Vets and covid.

[justasking111]

I am done with vets and covid. Managed to get an emergency appointment otherwise next week. Had to hand a 15 year old spaniel with an ear infection over at the door. The gentlest sweetest dog you could ever meet. There were three staff on their other practice is shut. So 1 vet, two assistants instead of 4 vets, 5 vet nurses, 6 nursing and reception team the vet that saw them was a locum. Many of them are shielding I was told. Furloughed more like. I sat in my car for over an hour before he was brought back. They had to muzzle him. MUZZLE!!! if I had been there he would have been absolutely fine, but no I am unclean. I could cry.

Take your dog for a nice long walk and move on... your dog will have already.

I would rather they be covid safe at the moment but remain open

An infected ear is very painful, so he may well have reacted even if you were there, they have a responsibility to keep staff safe as well as owners and animals. I know it will have been upsetting seeing him muzzled, but if it meant quicker treatment then it was better for your dog. I hope he feels better soon.

The treatment was not quicker took 1 and a quarter hours. This is not his first rodeo with his ears. With me there he has had ear washes, things poked down to look at his ears before.

I am allowed in a gp surgery with a mask, supermarket, restaurant, what makes vets extra special. From 15 staff to 3.

I totally understand you're upset for your dog, I have two pets and know it's not easy not being present.

With regards to furlough and shielding, we still have colleagues who are off due to shielding/they're not ready to come back yet after basically isolating for months. It's putting an extreme amount of pressure on the rest of us, and no doubt on your vet's practice, but has to be done. It's not easy for so many for different reasons, including yourself, but we have to try and move on the best we can.

Hope your dog will be better soon

I would have preferred to join my cats for their appointments too but on balance I'm really glad the vet staff is doing everything they can to keep themselves safe - it's a small practice and if they had to close due to covid19, who would look after my pets then?

My vet said she hadn't been anywhere else other than work all through lockdown (to keep safe).

Consulting rooms are mostly tiny with crap ventilation, vet's practices are generally pretty cramped places and like GPs they risk spreading anything they have to the other people they see afterwards, and as they don't need to examine a person it's better to avoid contact if possible.

@randomsabreuse

Consulting rooms are mostly tiny with crap ventilation, vet's practices are generally pretty cramped places and like GPs they risk spreading anything they have to the other people they see afterwards, and as they don't need to examine a person it's better to avoid contact if possible.

So are GPs waiting rooms in the main badly ventilated to go from 15 staff to two in a vets practice. Is not about shielding more about ££££

Agree with you OP - I go to the supermarket wearing a mask. Go to work and mix with colleagues none of whom are wearing masks.

I've been to the dentist. Been for hair appointment. Been for eye test. All fine - but vets?

Vets are in gowns, masks, gloves - what's the difference? I'm quite happy to go in wearing disposable gloves but, no, have to wait outside. Have to hang around the bloody car park for half an hour before the vet is ready to come and collect dog for their appointment because they are ALWAYS late and no-one is allowed inside.

I'm really not sure why I am allowed in the dentist waiting room and optician's waiting room and have full examination but not allowed into vet's AT ALL.

Your vet was following the guidelines set by the British Veterinary Association - to the letter.

Safe working: All services should be risk assessed and provided in a manner that supports safe working and social/physical distancing, but recognises that 2m distancing will not always be possible between team members.
Including:
a. continuing to work from home if possible and appropriate
b. minimising in-person contact with clients
c. maintaining a safe physical distance from others where possible
d. working in fixed pairs or small teams, where possible, to reduce contact with others

It can't be about the money. They can only get through so many animals a day so if they are down 3 vets then they won't be making any more money. Our vets are fab. They are working so hard, look totally exhausted and have to deal with people like you.

Because they can’t socially distance from you in a small room while you’re holding the animal they’re trying to treat. Especially since if they let you they have to let everyone, then people would start insisting they had to bring a support person as well, then before you know it they’re seeing dozens of people a day and all pretence at covid security is gone. The GP sometimes has to physically examine their patient (and getting an in person appointment with a GP is hard too at the moment) but you don’t get to accompany the patient to the GP here unless the patient is a young child. Unlike when you visit a doctor or dentist, you are not the patient, your dog is.

I don’t understand what staff numbers, or the fact that as a business they need to make money, has to do with you not being allowed to accompany the dog.

I’m sorry your dog was distressed but in the context of human patients going through cancer treatment alone, teenagers expected to go to doctors appointments alone, elderly vulnerable people navigating A&E alone, people dying in hospital without visitors, people being giving very limited visitation with their own babies on NICU.... honestly a dog having to wear a muzzle and be treated alone for an hour doesn’t seem that awful to me. I hope his ear is better soon.

I understand why you feel upset, but they have to keep themselves safe or they won’t be able to treat anyone’s pet. It’s not nice to see our pets go off into the vets alone and the muzzle is unfortunate, but I bet your boy has forgotten about it now. I hope he recovers quickly from his ear problem.

My OH is a vet and the practice he works at has been overrun for months now, as many places are sill only seeing emergencies. They are one of few willing to see non urgent problems and as a result are fully booked every day with new and existing clients.

A typical consultation is ten minutes, imagine the amount of people he would be in contact with a day if they allowed clients present. I for one are very glad that owners are asked to stay outdoors.

It is very common to muzzle dogs when dealing with painful conditions. The vet and nurses safety is the most important thing. You need to get over it.

