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The Daunting Task Of Finding A New Vet

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I’ve been putting off finding a new vet for the last month.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the past month or so and luckily I haven’t needed to use one, yet. So I thought I better be proactive before I’m forced to find one.

Sherman has his holistic vet and his orthopedic vet for issues that we are dealing with now but he needs a general vet too and so does Leroy.

One thing I want to do is when looking for a new vet is make sure that they fit our needs. Our last vet was good, but their was a lot of times that I felt that maybe that one wasn’t for us, and what I mean by that is that I’m a needy person with loads of questions and concerns with my giant breed dogs. So I want someone who knows giant breed dogs, especially the Newfoundland breed, and knows it well.

That’s just one thing I’m looking for and here’s a list of more qualifications that I would like to have for our new vet:

  1. Is familiar with giant breed dogs
  2. Is familiar with Newfoundlands
  3. Has more than my Newfoundlands as patients in their practice
  4.  Is open to holistic medicine
  5. Is current in veterinarian medicine and open to new ideas
  6. Has current veteririnarian medication and equipment
  7. Has time to listen and get to know me and my dogs
  8. Is honest and doesn’t tell me what they think I want to hear
  9. Looks me in the eye when they are talking.
  10. How busy are they? Can they accommodate my dogs and their needs
  11. Is familair in dealing with responisble breeders. I don’t want to deal with a vet that doesn’t respect the responsib;e breeder.
  12. Is close to home. I don;t want to be driving for an hour for a quick appointment

I suppose that my list can go on and on but these are some of the more important things that I’m looking for with searching for a new vet for Sherman and Leroy. I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten my options narrowed down to a few select pet vets that might meet my criteria and all in good time I’ll be making the call to set up a visit to meet the chosen one:)

So how about you? How did you choose your pets vet? Any suggestions that you would like to share?

**This is a sponsored post and I am being compensated for writing about pet vets. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine only and I really am looking for a new vet). 

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Anna

Tuesday 22nd of October 2013

I'm a vet and it's great that you are thinking ahead and looking for someone appropriate before you have problems. Veterinarians that are AAHA certified have to meet over 800 standards and have their offices inspected every 3 years. If your a cat person their are veterinary clinics that are Certified Cat Friendly. It's also good to ask people in the area for a recommendation. Visit the clinic and see if it is clean and the staff is friendly. It's also important to ask if they handle their own after hour emergencies. Here is the website for AAHA vet locator http://www.healthypet.com/Accreditation/HospitalSearch.aspx. Good luck!

sprinkles

Monday 21st of October 2013

I choose my vet due to a sick kitteh. Scratches was a regular at the vet's office due to various ailments throughout his life. The original vet made me feel like I was a bad owner, partly because he thought my cat was overweight. I had been trying to get my cat to lose weight, but it was never enough to satisfy the vet. One Saturday, I had an emergency and called for an appt. Turns out that he decided to no longer be available to patients over the weekend, so he referred me to a different vet.

I got an appointment with the new vet, who immediately asked my why Scratches was so thin! I told him the other vet said Scratches was too fat! The new vet said that since Scratches was a large cat, he SHOULD weigh more and that he actually needed to add a few pounds! I felt so horrible and guilty that I'd been starving my cat when it was unnecessary to do so!

Scratches was still a regular at the vet's office, but I felt much better about bringing him to the new vet and have taken all of my pets there ever since. When I had to put Scratches to sleep, they didn't charge me, even though it was after hours. And they also sent me a card a few days later. That really meant a lot!

They used to call a day or two later after any appt. I brought my pets in for, just to make sure everything was OK. They don't now, and I think it's because the practice has changed hands and grown so much.

Jessica@YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner

Saturday 19th of October 2013

I am no help because my choice was somewhat arbitrary and I got lucky and liked my vet. When I moved I went on Yelp to find a local vet. My criteria at that point was pretty much "are they close?". I searched for a vet within 10 minutes of my house (there are many), read the Yelp reviews and went with the one that got the best accolades. I have been happy with my vet clinic. They are nice, friendly and efficient. There are several vets at this clinic though and I was only impressed with one. I make appointments with her specifically now. I suppose I wish they were a little more proactive in suggesting care for Chester since he is getting old but also appreciate that they don't try to push a bunch of expensive tests on me.

Ann Staub

Saturday 19th of October 2013

Well, I think your list is perfect. Good luck finding someone who meets all of the criteria! Number 8 is a pet peeve of mine. I worked with one vet who kind of did this and it bothered me a little bit.

houndstooth

Saturday 19th of October 2013

I'm really thinking that it's time for us to start looking for a new vet, too, for a number of reasons. I've held off looking because we have a rapport with them and because the main vet there is very knowledgeable about Greyhounds. Greyhounds are very different from most dogs in their physiology and not every vet can be trusted with them. I've learned that the hard way. It's scary thinking about leaving that. However, our vet is very expensive and after doing some checking around, I know they've charged us a lot more than most other vets would. I have begun to feel like a dollar sign when we walk in the door, and that's not okay with me. I want a list of options for treatment, not just hearing the most expensive thing and then feeling like a jerk as I try to whittle things down to a manageable level. Blueberry had her tooth problem in April, passed away in June and we're still paying them for her treatment. And they messed things up really badly during her cancer treatment. I know I need to start looking, but it's so hard to find someone around here that I feel we can trust and won't rob us blind. I'm living without health treatment for myself because of our vet and I can't keep going the way that we are. *sigh*

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