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AMA
Original poster

I'm a vet, AMA!

373 replies

KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 09:42

I am a co-director of quite a large practice with 7 small animal branches and a central hospital, plus farm, equine and exotic clients. I mainly do small animals but also do some farm and equine. Happy to answer any questions, but please don't expect me to diagnose anything or advise on treatment plans over the net Smile

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BiteyShark · 22/07/2018 10:22

Oh and do you lurk on the pet topics and secretly despair at some of the threads.

TashieWoo · 22/07/2018 10:22

Great thread!

What is your opinion on the recent ‘trend’ for dogs with short muzzles I.e. French bulldogs, pugs etc.? Do you have to treat many of them for the associated breathing/eye/skin problems?

lozengeoflove · 22/07/2018 10:27

Hi OP. Thank you for posting. My cat is a lovely, fat, beast. He should be 3kg yet he weighs in at a princely 6kg. I always feel so guilty when the vet tells me he needs to lose weight. We only feed him dry food, perhaps a little more than required, but he truly is six dinner Sid. I think he gets fed elsewhere.

Also he seems to be the very definition of scaredy cat. Do cats over eat because of anxiety?

Really not sure how to help him lose weight. Any suggestions?

Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:32

What would you do if people cant afford a high unexpected bill,would you still treat the animal,?
Would you offer a payment plan?

We try to enquire about finances asap as like I mentioned above we can try to alter the treatment plan to accommodate. But if we still run up a bill the client can't afford then we offer a loan which is agreed with an outside lending company (totally above board and 0% apr, just spreads it across 12 months). If they fail the credit checks for that then we have to offer an inhouse payment plan, condensing it across as few months as possible. Inevitably these often end up not getting paid though and go to debt collection

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Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:32

Oops dunno why I keep failing to use bold!

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Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:33

Why is it so expensive?

Highly skilled staff wages, very expensive equipment, expensive medication.

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Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:35

My DD wants to be a vet, she's only 10 but it's the only job (bar the tooth fairy) she's ever been interested in - is the job market good? How do you deal with the whole PTS bit too as it must be awful

We are crying out for vets a lot of the time and are getting more and more foreign locum vets who charge a fortune. I'd say therefore it's a great job to get into.

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AnotherOriginalUsername · 22/07/2018 10:36

@PandaPieForTea where abouts are you roughly?

Doubleaxel · 22/07/2018 10:36

What’s your favourite operation to perform?
Are you ever scared of an animal?

AnonymousNovelist · 22/07/2018 10:37

Loving this thread Grin

Why does my (fat, ginger, rescue) cat eat his dinner and then howl at the bottom of the stairs? He does it every night. We call him (we're in bed) and he comes running in, seems pathetically grateful. He was a stray for the first three years of his life. Now is a 7kg monster (eats at the neighbours)

LEMtheoriginal · 22/07/2018 10:39

Thankyou for your reply.

Sorry but i hsve another question. How do you feel that the corporate takeover of seemingly every practice is going to affect the profession going forward?

Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:40

Is it hard to collect debt from owners? My mum always said that was very difficult for vets, but she wasn’t one, so I’ve no idea where she got that idea from.

We have an accounts/administration team who chase debt. They send about 4 letters and thereafter it is all passed on to a debt recovery agency. Some people then just pay a tenner a month or whatever despite a grand bill, as it's done on affordability. We also write off a hell of a lot of money that people don't pay and it isn't worth us paying to have it collected. I know the team have a very tough job - dealing with the usual "you only care about the money" stuff and then with complaints from clients trying to reduce a bill. Sometimes justifiably, more often not, especially when we are just asking them to pay for treatment they agreed and signed too and were happy with at the time.

Do you have any vets that are good with guinea pigs? We found it difficult to find vets that know anything about them.

My practice deal a lot with small furries and have them referred to us by practices less specialised. We get referrals from all over the region so there aren't many who do seem to know much past the routine stuff with them.

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Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:43

I hear your point about being accused of being "just after money", but sometimes that is how it feels.
Whenever we visit we are always given the hard sell.....on one occasion I was up sold a bottle of malaseb for a tiny pink patch on our llhasa apso's skin. The patch had totally vanished before I had even opened the bottle.
Every visit we are also given the hard sell on expensive dog foods.....despite our dog never having changed from ideal weight in the 8 years that we have had him and never having even one illness....he seems to be doing fine on supermarket food to us.

