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I brought my cat to the vets. It was a clinic with different vets there, them taking shifts. The vet wanted to take a urine sample. The cat was male. There was a perforation, my cat screamed out, he bled. Shortly thereafter my cat developed a bladder blockage, was deemed to old and sickly by another vet and was put to sleep. We had had an appointment with the first vet which she broke, and then another, which she broke. The second vet was shocked that the appointments were broken, and was some high official in the state's veterinary board. He may have done something about what happened.
Vet's, I have read on this forum, carry inferior food in their lobbies just to increase profits. They do horrid things like declawing cats to increase revenues. I am thinking one way to get at least a caring vet is to call up to make an appointment for declawing. If they make the appointment, cancel and tell them you found out that declawing is an atrocity.
Does anyone else have bad stories to tell of vets?
We definitely need more laws protecting our pets. Declawing is illegal in many civilized countries.
I've already recently told the story of a vet I very briefly worked for who had techs declawing half-sedated cats. The same vet was withholding pain medication AND had crappy equipment that was putting his staff at risk. I have three other stories...
When my cat Nic was diagnosed with kidney failure, we were told he might also have a heart murmur. Our vet didn't do cardio work-ups, so they sent us to a different clinic. This clinic didn't have a cardiologist on staff but they had a 'traveling' cardiologist who came once a month with the machines to do work-ups. She examined Nic and told us he had very bad heart problems, would need to be on medication, and would need regular cardio check-ups...at least every six months.
That night the regular vet from the same clinic called us and told us NOT to give Nic the heart meds without a second opinion. She said she had long suspected the cardiologist was misdiagnosing cats (probably so the owners would continue to get regular rechecks.) She offered to refund us the cost if we took him to the University of Penn to confirm the diagnosis. And yep...Nic's heart was FINE. Giving him the medication could have harmed him. The cardiologist was fired from that clinic, reported to the board, and all of the other vet hospitals in the area were made aware of her reputation.
The next story is in the top five worst decisions I have ever made. Nic coped very well with his kidney failure for seven years. When he was fourteen I made the decision to have a dental done because his teeth were in bad shape and it was painful for him to eat. For some reason I decided NOT to have the procedure done at the hospital where I worked...it made sense at the time, but in hindsight there was no good reason for it. The clinic I picked had a registered dental tech, a few more pieces of safety equipment, and a reputation for being all about the pet (and in fact this clinic did NOT declaw, which impressed me.) The dental went fine, but after the procedure the tech pulled the breathing tube out without deflating the cuff that holds it in place. By doing this she ripped a hole in Nic's trachea, causing him to leak air under his skin and around his heart. He did recover and lived for about six more months, but that was the beginning of the end for him...his kidney numbers (which had been stable for years) immediately started to climb and we never got them back under control. The clinic paid for his emergency visits after the procedure (some $900), but refused to admit they did anything wrong...they even sent me a letter chiding me for not realizing any procedure can have unanticipated consequences. This was not a case where Nic had a bad reaction to a drug that no one could have foreseen...this was human error, pure and simple.
The third story actually happened at my own clinic. We had a vet who was always rather 'off' and would do things like burst into tears for no reason. One of our patients was a diabetic cat who came after his sugar crashed. The vet told the receptionist to give the cat a bag of dextrose under his skin to stabilize him...but she didn't tell her HOW MUCH to give. The receptionist had no training and gave the entire bag, putting the cat into seizures. The vet screamed at the receptionist and set up a new bag of IV fluids herself..which she set up incorrectly and again gave the cat too much. The cat ended up being put to sleep and the vet lied to the owners about what happened.
