money runs out, before they have exhausted all of their own
knowledge. Defer to the ones who've seen more.

I totally agree. I personally prefer feline specialists because
they've seen more cases, have seen the rare cases, and IME, will cut
to the chase. I just had a vet recommend $800 worth of diagnostics,
whereas the feline vet said "Why? If you want to know what's up, go
to surgery". I appreciated that.

OTOH, vets don't have all the answers, and that's probably the most
frustrating thing for them to deal with - to have a case which just
doesn't respond as expected.

Another thing is people expect vets to be able to work miracles.
Sometimes there isn't anything more you can do for an animal. A good
vet will tell you this outright. A not-so-good vet will keep taking
your money. It's hard to tell the difference, sometimes.

-L.

"Cheryl" wrote in message ...
In ,
Linda Hartley composed with style:

[...]
Apologies for those of you who think I am nuts but I care
passionately about animals...who cannot speak up for themselves..so
someone has to.

You're not nuts. I'm sorry you've gone through this and a lot of us
are right here with you. I think this is part of why forums like this
have evolved, because vets don't know everything nor will they
probably ever. Just like human doctors. We have to arm ourselves
with information to help them help our friends. Sounds so unfair, I
know. I think more of them need to defer to specialists faster;
before money runs out, before they have exhausted all of their own
knowledge. Defer to the ones who've seen more.

I totally agree. I personally prefer feline specialists because
they've seen more cases, have seen the rare cases, and IME, will cut
to the chase. I just had a vet recommend $800 worth of diagnostics,
whereas the feline vet said "Why? If you want to know what's up, go
to surgery". I appreciated that.

OTOH, vets don't have all the answers, and that's probably the most
frustrating thing for them to deal with - to have a case which just
doesn't respond as expected.

Another thing is people expect vets to be able to work miracles.
Sometimes there isn't anything more you can do for an animal. A good
vet will tell you this outright. A not-so-good vet will keep taking
your money. It's hard to tell the difference, sometimes.

-L.

"Linda Hartley" wrote in message
...
So here we are at home and I am desolate and devastated....all I wanted
was
a vet to treat Yogi properly at each and every occasion...not to consider
the cost....but to consider all the possibilities each time adn follwoing
examinations to treat properly...not be lackadaisical or take short
cuts...some of these vets never did an initial exam...such as listening to
heart/lungs, atking temperature or smelling this breath.....
The worst part is I know that I will have to argue with this vet to get
him
to do a home visit when the time comes for Yogi to pass on.

I thought this was just me! I live in Cornwall. I had the same problems with
a vet here . My last cat died at the end of last year . I battled for two
years to keep him alive after the vet had said " put him down , he is not
economic anymore".
He had a good quality of life for those two years once I forced them to
treat him rather than dismiss him (and me). I told them that if he was human
no one would consider putting him down on economic grounds ( what economy? -
He wasnt a "working" animal) at that stage so treat him .

He was also diagnosed FELv ( and yes I too had tried to get him vaccinated
etc) and the vet appeared to blame me for his condition and for any other
illnesses he got. Every time I took him to the vet I seemed to be at fault.

In the end I just laid the law down ( I happen to know a lot about human
physiology - and frankly cats are not that different on the basics!)

I dont trust vets ( at least not British ones - cant speak for any other
country).

If any vets ever read this...please remember these aniamls are not 'Just
cats' as one vet said to me....they hold a special place in their human
friends hearts, mean a great deal to them, ...all we ask is you treat them
with respect, care and pay attention to each animal being uniquely
different
so look at their symptoms and pay attention to detail....if need be ask
whether money is an issue...you may be surprised that there are some of us
out here for whom we would spend whatever it takes to make our friends
feel
well again and whole....or at least help them to feel good as we would our
human friends and relatives.

YES .VETS NOTE ( especially British ones)

"Linda Hartley" wrote in message
...
So here we are at home and I am desolate and devastated....all I wanted
was
a vet to treat Yogi properly at each and every occasion...not to consider
the cost....but to consider all the possibilities each time adn follwoing
examinations to treat properly...not be lackadaisical or take short
cuts...some of these vets never did an initial exam...such as listening to
heart/lungs, atking temperature or smelling this breath.....
The worst part is I know that I will have to argue with this vet to get
him
to do a home visit when the time comes for Yogi to pass on.

I thought this was just me! I live in Cornwall. I had the same problems with
a vet here . My last cat died at the end of last year . I battled for two
years to keep him alive after the vet had said " put him down , he is not
economic anymore".
He had a good quality of life for those two years once I forced them to
treat him rather than dismiss him (and me). I told them that if he was human
no one would consider putting him down on economic grounds ( what economy? -
He wasnt a "working" animal) at that stage so treat him .

He was also diagnosed FELv ( and yes I too had tried to get him vaccinated
etc) and the vet appeared to blame me for his condition and for any other
illnesses he got. Every time I took him to the vet I seemed to be at fault.

In the end I just laid the law down ( I happen to know a lot about human
physiology - and frankly cats are not that different on the basics!)

