Reading comments on this website re clients and their vets, it seems to me that all too often there is little to no real 'trust' in what a vet is saying.   From breeding, to diagnosing, vaccination, and normal vet needs.   Since moving back to the country, I've come across rather more vets who I've had to leave, than stick with.  Especially since having moved to the West (UK).   I seem to have found a practice I can work with, finally, but I would say I had a super vet back up East (now retired).  She knew that if I said there was something not right, even if I didn't know what, there WAS something to be found.   Only once did I go against her advice with a hound who went off his back legs.   She wanted pts.   I said not yet - and I was right.

So do YOU trust your current vet?  Or is he/she a sometimes necessary 'evil'?

I trust mine, though there is one in the practice I am not so keen on but will use in emergency. I like the fact that they do thier own OOH cover and my vet is very willing to listen to me and acknowledge that I have a lot of experience with the breed. We talk things out between us and she supports my decisions even if they are not always the same as hers.

> I like the fact that they do thier own OOH cover and my vet is very willing to listen to me and acknowledge that I have a lot of experience with the breed. We talk things out between us and she supports my decisions even if they are not always the same as hers.

This seems to be the issue for us experienced breeder owners, finding this kind of vet.

I've just changed practice for this reason.  I had a trusted vet where I was, I'd built a relationship with her, and she left, along with two others when the practice was sold to Medivet.  She's the third trusted vet I've lost from there, and the second one I ended up not trusting anyway as he was a bit too flakey but he was good with the stressies.  So when she left it was the final straw for me - I did try again, I asked them which vets were good with difficult dogs and was told 'if she gets ill, ring us and see who we've got.'  As the owner of a dog who cannot be touched by a vet and requires very specific handling, that is not good enough - I need to know in advance which vet I can trust to follow my instructions and not get cocky and try to handle her, or dismiss said instructions.  So I left.

Where I've gone to, I already had good reports on in every way (handling and advice/treatment) and have sent a number of my behavioural clients to.  So when Rai needed looking at recently (one of my stressies), I booked her in with the main vet who'd set the place up and of whom I'd had the good reports.  He's been brilliant.  He listens, he follows instructions, when she needed an op him and all the staff involved listened to everything I said and did as I asked so it went very smoothly.  And in terms of knowledge and being up to date, he's the best vet I've had so far.  He's also willing to try things which is so important to me - when I explained about Ren (who can't be touched), about me having to inject her to sedate her and so on, he was fine with it.  Hopefully it won't be needed again until the end of her life but it's good to know it will be done as needed.

I have been incredibly lucky with my vet. A new surgery opened right across the road from me and as I don't drive it made sense for me to use them the fact that they are really good vets with as good animal skills as people skills is a bonus.

My old dog wasn't keen on people he didn't know not aggressive in any way but just worried. I used to take him over so that he went without needing anything done and the staff gave him treats an fussed him. When he had to go in for an op they phoned me I took him over they sedated him while I was there and phoned me the minute he was good to go home so I could collect him right away.

He got used to going and was happy to go which meant neither of us was stressed.

They only do small animals and are really good with cats too. One of mine was really scared and blood was usually drawn and not the cat's. They have worked with all of mine and they can do pretty much every procedure easily.

I don't trust any vets on certain issues, because I believe they are brainwashed during their training and/or receive zero amount of training on the subjects concerned (or near zero).  These are subjects like neutering, vaccinations, preventative tick/flea/worming meds and nutrition. 

So I only 'trust' the vet when there is Something Wrong which needs to be treated - not for anything preventative.  And then I only trust certain vets at the practice and refuse to see others.

We’ve been with the same practice for over 12 years now and the majority of the time, I really couldn’t fault them but then others where we’ve had to stick to our guns where we knew they were just trying to take money off us which wasn’t necessary.