Yeah, I hear you. Regarding the shampoo - if they hadn't reccommended it and the condition had got worse then you may have complained that nothing had been reccommended. That's just covering bases and making sure a condition is treated promptly.
Regarding the food and whatever, our receptionists are encouraged to sell certain products. That's just business I'm afraid but I know they try not to be overbearing, I'll have to keep an eye on it.

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Weedsnseeds1 · 22/07/2018 10:44

A vet once told me cats are the most dangerous animals to deal with ( in terms of the vet being bitten or attacked while treating). Would you agree?
What's the most exotic animal you have treated?

Jeffers3 · 22/07/2018 10:45

When do you think is the best time for neutering? Had him booked for later this week at 8 months but can’t help feeling like it’s too soon.

Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:47

Do you get frustrated with clients who can't pay for treatments and won't pay for insurance?

Only if they they expect us to somehow heal the dog just using the force or out of our own pocket. If they're upfront and say I can't pay so it needs to be put down, then I respect their honesty but do feel sad when it's a waste of a lovely animal. Sometimes we admit the animals for rehoming if they can be treated and recover fully.

Would you prefer an owner to have an unlimited pot to treat their animals and do so or would you prefer to deal with an owner who can afford everything but choses not to when there is very little hope of a positive outcome?

I see that as entirely our job to guide the owner on this. If there really is no positive outcome then we shouldn't be doing the treatment and need to firmly express this to the client.

Have you ever advised an owner PTS and they refuse and how do you deal with that animal moving forwards?

If it's a case of it would be cruel not to, then we have to inform them of this and say we have a duty of care. If it's, for instance, an old arthritic dog that the owner is desperately clinging on to then we can prescribe more pain killers but still need to decide ourselves if that is a fair option for the animal.

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CatOwned · 22/07/2018 10:47

OK, tell me about your worst patient Grin

CatOwned · 22/07/2018 10:48

OP*!

SevenPastFour · 22/07/2018 10:51

Hello, thank you for doing this Smile
My DCat recently died at home at the ripe old age of 19. She had died in the night and I found her in the morning, but her body was all contorted at strange angles (legs sticking out in the wrong direction etc.)
I found it quite disturbing and have wondered why this was? Do cats fit when they die? I hate to think she suffered.
She was showing signs of old age but had no major health problems
TIA

StripySocksAndDocs · 22/07/2018 10:51

Do you like all the animals you treat?

Also if you don't like the owners (I'm sure there has to be ones you don't!) does that sway your opinion on the animal?

Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:51

So glad we have a vet doing this! I love our vet, who is fab, and am in awe of his rapport with his patients. You all do great work.

My question for you is what do you think of the Supervet? And do you think the cutting-edge, bionics type surgery he does will become standard practice, or do you think the expense involved will mean it always remains a niche area?

Thank you! Hmmm sometimes I don't like that the supervet does. When the animal has a very long recovery period and realistically only has a small chance of actually having a good quality of life at the end of it then I don't think it's fair. But other times it works out well so you think, why not. I don't think it will become the norm because it's so expensive and standard treatment and pet insurance is only getting more pricey, so people are actually looking for bargain vets rather than supervets these days

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Doubleaxel · 22/07/2018 10:52

Another question - when did you know you wanted to be a vet?

Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:54

do still have more questions grin. Do you brush your dogs teeth and do you think it makes a difference I try every single day but he has still developed plaque and he's not even 2 yet

It's part of the kid's chores! One dog will not tolerate it at all though so i rely on dental chews with him, and put a blob of toothpaste on his paws so he licks it off. You could try that. Maybe ask your vet if it's worth booking him in a couple times a year for a clean and polish.

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Original poster
KarlDilkington · 22/07/2018 10:55

do you lurk on the pet topics and secretly despair at some of the threads.

Haha yeah I'm more of a lurker than a poster. It's actually really interesting to read things from the owners point of view as often they don't tell you the full story face to face. Definitely some despair...

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Hamandcheesebaguette · 22/07/2018 11:00

Do you think different brands of dog food can increase the build up on dogs teeth?

The reason I ask, is I have 2 dogs... one who is 8 and one who is 2. The 8 year old has never had problems with his teeth but they both have massive build up now (booking them in this week to have this looked at!) since I switched to a different dog food a year ago.