Vetrinarian recommendation?

[Keeper]

I suggest no matter what vet you chose you call and ask for the price for a routine exam and what they include. I have had dogs for MANY MANY years and never had a vet do a urinalysis as part of routine care either.

Everyone has their own opinion on what is necessary for vet care however not all vets do the same for their routine exam.

[claurenzo]

We ended up going with north bay animal hospital off of veterans highway i believe? They had good reviews and accepted care credit. The dr, i offer her name, was the most knowledgeable vet i have been too especially pertaining little dogs. What i was told was reverse sneezing was actually a collapsed trachea, what i had suspected for years. She also immediately was able to tell she had displaced kneecaps as well...also common in little dogs. Nothing that required any medical attention just making us aware. She was due for all her vaccines so we had those done. They did a full blood work to check to be sure her organs were ok and not the cause of the seizures. I was expensive but we could use the same blood work for her spay which she will need soon so that saved us $80 if we have it done within three months. She also insulted a neurologist while we were waiting to confirm her suggesting it is indeed epilepsy and the path of treatment. The results? Blood work was clean so we monitor it and keep a log. She doesn't lose consciousness, it is not affecting her brain or organs, so as painful as it is to watch, just keep an eye. Medication is pricey and for life and requires constant bloodwork so it's not a quick thing to jump to. Another vet probably would have pushed this. She also said because she does not go to dog parks, boarding,etc that there was a vaccine she suggested she NOT get just to eliminate any further potential for issues with her seizures and also saved us money on a routine vaccine.

Total cost and what we had done...

Heart worm check for both worms AND larvae (she has always lived in parts of the country where heart worm was not prevalent and no prevention was important)
Bordatella
Influenza
Rabies vaccine
Distemper
Parvo
Urinalysis
Whatever the poop test is lol
Full bloodwork check
Physical exam fee

Total came out to $438.95 with a 10% off discount for first time visit. Keep in mind that the bloodwork was $234 of this. I feel that the prices were reasonable considering what we had done and that she was versus for all of her shots. The physical exam fee was $46 and every other vet i called the fees were $56-$60. They have good reviews, always seem to be busy which i see as a very good sign. She seemed to not even think about the possibilities of what could be wrong but rather explained all the possibilities right away. Very knowledgeable and i was extremely impressed.

Just thought i would share with everyone since you all were so kind to get back to me. Unfortunately i was limited by those that accepted care credit but if you have care credit or need to get it, you have six months to pay off your visit, same as cash. Hope this helps and thank you everyone!

[didi768]

I like the Vet by me off Waters Ave in Town and Country area of NW Tampa. Just can't recall the darn name now. Not sure if they are cheap or not.

[Keeper]

I use to take my dogs to North Bay, I liked them and their staff were always nice. My only issue was sometimes they really pushed some tests that I did not feel were necessary. I will say the owner told me if I bought Science Diet from him and found it cheaper somewhere else he would give me the money back. I didn't buy it but I was impressed.

[Sunscape]

Thanks for the update Cloren. It is good to know of other vets for those of us with little creatures.

[claurenzo]

Originally Posted by Keeper

I use to take my dogs to North Bay, I liked them and their staff were always nice. My only issue was sometimes they really pushed some tests that I did not feel were necessary. I will say the owner told me if I bought Science Diet from him and found it cheaper somewhere else he would give me the money back. I didn't buy it but I was impressed.

Yeah I've had that from every vet it seems. I was impressed because she told me that I did NOT have to give her a routine vaccination that most dogs get because she is primarily an indoor dog that does not board, go to dog parks, etc especially with her condition. Also, the fact that she is not pushing medication for my dog makes me feel a lot more comfortable as most vets would automatically recommend it...it's a lifetime of medication which means money in their pockets. Her blood tests came back excellent. She said there were two that were slightly off but barely and it doesn't concern her at all. As far as Lexi's seizures...she had another one two days ago. The vet said that this most likely points to epilepsy and as hard as it is to watch, we just document it for now. She is conscious, not in pain, and they aren't frequent enough or lasting too long so we just look for any changes in frequency, duration, etc and then go from there. If we had the money, of course, we could do a CT scan, MRI, etc to really find the cause but since we don't, she said it's really not a huge deal as the medication is pricey, requires constant bloodwork thoruhgout the entire time she is on it, and once they are on it, they are on it for life. Those two things combined reassured me more of them as she could be pushing for those scans, etc. The bloodwork she said she felt was crucial to at least rule out any organ issues or diseases that could be causing the seizures and I agreed with her. Since her bloodwork is great, then we are just sitting ducks for now and it just means that it is most likely epilepsy.

I don't mind dealing with a little pushy if the vet is knowledgeable and they certainly were the best I've seen in Los Angeles, Ohio, and Washington as far as knowledge is concerned. For years every vet told me that her hacking was reverse sneezing when it is in fact the beginning of a collapsing trachea (another common little dog syndrome that you can't do much about until it gets worse or have a lot of money for surgery). I had suspected it was the trachea issue all along but every vet said no, no no. That's nice what they said about Science Diet. They no longer carry that but that's what Lexi is on. We asked if her diet could be a reason why and she said not at all for this issue. When we told her we were on Science Diet and if we should change she didn't try to push her brand on, she said if that's what she's on she's very happy with that and don't change a thing. I know we all will have different experiences as do consumers with every service, but so far I am impressed with the level of knowledge most of all.

[Jelsomina]

The one we go to is San Francis Animal Hospital in Spring Hill, Florida. The doctor is Carlos Campos and he is excellent. He has taken care of all our dogs for several years and we couldn't be happier. He has another vet who works there too and she is fantastic too. I could not say enough good things about them.
I tried many vets and they win the cake. Good luck.