After we moved back in February, one of the things I got around to transferring was our dog’s vet. They are about 25 minutes (with no traffic) from where we live now, which has been no big deal, until… two weeks ago, as I was getting ready to go out of town, he came down with diarrhea and they wanted to see him when they knew I was leaving for almost two weeks. So it took almost two hours out of my day I was planning to spend packing. But he did fine while we were gone with the diet and medication they recommended. He was dropped off by our dog sitter yesterday around noon, and around 4AM started vomiting, and by the 6th-7th time, I called our vet’s office to see if there was anything OTC I could give him, but of course they wanted to see him. I was going on about two hours of sleep (I have not re-adjusted after being on the west coast for almost two weeks, so didn’t fall asleep until almost 2AM), but had to drive over there around noon, which I was NOT in a mood to do, but knew I had to (H was still out of town). As I was walking out the door to head over, I muttered to myself, “Time to look for a closer vet.” Our breed is known for being at high risks for several health problems when they get older (our pooch is not quite five yet), so I knew eventually more frequent trips would necessitate a switch.
One of our neighbors has highly recommended a vet’s office locally (less than ten minutes) that also has extended hours until 11PM on week nights. I actually met the vet who works their third shift when she made a house call once to our neighbor’s condo when their cat was failing. I really liked her and she was very friendly with our dog (we met as she was walking into our building). So I started doing my due diligence today with this vet’s office, and discovered they are part of VCA. I’ve heard several stories in our old community of people who used to go to independent vets that were then bought out by VCA, and they hated the way the services changed for the worse. I know some vets have left practicing after agreeing to have their practices bought out by VCA. We’ve been with the same vet for about 20 years now, and I’ve been very happy with them, but they just aren’t convenient anymore. But they aren’t affiliated with VCA, either.
There’s another clinic, about a half mile from our place that I’ve heard good things about, however they close at 6PM every evening; but I may look into them, too. Problem is, they only have a Facebook page… no website, so I can’t do as thorough research online. Their Yelp reviews are very positive.
So, any experiences with having vets not affiliated with a VCA then being bought out by them and having sub-par service?
I think it all depends on the practice. My group became part of VCA about a year ago; the owner of the practice retired, and the vet I usually used left the practice about 6 months ago. The story told was she wanted to be closer to home, but she was fine with the location before the buy out! The reason I thought it was odd is she was the Director of the practice, so why leave now?
So far I have been happy with the vet in the group I am using. When I asked how long she had been there, I was surprised to find she had been with the group 2 years; I had never seen her before! Where I have seen the most change is the front desk help; they are all new and are not as friendly and knowledgeable as the old staff. The other chance is they now have appointments on Saturdays; in the past, Saturday was first come, first serve, so the wait time could be long. As I have a 13 year old dog with a chronic illness, we will stay here as the new vet has actually reviewed her chart; my regular vet knew P’s history without looking at the chart. Unfortunately, where she moved was even farther from us, and I didn’t want to travel that far. Actually, other than routine check-ups, I think we spend more time at the Emergency Clinic which is opened from 6:00pm-8:00am and weekends as that is when she usually gets sick!!
Our dog’s life was saved by a very compassionate VCA vet and a skilled neurosurgeon at the VCA emergency hospital, but the vet left the practice because she bought a house in the city, and the commute was a bit too much. I was sad to see her leave and not happy with her replacement who insisted on a very risky surgery for our cat (a whole 'nother story). So, as snowball said, the individual doctor matters.
Well, just got home from admitting him to the specialty clinic/hospital. He has not stopped throwing up all day (threw up three times while we were there). His blood work and X-rays are fine so far, but he needs medications via IV that can’t be given at home. After only two hours of sleep last night, I made H drive us there - I should have placed a bet on the look on his face when they gave the estimate for staying overnight!
Anyway, when we hopefully get to pick him up tomorrow, I am going to run both the clinics I have past the vet there and see what they have to say. This is not a VCA specialty hospital, and I’m not going to posit the inquiry that way - I will just ask about the reputations of the two clinics I am considering.
Our only experience with VCA is to use them as an emergency vet. Around 9:30 one night, our new puppy became very sick at only 11 weeks old, so we had to get her treatment right away. They did a lot of diagnostic work and took great care of her, but they were horribly expensive – around $1,600 for her to stay there around nine hours. (To be fair, all the diagnostic stuff cost a lot of $$ – it wasn’t just the overnight stay.) First thing the next morning we transferred the pup to our regular vet, who happens to be DH’s cousin (so we get the friends and family discount!), and she stayed there another two days. We had no choice at the time and, though it was very expensive, I have absolutely no regrets and would use them again if necessary.
I have the name of ‘the’ vet most people (including our breeder) use as their ‘specialty’ vet for follow ups annually if cavaliers develop any of the health issues they’re known for (heart murmur, patella issues, etc.) But he’s downtown, so not someone I could use on a regular basis.
So far in our new community, we have run across seven different families that have one or more cavaliers, and I’ve asked each one which vet they take their cavalier to for just everyday stuff, and they all have someone different, so no consensus there And yes, we have Next Door, and I can post it there.
Teriwtt-my heart goes out to you with your beloved pet in the hospital.
My kitty stayed 4 days on IV fluids and antibiotics,etc in Sept.
