5 Reasons You Should Have a Relationship With Your Vet
by Christy Caplan
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May 30, 2017 
I’m not even sure where to begin with this post. I feel really strongly about this – if your animals don’t see a Veterinarian you respect and if you don’t have a relationship with your Veterinarian you should consider changing hospitals. As your animals age there are a lot of decisions that need to be made -some easy decisions and others are not.
- My senior dog is on a number of medications and I can text our Veterinarian if need be to ask about things like, “Can I add Prednisone if I have Bruisy on Tramadol?” – the answer is yes and NO to NSAIDs
- What about dental surgeries? Talking through the best action to take if your dog is a senior and the most appropriate protocols for dogs that may need a special pain management plan is crucial and if you have a relationship with your Vet this conversation should be easy.
- Simple questions about ear cleanings and nail trims – you can work with your Vet or a tech to find solutions to challenges and the’ll be happy to help you navigate through these weekly regiments.
- Emergencies: When there is a real emergency and you are stressed about the situation this relationship couldn’t be more important. Every question seems dire.
- You have a pet sitter staying with your animals and you’re traveling but you trust your Vet if there is an emergency while you’re out of town to help your pet sitter navigate through what to do.
Resources: You should also consider a AAHA accredited hospital. I wrote about that last summer and given the importance of drug protocols and patient care, I would prioritize this as well.
You may have two or more animals? The questions then double or triple in my case – living with three dogs generates a lot of medication and nutrition questions each week — sometimes each day!
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i love my vet. i have been to over 12 vets in the area. it is so hard to find a really good vet. i also travel over 180 miles to the dental vet every few months. i have a great relationship with him as well. i think the office staff has a lot to do with things as well. my vet is very good abt getting back to me, and making arrangements if i need an emergency. only thing i dont like she is not open all day on sat or sun. i am not fond of the er vets in my area. they have misdiagnosed my dogs many times and then went back to my reg vet and she resolved the issue.
I think that’s awesome you found a great dental vet – that’s so important. We regularly do dentals once a year and our regular vet handles these but I know folks that see specialists as well. I’m so glad your vet supports you during emergencies but also during non emergencies and is a good communicator! And staff is really key as the techs are the backbone to a practice!
I have struggles with this exact issue and am planning to write about it soon. Including how to respectfully break up with your vet if you didn’t find one that was the right fit. I wish I had applied the same principles I ask my human patients to apply when they are choosing whether I’m the right fit.
Oh that’s a really good topic – I think folks would like to hear about how to break up. That’s a very difficult topic. It’s also good to meet a few different vets to see if you connect and have a good dynamic from the beginning. Good point that it’s no different when we meet doctors or specialists for the first time, sometime it works and sometimes it doesn’t!
We have been with the same vet for 18 years. They are available 24/7, only once in those years did we have to visit a different vet clinic (and it was a great one that they had on call for them).
We don’t agree on things 100%, but they understand us and how we treat our animals, and they respect our decisions if they don’t line up with their recommendation.
I recently wrote a post on our latest experience with them, taking our fearful Luke there, and how much just one of the techs in the office was such a great help through an extremely difficult experience.
WOW – that’s like us, we’ve been seeing the same vet for almost ten years. I love that your vet is open 24/7 – there are many times after 8 p.m. when we’ve finally determined we have an issue and then need to go the emergency clinic which is $$. I think respect is the key. I’d love to read the post about Luke – we have to enter through a side door when there are no dogs in the clinic entrance, staff is so important!