That's awful,  its not a service I hope to ask for a long time & thankfully our vets do their own out of hours, but I will check to make sure that they will come to the house if necessary.

Pups go In either in a carrier or this time we took them in a puppy pram.  For those who went at 8 weeks I had them checked the same time as the girls I was keeping were vaccinated.  The boys who ended up staying longer got their vaccinations a couple of weeks later than the girls.

The puppy pram was disinfected before use, the vet reanitized the table and scales before taking pup's out of the pram.  I do understand people's hesitation but I feel more comfortable knowing I've had my vet see them first.

It seems more and more vets do not have their own out of office hours cover, only working surgery hours, and an appointment system, so call outs would entail problems with surgery, especially for a one arm band like my vet, but even the practises with more vets will have their surgery time booked.

To be honest it is similar with trying to get a doctor out, when I was a child it was normal to call the GP out to a child or elderly person, it certainly wasn't like that anymore 20+ years ago when I had a sick child and no transport, it was an ambulance to A+E or taxi, or phone a friend.

>When my Kizi was dying in August and I wanted the emergency Vet to come out to PTS (Saturday early evening, about 7pm) they said I had to go in, she was unconcious by the time we got there and it was  £133 for the consult, coming to nearly £200 with PTS and disposal.

That's appalling service. :-(

At the practices around here (others as well as ours) you only get charged call-out if the visit's between 9am and 6pm (main surgery 7pm) (the visit will be fitted around consultation and operation hours) - there'll only be an out-of-hours charge outside that time because we're officially closed then. Home visits are quite common, especially for PTS. The vet would never refuse to come out; that would be justified cause for a complaint to the RCVS (unless they'd previously been assaulted or abused on the property, or the client was a bad payer).

And yes, we operate an appointment system, not a drop-in.

Refusal to do housecalls has been found to be serious professional misconduct: case history.

I know this has gone off topic a bit but the vets we use has a 'well pet' back door.  If you dont want to wait in the waiting room ie with pups or something then you can pop into the reception, say that you are waiting in the smallish carpark and then when its your turn they come to the back door and you go directly into the corridor of treatment rooms.  So for mums and pups, vaccination boosters, claw trimmings, that sort of thing, you dont have to sit in the potentially germy waiting room.

People also use the door if they have had their pet pts, so if they are upset they dont have to walk through a waiting room of people :'(

Brainless, I devised my own form as I knew if a puppy health cert was issued on their own letter headed paper it would cost me. As it is, my form includes all relevant info - for eg if a pup had an undesecended testicle or an umbilical hernia (however small, they are prevalent in my breed), my vet would document this, so everything is above board and there for the new owner to see. Cert states that a thorough health check has been performed.  I always get my puppies health checked as close to leaving me as possible,  but in truth it is usually 2 days before since most of my pups are vaccinated at the same time and obviously I need to keep them for a bit longer to ensure no reaction to it. Because I have my own health certificates as proof of a vet check and a clean bill of health having been given, I have written into my contract that if a pup is deemed to have a health issue (within 3 days of leaving me) by new owners vet, I would then wish to have a second opinion - in writing - confirming this. Otherwise, it is just the word of my vet (whom I trust implicitly) against their vet, who maybe a young overzealous newly qualified individual!  Obviously, if all pups do not go around the same time and for eg several weeks lapse in between, then another vet check and signed cert would be required for it to be valid.

I usually wait in the car with my pups and someone comes out when it is our turn.
I find it very distressing to see people having to walk through the waiting room having clearly just had their pet pts. On one occasion a couple who must have opted to have their large breed dog buried in their garden had to walk through a waiting room full of people, carrying their deceased dog under a large blanket. I was appalled, so traumatic for the owners and very upsetting for all of us witnessing this. So, the concept of having a separate door for such situations seems ideal for me. I might suggest it the next time I am at our vets.

Not all practices have premises large enough to allow for this. The branch where I work, for instance, is about 15' square in total - that's reception and consult room, with the pharmacy and kitchen area in the corridor to the toilet. (Actual surgical operations are done at our main surgery in town.) The only way to leave the consult room is via the waiting area.

I appreciate that Jean, but our practice whilst not huge, could, I am sure, fit in a separate entrance/exit somewhere.

The operation and tests itself being a costly process were carried out as they were not sure if it was Meningitis or not, and while carrying these out they removed a hernia that he had in addition.

http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Dog-Health-Center/Brain-Spinal-Cord-Nerve-Disorders/Meningitis/Treatment.aspx

http://www.vetbase.co.uk/information/meningitis-dogs.php

Nowhere in either of these links does it mention any operation for Meningitis - unless taking a sample of spinal fluid to help confirm the diagnosis could be called an operation.  However  I sincerely doubt that it would cost £1000.

and I speak as someone who lives in the most EXPENSIVE part of the country regarding vets fees. 

Was the pup not insured?  Insurance would surely cover suspected meningitis?

The operation and tests itself being a costly process were carried out as they were not sure if it was Meningitis or not, and while carrying these out they removed a hernia that he had in addition.

Price still does not make sense samg, meningitis can not be operated on and if the hernia was so bad it needed fixing immediately it would have shown straight away on collection and in the breeders care, hernias are generally repaired if the owner wishes at the time of neutering, that is one to two years later, at hardly any extra cost whilst the dog is under already, that is how unimportant most hernias are. Even a simple hernia op alone, what are we talking £300? Not much more than that.

Why don't you get your friends to look up on the internet everything is there for them to see, they need to get this information for themselves and start to question, they can look at photo's of hernia's serious and none serious and need ask why the pup was operated on, why the pup has been staying overnight for so long aftert a simple op is also beyond me also.

Unless the words and reasons from the vet to your friend and then to you and then to us have become disengaged and twisted this whole palaver makes no sense at all.

And then to worry them with possible liver shunt and possibly more operations, please get your friends to arm themselves with information.

I really fear that this vet is taking them as new owners on the ride of their life, how much more does this pup have to take? And did it need any of this in the first place?