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Why are emergency vets so bloody useless???

5 replies

staceym11 · 02/05/2006 13:59

My dd was awake at 5 this morning so i sorted her out and went to go back to bed, walking through the hallway i noticed a bad smell, as if my mums dog (one of two german shepards i am looking after while they are in America) had done a poo, i turned the lights on thinking 'great just what i need at 5 in the morning!' but the dog wasn't breathing properly and wouldnt get up she'd also (sorry if tmi) pooed herself where she lay, so i thought this is wrong and woke my partner up to try and find the emergency vets number.

finally managed to get hold of it and rang the vet at half 5, he said 'can it wait till surgery' i didnt think so and even if it could this dog wouldnt get up shes huge and im 3 month pg so i needed someone to come here. he said he'd be an hour.

so the dog seemed not too bad until ten past 6 and her breathing got shallow, so i try and ring the vet back, no answer for 5 minutes and by then she'd stopped breathing, hes says he'll be here as soon as pos but by the time he got here it was 5.35.

i dont really know where im going with this but why did it take him so bloody long to get here, i cant understand hwy this should have happened to a perfectly well dog, and all i can see is that he took forever and now my mums dog has died.

to make it worse my mum is in America as iv said, its her first time ever to go abroad and was to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary. i dont know wether it'd be better to tell her or keep quiet till the day before they come home, and even if i wanted to tell them they are touring so i dont know where exactly they are or how to get hold of them.

sorry its long, just needed a rant i think, i feel a bit better now!

OP posts:
sweetmonkey · 02/05/2006 14:13

i lost my dog a couple of months ago. its terrible. so sorry for yr mums loss
Sad

terrible that an emergency vet should take so long though

shimmy21 · 02/05/2006 14:18

How awful for you and even worse that you have to break the news to your mum. I don't think I would tell her yet though. Nothing can be done now so let her enjoy the rest of her holiday. How old was the dog?

staceym11 · 02/05/2006 15:57

she was nearly 10, which is old, but not really old, and she had been fine, i just cant get my head around it!

OP posts:
jodie1984 · 05/05/2006 13:09

i have posted on pets if you read this one 1st

jodie

oops · 05/05/2006 13:22

there are two types of emergency service for vets

  1. the vet at your local practice who works there during the day goes home and takes the phone or takes messages. If the animal seems to need veterinary treatment then they either meet the owner at the practice or visit the house.

  2. the practice joins an emergency service provider who hs a team at a specific practice who only work the emergency shifts

i suspect that your vet is one of the former so he probably worked all day the day before and took the phone overnight.
So you prbably woke him in his bed...not sure how many other calls he would have had that night.It is a shame he didn't get to your house before the dog died, but if she was so ill that she died so quickly, i suspect that he would not have been able to do anything to help in the preceding 1/2 hr.
Sadly, vets cannot provide a state of the art emergency servic like the ambulance/casualty service. It just isn't possible.
I know you are really upset and it muct feel terrible to be pregnant and to lose a family pet, and i am sure it is weighing on your mind alot.
I honestly think that the dog would have died anyway, whatever she died of was probably not going to be amenable to the sort of treatment a vet can crry in a bag in a car.

I am not sure what to say- in he vet's dfence, h probaly had to get up and dressed and mabe drive to the practce for drugs (you wouldn't keep some f the drgs at home) and then n to your house.
alt of places (london esp) you just wouldn't even be able to get a vt out atnight have been threatened for the drugs and somebody threatened to kill me too, so I don't make house visits any more- it really is too dangerous. However, you may live in a nicer area!

I hope you feel a bit better now- the dog is at peace, and you have had a horrible time..
and i am sure your vet feels sorry that he didn't see her earlier- but i really don't think he could have done anything heroic to save her in your home

HTH to make you feela bit better...xx

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