The two cases of that which stand out most:
1. We had a girl who had suffered with her health for a while and was on 2x tramadol a day as palative care until she had detoriated so much that it was time to let her go. Vets said they could do further blood work and x-rays and we asked if that could change the outcome, answer was no. So why were the tests needed other than to line their pockets? we said no to them and gave her one last weekend of being spoiled and making memories which we still cherish years later

2. My two current boys were playing and the youngest started crying and limping. He’d been running around like a hooligan and had knocked into the eldest. Took him in and said he’d sprained himself and just needed some anti-inflammatories. Now he’s a bit of a sensitive soul and was whining at the vet manipulating his legs/elbows so he tried to tell me that my 3 month old puppy had ED in a breed where it is unheard of and if he wasn’t better within a week he’d need x-rays! We put him on rest with the anti-inflammatories and within days he was fine again and hasn’t had any issues since

I’ve had dogs my entire timeline, and although I know none of us are experts, I’m not a novice owner but I do think that new owners do just blindly follow what they vet says. I know that definitely applies when it comes to neutering where far too many are done whilst still babies because their vet has given them the whole spiel of BS to talk them into it

>So I only 'trust' the vet when there is Something Wrong which needs to be treated - not for anything preventative.  And then I only trust certain vets at the practice and refuse to see others.<

How true! I had one which openly said “the others would give you this as well but it’s a load of rubbish!” I trust her the most and she takes the time to ask me about the breeds I have to understand them more

One of me vets I do totally. He is an old school vet, the sort that don't want to push things on their clients, he will give all the options and let you decide. He has also been going for a long time. His prices are also much better too.

Mine are with 3 different practices, my closest, the one I like and my works. I also deal with taking works animals to the vets so have met quite a few. There a varied bunch. I've met rude opinionated one's, one that didn't seem to know what they were doing, ones who just seem to want to push things on owners, one's who don't want to do anything but the bare basics, and a few good ones, normally the older vets I find.

>although I know none of us are experts, I’m not a novice owner but I do think that new owners do just blindly follow what they vet says

Very true.  I had a case recently where someone showed me a video of their dog (same breed as mine) clearly showing signs of a disorder that parents should be screened for before breeding.  I told the client what I thought it was, and advised the client to do the relevant DNA test on their dog and find out if the dog is Affected with the condition.  This would have involved a simple cheek swab they could do at home. 

Next thing I know, is the client tells me they went to their vet.  Because people blindly trust their vets.  The vet (wait for it)... gave the dog a general anaesthetic, ran several expensive tests, and finally drew blood for this same genetic disorder.  The result was positive - the dog has it.  So all those tests were basically unnecessary.

Why on earth would they put the dog through all that testing and a GA, when a simple saliva swab done first could determine if further testing was necessary????

Been with the same practise since about 1987, Branch in the village and main clinic about 12 miles away to the East

1st GSD Zigi started having 'panic attacks' in 1991 aged about 2, Vet I saw - M - was brilliant, examined him, worked out he almost certainly had a non functioning parathyroid,  gave him ColloCal D and said that will sort him... and it did, Zig had blood tests every 7-10 days for about 3 months while dose was adjusted, then 1 a month, 1 every 2 months by which time we got to the stage when I was told 'you know him better than me - juggle the dose as you feel he needs'. Z then had annual blood test, umpteen bottles of ColloCal, and we lost him at nearly 9 to CDRM.
We talked about why and M said 'yes we can do tests to find out why but it won't change the treatment, why mess him about and spend money for no good reason!' Zig must have had about 30 blood tests in the begining ... he would have gone in on his own if I let him, when M got the test stuff out Zig would sit in front and hold his paw up
M left as his partner complained about the hours ! and went to be a meat inspector for MAFF ..... what a waste!

Next few OK but nothing special,  T, great, there for 2 yrs but then went back to E Germany    N - another good-un, came in on his day off to see Zan when we were losing him with heart problems. He emigrated.
M was great for 2/3 yrs and then went back to USA. There is now 1 that I trust, 1 maybe and the others - no thanks.

What may be the final straw is that they have now been taken over by Vet Partners and have passed the OOH care to a practice about 12 miles away to the West
They had a flyer in surgery but also announced it on Facebook ..... they had that much flack that they pulled the whole page, part of it was that the OOH would have no access to 'patient records'

I could easily just ditto Merlot's post.  I use a veterinary hospital so know that I can phone at 2am and a vet will answer and give me an update on any dog I have in overnight.

I currently have an older bitch that was limping badly.  She has already had 2 operations on one of her back legs.  It seems that the other one has now got the same cruciate problems.  The vet I saw said that, given her age, he wouldn't want to automatically think of surgery.  She has her check up on Friday - but is so much improved with Metacam that I'm sure he will be happy with her.

