I was with a friend today when she had to rush her dog to vet after he eat some medication meant for her horse. He was to be kept in, on IV fluids and observed for serious side effects. We then learnt that in fact, after the vet left the surgery for the night, there wouldn't in fact be any staff there overnight. Nobody at all. ! One of the worst effects of the drug he got hold of, may be seizures. Well how can they observe him during the night if no ones there. I do not accept this is safe practice. I don't expect a vet to be present all night, but I do think a vet nurse should be. What if there was a fire or something. I wonder how many of the public know that this is common practice with vets.
I think its totally appauling and its knocked my confidence in this practice.

> I wonder how many of the public know that this is common practice with vets.
>

Certainly not common practice here!   And I would be extremely angry to know that any dog of mine didn't have someone on hand to check them.   I do use quite an expensive vet, and expect the highest care and standards.

Tell your friend that she has the wrong vet.  :-(

I totally agree with Jean you have the wrong vet,what if the dog ripped the canular out and was getting no meds and started fitting it is beyond belief that there is not even a nurse there, our vet has four local surgeries plus a 24hr hospital manned by 5 nurses and one vet all night plus vets that are on call for any majorsthat come in, they also have a wildlife wing for any animals injured(free care to anyone) we do pay a slightly higher fee but to know you can ring them up at any time 24hrs a day and speak to a nurse or vet gives you peace of mind.Debby

Are you really sure there were no staff?? Not just a vet, not even a night-sitter?? I know some practices don't actually have vets on the premises but if there is an animal in there should be someone on??

Was your friend charged for the overnight stay?? As far as I am aware the charges are for the staff etc. It certainly wants looking in to!

>I wonder how many of the public know that this is common practice with vets.

Unless it's a major hospital I'd be surprised if a member of staff was on the premises all the time, even with overnight in-patients. Visits every few hours is more common. Disappointing, but not unusual.

It's not common practice for someone to be present overnight in a vets surgery. I completely disagree with this but, sadly, that's the way it is.

I have never left my dogs overnight and once had my cat at home on a drip rather than leave them without supervision. I can't think of any reason why I would leave my pet overnight. Far better at home where they are more relaxed and where I can monitor them 24/7

I wasn't aware of this - I guess my previous experiences have been with larger practices where they have had staff on....I will certainly ask the question if I ever have to leave a pet overnight, and would consider not leaving them if that were the case. You learn something every day eh

had it with my cat.  he had bad reaction to drugs during castration and they wanted to keep him in for observation.  I went to see him-he was cold, uncordinated, twitching uncontrollably and asked how often someone would be checking him throught the night-they then admited they all went home at 7pm and he wouldn't then be looked at till 8am next morning.  I took him home. was very very unimpressed.

I have brought my dogs home overnight on a few occasions when told that there wouldn't be someone in constant attendance. Don't think the vet was very impressed but I was far happier that way.

If you actually ask your vet this is the case with most of them. Even the orthopaedic hospital Gem went to didn't actually have someone with the dogs all night, a vet nurse slept on the premises. It's one of the reasons I never like mine staying in over night, no matter how ill they are I reckon they're better at home with me, I won't sleep and will be able to call the vet out if needed.

i once left one of my dogs overnight at the vets. i used to work evenings and always passed the vets on the way home, i spotted the vet leaving and get in his car!
the next morning i collected my dog and questioned the nurse, she just said the vet stayed up very late with your dog and then apoligised for its back end soaked in urine! and also i was charged with hospitalisation! not happy!!
(edit to say it was about midnight the vet left)

> we do pay a slightly higher fee but to know you can ring them up at any time 24hrs a day and speak to a nurse or vet gives you peace of mind.Debby

Do we use the same vet Debby!  :-)

I can phone during the night too.  Like you, the fee may be higher, but the hospital facilities are state of the art, and I guess that is what I'm paying for.  Blood tests in house means early answers, and I have been round all the facilities to see for myself how great the set up is.  Perhaps we are just lucky?

