To register with 2 vets

[midnightstar66]

Posting here as traffic can be low on the doghouse. When I got our pup it was near the start of lockdown. I had initially planned to use the university teaching vet practice for dpup. It's world renowned for groundbreaking research and has all the equipment and specialists you can think of and an animal hospital. Its the total other side of the city however and due to being encouraged not to travel at the time, I just took pup to the small animal vets round the corner that we can walk to. They have a perfectly good reputation and their puppy plan that covers all boosters, flea and work treatment, nails, health checks etc for the year was very good value so i just paid it up front. Obviously it's all routine stuff anyway. Puppy had been checked over twice and got a clean bill of health. WIBU to now register her at the university teaching practice as well to take her for a more thorough check up and for if I ever have any concerns now that travel is more freely allowed and continue to use the local vets for the routine stuff. Do others do this? To add the vets I'm using doesn't refer to this animal hospital for specialists, they use a different one in a different county which would not be my preference. Lastly the university practice deal directly with insurers whereas the small local one needs payment upfront then you claim back.

[WhWt]

You can register with as many veterinary surgeries as you wish.

I use one of the low-cost chain types for routine vaccinations, but would never use them for medical care.

We are also registered with an independent reputable veterinary surgery which we attend for actual medical needs.

[pigsDOfly]

I'm not sure you can stay registered with two vets. I doubt they'd agree to it and it could get awfully confusing as one wouldn't have a record of what illnesses other had treated for or given the dog.

When you register with a new vet they usually contact the old vet and ask for all records of treatment as the assumption is that they will be treating your pet exclusively.

Why not just register with the larger vet and have done with it.

I changed my vet about a year ago from a small one to a larger one.

The one I changed to is 5 miles away but I prefer to drive 5 miles than use the nearer one.

[pigsDOfly]

Ah, okay it would seem that WhWt's post proves me wrong.

[Floralnomad]

You can register with who you want but a lot of practices run the ‘health plans’ at cost to get clients in and it’s morally wrong to use the small practice just for the health plan and then take illness and injury to another vet.

[midnightstar66]

I was going to stay with the small local one for the routine stuff for now rather than completely move because I've paid upfront for the next year for all the routine stuff. I did so because it was very good value compared to just getting the vaccinations. I'd not take her there for any medical or emergency treatment so shouldn't get confusing. Good to know others do it. It's more of a drive for us to the uni vet, it's 30-50 minutes depending on traffic which is why I didn't go straight there during stricter lockdown. The little vets is at the end of my street.

[midnightstar66]

@Floralnomad the health plan appears to be provided by a larger company rather than the actual vet clinic looking at the paper work. I didn't utilise it all anyway as she'd already had her first vax before we got her and I already had insurance for her so didn't sign up for the free weeks of insurance either .

[ellendegeneres]

I have for health plan reasons- big chain vets and they are very busy all the time. Other one is closer, but they don’t offer health plan etc and it winds up costing an awful lot more. Local one however was fantastic when one of ours had health issues so have no problem using them for other things. I’ve never thought to ask if it’s a problem. I just let them know if there’s something that’s out of date- immunisations have been done etc. If asked I’d just say they didn’t have appointments when I called 🤷🏻‍♀️

[midnightstar66]

Thanks guys, will just call the other vets and explain I used the local one for lockdown and that I paid the plan, but will use them for everything else going forward