I've you've got Pets - It shouldn't happen at a Vets.

[Gothicina]

Panorama on BBC1 Thursday 21.00

Filming undercover in one of Britain's largest veterinary chains, Panorama reveals evidence of questionable bills, animals poorly treated, and an unrepentant vet struck off for dishonesty.
Pet owners who take best practice on trust are in for a shock.

It's seems it's about one of the large Veterinary Chains Medivet, they've been buying up many of the practices in my area, & provide Out of Hours services for most of the rest. (Not for the vet I use, they still provide their own)
Medivet are upset they haven't been allowed to see the footage, or a Right of Reply.
http://www.medivet.co.uk/news_view.asp?id=112

It's got the BVA stirred up too http://www.bva.co.uk/activity_and_advice/1934.aspx

It should prove interesting, even if it is one sided.

[deltadelta48]

Gone are the days when your vet was oncall 24/7 and you could met them at the clinic at midnight with your pet. They no longer work those hours. It used to be that you called their number and they urged you to just leave a message they would return it Monday morning. Big help. Now they refer us to a local emergency clinic, there are 3 locally, and they are open 24/7. So we always get help and they work with the vet if the problem needs treatement, etc.

But with anything someone is out to make money, and some large chain pet stores are providing some vet services, pet grooming etc, and not doing a very good job of it. There are horror stories there too. Sooner or later I am sure some big companies will start buying up failing vet practices and problems will start here too. Just the same situation that you note. Sad situation.

[maroy41]

Our vet is the PDSA we are both pensioners but because we are not entitled to any benefits etc from the goverment we have to pay any bills in full ourselves, to make sure our little one gets any treatment she may need we have her insured. Two weeks ago on a Sunday, out of hours, she picked up something in the grass on her evening walk and it blocked her airways we had to rush her to our emergency vet over an hr away, they couldnt remove the obstruction, so had to give her a tracheotomy, they still could not remove it, but the vet took a chance and pushed it down into her stomach and thank the lord she started to breath again, they kept her in overnight and we picked her up next day. The bill for that treatment was £1,275, we just had to pay the excess £75. Thank goodness she is now on the mend, here's a pic of her now on the road to recovery.

[buttons-and-bows]

Our vet is the PDSA we are both pensioners but because we are not entitled to any benefits etc from the goverment we have to pay any bills in full ourselves, to make sure our little one gets any treatment she may need we have her insured. Two weeks ago on a Sunday, out of hours, she picked up something in the grass on her evening walk and it blocked her airways we had to rush her to our emergency vet over an hr away, they couldnt remove the obstruction, so had to give her a tracheotomy, they still could not remove it, but the vet took a chance and pushed it down into her stomach and thank the lord she started to breath again, they kept her in overnight and we picked her up next day. The bill for that treatment was £1,275, we just had to pay the excess £75. Thank goodness she is now on the mend, here's a pic of her now on the road to recovery.

Minx she is absolutly gorgeous and worth every penny spent on her. I could run off with her

[Gothicina]

Our vet is the PDSA we are both pensioners but because we are not entitled to any benefits etc from the goverment we have to pay any bills in full ourselves, to make sure our little one gets any treatment she may need we have her insured. Two weeks ago on a Sunday, out of hours, she picked up something in the grass on her evening walk and it blocked her airways we had to rush her to our emergency vet over an hr away, they couldnt remove the obstruction, so had to give her a tracheotomy, they still could not remove it, but the vet took a chance and pushed it down into her stomach and thank the lord she started to breath again, they kept her in overnight and we picked her up next day. The bill for that treatment was £1,275, we just had to pay the excess £75. Thank goodness she is now on the mend, here's a pic of her now on the road to recovery.

How frightening for you all Minx, at least she's on the road to recovery.

Some 15 years ago, I got home from work early, about 1am, to find my then collie cross had been sick everywhere, & his face was so swollen he looked like a Shar-pei I could see it swelling (he hadn't woken my mum who was at home with him).
I tried my Vets, who were about 7 miles away, only to be referred to another number, & again to another, ending up talking to a very grumpy rude vet who was over 20 miles away, who told me to find somewhere closer.