Like Merlot, they acknowledge that I am experienced and have an awful lot of canine knowledge.  If I disagree with them then they will ask what I want to do.  People who accept everything that a vet advises is usually a pet owner with experience of owning one dog.

I do trust my vet practice, which is just as well because it is the only one! They do their own OOH and I generally can't fault them, BUT when they have a locum in that usually spells trouble and now I refuse to see any locum, possibly a bit harsh of me but I have yet to see one that cares about the animal, the owner or much at all.

I have a good vet she owns and shows border collies, she does ultrasound, homeopathic treatments, accopunture and will tell you out straight your options and treatments and also will say if it is something she is prepared or not to do it to her own dogs,

She owns the practice and has a price list on the wall so you have some idea of costs but if it is a on going case she will not charge for consultation just costs incurred.

The only down side now due to new vets not wanting to do out of hours care she has to stop next month but has spent nine months finding a vet to do so one she would use if she had to

A lot of people travel a fair distance to her as they do not charge the earth and the first question asked is not do you have insurance but what is wrong

Im with 2 practices. One for cheaper basics and theu listen really listen. There is a good old school vet there and the owner will listen and never judges.
The other has its own 24hr service and the closest to me. I do use them and found a vet there now which i like to see, sadly my favourite died a few years ago.2 of the specialists as its that type of practice are wonderful, just a shame they don't do general practice any more.

> There is a good old school vet there ....

I tend to prefer this sort as they are better at diagnosing WITHOUT wheeling out all the equipment    I do find I need a vet who isn't into all this, or the 'try this, try that' type which empties a Bank account.  It is a shame when a good vet is found, but then retires!!  Or, as in my case, a move away is involved.   I'd happily have packed my Canadian vet in my luggage when we came back to the UK.  

Interesting comments and maybe the situation with not trusting a vet isn't quite as bad/widespread as some of the comments here might suggest.  I'm afraid I found some dozies in recent years since moving West (UK) and had to walk with feet three times.   Hopefully I've found one I can work with now.

Facebook Replies:

Paula Goody says: I trust my vet immensely. So far, touch wood, have never had any reason to doubt their advice or diagnosis. My dog loves going there, too, which says a lot. He recently had a blockage, and if it weren’t for their thorough treatment and close monitoring he may not be here now

Sarah Norkett says: Had one disagreement with one we later found out she was the company owner. We were proven right when she wanted to pts he survived well.
Still go there but prefer the other vet

Sarah Renwick-Nash says:  I have a vet who's very good he gives me the options as a vet then tells me what's he'd do. has always done as I ask even if it's against policy.

Neil Fishburn says:  I trust the vets practice I use I cannot say that I trust the vet as it seems seeing the same vet is a thing of the past we seem to be fitted in to see who we can but the main vet still signs off any operations as he over rules on of his vets who was going to dock our cats tail. He has also seen us through another strange diagnosis which had him hitting the books looking into what could be going on. When he noticed another of our cats had been neutered but their was no record of it being done at his surgery (because I had a voucher from cats protection league to get it done and one of his sub vets said they wouldn’t take it and also suggested waiting until the tom cat was over a year and started spraying in the house) he was very annoyed at his young vets as said he would have done the op at the age I wanted and would have accepted the voucher.

Miriam Fraser says: I have been let down very badly by 2 vets.. One is Vets4Pets in Dunfermline who diagnosed my Dog with cancer at age 2.. sent me to Oncology at Royal Dick Vet.. No cancer.. never was.. but a £2400 bill.
Other dreadful vet Vetrica at Rosyth in Fife. A vet nurse self diagnosed my Dog over phone and wouldnt let me bring her in.. gave me wrong drugs on 2 occasions.. then when they agreed I could bring dog in which I wanted to do in first place.. they said they didn't know what was wrong..that was the senior vet and owner of the practice.. he gave her more wrong drugs.. next day she nearly died.. I had to rush my Dog to Royal Dick Vet Hospital for 4 days of intensive care.. turned out my Dog at age 5 was dying from heart failure.. she died 6 months later due to vet negligence. Dreadful Vet.
One fantastic vet I had for stem cell therapy is Andy Armitage at Greenside Practice St Boswell.. he is awesome and so is stem cell.

