I emailed a few vets today just generally sussing out the ones in my area and how rabbit savvy they were. What do u think:
Having reserached your practise i notice that you are RCVS accredited
Small Animal General Practice...is this correct? What exactly does
this entail...do you have extra training on small animals such as
rabbits?
I just have a few questions, I hope you dont mind me asking:
>
1)How many rabbits do you see per week?
2) Do you have a 'specialist' rabbit vet? A vet who sees most of the
rabbits?
3) Do You recommend vaccinations for indoor & outdoor rabbits and how
often do you recommend boostersare given?
4) Do you provide painkiller and gut stimulants post-op
5) How would you diagnose/treat GI Statis?
I hope you dont mind me being so forward only I have recently lost a
rabbit and I wonder if anything else could have been done on the vets
part - i want the best care for my animals and just want to make sure
I go with the best vet.
RCVS accredited practice basically means we meet the criteria the
CVS lay down to assess a practice. this does not unfortunately
act like a clinical audit, as clinical ability is very difficult
to assess/grade. it does assess more objective subjects such as
ensuring staff receive appropriate amounts of training, that all
health and safety measures are in place, that equipment is
serviced appropriately, that meetings are held between staff to
discuss clinical cases etc,etc. i think the RCVS will argue that
if practices go to all the trouble to be able to pass this
assessment, they must care enough about clinical standards to be
doing a decent job.
> in repsonse to your more specific questions -
1. number of animals seen weekly varies. we have over 500 rabbits
registered and the number we see in one week will vary depending on the health status of that group.
>
2, specialist vet - no, but the two vets we have working at our
practice will see rabbits and are proficient in dealing with the
common problems.
> 3. vaccinations - we recommend vaccines for all rabbits,
especially against myxomatosis. this last year has seen a large
ncrease in myxy numbers, so currently we would recommend 6
monthly vacicnation. i think vaccination against VHD can be
considered but would not necessariyl be appropriate to all rabbits
(unlike myxy vac).
>
4.analgesia and gut stimulants- generally we would give analgesia
and metoclopramide peri-operatively to try to prevent post op
problems. not all animals would routinely go home with oral meds
as we don't feel it is necessary in all cases. those cases that we
feel need further medication will be provided with further medication.
>
5. diagnosis of GI stasis would generally be done on clinical
examination - palpation of guts and listening for gut sounds.
treat ment would generally involve analgesia, fluid support and
metoclopramide. obviously if an underlying reason can be found
then this should be addressed also.
Having reserached your practise i notice that you are RCVS accredited
Small Animal General Practice...is this correct? What exactly does
this entail...do you have extra training on small animals such as
rabbits?
I just have a few questions, I hope you dont mind me asking:
>
1)How many rabbits do you see per week?
2) Do you have a 'specialist' rabbit vet? A vet who sees most of the
rabbits?
3) Do You recommend vaccinations for indoor & outdoor rabbits and how
often do you recommend boostersare given?
4) Do you provide painkiller and gut stimulants post-op
5) How would you diagnose/treat GI Statis?
I hope you dont mind me being so forward only I have recently lost a
rabbit and I wonder if anything else could have been done on the vets
part - i want the best care for my animals and just want to make sure
I go with the best vet.
RCVS accredited practice basically means we meet the criteria the
CVS lay down to assess a practice. this does not unfortunately
act like a clinical audit, as clinical ability is very difficult
to assess/grade. it does assess more objective subjects such as
ensuring staff receive appropriate amounts of training, that all
health and safety measures are in place, that equipment is
serviced appropriately, that meetings are held between staff to
discuss clinical cases etc,etc. i think the RCVS will argue that
if practices go to all the trouble to be able to pass this
assessment, they must care enough about clinical standards to be
doing a decent job.
> in repsonse to your more specific questions -
1. number of animals seen weekly varies. we have over 500 rabbits
registered and the number we see in one week will vary depending on the health status of that group.
>
2, specialist vet - no, but the two vets we have working at our
practice will see rabbits and are proficient in dealing with the
common problems.
> 3. vaccinations - we recommend vaccines for all rabbits,
especially against myxomatosis. this last year has seen a large
ncrease in myxy numbers, so currently we would recommend 6
monthly vacicnation. i think vaccination against VHD can be
considered but would not necessariyl be appropriate to all rabbits
(unlike myxy vac).
>
4.analgesia and gut stimulants- generally we would give analgesia
and metoclopramide peri-operatively to try to prevent post op
problems. not all animals would routinely go home with oral meds
as we don't feel it is necessary in all cases. those cases that we
feel need further medication will be provided with further medication.
>
5. diagnosis of GI stasis would generally be done on clinical
examination - palpation of guts and listening for gut sounds.
treat ment would generally involve analgesia, fluid support and
metoclopramide. obviously if an underlying reason can be found
then this should be addressed also.
