Vets. Are they all much of a muchness?

[Sparklingbrook]

We use a chain vet that is located inside a large chain pet shop. Starting to get a bit disillusioned.
Sparklingcat goes every year for vaccinations and every year I come back and they say she's a bit overweight and it might be good to have a consultation about her diet. Then they say her teeth need a scale and polish and try and sell me stuff to go in her water and the special diet for her teeth. Just a vague feeling that they are on the upsell all the time.

My Mum has her cat with them and feels the same. There are a couple of independent vets I could use instead.

At the moment we pay £10 a month and that includes all monthly flea/worm treatment, vaccinations and very discounts on other things including teeth. I do like the long opening hours and the easy parking.

Cat due her vaccinations again this month and just wondering what will be said this time.

You shouldn't have to make instant decisions unless it's an urgent situation. It's fine to think about it and maybe do some of your own research - the icatcare website linked in my last post is a great and reliable resource for a whole range of feline issues.

Also try and ask about the pros and cons of treatment/no treatment and whether there are alternative options. A good vet should discuss a variety of options with you as a first line, things are rarely black and white, and this process will help to reassure you that they've considered everything rather than pushed a particular treatment.

I am tempted to send DH on his own this time. Just to see what he thinks and see if he feels lectured.

Sparkling a good relationship with a vet should involve trust on both sides and it doesn't sound as though you have this relationship. Maybe you need to look for someone who works to build that relationship.

Sparkling

Out of interest, how do you get on with your own GP? (There are many potential similarities in the relationships.)

I once had the dreadful experience of going to a vet who actually didn't seem to like animals, least of all my poorly cat. He had broken his spine and the vet pulled him about, dragging him a cross the treatment table by his back legs causing Sammy to cry out in pain. I could have killed the bastard but just shouted at him instead. That vet was in the wrong job and my cat was very unlucky.

"Sparkling a good relationship with a vet should involve trust on both sides and it doesn't sound as though you have this relationship."

I think sometimes that's the most important thing, I mean realistically I have no real clue whether my vet is a good one or not, but I have a relationship with her and I trust her.

My vet is amazing. She's an independent whose practice is solely based around home visits although she's now expanded and has other vets on staff and a fully functioning base for operations. You get an hour long appt for £45, for multiple animals. She doesn't try to sell stuff, she's certainly never lectured us. She often waives fees for routine things like weighing them quickly when she's passing. She's utterly utterly lovely. The other vet practice we've used (all through my childhood and now with my own cats for emergencies) are also lovely, although v different (small chain).

When DH would take MCat to the chain with a number in it's name, he would come home with a huge bag of stuff we didn't need, ie. Indorex, which we already had a brand new can full of.

Our other cat is a Devon Rex, renowned for greasy ears, and even after explaining this to her, she insists on doing a swab test for ear-mites, DH was very naive trusting, and thought she was "giving" him all this stuff out of kindness, not realising why he'd come back with a bill for over £100 for annual check-ups/innoculations. (Vet didn't explain he'd be charged for all the stuff, because she'd say "I'll give you this")

The last time MCat went in for his jabs, we were informed he needed a scale and polish, and they had a "special offer" on. For various reasons, I haven't booked him in yet. Looking at his teeth myself, I can't see any redness around the gums or tartar build up.

After reading this thread, I may go back to the independent vet we used before.

cozie all good with the GP. Same one for 16 years and a very good relationship. I do feel if I have to see another one that it's not the same though and probably don't trust them as much as my own.

At the vets it's usually one that we see but over the 6 years we have seen others, there's no guarantee of getting the same on IYKWIM.

Could be down to personality possibly. Maybe what I see as pushy others would see as assertive.

I take our elderly mogs to a local chain, about 5/6 branches. We get weighed, a good feel over, look in mouth and ears and sethescope (sp). I have bought diet food from them but since the first time I buy it online and have never had that mentioned. Always the same vet (unless she is on holiday and they tell you if she will be). They do their own out of hours rotated round the biggest surgery's
Ginger boy is going tomorrow to have a lump off his brisket and I am truely shitting it but I know he will be well looked after. I love my vet

I use a local vet, not a chain, never felt I've had an upsell. They've also been brilliant the couple of times had a real emergency, cat needing his leg amputated (he was fine afterwards) and a cat with a really bad bite just 5 mins before the place shut, they stayed open so I could get there as we were about to go away.

There's a big chain veg about to open and I do worry about the small vets, I can't see them being the same.

Interesting.

Seniorboy's vet seems very good. There's certainly no attempt to upsell - if anything, they're always trying to minimise my costs eg by combining dispensing fees/laying out treatment options with what seems to be realism etc etc. (We live in a very mixed income area so they would be on a hiding to nothing with the majority of clients if they tried to maximise revenue with a general 'hard sell'.) They do outsource OOH care but we're inner city so their options aren't great what with staffing/travel etc.

I guess that my thing is usually to be asking 'Why?' and they're certainly always explaining their actions. (I do try not to make as if I was conducting a Viva but Hey Ho.) Seniorboy seems to shine there and that's what's important to me.

