Tell me about your Vet????

[Jennifer and Jack]

I love the personality of my vet and all the staff there, They are so sweet and kind but they do not have the latest technology when it comes to equipment, The best they have is an x ray machine.

 

Is this normal for a vet, should a regular vet have more equipment, ultrasound machines, and things like that?  I am just wondering because this is the only vet I ever had, and I don't know any different other then the animal ER which is run so differently.

 

I just made a blog that is not published  yet about preventative care in our dogs but I am wondering if I went to a vet that had more modern technology if that would help detect a problem sooner should one arise.

 

What is your vets office like, do they do full exams on your dog, I have never seen my vet listen to Jack's heart, or check his eyes or anything. Is that normal?

[Dori & Rua]

Dr. B (that's what we all call him) is awesome.  I have been going to him with PuffDog, since I moved to Omaha in 2006.  Everyone in his office really cares about the dogs.  When I bring Rua or PuffDog in, he does a full exam...listens to their heart, checks ears, eyes and other orifices. 

 

I stopped in one day to get a health certificate so I could take Rua to CA with me, and he was on his way out the door.  He was going to help an old lady bury her dog that he had to put to sleep.  She had no one to help her and he actually took his own time to do that for her.  He is a really nice guy!

[Carol and Banjo]

Dori - I would say that vet's a keeper!   What a wonderful thing to do!

[Dori & Rua]

The first time I brought Rua in for her puppy check (her 4th day home)...he was holding her (all of 4lbs) all snuggled against him and looked at me and said "You are going to have to leave her here overnight".  I did a "blink" and then realized he was in love with her and didn't want to let her go!   They even downloaded a picture of Rua off of our daycare's website when she was dog of the week and put that at the top of the invoice!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I didnt like my old vet, but it had good reviews from our neighbours and because we didnt have a car we had to go to one within walking distance. They told us feeding Cooper raw would cause her to grow with malformed bones (funny my cats ate raw for the first 7 years of their lives and grew just fine). The vet was horrified that at 9 weeks Cooper had been in a terrible accident and had a scar on her belly (she was spayed!!!) and the check ups were very minimal, they didnt even look in their ears. As soon as we got a car, we moved vets. 

 

Cooper hasnt seen the new vet, nor have my 2 7 year old cats, but i took my kitten there. When I adopted him he came with a free vet check up, and non of the vets near us that we had heard good things about would honour it, so we went to the vet the rescue place used. The building was old and dirty looking from the outside, inside was small and out dated, but clean. The receptionist was super friendly and the vet, though difficult to understand at times because of his thick East Indian accent, was really nice. he even remembered my kitten and that he had an ear infection so he checked it and cleaned him. When lego (the kitten) had a cough a week later i took him in for a check up (nothing was wrong) and the vet didnt charge me for the visit, just his shots.

When Cooper got tapeworms, we called the vet to make appointments for her and the cats as we thought maybe they would have it too. They couldnt fit us in for over a week (due to them having appointments when we werent at work) so they said to just go in and they gave us the meds without seeing the animals after making sure we weighted them really careful). They are much cheaper than the old vet too!

So far I really like this place! They did the full exam on my kitten, including taking his temperature!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

My vet has the latest equipment and we have never used any of it...Daisy is healthy.

Frankly Jennifer, if Jack Daniels is doing well why would you go looking for problems. Vets don't just test dogs that are healthy they test them when there are issues. Our human children are not xrayed, ultra sounded  tested for possibilities of something wrong when they are healthy that is just crazy.

Perhaps because of your own health issues you just worry too much.

Be grateful for your personable and attentive Vet clinic (mine is not that way)...be confident in knowing that if something were to go wrong they would send him to the necessary place for the appropriate testing because they care.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Oh I am grateful for the vet being  so great, I would not stay with a vet I didn't like, ever.. You may be right Lisa, it may be because of my health but I think it is more that I have never loved anyone or anything the way I love Jack and I want to protect him with my life.  I think you are right, I think she would send him out if he needed it, and if not I certainly would.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I just noticed that you said he has never checked his heart or eyes....that is a little weird and I would ask him why not.

 

[Camilla and Darwin]

We use Banfield. It's a good vet, clean and mostly professional. But I worry that they are overcharging me, by quite a bit. And I've had snooty comments from the vet techs about doodles, like "I've heard they are really hyper" etc. Also, my vet really tries to force a lot of tests (unnecessary) and supplements, etc. on us. It's kind of frustrating. I'm never sure if I'm being picky, or if I should look for another vet.

 

They check his ears and joints, and his heart. And take his temperature, all during his regular checkups. 

[Kellie Spreitzer]

We use Banfield too because it came highly recommended but I have to say I don't like that they push all the tests. Three times I have been there and they have pushed a test for an ear infection. He shows no symptoms of an ear infection, I am visiting for a reason completely unrelated to the ears and yet they have told me each time I should test the ears. I am not testing his ears cause you think they look dirty.

 

Then last week I brought him in cause I was pretty positive he had giardia (my neighborhood is COVERED in goose poop), I tell the vet tech the symptoms and what I suspect so they pull up on the computer what they're going to test for listing the giardia test first and then the test for the other intestinal parasites. My thought was they would do just that and test for giardia first, nope they ran both tests at the same time. Seriously, can we use a little common sense, first I've told you about the goose poop, second he's been vaccinated and it's highly unlikely that he has parvo, third why not do the one test and proceed if it comes out negative. Then, they tell me they'd like to test his ears for infection. Also, a complete blood work up to make sure his organs are functioning. We're talking about a 6 month old dog that has been fully vaccinated without a fever. I really think the $65 blood work up is a bit excessive. 

 

The dog has the trots, run the test, give the meds and lets call it a day! Good grief, I've started talking to other people about the vets they use and see if any of them sound reasonable.

[Jennifer and Jack]

See, you all don't like this and I totally understand why, the cost and it is not necessary. I would go completly broke going to Banfield because I would agree to any and every test they ever wanted to run.

 

Not that I should but I would for one because if I didn't let them do it and it was what they said I would never forgive myself... I totally see them pushing testing to make money. I know when I had to take Jack there when I accidentally cut him. Not only did they glue him and give him oral antibiotics, they also gave him an IM injection of one for a minor cut. So not necessary, but I let them do it because I have no common sense when it comes to people or things I love.

[Valarie]

We go to a local office with three veterinarians.  A father and son and then a young woman.  All of them have seen Sophie.  They are all really wonderful.  They take plenty of time to thoroughly check her out at each visit.  They have also made comments about how crazy wild most Doodles are - the female doctor told me that she would have never considered having a Doodle until she met Sophie.  They always tell us how unusually calm and attentive she is.  I was surprised by these comments initially because everything I read prior to getting Sophie was so positive about Doodle dispositions.  But I have since experienced some Doodles that are quite rowdy and demanding still lovable but very high energy. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I like my vet and have been using him for cats and dogs for 40 years (boy does that date both of us).  He is old-fashioned no-nonsense.  He is knowledgeable about newer techniques in general but is obviously slowing down so gives referrals for more technical matters like our Springer's CCL surgery. I don't really know what specialized equipment he has.You don't make appts to be seen, just show up.