Jane Crewe says:  Really struggling to find a vet in Edinburgh since we lost one through retirement and another, who we trusted completely, left the practice. They don't seem to listen and treat me like an idiot. My previous two vets worked in partnership with me for the health of my animals and we came to joint, agreed decisions. I now feel like I am being bullied or treated like an irritant and 'on my own head be it' if I question a course if action.

Marilyn Anne Evill says:  When I moved to this area it took me two years and three vets before I found my current vets. They trust me if I say something is wrong although I do have to be careful when a new vet joins as I try not to tell them I know what is wring until they have got to know me.

Susan Casey says: The only thing I find with most vets you can guarantee your going to get some sort of bill even if it’s not necessary they will always push a proscription on to you x

Paddy Driscoll says:  i pick my vet at my practice carefully when I make appointments - and some I only go to with a bombproof dog who won't be harmed if/when they mishandle it, or where I have already worked out what needs to happen. I insist on another if feel it requires more experience, knowledge or someone who will LISTEN to me and respect MY knowledge and experience as being worth taking into consideration and not treat me like an idiot. :-) Its not just the vets as practitioners though - its their staff as well.  Mishandling dogs and puppies, poorly managed waiting rooms etc etc. But otoh some are brilliant and sometimes they outweigh the 'necessary evil' ones. I just wish there were more of them around and it wasn't such trial and (often potentially letha!) error finding out which is which.

--- Colin Nutton says: I try not to go to vets at all. I don't agree with the fact they want to pump my dog with loads of preventative treatments. Have you noticed how many vet practises there is nowadays in each town? Hell of a lot. Why is this? I believe the vets regime of...See mo

---- Paddy Driscoll says:  I totally disagree vets want our dogs to be unhealthy. Sadly it has the highest suicide rate of any profession and it's trying to deal with the owners who don't care enough, the cruelty and lack of care they see and having to put animals to sleep, often because we owners have messed up. Their profession demands they kill animals and more than one vet has told me they became vets to help animals, not kill them.
I'm not saying I agree with everything they do but it's grossly unfair to suggest they don't care at all.

----- Colin Nutton says:  If your dog gets injured or develops some kind of illness then yes of course a visit to the vet is necessary.....I'm saying that over vaccination, over use of worming and flea treatment is making dogs ill and it's the vets that are recommending we do this. Of course you don't have to agree with me......it's my opinion and it's what I do.

Theresa Willis says: I have a really good vet and his team yes I trust him to make the right decisions .

Christine Trendle says:  Couldn't agree with Colin more. Luckily I have great vets. Don't do things not needed

I'm sad that this thread has gone to FB.   I asked this question here - not on FB.  

> I asked this question here - not on FB.

My thoughts exactly.

Maybe there should be a tick box that we mark when we post a question as to whether we are happy for it to be added onto fb?

Thing is that the posts here are available to all, all over the net, you only need to Google a doggy question and up pop the posts, only difference is that people can't reply unless they join, whereas we get answers on Facebook from non members???

So u get effectively two conversations running together and any that are contentious can't be replied to unless u join fb .if u join fb u then have to be prepared to have your name known. Here it's anonymous.  I also feel it's showing fb as the devil which used carefully and with knowledge need not be the case

I just don't know what the point of all this copying back and forth is about.  It has been going on for some time now and it hasn't resulted in more people joining CD forum, so the argument about it somehow saving the forum from Facebook, just seems unproven. 

We read these FB answers here and no one bothers to reply to them or engage with them, because we know the people who wrote them are not reading here.  People on FB respond to the original question without knowing what we have said, here.  It all just seems a bit pointless, at best. 

It also gets in the way of the flow of conversation - look above, we now have many posts of stuff from FB getting in the way of what we are trying to talk about.  I end up scrolling up past all that FB stuff, to continue what we were talking about.

I think we’ve pretty much been told if we don’t like it we can lump it...

I trust my vet in so far as I value their advice and assistance treating my dogs. BUT I would say that I am very unforgiving of any errors or misdiagnosis they may make. I will not tolerate any poor practice and question them constantly.