Everyone was very upset, for obvious reasons. I went to the head vet and basically said I was going to quit unless she could promise me nothing like that would ever happen happen. But I didn't want just empty words...I wanted to know what procedures would be changed. As a result of this incident we got IV pumps (so you couldn't accidentally overdose a patient), receptionists were not allowed to help in the ward without training, and the vet was suspended and had to complete a certain amount of ongoing education. I still don't feel like it was enough, but at least they didn't sweep it under the rug.
unfortunatly vets, techs ect are HUMAN, they make mistakes, they have "bad days" ect
thi obviously doesnt excuse HORRIBLE behaviour...and ive met some vets and techs who are pretty monsterous!, BUT that ust means us as pet owners also need to be on the ball, educate ourselves, understand whats being done, going on ect and keep ontop of things.
ive had vets give me attitude because i interveiw them...my dogs initial exam is the vet and their techs interveiw... and if somehting doesnt feel right, i dont click with the vet ect...i keep looking...
ive worked "in the back room" and ive seen it form both sides...but i think people do need to remember that vets are only human!
I just don't think this thread is a good idea. I think many of us have horrible, first hand stories to tell - myself included. But I think it's all better left unsaid. However I will agree that even though there are a few laws in areas that do protect pets and owners I do think we need more. How we go about that - I haven't a clue.
kittymom- respectfully I have to disagree. I think just like with people medicine we should alert each other to certain procedures which can go wrong and warn each other about the importance of second opinions before any treatment is undertaken. How else will we learn how to be the best advocates for our pets? yes these stories are painful to read but if we didn't inform each other about things like what really happens with declawing or warnings about unqualified personnel routinely doing procedures they are not trained to perform, most of us would still be in the dark. It never dawned on me a receptionist might be asked to participate in a medical procedure where no training or licensing had taken place.
kittymom- respectfully I have to disagree. I think just like with people medicine we should alert each other to certain procedures which can go wrong and warn each other about the importance of second opinions before any treatment is undertaken. How else will we learn how to be the best advocates for our pets? yes these stories are painful to read but if we didn't inform each other about things like what really happens with declawing or warnings about unqualified personnel routinely doing procedures they are not trained to perform, most of us would still be in the dark. It never dawned on me a receptionist might be asked to participate in a medical procedure where no training or licensing had taken place.
And this is why I think such discussions are valuable as well. I'm the first to jump in to defend vets when people start on the "the vet expected me to pay for services...how evil!!" stuff. But vets ARE human...and that means sometimes they are good people who make bad decisions, and sometimes they are genuinely not qualified to be in the position they hold.
In New Jersey, a person is not required to hold a technician's license to assist and perform procedures- this is not true in all states. But that is an important thing to know and inquire about. Mistakes aren't just made by vets but by staff as well.
You can't always avoid a 'bad vet'. But you can lower the risk by knowing what questions to ask. Ask about training for all staff who work with the animals. Ask their opinion on pain control. Ask what foods they suggest for a healthy pet. All of these questions work together to give you an idea of where their values are.
Watch how they interact with the animal...do they talk to them? Are they brusque and unwilling to take the time to let a nervous pet calm down?
And finally, if they DO make a mistake, even a small one, how do they react? Do they admittedly own up to clipping a nail a little too short or do they downplay it and joke that the dog/cat is a wuss? Honest mistakes happen, but a vet should be upfront about it and apologize immediately.
You can see how different the situations I described are. With the cardiologist, that was a clear cut case of a 'bad vet' who put money over ethics and patient care. With Nic and the breathing tube, it was probably an honest mistake but it had a terrible outcome...and the grief and hurt was compounded by the clinic's dismissive behavior. At my clinic it was another honest mistake, but it could have been avoided entirely with better staff training and better equipment. However, the clinic did immediately take steps to provide it from happening again.
BUT they answer to no one. Leaves the door wide open...
Not exactly true. Vets are overseen by their state Boards. The Boards have the power to fine, order continuing education, suspend a license or revoke it entirely.
that is true but we all know professional people take care of their own. I've seen it with lawyers, bankers, vets, doctors, etc. they are loathe to turn in a colleague for fear of backlash and 'getting involved." I wish more would. I had a doctor tell me in exasperation he was tired of fixing the mistakes of other doctors. when I asked him if he would testify on behalf of a patient who was suing a bad doctor he said no--the price he would have to pay personally within his field would be too high but he would try to help the patient as much as possible.
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