How many of you help out With the vet

[Carolyn R]

Odd question, I know. Wingnut's gelding post made me think about it. I have always taken it a first nature that when there is an emergency visit, gelding procedure, or whatever, I just help out. Have the clean bucket of water on hand, prep the area with garbage can, a makeshift seat for the vet depending on the procedure,hay bails for a make shift table, hold the horse, pour the chlorhexadine or scrub solutions on the gauze so the vet doesn't contaminate her gloves, hand them stuff or peal back wrappers on sterilized instruments, careful not to touch the instrument itself if a tech was not available, hold or string up bottles of IV fluids.

It has also been a give in that if I need to call the vet I give as much info as possible, temp, gum color, capillary refill time if there is any hint of dehydration, gut sounds, heart rate, all the stuff horse people just do.

I think this may be part of the problem I have with the local small animal vet I used and also part of the reason I switched to the facility I use for my horses. I really felt they were agitated when I would give them a detailed rundown of my dogs' symptoms when they needed to be seen.

So I was just curious, is there anyone that does not help their vet when their large animals are seen? Like so many on here, I am so accustomed to doing all within my power while waiting for a vet or waiting for a call back, it just seems like second nature.

On the other end of the spectrum,I have also had a huge compliment for my SIL's vet. They had their yorkie here to visit in Pa,he had some allergy issues that were causing him to chew his hind quarters. They were gummy from the inflammation and broken skin. I clipped the area, cleaned it and applied an antiseptic,once again, second nature. Her Vet paid me the ultimate compliment when she took their pooch in to be seen and said if I lived in their neck of the woods in NC, he'd have no issues hiring me as a tech.

Just curious, I think horse people are just different when it comes to certain things. It also helps that there is one particular vet at the practice who is an excellent teacher, explains everything in detail.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

We (Vets) appreciate help, but not all the time and not in every way.

1) If your animal hurts you while in our presence (either are on the farm or as soon as you enter the Clinic) then we are held liable. Many people think that's crazy and it might be, but its the law. Others say,'I would never sue you Doc'. First of all we never know what we might do and secondly the Client may not sue, but their insurance will instead of paying out.

2) Some people handle their own animals so poorly it is safer and easier if I do it myself or if I have my Staff help me. Don't be insulted, of course we are better at it. This is what we do. We do it every day and we were trained.

3) You are right, we don't always listen to every bit of information a Client wants to tell us. It may come off as rude, but what we are really trying to do is create a focus. When we interrupt with a question, answer just that question. If it was a 'yes' or 'no' question, then answer it that way. We know what information we need.

Dr. Taylor

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

The best way I "help" my vet is by making him feel safe. Just think, how many times does he hear "O he's fine!" and really he is far from it. My dead quiet stallion an 11 year old with no horse experience can handle at a strange place gets a chain in his mouth. Doesn't hurt him just to sit there. My vet actually thanked me for it!

 

[Minimor]

I do help pretty much all the time, even when the vet brings a tech with him. There was a time when the vet would take the rope when it was time for the horse to go down for gelding surgery--but now he gives the injection and tells me which side he wants the horse to go down on, and leaves me with the rope. No problem there, I can do that.

I've had vets who really weren't used to horses, and no, they were not better at handling the horses. One guy was obviously scared to get too close and so had such a tough time giving a needle (rabies shot, vet is required to give that) I was very close to saying here, give me that and I will do it! Had another vet who was a real hand and could hang onto the halter with one hand and give a needle with the other hand while keeping up with the horse while it thrashed across the stall--he was good!

Recently my vet complimented me on giving such a good description of symptoms --she said so many clients are so vague, but I can tell her exactly when the animal showed the first symptom and I'm thorough on description of symptoms.

 

[shorthorsemom]

My vet knows me and trusts me and listens to me. She knows I have extensive experience with animals and have been a vet tech in my past. We have a special relationship and she has learned over the years that when I have a gut feeling about something that I am most often correct. She respects me and understands me and hold my opinion in high regard and never treats me like "I am the vet, I know more than you". I know she knows more for goodness sake, she is a vet, but where she respects me is in my description of what is going on with my animals.

She cannot afford to do this with all of her clients, but she does treat me as a "special client" because she does know that I have skills and am very observant. She would hire me on the spot if I wanted to work for her. She has allowed me to bring home dogs; rather than leave in clinic for IV fluids, catherization and bladder drainage, cleaning and bandaging of wounds post treatment etc. She says to me... "I know you will watch your dog 24/7 if need be, here in the clinic there will be hours where there is no one here, so she allows me to be my own dogs technician and knows I can monitor vital signs and know when I need to call her for additional assistance.

