I'm in a quandary, our favourite vet is leaving for another practise.

Able to get to the present satellite surgery in 5 minutes or the main surgery in 25 (for the dreaded emergencies), his new practise will be 25 for the satellite & 40 for the main surgery.  With two elderly boys really wish to wish to keep continuity with someone who knows them well, whose opinion & care I value (unfortunately we're regular clients!), but not the extra time & mileage, especially the distance for emergencies.

Still not sure, but my query is how far do you travel for your vet & do you go the extra mile for them?

I live in a rural area and my vets is 20-25 for usual surgery, OOH is at their other practice 40-45 mins away.

I've debated changing to a different practice which would be 20 mins for both as I'm uneasy with the time if I ever have a real emergency, but we've been with this one for 25 years and the OOH place is where they keep all overnights and has the best small animal hospital, inc overnight attendance.

For the dog she is with 3 different vets, the main one I go to now is about 10min away, the other that I use less now due to price (I've used for out of hours emergency befor) is 30mins away. The third I never use anymore is 2-3 mins away.
My birds depending on the day can be 30mins or 1 hour as there vet moves around to different areas each day

I go with the 10min away One as the vet is good and he is the cheapest too of the three. Many people who bred/showed recommended him to me and when I called them up for a quote on a bunch of x rays I wanted done the cost was a good shock.
But I know the 30mins away One is ment to have staff there 24/7 to watch the animals staying over which I like and when I went there out of hours befor it was one of the normal vets doing it not some different vet.
The one just up the road I'm not keen on, there expensive and there vets change all the time. They often had foreign vets with either very thick accidents or not good at speaking English so that I couldn't understand a word they said, not there fault I know but when I go to the vets I want to be able to know what is wrong with the animal. They also say they do out of hours but when I needed them no one answered the phone.

Another one in a rural area. I use a satellite surgery for most appointments but they are only there part time. The main surgery is 20-35 mins away depending on time of day.

I started using them when the satellite opened about 30 yrs ago - the practice owner joined them as a junior vet about 2 years later........I mentioned to him last year that I had been there longer than him :-D 

Any other vets (choice of about 4-5 inc PaH) are in a different town and also 25-30 mins away so I stick to the ones I know, they tend to lose 1 and start a new one every so often but they normally tend to be there for at least a couple of years before moving on.

>I've debated changing to a different practice which would be 20 mins for both as I'm uneasy with the time if I ever have a real emergency, but we've been with this one for 25 years and the OOH place is where they keep all overnights and has the best small animal hospital, inc overnight attendance

And having that reassurance is (for me) worth travelling the extra time for.  The veterinary hospital that I use has a small non operating practice just 5 minutes away and it is ideal for boosters and non urgent stuff.  To be fair using the hospital varies depending on traffic.  Half an hour during the day, but in the wee small hours breaking the speed limit I can be there in 20 minutes or less.  I would willingly go up to 45 minutes if that was necessary.  Just to keep the relationship that you build up over the years.  It's funny how dog people value their vets more than they value their own GP's.  :-)

15-20 minuets away for me, mostly country roads which can slow it down if I get stuck behind a tractor or  one of the dreaded " I drive at 40 mph and not one bit faster " road users.
There are two vets who are closer, one I wouldn't trust to open a packet of crisps, let alone operate on my pet, the other I used to use until they sold out to a bigger practise, and you were seeing a different vet every time .

For normal services I'd travel as far I needed for a vet I trusted. If an emergency than I'd want the nearest if time critical

I have veterinary practice opposite me but my vets, of 37 years, main site is about 20 mins away but they do have a small site 10ish mins away for smaller procedures.
I trust the practice I use so wouldnt change to the one opposite me.

When we moved house 7 years ago, we stayed with the vet I had been with for many, many years. The travel was half an hour if no traffic, well over that if it was the wrong time of day. We stayed until my old vet died, then we changed to a vet closer to home. Our current vet we can reach in about 7 minutes if needs be. I have to say it is so much better to have a vet close by. As a breeder, any whelping related emergencies will mean every minute counts. Earlier this year I had an emergency where one of my Papillons stopped breathing and we were at the vets within a few minutes. Had I still been with the old vet I don't think that dog would still be alive.

The drawback is that the OOH vets are based at the premises of the old vet!!

It varied over the years Lacy.   The furthest we travelled, and that was only when absolutely necessary, was 80 miles back to the outskirts of Toronto with a much valued and trusted vet we had down there.   Clearly this wasn't for any emergency situation.    I hated being forced to move that far away - and indeed had I been able to bring him back with me from Canada to the UK, I would have.   One in a million.    He's now retired, but I have 'spoken' to him only recently (email).

Right now, we have two, one right in town (less than 1/2 mile away) and the other on the outskirts of town, probably just a short distance further.

With our breed, it's vitally important to have a vet as near as possible (GDV)!!

For normal services I'd travel as far I needed for a vet I trusted. If an emergency than I'd want the nearest if time critical
This is pretty much how I felt re my Canadian vet ..................

Add -  Off subject ...... I've lost where I can start a thread???   What I'd like to ask is how the red stars are awarded???  Ta.