One thing that I've noticed at my own vet is that they seem to very much form a whole team. The vets give the professional backdrop of course but it seems that all the staff are kept involved and knowledgeable about patient care. There's little or no sense of 'them and us' in the place.

Harry has been going to a local small chain but, once his treatment is complete we are looking to change. I can't fault the treatment he has received but I'm not happy with the way some of the billing has been handled. I've also found out that I can't guarantee seeing one of our vets as they now use another practice, not local to me, out of hours. One of the big selling points was them doing their own out of hours.

We changed from my last vet practice as I was so unhappy with the treatment William received. First of all the vet made him jump down off the table 'too see what his legs do' (he quite clearly had problems with his back legs and didn't walk well let alone jump) and she then got a book out 'to see what we can test him for' and wasn't happy when I said I was only prepared to pay for FIV and leukaemia testing. At that point he was a stray who was going back outside. (He moved in with my mum on the way home though!)

It's such a difficult one - you'll come across good vets and bad vets just as you'll come across good doctors and bad doctors. My last lengthy acquaintanceship with a vet was with a private practice which was unaffiliated to any chain. A superb clinician he was - and he adored and was sensitive to animals - but even then, he and his staff were very very stretched and you always faced the possibility of 'your' vet being out on a call at any time and having to deal with eg a locum who didn't know your animal that well.

I have no issue, really, with 'chain' practices who make use of OOH services provided by others. In today's world, I would find it very difficult indeed to run an independent veterinary practice and square the books at the end of each month while eg paying staff wages, maintaining the necessary documentation to keep insurance companies and clients/certifying organisations happy and yet managing to provide top class care for every animal that cam inside my doors. How Lone and the other vets who post manage to stay halfway sane is almost beyond me.

I guess you just have to do your best by your animals which also means - to me - doing a little work yourself rather than just leaving everything to someone else. I'e seen, over my own lifetime, a huge difference in the general appreciation of the issues, let alone the general standard of care for pets. Sadly, that's not cheap or without other costs.

My problem with the out of hours thing is that the vet they are using as cover isn't local, the nearest surgery is half an hour's drive away (in theory, unlikely in practice). The local branch of my vets closes randomly and Harry's check up was cancelled at the last minute so I no longer have a warm fuzzy feeling about them unfortunately.

That's ........not so good. I've never had an appointment cancelled - and we have a lot of them - and they certainly stick to their scheduled hours at least. (I'd obviously understand if there was an emergency of some sort but then I try to anticipate problems and help to work round them.) If anything, they'll try their darnedest to fit Seniorboy in at short notice even if it's not a downright emergency but just me being niggled about something.

Have you another vet nearby that you could access?

we go to the same place, local long standing vet practice, big vet hospital based nearby (10 miles maybe) and several satellite premises in local towns

It's also has quite a large farming clientele and as such tends to have a lot of student types so although it's the same place it can be difficult to see the same Vet...and they do seem to have a fair turnover, but I guess that must be more to do with the student placements than anything else.

We've only really only had one emergency when one of the boys ate a tin of cocoa, they were excellent then. There's a senior partner though who we avoid and speaking to others in town we're not the only ones, but that's for the routine stuff....we just know to ask who is on and book appointments when it's not him.

There is another vet practice that we are seriously considering. It's not as local as the current one but has been around years and has a very good reputation, provides it's own out of hours care and has a monthly payment plan to cover worming, flea treatment, check ups etc. Obviously we'll get Harry unwired at the current vet but I'll look at changing for his annual vaccinations later in the year.

The other thing that appeals to me is that the (possible) new practice works with a registered animal dentist and, if you are a member of the pet club, you get 10% of dental treatment. After the last few weeks I'm resigned to the fact that Harry might be seeing more of the cat dentist!

I'm all for keeping a weather eye on teeth, having seen - with my own boys - the trouble that bad teeth can cause, especially in later years. 10% is actually no mean saving given the cost of dental care which has not been cheap for my own lads. (I think I actually managed to get them in during National Smile Month or something similar so received a 10% discount anyway - but that month might not always be convenient for people and cats.)

More big love for my vets. Ginger Cat has come home minus his lump (just fat thankfully) and sporting a lovely zip up his chest. Very peed off but fine otherwise

Thanks for all the replies and comments. It's all food for thought. She is booked in for Monday afternoon for her vaccinations and I will be making a decision following that I think. I will be taking notes.

I am assuming the teeth thing will some up again, and maybe her weight although at the last check up she was fine.

Glad he's ok ginger.

Whether you have insurance or not seems to have a big impact. As our elderly cat is insured, cue the vet suggesting all sorts of treatments. Luckily it has saved me a fortune as she's had a load of unusual complaints over the last few years.

Interestingly, my own vet has actually uttered the words 'Not much point in investigating that I suppose.' ( My own boy is most elderly and while I've said that cost is not a concern for him, I've also made our position clear on any heroic treatment.)

I'd be interested to hear a vet's take on the insurance issue though.

Vet has never asked me if Sparklingcat is insured (she is). Unfortunately dental work isn't covered.