My horse vets, farrier and cow vets also give me great respect and listen to me. I think this is how it is when you build a respectful relationship with your vets that go both ways, I respect my choosen vet and bow to their greater knowledge, and she respects me and the fact that I know my dog better than she does..

She does take dogs to the back for special procedures and shots etc and has a technician hold my dog. I am ok with that. I understand the law and quite frankly many dogs are better behaved when not in the presence of the owner anyway, even well trained dogs like mine. Less stress and I get to be the "good guy".

I assist on cow and horse surgeries and in the field for large animals I do believe the owner is the large animal vets best friend on many occasions and I LOVE to be the assistant . We had a cow with a prolapsed uterus this week. Kids pet cow. By the time the vet got there we had the cow cleaned up, the uterus ready to pop back in, padding for the vet to kneel on, clean area to work and I had put sugar on the tissue to shrink it down some. Everything went back in fine, stitches and so far so good we are on the road to recovery.

I by pass the vets that don't want my opinion or think they are right all the time and I prefer teaching vets that show you why and how along the way and rather than just say "because I say so" . Vets that spend the time to educate the client end up with better clients in the long run. Well worth the time.

 

I try to have everything as ready for the vet as I can. My old Equine Vet didn't bring a tech with her to my farm, because she knew I could help and I follow instructions. With her, she asked questions, listened to answers, asked more questions, listened, and then got down to work. At the point they begin their work, I just stand quietly and follow instructions or answer questions.

With my current vet, he brings a tech (and I've known them both for 30+ years) and he does the same question/answer period first, then I get out of the way unless they ask me to assist because they need another set of hands. I am medically trained, so we have a good relationship.

I also rarely call the vet if I can do things myself, but if I call my vet will give me instructions on what to try before he makes a trip to the farm. Saves $$ for sure, but he's so busy, he prefers to not have to come unless there is an emergency. Unfortunately, where we live he works in 3-4 counties on the big ranches, so even in an emergency I sometimes have to wait 1-2 hours even for an emergency -- and that's if he can get away. So, I appreciate when he gives instructions and just waits for a call back if something isn't going right. I also have a well stocked medical area with many supplies here, including if I have to pull a foal, I have the chains, etc., and he approved of this because I would surely lose a mare if I had to wait more than a hour with a mare in hard labor. I've always done my own stitches (even on my kids -- except faces), and he stocked my medical room for me so even if it's not on his truck, it's generally on a shelf here.

I just adore him. He cares, he listens and he teaches. What more could you ask for? And here in the country -- we aren't "sue" happy, so even if an animal is lost, it's just part of having a farm. I can't think of any vet in our area that has ever been sued or had something derogatory written about them. Most are small animal vets, so he's about the only one that does "big" animals (even though ours are very big. LOL )

 

[atotton]

Yes I try to be there if they need assistance. I will be there observing whatever is going on. I am going to be a vet tech, starting school this week.My vet is really good, and lets me experience what the vet techs do.

 

[MindyLee]

Im on both sides of the fence here.

I totally agree with Dr Taylor and equine/pet owners.

As a miniture equine farrier, I see both owners, ones that know their horses best and ones who are uneducated and make my visits more of a pain then it should be. I listen to everyones problems/concerns and fix them to my best that I can. It helps to know issues before confronting them as a surprize like lame/founder/balance/deformities. I LOVE all my farrier clients and their critters (both crazys/200% calms) but do sometimes wish folks knew more about their small equine then besides tossing hay over the fence to them. Some folks have horses for yrs and none have names and are wild. Those are the owners that I prefure to stand back and watch and learn then get involved/in the way and make my job that much harder. And the other owners, I too love for them to be in my face and ask questions and learn about their beloved critters feet and how they work.

As a small equine owner myself, when a vet needs to be involved, I do inform and help when asked/needed. Otherwise I stand back and let them do their job.

I do prep a stall before arrival to assure a better working area for the vet/and or equine dentist with proper lighting and water on hand.

 

[Carolyn R]

No offense taken Dr.T, the small animal vet I am referring to, after several visits and me telling them my dog was severly malnourished and could't keep food down told me word for word "some dogs with IBD look like marathon runners, I am afraid they never keep weight on" the dog was a year old and so immaciated she did not leave the couch. Different vet, different attitude,the dog is still alive and doing well.

I think many of you have hit the nail on the head, it is a matter of having a good relationship with the vet, and like many of you, my vets know if I call, even if they can't immediately see the animal is off, they know I know my horses. Of course I wouldn't be giving my vet info on gut sounds if there is a laceration staring me in the face.