Some folk on here will remember how cut up I was earlier in the year when I had an extremely ill bitch on a drip.  Each time there was a change of vet I had a phone call and an update.  Some of you will perhaps remember when I had a late call from one of the vets, just to prepare me for the worst, and advising me not to get my hopes up.  I couldn't have asked for better.  And she is still with me.  :-)

I use their local surgery for boosters, and they are not manned 24 hours, but the hospital definitely is.  I like it because they don't share the out of hours with other practices, so, in an emergency, although it won't always be my favourite vet, it is always a vet that I know.

A friend asked me to go with him to his vet when his elderly boxer ( which he got from me) went into heart failure It was a bank holiday and the vet gave the old lady drugs to reduce the fluid around her heart and said he would like to keep her overnight. The owner was just about to agree when I asked if there would be someone there all day and night to be with her. No...there would be no one.
I suggested that my friend took her home and gave her a wonderful couple of days, which he did and two days later the old girl passed away, old,worn out but at least not alone in a vet surgery.
I was shocked that this vet felt it was acceptable to let this poor old dog stay alone and frightened at the end of her life. Too busy with the technicalities to see what was the most kind thing to do I suppose.

This is quite a debate isn't it. My friends dog was picked up the next morning and, apart from slightly abnormal potassium levels, is ok. He's to have bloods repeated on Tues. To prove the point about no supervision/observation, he had chewed through his IV and trashed his kennel in the night.!
I really do think this is unsafe practice having no one at all on site when they have in-patients. I've looked at the RCVS accredited practice awards. Of the 3 tiers, ie 1, 2, & 3 (which is hospital status). 1 & 2 are GP practices and it doesn't say the practice has to have night staff,whereas tier 3 does.  However, I still believe for the safety of the animals, a good practice should have someone on site over night. I don't know what could be done to encourage the RCVS to change the requirements for tier 2. I'm sure we all appreciate veterinary practices are run as a business and should make a profit, but the fact they choose not to have night staff says a lot about their dedication to the animals they care for. I'm very disilusioned i must say.

> says a lot about their dedication to the animals they care for

Although I appreciate the sentiment, can you imagine the cost for a small veterinary practice of doing this ?? What time does the average practice shut - 6pm for some - then reopen at 9am. This is 15 hours, 7 days a week at time and a half probably and at weekends, maybe they are normally shut Saturday and Sunday. For a big, busy practice this is feasible, but would probably put the average practice out of business as their charges would rise enormously :( It would have a similar effect to our NHS hospitals - a long journey and no 'local' hospital for many people living out of the cities.

A difficult question, but no easy answer :(

Daisy

> Although I appreciate the sentiment, can you imagine the cost for a small veterinary practice of doing this ??

Do you know how pitiful vet nurse wages are?

It's  a disgrace to keep dogs over night - and charge for the pleasure- yet have no one to perform the service.

The insurance required for someone sleeping overnight would be quite high, as well as the complicated H&S requirements.

I am very lucky as my vet is excellent and offers a full 24hr / day day service with vets/vet nurses on duty. As a result many of the other practices in the area have contracted their out of hours to this practice - IMHO if a vet can't offer a staffed 24hr service (and many small practices can't due to EU Work time directives etc etc ) a "contract out"  situation would be the minimum I would expect, leaving a sick animal alone is IMHO neglect.

Personally I would never use a vet without their own comprehensive out of hours servive as my little darlings usually decide to get sick or injured  "out of hours", when disaster stirkes I do not want to have to deal with vets I have no relationship when I and particularly wrried about one of the dogs. 

K

I used to go to a practice which i thought had a good reputation, when i realised that when they have pets in over night there is someone there until about 10pm and then someone pops in overnight and then thats it.
Not sure who told me but one of their dogs managed to pull out its canular overnight at this practice.

Due to many reasons i changed and now i am at a vets with a hospital, so is manned 24hrs by a vet and nursing staff. I do pay a little but more to see a vet here but i don't care for peace of mind.

