A Vet should be more than a doctor

Why your vet should be your SuperStar

I don't like going to the vet. Not only my dogs get excited, nervous and anxious, but the bill I get after the visit sometimes give me the nausea.

Veterinian services are expensive, let's be honest about it. If you are lucky and your dog is healthy, you are blessed because you'll see your vet once a year, for your dog's necessary shots and lyme/heart protection prescription.

Because animal medicine is a mystery for me, and the majority of us, people, I need a vet that will be ready to be more than a doctor. I need a vet that will be a SuperStar, a caregiver.

Since my last visit to the vet with Bella, last week, I've been thinking about changing vet. It is a big decision, in part because the clinic of our present vet has great business hours and also because, despite Bella hating her vet, at least she is used to him (or is she really?).


Why do I have those thoughts? To be blunt, when I left the clinic, I realized that I didn't like our vet. There is nothing wrong with the quality of his work. I just don't like his bedside manners. He makes me feel like a client, and not like my dogs are his patients. I know, I AM a client, but when I go and see him (and pay green dollars for that) and he treats me like a customer in line at the grocery store. I have the feeling he is more after my money than after what could be wrong with my dog(s).

I got to think about what I would like to see in my "ideal-dream" SuperStar Vet to be satisfied.

A) Professional - HUMAN: If I am told that my dog has X disease or that, in order to clip my dog's nail you will give her a tranquilizer, I want to know more about it. What are the side-effects? What will happen next? I also want a vet that will look me in the eye when he is talking to me, not looking at the floor with his hand on the door handle.

B) Professional - ACADEMIC: We, humans, are a funny kind. A vet (or any other professional for that matter) could be the best in the world, but without point A, I'll wrongly assume that he doesn't know what he is talking about. Of course, I know it doesn't make sense. I know that not everybody has sharp social skills, but am I asking too much?

C) Empathy: Despite the fact that my dogs might be client/patient no. 8677-8678 in a vet clinic, they are MY dogs. They are part of my pact, of my family. If they hurt, are unwell and/or in pain, I am too. It is unfortunate, but it is like that. I know that a vet time is precious and that in one day, a vet might see 10 people just like me, but I want to know and I want the vet to ask me: "Do you have a question?"

My next step is going to be to ask family and friends what they think about their vet and if they have recommendations.

Do you have any recommendations about what you are looking for for a vet?

A Visit to the Vet

Bella

When we adopted our mixed-mutt Bella, we only knew that she was 7-8 months old and that she was born in the wild. That’s it. It is not uncommon for new dog owners to learn that their new dog without a known history, actually have a history.

This is what is happening with Bella. She is one of the most loving dog, always proving to us that we choose well by choosing her. Nothing like Jake, that we adopted as a puppy, and who assume that he is loved and would never doubt it.

We can do what we want with Bella, or almost. We can’t take her for car ride (car sick), can’t walk her as often as we would like (she gets VERY nervous, to the point where I worry she might hurt herself and me), can’t wash her (thank you for shampoo without rinse) because she is afraid of the water and we CAN’T CLIP HER NAILS.

Last summer, we gave up trying to clip her nails after too many fights with her. So we brought her to our vet, Dr.Church and he says, after administering three tranquilizer to our girl because she would NOT let us approach her with a nail clipper: “She is the worst dog I’ve seen. Please try to not bring her back.” And so we tried.

We tried the walks and she almost got my arm out of its socket when she saw two dogs minding their own business, and she also almost cut my fingers from lack of circulation because she pulls too much and barks all the way. When she doesn’t pay attention, I sometimes can get a few nails, but she is so upset at me that she gives me the cold treatment and refused to let me touch her paws.

So we made another appointment with our vet, who couldn’t see us before two weeks, to have her nails clipped again. But this morning, we had to call him for an emergency appointment.

One of Bella’s nails, from her front left paw, was folded. In an angle of 90 degree. She didn’t let us touch her paw although we could see that something was wrong. So I called the vet and was so glad to hear that they were open on a Sunday!

We grabbed Bella and off we drove to the vet.

This is where things got interesting.

Since Dr.Church already knew that Bella didn’t like him and he wanted to keep her as less stress as possible, we went into an empty waiting room instead of the regular exam room. It didn’t help Bella that much, just a little. I guess that it doesn’t matter in which room she is at the vet. Just the scent of the place gives her the creep.

For $44, the vet looked at her paw and told us he could help us. Because the first time we came to have her nails clipped, the tranquilizers didn’t work, this time Dr.Church had another plan.

He would give her a dose of Dexdormitor to put her to sleep, clip her nails and give her a shot of Antiseden to reverse the effects of the Dexdormitor and wake her up. The plan sounded smart so we agree on it.

And so we went into an examination room so he could weight in Bella to give her the right dosage of Dexdormitor and we went back to the waiting room. Bella got her shot and Dr. Church told us that she might need a second shot. He would be back in 15 minutes to assess her. Well, our Bella fought with all her might the effects of the shot (not surprising) and 15 minutes later, when she saw the vet coming back into the room, she got all upset and it was decided that she would need the second dose.

After that second dose, we were speechless because it took her 5 minutes before falling asleep. At this point, we thought that her nails clipping would be piece of cake.

We were wrong, so wrong.

As soon as Bella smelled the vet when he came back into the room, 15 minutes later, she acted as if she never had a shot of Dexdormitor, let alone 2.

I don’t like to stress her out this way, but it is the ONLY way to clip her nails. I don’t know what happened to her when she lived in the wild to scare her this way and I can only guess that it was not something nice. She is almost deadly afraid of the nail clipper.

Despite the two shots, we had to fight with her to hold her down so Dr. Church could cut her nails. For a 49 pounds girl, she is strong. I could feel her little heart beat so fast that I was afraid she would have a heart attack.

When we were done, the broken nail cut, the vet wiped his brow and told her, breathless, that she would need antibiotics because she really did a good job of breaking her nail.

He most have been in a hurry to get the hell outta the room, because he only came back for a dose of Antiseden, to wake Bella up. We were told that she should be okay in 5 minutes. So as soon as he exited the door, I looked at my husband and told him to check how long it would take for Bella to be back to normal.

My poor girl was lying on the floor, her tongue out and she was breathing so slowly. For 5 long minutes, I checked her respiration and talked to her softly, willing her to wake up.

She did wake up, 5 minutes later and she was in a hurry to leave. As soon as she started to bark, the nice receptionist came and gave us Bella’s antibiotics.

We paid $135.50 without having seen the vet to at least thank him. To be honest, I am a little bit disappointed. Yes, my Bella is okay (although she slept all day long), but I would have like more empathy and time from our vet.

NOTE : I am not going to post a picture of Bella, while she is out. It is just NOT right.