Please don' t take it as I don't get my vets involved, I do and have a very good relationship with them, I just find having seen both realms, one where my equine vets respect my judgement and what I am telling them, and the opposite end of the realm, having a past small animal vet treat me like crap when say "is there any other course of action because this doesn't seem to be working" but then again, they also told my neighbor that her horse was lame due to a slight case of thrush, what an injustice to that poor horse. My vets checked her out and did bloodwork, her lameness was due to obesity tied to a thyroid issue (as if the huge cresty neck and fatty pads above her eyes weren't an indication to do bloodwork).

The biggest difference I observe is that many knowledgeable horse people are more than willing to roll up their sleeves and help out and my vets expect me to be capable of certain things, and by all means I do step back when they are doing their thing and need to focus. Then there are other vets that are just as Shorthorsemom described. All vets are not created equal, I am sure we can all attest to that.

 

[Jill]

Ideally, when we have one of the vets out, both H and I help at their direction. We can't always both be there but one of us always is, and we do our best to just do exactly what they tell us. We basically are extra hands and gophers

 

[MountainWoman]

My vet works with a wonderful assistant who is absolutely wonderful. She helps him when he's here. I do get everything ready for them to come and if it's a scheduled appointment, I always email them everything they need to know in advance. If I have a problem, I don't hesitate to call. But I don't assist them as they are an incredible team. I think I'm so lucky to have an awesome vet. Not many up here and the one I had before couldn't compare to my new one so I'm very thankful.

 

[shorthorsemom]

yepper.. all vets are not created equal, thats for sure. I hate being treated like I am stupid. I adopted a dog once and the transaction was done with the spay.. former owner takes dog to her vet for spay, I pick up dog and pay for spay and dog was mine to take home.

The spay did not go well. When I picked up the dog she was overy lethargic, her eyes were swollen almost shut, she had a 6+ incision on her belly and she was leaking blood and serum from both her incision and her vulva. She was sent home with 10 days of pain killers and no antibiotics. She was not in heat when spayed. I called the vet when I got home and expressed my concern over what I found. The office staff told me everything was "normal". I asked again to see the vet and they said for me to "wait and see". By that night my dog developed a fever and was still lethargic and she was very unsteady on her feet and again.. was told that I did not need to bring the dog in. Thats when I called my vet and got an emergency visit. Bad spay.

Now I KNOW that bad spays happen. Slipped ligature, have to go fishing to stop bleeding etc. Thats what I figured it was.. Larger incision, leaking and more pain killers and longer time under anesthesia and if she was allowed to wake up banging around in a crate would explain why her eyes were swollen. Stuff happens, even with very good vets.

I tried to explain to the vet that spayed my dog what happened and she started focusing on me not bringing dog back to her and actually accused me of jumping vets and then blaming her... I said.. I just wanted her to know that her office staff was telling me that my dogs spay was normal and that my concerns were unfounded and I wanted her to know that her office staff was giving medical advice over the phone that was incorrect and dangerous. I am a vet tech, I know when my dog is in trouble, some other client may have not have pushed the emergency visit and had I not followed up my Gabrielle could have died.

I dropped the issue and vowed never to enter that clinic again.

Fast forward 4 years. My dog needed a dental. I dropped her off at my vet for her dental and happened to mention how wiped out she was last time she was knocked out for her spay. Since she is a collie my vet wanted to know what anesthesia was used previously and called the other clinic. Other clinic would not release information since dogs record was still on previous owners record even though I paid for spay they said privacy laws would not allow them to release the information to me. They wanted me to prove I owned the dog. I produced my receipt with my cancelled check and a copy of my dogs registration papers and took all to the clinic so I could get the record of anesthesia for my dog waiting at clinic for dental. When I got to their clinic they refused me the record because previous owner owed them money. I said, what does that have to do with me? I paid for this spay and I want to know what anes. was used???

Needless to say, my dogs dental was not done that day and her pre anes. bloodwork was worthless. I contacted previous owner and she had to agree to pay them installments on her old vet bill. I had to send a registered letter to get paperwork and had to pay for a copy and they made me wait over a month to get my record for my dog.

WHen I got the record it was obviously doctored up and about 3-4 different anesthesias were listed. My vet says, "who uses that much anesthesia on a collie!" At the bottom of the record was a long rant in writing about how rude we were in expecting her to produce that information and something about us calling repetedly. ( I called once then drove to office with requested information and was turned down due to former owner lack of bill payment. ) My vet called about 3 times because dog was waiting for procedure in her office.