Stars: http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/125087.html
1 star  - 50 posts
2 stars - 250 posts
3 stars - 1000 posts
4 stars - 5000 posts
5 stars - 25000 posts

My Vet was 17 km of mostly rural roads but enough city too that, depending on time of day and traffic, it would take 20 or sometimes 30 minutes.  Oban has been extremely sick and I'm now taking him to a holistic Vet, who has saved his life.  She works two clinics, one is 35 km and the other is 36; so twice the distance.  But it's nearly all rural highway and does not take me twice as long to get there.  Except when I deliberately vary the route, as I did yesterday to take in the Fall colours on the rural backroads which are beautiful right now, and even then it only took me about 45 minutes.  Honestly, if she was twice as far and all city driving it would take me much longer and I would find it much more of a burden.

Thank you Goldmali re the stars!!

Our Vet is a 20-25 min drive away and the emergency out of hours service is about 10 mins away.  There are about 4 different company of Vet practices who are 10-15 min drive from us, but I wouldn't go to any of them because I've not heard good reports about them and I prefer to see the same Vet who know my dogs etc.

Our Vet now has 2 practices, both with 24hr emergency cover, Hospital facilities etc. Fortunately for us, we are placed virtually in the Middle, distance wise, to both, one being 15 mins away the other being 20 mins away. The new surgery is a God send if there are any problems on the A17 or they've closed the Bridge at Sutton Bridge, as it meant in the past that we would of had to go via Wisbech to get over the river at the next crossing, adding another 20 mins to the Journey.

It's funny how dog people value their vets more than they value their own GP's.  :-) 
JeanSW, LOL

one I wouldn't trust to open a packet of crisps,
Celli, yes if see a certain name on the door of the local surgery, walk away for another day or drive to the main surgery.

With our breed, it's vitally important to have a vet as near as possible (GDV)
MamaBas this is my gut feeling.

Is it possible to remain with one surgery in case of emergencies but also register with another to stay with our present vet?
Does anyone do this & how do practices feel about it?

I live in a rural location so the country roads mean it takes longer to get anywhere. When we moved here from Surrey 2 years ago one of my bitches ( now departed) ate something off the field and ended up with really bad tummy/sickness. I went to the local vet ( 20 minutes from us) she was appallingly rude to me telling me I had brought my "townie goobledegook" to a different way of life- I raw feed and do not vaccinate.
Due to this I found a vet that also had a homeopathic vet unfortunately it is 26 miles from us and takes me 45 minutes to reach. However I am delighted with their service, the prices are nowhere near the price I was paying in Surrey and when my old boy had dementia for the last year of his life they posted the medication to me.

Sadly I have lost two dogs within 8 weeks, my 15 yr old boy was a planned goodbye, the 12 year old 8 weeks later was a shock but my lovely vets allowed us to sit out in their garden, hold our beloved dogs and say goodbye and set them free in the open.

For me they are worth the miles.

>For me they are worth the miles.

I couldn't agree more.
My vet has been coming to my house for years now...but if she were 50 miles away I'd still travel to her.

There are a lot of people registered with more than one vet for reasons like this, Lacy :) I'm currently registered with two as one is a holistic vet (via referral). You should tell each of them I think, and I'm sure noone could be offended by the reasons you state :)

I'd drive ages to see my brilliant vet, as it happens he's about 2 mins away. We use an OOH vet about 10 mins away. I definitely wouldn't leave a good vet because another was closer, but handy to have one closer for time restricted emergencies.

>Is it possible to remain with one surgery in case of emergencies but also register with another to stay with our present vet?

I do this especially as I had difficulties with a whelping bitch when my own vet was out seeing an emergency.

I had to use another local practice, or use the practice my vet uses for Out of Hours (good 20 minutes away, or double that in rush hour).

I now will use one of the companion Care Vets in Pets at home for the hours my own vet does not open (Saturday PM and Sundays, to avoid the hugely expensive dedicated OOH))

I also use a different vet for Hip/Elbow scoring 75 miles away, as he is an ortho specialist, prepared to sedate rather than GA and even with fuel is far cheaper than I'd pay locally for a less experienced with BVA schemes X-raying vet.

How the vets feel about it I don't know, I'm paying the vet they are my animals so I do what suits me and them.

My vet is 10 minutes away.

My vet is twenty miles away the closer ones do not do there own out of hours call you are referred to I think it vets for pets.
My own vet breeds and shows Border Collie's and so understands about show dogs, they do homeopathic, ultra sound and acupuncture as well as convenient medicine in fact it is one of the few that is still a large animal practice

I have just travelled an hour in total to take my SIL's rabbit to the vet. My vet does normal opening hours at normal rates at the weekend whereas her vet closes all weekend. Sadly her rabbit didn't come home with us and was PTS at the surgery. OOH vet wanted £97 OOH rate (£132 after 11pm) and then £42.76 on top of that for a consultation fee with any treatement as extra. My vet charged £55 for the consultation and PTS fee which included cremation.

I've had to change vet twice this last year. My first vets were good and their satellite practice was 15 minutes away by car. I tried another practice about 20-265 minutes drive away but wasn't really won over by the service. My vet now is 27 miles away and is fantastic--the best vet I've had, ever. It's further than I'd like in case of emergency--it's a single practice. I'll see what they say tomorrow about their OOH service when I take my bitch for her scan.

I'm lucky as a really good vet opened right across the road from me :D

Thank you all.
I've decided to register with the new practise when our vet moves but will also stay with the present practise, our younger boy can continue to go locally for monthly cartrophen, other 'minor' issues & as they're closer the dreaded night time dash. Not ideal, but when you find a good vet can't imagine not having his input & it would be stupid not to travel the extra few miles to see him.
How I loathe change!

>My vet charged £55 for the consultation and PTS fee which included cremation.

WOW!  That is really, really good.