I had some Rescue Remedy, & kept giving him a few drops which seemed to help.
Of the 3 vets closest to me I discounted two, (other than as a last resort) because of previous bad experiences with both, phoned the 3rd who was about 10 mins away, she met me there & gave him adrenalin, & he was fine, we think it must have been a bee sting. I think the Out of Hours surcharge was about £75.00 back then, & he wasn't insured.

Anyway I transferred to that vets after that & am still with them, they still do their own Out of Hours, I think they're the only one left in this area that does.

Although it's expensive if not used, like most insurance, I wouldn't be without pet insurance, what I claim back each month from them for Whisper, surpasses the premiums, of both him & Fudge by a fair margin. Even if I'd saved the premiums from both since they were puppies, it wouldn't have covered what has been paid out for Whisper alone so far.

It annoys me that so many of the vets now (mine included) are being taken over by these corporate chains, who are more concerned with the money that the welfare of the animals in their care.

In the UK Delta, it's against the law for any lay person (with a few exceptions, farrier springs to mind) to medically treat an animal, not even a human doctor is allowed to do that, they must be either a fully qualified Veterinary Surgeon,(or Nurse for some procedures) or be supervised by one (as in the case of trainee Vets & Nurses). Non Vets as in McTimoney practitioners, can only act on a referral, & only if they have been certified to treat animals.
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/templates/int...ntnodeid=89642

[maroy41]

Minx she is absolutly gorgeous and worth every penny spent on her. I could run off with her

She is a cheeky fiesty little darling, we love her to bits, and you're right she is worth every penny.

How frightening for you all Minx, at least she's on the road to recovery.

Some 15 years ago, I got home from work early, about 1am, to find my then collie cross had been sick everywhere, & his face was so swollen he looked like a Shar-pei I could see it swelling (he hadn't woken my mum who was at home with him).
I tried my Vets, who were about 7 miles away, only to be referred to another number, & again to another, ending up talking to a very grumpy rude vet who was over 20 miles away, who told me to find somewhere closer.

I had some Rescue Remedy, & kept giving him a few drops which seemed to help.
Of the 3 vets closest to me I discounted two, (other than as a last resort) because of previous bad experiences with both, phoned the 3rd who was about 10 mins away, she met me there & gave him adrenalin, & he was fine, we think it must have been a bee sting. I think the Out of Hours surcharge was about £75.00 back then, & he wasn't insured.

Anyway I transferred to that vets after that & am still with them, they still do their own Out of Hours, I think they're the only one left in this area that does.

Although it's expensive if not used, like most insurance, I wouldn't be without pet insurance, what I claim back each month from them for Whisper, surpasses the premiums, of both him & Fudge by a fair margin. Even if I'd saved the premiums from both since they were puppies, it wouldn't have covered what has been paid out for Whisper alone so far.

It annoys me that so many of the vets now (mine included) are being taken over by these corporate chains, who are more concerned with the money that the welfare of the animals in their care.

In the UK Delta, it's against the law for any lay person (with a few exceptions, farrier springs to mind) to medically treat an animal, not even a human doctor is allowed to do that, they must be either a fully qualified Veterinary Surgeon,(or Nurse for some procedures) or be supervised by one (as in the case of trainee Vets & Nurses). Non Vets as in McTimoney practitioners, can only act on a referral, & only if they have been certified to treat animals.
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/templates/int...ntnodeid=89642

I wouldn't be without insurance either, you never know what is going to happen in the future, better safe than sorry.
I have been told by one of the virtual vets online in the doggsie forums that if your dog gets stung by a bee you can give them Piriton, never tried it myself but others have and claims it works fast.
Our emergency vet is over an hr away from us and when she started choking I thought we would never get there, but I must say the vet and assistants were absolutely marvelous, we stayed with her throughout the treatment and op, the vet had given her a 25% chance of recovery so you can imagine we were in bits, forunately all went well as you can see. She is now her normal cheeky little self, and all this happened because of the ratbags that throw their leftover fastfood into the grass were a dog can ferret out with their nose and the owners can't see until it is too late. On the advice from the Vet we now put a muzzle on her when out walking, we couldn't go through that again.