As you noted the bill for a round the clock monitored hospital stay for a pet is staggering. Pretty sure I could have cruised around the world a few times for the cost of that bill!
I found bringing blankets or bedding from home for their crate in the hospital helped…I actually slept with a fresh blanket against me each night to take in each morning. The “smell” of home calms them.
Sending up good thoughts for a full recovery after his treatment/hospital stay.
@katie93mom - thanks for the suggestion about the blanket. We just got back from visiting him and I wished I’d thought of something like that. He will have to stay again overnight as he is still regurgitating (did so once while in the room with us) so they can’t try to introduce any solids yet. He is scheduled for an abdominal ultrasound first thing in the morning; they will continue giving fluid and other meds as determined appropriate. If it does not look like he can be discharged tomorrow, I will take in my nightgown that I’ve slept in the last couple of nights - I don’t care if something happens to it.
In the meantime, I did post on Next Door, and of the three vet clinics I’d heard about in my casual conversations on our walks with him, all three of them have been recommended by various people. The one that is coming in a bit higher (more thumbs up) than the others is a non-VCA clinic and evidently one of the vets lives in our small community… the only reviewer that recommended that clinic has at some point been clients at the other two clinics, so can make a fair comparison; it is only about 3.5 miles from where we live, too (although basically across the street would be nice).
Our vet in Berkeley became part of VCA many years ago. I never noticed any change in the service. We recently brought two kittens into the house after a year of mourning the loss of our old friends, and I would not take them anywhere else.
Sure hope your dog feels better soon. Any ideas what’s going on? Pancreatitis? Foreign body? Toxin? Are they calling it idiopathic gastroenteritis? Not that it’s any of my business, just curious what’s going on with the poor little dude. Hope tomorrow brings some relief.
The x-ray was to rule out pancreatitis and obstruction, but they admitted x-rays only pick those up a certain percentage of time (80%? - I was SO tired when they told me all this last night that I might not be remembering the number correctly); that is why they will do the ultrasound tomorrow - to see if either of those show up, and to probably look for other things. We’re pretty sure he didn’t get into any toxins, but, in the previous 1-5 days, he did have two days in day care, and two overnights at the dog sitter’s house (we trust both those places pretty good), so he could have picked up gastroenteritis at the day care - I have been in touch with the dog sitter (who happens to be our trainer, too), and none of his dogs have been sick. So tomorrow I might call the day care that he went to last Monday and Tuesday to see if they know of anything going around there.
One of our dogs became terribly ill after swallowing (of all things) a rubber glove! I’d used it to smash lard and suet into a bird feeder and stripped it off to the bathroom trash without thinking…and she fished it out and swallowed it. Didn’t show up on Xray or ultrasound because it blended right in. (in retrospect, I wish we’d done barium contrast xrays) She was incredibly ill and couldn’t eat for a week (IV fluids, the works). She finally retched the glove up, and not a moment too soon. We were very close to doing exploratory surgery to look for gut loop torsions. Soon after she vomited the glove, she started feeling much better and everything ended well. Was particularly concerning because she is diabetic. I hope you get a unexplained turn around or some answers very soon. I know how stressful that can be!
Ding, ding… foreign object is the winner. They found it on ultrasound this morning in the lower intestine, so he is heading into surgery. I am thinking it might be one of these very small acorn-like objects that is falling from one of our trees in our courtyard - we always pass by the tree on the way back in from our walks, and he has certainly tried his fair share of times to pick one up in his mouth. The vet said it’s not uncommon to find those lodged in dog’s gastrointestinal tracts, so I guess we’ll find out once it’s removed.
All of a sudden, my need to find a local vet has taken a back seat.
Edited to add - they did say I could drop off a piece of my clothing for his crate, so I’m on my way over there now so it will be there when he comes out of surgery.
Man, have I had a lot of vets call me today, and it makes me so appreciative of how closely they are following up. The surgeon called right before she was going to start - he was already under anesthesia; then she called afterwards to tell me how it went. I also got a call from the vet who saw him in our vet’s office on Saturday to follow up with him; she had not heard yet about his going into surgery, so I filled her in. The good news is that the surgeon was able to manipulate the object down the small intestine into the colon, so it will pass, and they didn’t have to cut open the intestine to remove it. So now we wait a couple of days until he starts pooping again to see what comes out! They are assuming he will come home tomorrow!!! We should be able to go visit him later this evening. Regardless, this has been a difficult day - just came from my doc and I have laryngitis and maybe some bronchitis, and for those who don’t know yet, we got the devastating word that one of CC’s moderators died yesterday. If you care to share your condolences, there is a thread in the Tulane forum - it was Fallenchemist.
Teri, fingers crossed for the cute fella! Dogs will eat the strangest stuff. When I was at the VCA hospital assisting the techs with taking care of our dog post spinal surgery, a huge Great Dane was admitted for overnight observation. The techs were familiar with that dog! Apparently, it was not his first garbage bag feast… the techs said he usually ate the bag, too.
He has not stopped throwing up all day (threw up three times while we were there). His blood work and X-rays are fine so far, but he needs medications via IV that can’t be given at home. After only two hours of sleep last night, I made H drive us there - I should have placed a bet on the look on his face when they gave the estimate for staying overnight!