And the old argument that vets are all about the money is so ridiculous it doesn't even deserve a response.

I can see both sides. Last year our dog had a grass seed in her ear. She’s very calm and loves the vets but the seed was so far down her ear that it took 3 of us - me holding her head up and trickle feeding her, the receptionist holding the torch in the right spot and then the vet to go down the ear and retrieve the seed. Even with 3 of us, the vet wasn’t sure if it was a grass seed or a tuft of hair because it was so far into the ear canal. We were all stood around the dog’s head, so not even a metre distance between 3 of us. I’m so glad that this happened last year and not this year because I wouldn’t be able to go in with her to keep her calm and they might not have seen the grass seed. If they had seen the grass seed and been able to retrieve it, they risk making a dog that loves the vets into an anxious dog for vet trips. When I say she loves the vets, she was more than happy to trot off with the receptionist for her boosters without a backward glance the other week and in normal times she would whinge if other people we’re taking too long in with the vet. If we walk past the vets, she’s desperate to go in and say hello. I really don’t want to lose that.

However, if they don’t practice social distancing, then those few staff could quite easily end up isolating so there would be even fewer staff. At our vets, that would completely shut the practice. They’re still trying to catch up with vaccinations that were missed at the height of lockdown. Shutting for two weeks is going to cause even more delays.

The comparison to GPs and dentists doesn't really work anyway - if it was your ear that needed treatment then obviously someone needs to see you in person, you can't wait in the car... when it's your pet, then you don't need to be there.

@viccat

The comparison to GPs and dentists doesn't really work anyway - if it was your ear that needed treatment then obviously someone needs to see you in person, you can't wait in the car... when it's your pet, then you don't need to be there.

If it was my child I would expect to be there and what are we as pet owners but parents.

If it was my child I would expect to be there and what are we as pet owners but parents.

Wow, drama llama! We are owners of dogs. We are not their parents. Your dog needed treatment, and whether you were there or not, it was the judgement of an animal healthcare professional that the dog should wear a muzzle to protect a human being from potentially being bitten. If your child - and by that I mean your human child - is likely to bite the doctor treating them, then it'd hope that precautions would be taken in that case too. Luckily, human children don't bite people often, but dogs are not children and they are not human - even the best of dogs can bite out of fear, anxiety or pain. Whether you were there or not, it is up to the vet to determine whether a muzzle is advisable - not you.

I cannot believe that you are making such an unreasonable fuss about the dog having to wear a muzzle for a short few minutes whilst being treated. Or having to wait for the dog to be treated. There are actually much worse things in life, and the dog has forgotten all about it hours ago. It's only you that is being ridiculous.

I have just changed vet because of our old ones new Covid rules!

My old vet wouldn’t see my dog even though she had blood pouring from her mouth and was having a seizure! I was literally parked in the car park! I was disgusted! Apparently she wasn’t classed as a emergency

I have found a new vets who we have been going to since. They take her from me in the car park and then come out and discuss any problems etc. I may not be able to go in but it’s alot better then our previous vet.

It's clients like OP that make our profession thankless and exhausting. A muzzle is not an insult. It doesn't hurt. It's not even uncomfortable. It's applied in this case to allow a professional to put their face very close to the painful or irritated ear of your dog to examine it very closely without having to worry that they may be bitten in the face. I'm a vet. I was recently bitten in the face. It took a lot of plastic surgery to try to fix, and I will always carry the scars. I am weary of your ilk, OP.

My cat has just had to be put down and I couldnt be there. I am devastated. Stop your whining.

Teachers, dentists and now vets getting a kicking.

OP, the vets aren't doing this to annoy you, they are doing their best to keep open so they can care for our animals. Some of them may end up going under. Your dog is fine, he had to wear a muzzle for a little while, no harm done. be thankful he could have treatment.

In the nicest way op - you are really overreacting.

We've had to use the vets a lot recently - in fact dog is there now and the procedure is the same everywhere. Yes everything takes ages and you can't go in with your pet. But just be patient. It won't be like this forever and they're just following guidlines.

Everything is taking longer and is less personal. It can't be helped.

I hope your dog feels better soon.

@bibbitybobbitycats

Teachers, dentists and now vets getting a kicking.

OP, the vets aren't doing this to annoy you, they are doing their best to keep open so they can care for our animals. Some of them may end up going under. Your dog is fine, he had to wear a muzzle for a little while, no harm done. be thankful he could have treatment.

I never kicked doctors, dentists, teachers nor vets, I saw the point of it at the time. Now dentists are working ditto teachers, nhs staff, shop workers, then restaurant staff got back to work. Can you really say that from 15 staff at two practices they are reduced to two staff and a locum at one practice because of covid five and a half months on???

@LegendaryCreature

My cat has just had to be put down and I couldnt be there. I am devastated. Stop your whining.

I am not whining I am pointing out that my vet is taking advantage of this covid. I have been on my local FB page and there are many other vets locally who are practically back to normal. They however are independent.

@roundtable

In the nicest way op - you are really overreacting.

We've had to use the vets a lot recently - in fact dog is there now and the procedure is the same everywhere. Yes everything takes ages and you can't go in with your pet. But just be patient. It won't be like this forever and they're just following guidlines.

Everything is taking longer and is less personal. It can't be helped.

I hope your dog feels better soon.

It is not the same everywhere as I discovered on my local FB page, at other practices you can go in wearing PPE. So you are being led down the same garden path as me.