The practice I use, same as my friend, also has a good reputation, however, having learnt they don't have anybody on site overnight I would now hesitate to leave my dog as an inpatient. I've looked everywhere for a Tier 3 practice within a 25mile radius and there simply isn't one. So should my girl require hospitalisation in the future, what I would do I don't know.!
It puzzles me how the RCVS can rule that a practice that has facilities to keep patients in for observation and treatment, do not have to have anyone on site overnight. Surely it is only safe practice.

sadly I think this happens in alot of vets, I went to ours on sunday night emergency, vet met me there at 8 pm, unlocked and examined my dog, went through to another room to get something and the inpatients cats and dogs started moaning and mewing, I was shocked that the animals were there and no one at all was on the premisis it was in total darkness when we arrived. I cerainly wont be leaving any of my animals overnight there

I've found this thread very interesting.  I was a veterinary nurse almost 45 years ago and there were no facilities for staff to stay over night and so animals were NEVER kept over night and always sent home with the owners.  The only exception was a goat post op and the owners weren't happy to be told that it needed to be kept warm and kept on its chest, so I took it home and it spent the night in my bedroom - much to my parents' horror!

The idea that sick animals are left unattended or even with hourly visits and then to charge the owners I find completely unacceptable. :(  Most would get far better care with their untrained owners at home.

If it's not practical for there to be someone there overnight (due to financial, insurance, health & safety or any other reason) then surely the vet should send the animal home for the owner to care for and observe? I can fully understand not all vets can offer this service but they shouldn't then keep the aminal in and unobserved, and charge the owner for a non-rendered service!

We are lucky in that we have 2 vet hospitals within 5 minutes drive and there are always staff on duty overnight. I do use the cheaper vet down the road for routine vaccs etc and would never leave one of my animals (sick or not) in a strange place overnight with nobody there.

I agree 100%, I certainly would never leave my dogs overnight, without proper care.

I am incredibly fortunate with my vets. A small country practice, vets who really love animals and reasonably priced. They don't have all 'singing and dancing' ultra modern facilities, but what they do have is priceless, their expertise, care and compassion. The only time one of mine had to stay overnight, my lovely vet went home (5 mins away) and fetched her sleeping bag, she spent the night by my girl.

They do all their own out of hours cover, 365 days a year and an O/H home visit is under £20!

I often say I would be better off calling my vet, when ill, than the doc!

How some practices can charge for an overnight stay, with no-one on site is a disgrace. I don't even like the idea of leaving a well dog in kennels, because of them being left alone all night, at home if one was in trouble, they could come and get me!

This thread has opened my eyes,  I assumed all vets would have overnight cover  for any animals that  where hospitalised.

My boy was in a large eye hospital  at the beginning of the yr, for 2nights.. they did have 24 hr cover...

My own vets, I always assumed they had 24 hr cover too....... will make sure if ever I need it,  that they do.

Can you imagine  if they had a fire !!!!!!!  and no one there !!!!!!!

I Would never leave my dogs in my own home overnight  by themselves, let alone a veterinary surgury!!

Even boarding kennels often don't have staff on the premises for 12 hours out of 24!

I know the one I use. live on the premise, and have CCT  in the house,  which is across the lawn..so I guess thats as good as you will get.

Even boarding kennels often don't have staff on the premises for 12 hours out of 24!

Which is why my dogs don't go into boarding kennels! Even the best run kennels, can't offer the same 24 hour care we can give at home.
If mine do have to be left, they go to professional carers and live 'as family'. I think many people prefer this type of care or home-sitters now.

Even boarding kennels often don't have staff on the premises for 12 hours out of 24!
JG part of a boarding kennel licence is that there has to be a responsible adult on site 24 hours a day - that doesn't mean in the same building.  But not all boarding kennels are licenced!  Another thing for clients to check. :)

>part of a boarding kennel licence is that there has to be a responsible adult on site 24 hours a day

"On site" - that could mean in a farmhouse half a mile from the kennel block, as long as it was all on land in the same ownership.