Pets of the expanse!

Rick Hunter

Celestial
Update on Rob: the vet says that today he is eating and peeing quite well with the catheter in. Please keep the prayers coming folks!
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Had my nose in Tasks for the Veterinary Assistant and have been reading about all sorts of things. I bet those of us with pets have all gone through some version of this, but this is what's on my mind.

Veterinary clinics are businesses, great and small. The topic may be compassionate but the mechanics of it are a different story. There is a phenomenon I call cult of personality at work all too all often in which a very forceful personality like the clinic owner, one of several vets or front office staff - you get one overdriven person and everyone else walks on eggs dealing with it. More obvious with human doctors and lawyers.

The vet who owned the clinic we went to for years retired. While he was still there one of his staff vets of 30+ years experience had two opportunities to fail to diagnose simple ear mites. The owner vet caught it on the third trip and showed them to us under a microscope. Yikes ! Prehistoric looking. And painful to my cat for weeks for absolutely no reason. She was close to retirement and I guess just didn't give a shit. Nice.

So we're at a new vet only 5 minutes away. Excellent vet and when coordinating with the hospital for our dog's adrenal gland removal she was extremely helpful. We have since brought our cats there and recently had a nasty tooth removed from one of them. When I tell you we dropped thousands of dollars there recently I ain't kidding. Yet, three separate visits added up to 3 hours of wait time in an exam room. In the last case I heard them say they just forgot we were there and the whole visit was literally 4 minute poke-the-cat visit checkup to make sure he was healing. I had a chat with the vet - she told me she understands impatience !!! I told her I understand overbooking and a short schedule. It was obvious. We have reached rapprochement ; my wife takes them now and they don't **** us over. If she wasn't a super-competent vet we wouldn't be there.

In both cases the staff had dreamy do-no-wrong attitudes and even if they saw a problem apparently didn't feel free to do anything about it. Something I'll be careful to have a sniff for at any other places I find myself.

Oh, and if you're a vet - don't park your Lamborghini SUV right out front. Looks bad when you're explaining the bill to people who might not be able to afford it. That's right - a Lamborghini SUV. WTF ????? That's NO with an extra squirt of NO sauce on it from my p.o.v.
 
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Rick Hunter

Celestial
Around here, the only wealthy vets I know of are those who provide services to thoroughbreds. Most that I have met got into it because they love animals. Not to say you can't make a good living at it, but lots of folks with no college at all make more. Some of the best vets are those who have a clinic at their home. They have no staff and little overhead so their prices are quite reasonable, and they tend to take time with each patient. Only problem is they often have to send you elsewhere for anything that requires expensive equipment like X ray or MRI and none of them do the more advanced stuff like cancer treatment.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
We're on a dividing line between the haves and have-nots, if you will. The hospital that did the surgery on our dog is in an area with huge farms and estates and celebrities and millions upon millions of dollars. The hospital exists because they have a client base. If this was in upstate podunk My dog would probably be dead. The vet we have now comes from that environment.

When we live it's a mix. Lots of commuters and $$ around but it's still podunk. They built a lot of houses and condos when they refurbished the rail lines and stations, and covid made them fill up. Good side to that is that there are more pet clinics and service around here than ever, which is part of why I want to get into it.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
That's chainsaw art from an actual oink-oink type Pennslylvania pig farmer. Had it for years. That's Frank. Had him for years too.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
As I sat here drinking coffee I became aware of a ruckus, tomfoolery. There was (literally) caterwauling emanating from the basement. The lads must've got into the Q-Tips because they're all over the house........ these two of course, claim to be innocent. They tell me it's that nasty Donald Trump's fault ......
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