Is It Un-ethical To Have 2 Vets

[Julie D]

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maybe ILKC would be able to help , since the services bought at the vets are fully paid for by ones self, would it be ok to register at 2 vet. surgeries? the near local one for general things like vaccs etc and the one just a few miles away for other things like ops ( reason being they have theatres inhouse and overnight stay whereas the local one would transfer your pet to their main 'hospital' ie:- more stress at the time when a pet least needs it )

Hopefully a pet only needs annual visits and therefore the question of getting to know one particular vet may not enter into it - unless there is an unfortunate incident which requires serial visits.

What do you think ?

 

[BeeJay]

Many racing people take their dogs to a greyhound vet for racing injuries and use a local vet for other treatment such as booster vacs.

There shouldn't be a problem with using a specialist vet. Personally I would use whatever vet I thought would do the best for my dog given whatever was wrong with him.

Some vets do require that the other vet sends over all of the dogs notes before treating him others don't.

 

[sparky]

NO.

 

[Tesa]

I don't think it is un-ethical at all. You are entitled to go to any vet you please. We have a lot of faith in our vet. In times of emergency and sorrow he has never let us down. When we move into our new place, this vet will be a 50 minute drive away. I have concidered sticking with him, but have decided that it is in the best interest of my dogs to find a vet closer to home. I need to be able to have faith my new vet in an emergency.

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

I think ethics come into it more on the part of the vets involved rather than on the part of the client, who has the right to choose where they take their dog.

On the whole I'd always recommend that people choose one vet and stick with them, for various reasons, such as yourself and your dogs being familiar there, any special needs/ongoing problems are taken into account, building a relationship of trust and all the benefits that go along with these things. Some vets would also argue that they fund much of their hardware and equipment from revenue from routine charges for eg vaccinations, and therefore to only use them for specialised things is perhaps unfair (though I doubt they would turn anyone away!). X-rays, ultrasound scans, in-house lab work and the like all require expensive and specialised equipment which might well be more expensive to the client if their costs were not subsidised by routine work.

Having said that, many people do use multiple vets with no problems. It is very tedious for the vets involved because they have to fart about forwarding history back and forth to each other. It is actually very important that vets do inform one another when they are treating another vet's client, and they always should do this to avoid potential problems such as prescribing contraindicated medication for example.

Simply referring a case from general practice to a specialist involves an initial phonecall to ask for your client to be seen, followed by a letter formally requesting the consultation and a full history - then the referral centre must produce a report on what work was undertaken and future management of the case, which is then sent back to the general practice, who have to update their own records and if the case is ongoing there will need to be lines of communication open in case of relapse or other problems. It can get really complicated!

Personally I am uncomfortable with 'sharing' clients - some people I know come to our practice every year while on holiday to get their dogs vaccinated because we're cheaper than their own vet. I can only rely on what information the client remembers/thinks pertinent before I go ahead and examine and vaccinate the pet. I am always wary that there may be underlying problems which I have overlooked because I have not got the full history to check. Of course, then I have to spend ages finding contact details for their own vet (you have no idea how many people don't know the name of their practice!), writing a letter and printing and faxing a history to them. Pain in the bum, but my problem I guess!

I think I'd recommend that people found one vet and stuck with them, but make sure that the practice is aware that if a problem crops up which isn't straighforward to deal with, you are happy for them to send you to a specialist early on. This way you know your dogs are getting best treatment but you do get the continuity of care which is so important.

 

[Lanakeshena]

maybe ILKC would be able to help  , since the services bought at the vets are fully paid for by ones self, would it be ok to register at 2 vet. surgeries? the near local one for general things like vaccs etc and the one just a few miles away for other things like ops ( reason being they have theatres inhouse and overnight stay whereas the local one would transfer your pet to their main 'hospital' ie:- more stress at the time when a pet least needs it )Hopefully a pet only needs annual visits and therefore the question of getting to know one particular vet may not enter into it - unless there is an unfortunate incident which requires serial visits.

What do you think ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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Hi Julie D,

I was in a similar situation to you the vet we were with's emergency clinic was a great distance away and at the time we had a horse and they were large and small animal practice, i felt that in case we had an emergency it could cost the life of one of my pets, so i opted for the nearest one that offered 24hr emergency care at their practice, the one we are with now was recommended. We have been with Three different vets at once, but cats were with one, dogs another and horse another, we didn't mix animals with different prasctices, now we have changed them all to the same one.

 

[whippynit]

Id stick with one vet if it was me. )

Which vet would you take her to if she had what you'd consider a 'small' injury?

If you tooke her to the vet you use for boosters but then it turned out to be a bigger injury than you thought for example, you would have to then have to take her to your other vets and begin all over again telling them whats wrong with her, etc, or your booster vet would have to forward all her history on, etc etc,and if she needs on going treatment for something who would you go to?

Just seems as if it could get abit complicated to me! :teehee:

By all means you want the best vet for your girl, but i think it would be better to stick to one vet. :thumbsup:

:cheers:

 

[bappit]

I fully understand the pain it the *rse it must be for vets.

My main concern is the best care for my dogs - at present I only have one (deerhound who at 5 is now getting onto a sliding scale which I will have to carefully look at as PetPlan consider her a select breed and charge a much higher premium, increased excess etc., as she ages).

The large vet practice I use for petplan is aware that I also use the small practice run by the local track vet for minor stuff, as he knows his way around a hound and their ways better than any other vet I'v ever encountered - and most importantly employs common sense above all else...which I'm not 'dissing' the big practice for - just find that they are very cautious - and tend to generalise about dogs rather than have a good knowledge of deerhoundxlurchers as a breed and want to cover all bases - guess partly to cover themselves should they miss anything, which in these days of litigation is understandable. But I find that rather frustrating, I have kept large hounds for 25 years and encountered the usual minor problems, that maybe need a bit of stitching or quick shot to ease the pain - I'm not a vet obviously sometimes I just want one to have a look to confirm, that a bit of rest and wait and see will be all thats needed. The track vet will do this at little cost, the larger practice always manages to turn the most trivial into a bill that yes is partly covered by insurance, but it all seems to be turned into such a big deal.

Yes the bigger practice would be the one I would turn to for serious emergency treatment simply because its much closer and in say a case of tortion every minute does count.