Don't trust the vet

I've been meaning to post this for a few days. I found out that my vet (the old one, I fired that office) was going to vaccinate Savannah for things she had recieved. If you trust the vet to know everything, take it from me, know what's going on. I know I should have, but I really trust "experts."

During the intake I gave the receptionist Savannah's vaccine card from the breeder as well as other info. Apparently the receptionist didn't pass it along to the vet before we came in. The vet was treating Savannah as if she were never vaccinated. I don't even think it was passed on that she was imported. How I even found this out was by asking if it was a good idea to take her to a show on another message board. Her breeder saw my question and said she only needed one more shot. The vet had told me she needed two more rounds of shots after seeing her the first time. Upon reading the breeders message, I called the vet and got to the bottom of it. I didn't see any red flags because the vaccine sheet I received when I got Savannah just listed distemper. What the new vet that I made an appt. with explained to me (before I even told her the story) was that those vaccines had other things in them, ie. leptospirosis, parvo.

Anyway, second guess the vet. Mixups occur. Savannah's vaccine sheet was found in another dogs file...

This is it in a nutshell. It's much longer, but the point is; don't trust the vet to know everything, and if you tell the receptionist something during intake, tell the vet again in person. I trusted the receptionist, and the vet... It could have ended badly.

Barbara I know how you feel when I took Saffy to be spayed I had to point out that the anaethetic that they were preparing to give Saffy wasnt suitable for Boxers! The vet checked and realised I was right. But told me that he hadnt know this and has used it on Boxers before.

SEE! It's a good thing YOU knew that. It's inexcusable. Vets should know more than us... I would have switched vets after that if possible.

I think some of them have become quite bigheaded because they fell we won't have a clue about animal health - especially in terms of the medications. What I always do is research the possible cause by searching for the 'symptoms' on the web and once I have an idea of what it might be I say so at the vets, just so they know we have a general idea. This can stop them making things seem worse than what they (which offcourse they would get paid more for!).

Our senior vet used to have a wee bit of an attitude problem, in that he was rather "You wouldn't understand it" - until Snorri-dog was found to be epileptic, and he actually said that! I looked at him for a moment, then said "I know I'm not a vet, but I do have a degree in Biology (Animal Behaviour), so why don't you just tell me, and I'll let you know when I fail to understand?"

Nowadays, he goes into the most minute detail and, IMO, gives a better service as a result. He knows, too, that I am prepared to spend a lot of time on the Net checking up on him, if I think it's necessary! :smt096

Snorri

Azz, you're right about research. Usually my dogs are all healthy, so the only thing they need to be seen for are shots. From hereonout, I'll know the ins and outs of all immunizations

Snorri, doctors in general HATE when people research on the web. My grandfather was just in the hospital and my aunt and I were researching on the web so we would know what types of questions to ask, and one doctor told us to stay off the web. We were FURIOUS!! He said that because we knew too much and he didn't like that. It wasn't like we said, "well, we saw on the internet, blah, blah, blah." He just knew, lol I am not fond of dr.'s.