[buttons-and-bows]

She is a cheeky fiesty little darling, we love her to bits, and you're right she is worth every penny.

You can tell that by her cheeky nose Give her a big hug and kiss from me ((((()))))) XXX

[maroy41]

Minx she is absolutly gorgeous and worth every penny spent on her. I could run off with her

You can tell that by her cheeky nose Give her a big hug and kiss from me ((((()))))) XXX

Done! My husband says in that picture she looks as if she's saying "Ok, who pinched my bra?"

[Gothicina]

She is a cheeky fiesty little darling, we love her to bits, and you're right she is worth every penny.


I wouldn't be without insurance either, you never know what is going to happen in the future, better safe than sorry.
I have been told by one of the virtual vets online in the doggsie forums that if your dog gets stung by a bee you can give them Piriton, never tried it myself but others have and claims it works fast.
Our emergency vet is over an hr away from us and when she started choking I thought we would never get there, but I must say the vet and assistants were absolutely marvelous, we stayed with her throughout the treatment and op, the vet had given her a 25% chance of recovery so you can imagine we were in bits, forunately all went well as you can see. She is now her normal cheeky little self, and all this happened because of the ratbags that throw their leftover fastfood into the grass were a dog can ferret out with their nose and the owners can't see until it is too late. On the advice from the Vet we now put a muzzle on her when out walking, we couldn't go through that again.

Thanks for the info about the Piriton Minx, I do know that now, but didn't back then.

It's a shame about the muzzle, because people will assume it's because she is vicious. I know the majority of dogs that do wear them only do so to stop them eating things they shouldn't.

I used to know an English Setter, who would eat acorns, not one or two but mouthfulls of them,
she ended up with Crohns Disease, they were never sure what came first the compulsive acorn eating or the disease, she used to have to wear a muzzle when out.

The RCVS website, has a bit more detail about the Panorama programme content, although they haven't seen it either.

We have not seen the programme, but understand it is set to cover a range of issues, including the role of unqualified nursing staff in the practice, support for new graduates, over-charging in relation to insurance and regulation of corporate practices.

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/Int...NodeID=7099259
They also say

If the programme raises areas of genuine concern, we will do all we can to act on them and we have already made it clear to the BBC that we would expect their support in this.

Over the year's I've dealt with a lot of Vets & Veterinary Nurses the majority of them doing the job because they care, & provide an excellent service, unfortunately the bad apples amongst them sullie their professions.

[deltadelta48]

Our vet is the PDSA we are both pensioners but because we are not entitled to any benefits etc from the goverment we have to pay any bills in full ourselves, to make sure our little one gets any treatment she may need we have her insured. Two weeks ago on a Sunday, out of hours, she picked up something in the grass on her evening walk and it blocked her airways we had to rush her to our emergency vet over an hr away, they couldnt remove the obstruction, so had to give her a tracheotomy, they still could not remove it, but the vet took a chance and pushed it down into her stomach and thank the lord she started to breath again, they kept her in overnight and we picked her up next day. The bill for that treatment was £1,275, we just had to pay the excess £75. Thank goodness she is now on the mend, here's a pic of her now on the road to recovery.

What a terrier cutie!! My kind of pup. Poor little thing, and what a scare for everyone. Did you ever find what it was?

The pet insurance has not hit US widely, there are only a few of them, and I don't know anyone that has it. Might be something to look into as the prices are really high even for the routine services.

In US no one can provide vet service but vets either but I suspect that some vets do graduate on the bottom of their classes and are the ones working at these large corporate pet places. There were a few cases of animals getting routine vacinations, and becoming ill, either shots were not given correctly or meds were outdated or incorrect or whatever. So still best to select sensible vets who can solve problems, especially when our animals get older and need a bit more care.

I live near a school and we have the same problem with people dumping trash, half eaten food on ground for the dogs to get at. I am not so concerned if I see a McD's bag and wrappers but the KFC chicken ones are not good news for the pups, hard to see that on the grass before the dogs do.

Give that little sweetie a hug for all of us!