I dont trust vets ( at least not British ones - cant speak for any other
country).

If any vets ever read this...please remember these aniamls are not 'Just
cats' as one vet said to me....they hold a special place in their human
friends hearts, mean a great deal to them, ...all we ask is you treat them
with respect, care and pay attention to each animal being uniquely
different
so look at their symptoms and pay attention to detail....if need be ask
whether money is an issue...you may be surprised that there are some of us
out here for whom we would spend whatever it takes to make our friends
feel
well again and whole....or at least help them to feel good as we would our
human friends and relatives.

YES .VETS NOTE ( especially British ones)

I am sorry to hear about your vet :-(
we are really lucky we use a cat clinic in Southsea Portsmouth UK it has 2
female vets who I must say are really lovely vets, caring have all the time
in the world to explain what and why they are doing/treating your cats.
Answer all the questions you ask
The receptionist/nurses are really good too, if I ever have any problems I
can ring them and if the nurse cannot help me, she gets the vet to call me
back.
they are brilliant

--
Luv'n'Stuff
*~*SooZy*~*
cut

I am sorry to hear about your vet :-(
we are really lucky we use a cat clinic in Southsea Portsmouth UK it has 2
female vets who I must say are really lovely vets, caring have all the time
in the world to explain what and why they are doing/treating your cats.
Answer all the questions you ask
The receptionist/nurses are really good too, if I ever have any problems I
can ring them and if the nurse cannot help me, she gets the vet to call me
back.
they are brilliant

--
Luv'n'Stuff
*~*SooZy*~*
cut

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:23:03 -0400, Justin Case
wrote:

Honestly, I wonder sometimes if *some* vets didn't really want to be
human doctors instead... but since they could not achieve that settled
on being a vet since *some* of them seem to have the attitude "...its
only an animal...".

I don't know how it is in other countries, but in the U.S. it's harder
to get into vet school than into med school.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:23:03 -0400, Justin Case
wrote:

Honestly, I wonder sometimes if *some* vets didn't really want to be
human doctors instead... but since they could not achieve that settled
on being a vet since *some* of them seem to have the attitude "...its
only an animal...".

I don't know how it is in other countries, but in the U.S. it's harder
to get into vet school than into med school.

"mich" wrote in message
...

"Linda Hartley" wrote in message
...
So here we are at home and I am desolate and devastated....all I
wanted
was
a vet to treat Yogi properly at each and every occasion...not to
consider
the cost....but to consider all the possibilities each time adn
follwoing
examinations to treat properly...not be lackadaisical or take
short
cuts...some of these vets never did an initial exam...such as
listening to
heart/lungs, atking temperature or smelling this breath.....
The worst part is I know that I will have to argue with this vet
to get
him
to do a home visit when the time comes for Yogi to pass on.

I thought this was just me! I live in Cornwall. I had the same
problems with
a vet here . My last cat died at the end of last year . I battled
for two
years to keep him alive after the vet had said " put him down , he
is not
economic anymore".
He had a good quality of life for those two years once I forced
them to
treat him rather than dismiss him (and me). I told them that if he
was human
no one would consider putting him down on economic grounds ( what
economy? -
He wasnt a "working" animal) at that stage so treat him .

He was also diagnosed FELv ( and yes I too had tried to get him
vaccinated
etc) and the vet appeared to blame me for his condition and for any
other
illnesses he got. Every time I took him to the vet I seemed to be at
fault.

In the end I just laid the law down ( I happen to know a lot about
human
physiology - and frankly cats are not that different on the basics!)

I dont trust vets ( at least not British ones - cant speak for any
other
country).

If any vets ever read this...please remember these aniamls are not
'Just
cats' as one vet said to me....they hold a special place in their
human
friends hearts, mean a great deal to them, ...all we ask is you
treat them
with respect, care and pay attention to each animal being uniquely
different
so look at their symptoms and pay attention to detail....if need
be ask
whether money is an issue...you may be surprised that there are
some of us
out here for whom we would spend whatever it takes to make our
friends
feel
well again and whole....or at least help them to feel good as we
would our
human friends and relatives.

YES .VETS NOTE ( especially British ones)


I'm so sorry you two have had to fight so to get your dear pets looked
after. I think there might be a partial explanation in what a friend
of mine in US Vet school once told me. He said, "I am going into large
animal vetrinary medicine." I asked why large animals and he said "in
the US in small animal practice you have to be a psychologist for the
pet owners most of the time. I just want to do medicine."

I think in the US in urban areas there are more of the types of vets
who understand what our pets mean to us and make lots of money on it,
whether they care or not.

In more rural areas (and perhaps in the UK too?) vets who mostly work
on livestock etc. are not really accustomed to or trained to deal with
animals who are really more like humans to us.

Just a thought.

My "bottom line" with vets, doctors, etc is this: they work for ME. If
I don't like ANYTHING about them I move on to another that I like
better. But again, this is one of the positive things (among a long
list of negatives) that comes along with living in a large US city.