I lost a day of work, had to re-do the bloodwork and we treated my dog like an "unknown" adoptive dog and picked an anesthesia and hoped that she wouldn't react. My vet is extra safe and her refusal to knock my dog out that day based on my dog being groggy for 2 days following a spay was ok with me.

so yes... after this long story... there are vets out there that are in it for the money and don't give any care or thoughts about the dogs and my vet said in all her years she has never had a fellow vet refuse her safety information on a dog. PS, the bad vet... she knows us. her husband was our cow vet for many years. She knows Gabrielle is my dog, saw us in the grocery store once and told my kids. " We spayed your dog".. I was polite and frustrated and stating facts and kept emotion out of it except when I started crying knowing they were going to punish me for Gabbys former owners lack of payment. I kept saying, I paid for the spay, I own that record and they kept saying it wasn't mine and they wouldn't release it to me because owner of record owed them money. sheesh. i did finally pay for the copy of the record in dimes nickles and pennies 1 month after I sent a registered letter requesting the record.. Her rude office manager says.. what am I supposed to do with this?? I said, i guess you are going to count it, this experience is no better than pocket change. snicker.

I saved that worthless piece of paper and it serves as a reminder as to how my vet is gold and how much I appreciate how hard she works and how much she is in it for the animals and how dedicated and honorable she is and she is not only my vet, she is also my friend.

 

[Annabellarose]

We have dealt with more than our fair share of incompetent and/or arrogant (and I am being extremely nice here) vets in the past, but we are delighted with our current vets. We use one office with a rotation of at least five different vets (and I like them all) for our dogs (they stopped doing large animals many years ago and that was a true loss to our community) and we use another office with two vets for our horses and I genuinely like them both (for different reasons) as people and as vets.

Sometimes my (horse) vet(s) brings a "helper" and sometimes they don't. I ask them what they want/need from me and I act accordingly; I have been up to my elbows in the action AND I have passed the leadrope off to the "helper". I, usually, don't mind either way if I trust/like the vet and/or agree with their course of action (and it has been a long time since I haven't, thankfully).

I do know and appreciate that vets encounter a lot of ignorant owners, but the day a vet comes to my farm and does not consider or value my extensive experience with and knowledge of (after a quick Q&A and a quick look at my animals and my facilities) one particular species is the last time they'll come to my farm.

 

[wingnut]

Whether it be my vet, my farrier or my equine dentist, I ask them what they need from me. My equine dentist always need a lukewarm bucket of clean water and a clean stall to work in so I make sure those are ready for him. I hold my horses while the farrier does his work. They behave well and if for some reason they're being stupid (it doesn't happen often but we all have bad days), I get my husband to come out because he is stronger than I am and can handle 300lbs of badly behaving horse than I can. Thankfully, that is rarely needed.

When the vet comes for her annual checkup/vaccine visit, I hold the twitch while she draws blood for coggins and gives shots. It takes far less time to do this when the girls are safely twitched on their noses. She can have them vaccinated and blood draw in just 2 or 3 minutes time.

I know she'll also likely need some fresh warm water and I already know she wants a freshly cleaned stalled with good clean straw (no shavings). The reason we're going with the date we are is that she'll have a training tech with her at that time so she'll have a pair of more professional hands than mine to help.

My goal is to make the visit of my horse professionals to be quick, easy and efficient as possible. Whatever that takes on my part, I'm willing to do. They're busy people who need to move on to the next client. None have ever made me feel rushed though.

 

[Barnmother]

Having been on both sides of the fence as a vet tech and a horse owner the number one thing I can say is please have the horses caught up, stalled or otherwise in your hand. Nothing like going to a lame horse call when the owner says oh yeah, I can't be there but he is in the field to the left of the barn. The vet and his assistant do not have nor should they have to have time to catch up their patient.

 

[Miniv]

Developing a relationship with your vet is vital. Finding the right fit between the two of you is a part of that.

We have been very fortunate to find vets where ever we've lived who was willing to teach us and encouraged us to be hands on with their guidance. A couple of vets we've had were more like..."stay away and go have a cup of tea" types, plus would hate it if we asked any questions. They didn't last long with us. However, there are some horse/animal owners that LIKE that.....just not us.

If you want to be actively involved medically, interview your new potential vet. Let them know that you want to be involved and want to learn from them and also make sure there is a clear line of communication about when you need to back off versus when to help.

 

[Genie]

If I have called the vet then it obviously was because I couldn't do it myself, or know what the problem was.

Like others have said, we also are "gophers" for the vet.

I have had the vet ask me "what did they have to say on the forum" since in the "world of miniatures" there is a "wealth of information" right here on the forum.