Sorry Panzade
You are quite right, please forgive me everyone for rattling on so....
I guess I was trying to say that I prefer small, even specialist, clinics. However, a larger clinic can provide services that are too costly for a smaller clinic to purchase. (ie: the oxygen cage for Pong).
Again, I apoligize for making my posts so long... I am rather new at this. Please everyone, let me know if I commit another faux pas.
Panzade, I will break up my posts from now on. Thx for letting me know
boomer -
A hairy experience, to be sure. Glad you found some folks you want to stick with. (With whom you want to stick
) Sounds like your vets have formed a guild
Tangent question - wasn't there someone poisoning dogs in Portland a few years back - leaving poisoned food in some park? Was the person ever found?
k -
You and yer special needs animals
Does Bootsie require regular visits, or do you have everything under control unless things go out of balance.
(I've gotta check out our university vet hospital here. Ironically enough, I've never taken my dogs there.)
hiyall -
It's really starting to sound like having a teaching hospital nearby is a good resource for a lot of folks - and animals.
deb -
Wo-man, are you particular <winky>. Floorside manner is definitely something I like to see, and not because I want my mutts to be comfy at the vet (they're not; they hate it no matter what happens), but because I think they're actually paying closer to attention to the patient and not just looking at a chart. Our vet-of-choice at the place we went in Seattle was great about that, and we'd talk about behavior issues, diet issues, whatever. Here, one of our dogs starting showing an allergic reaction to her food, and we got better advice from the tech (who had a similar problem with her dog) than from the vet (who wanted to push kangaroo meat on us even though the allergy wasn't severe and we are pretty poor).
rumpletzr -
Good tale. I think one of the things that has been and is an issue in vet med is variable expectations of clients and of vets. Standards of care have changed very rapidly over the past few decades, and people are all over the map in terms of their expectations for levels of care, what precision of diagnosis, etc. Not long ago, and today for many (most?) people, it would have been no big deal to euthanize Pong on the basis of such a hasty diagnosis.
I was thumbing through a book on Chihuahua care from the 50s or 60s a while back, and came across that statement, "With proper veterinary care, your Chihuahua could live as long as 12 or 13 years." Big screwed up labs live that long now. The book recommended dusting your dog with DDT to prevent flea infestation, by the way. I wish now I'd read more of it.
I knew our vet was the right one for sure (though I'd been happy with the work there for some time), when she kissed Cleo on the forehead - after it had taken a group of 4 people and 1 muzzle to give her a shot. She told Cleo that she knew that she was a good dog, and that things would get better. She was right. This year, me and the vet for the shot - no muzzle - and another kiss on the forehead for Cleo.
and this vet isn't even really a small animal vet ... she's the exotics specialist.
patiodog - someone is STILL poisoning dogs in our parks! They've recently found that someone is planting metal spikes in the ground in some off leash areas.
Its frightening!
My dogs are always on leash when we go out. We're lucky that we have a big yard where they can run and exercise because I would let my dog loose in a Portland park for any reason in the world.
Damn it, boomer, you've got to find that bastard and string him up.
