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Going Against Vets Advice.

Sky-O

Wise Old Thumper
Have you ever done it?

I also want to make it totally clear that I'm not suggesting anyone go against vets advice, and definitely not without discussing it with the vet first.

Its something I have been thinking about recently. I have done twice, but bearing in mind that we are at the vets nearly every week, often more than once a week for something, that's not much. It involved two different rabbits and was related to both of them being PTS (separate situations, separate circumstances). I did discuss it with the vet and explained why I was making that particular decision and he understood why and we set some ground rules. In those situations though, I was right and the vet agreed at a later date (he knew I was seeing things in the rabbits that he couldn't see at the vets, hence why he took the risk to trust me).

I just wondered if anyone else had? And if they felt with hindsight it was right, or if they should have listened to the vet?
 
I haven't but I after a bad experience I think I would go against vets advice if I really believed the vet was wrong.
 
Yes. With Mischa. I was told that we'd have to think about PTS. But I said he's getting better. They couldn't see him at home, slowly regaining balance, nystagmus lessening, and him still eating well.

It was definitely the right decision in my case. I'd have to think long and hard if I went against my vet's advice now. That vet was not rabbit savvy.
 
I have done in the past and then gone to another vet for a second opinion. Like when I knew Salt was going into stasis, and they gave him Baytril.:roll:
I am finally with a great vet, and I'm not sure I would go against her advice. She respects the fact that I know a lot about rabbit care and my bunnies, so we talk things through together. I'm very lucky, and so are the buns!
 
You know I have with Grim. I never saw that vet again and I've never needed to go against my new vets. He wanted to put him to sleep as he found jaw abscesses in both jaws under his incisors before treatment was tried as it was apparently too hard to treat. I flat out refused.
 
I have, regarding the question of how much food to force feed my Mina in one sitting. I knew it'd be too much for her. He said it wouldn't be. I followed my gut instinct and nursed her out of stasis by giving her smaller amounts, just more frequently than he suggested, and I don't regret it. I think forcing more food in her than she was comfortable with would have been a terrible idea. All her life, she ate small portions very frequently, so I felt this would be the best way to force feed her as well.
 
Yes, several times. And usually, all has worked out for me :) My last vet was about as much use as a lump of rock, so sometimes I just had to go against his advice.
 
Occasionally I have suggested other options with the vet and they have agreed and often I've been proved right.
I did once disagree with the vet over Melba, our 26 year old shetland ( from a very neglected background0. The vet was convinced she had grass sickness and I said from the beginning it was her teeth- I was right and she recovered, sadly we lost her 6 months later due to arthritis.
 
Yes, I would. Vets aren't saints. I hate it when people think they are (not talking of anyone here)...after what happened with Izzy I now get really annoyed thinking of vets and how great people think they are when theres a lot of awful vets :evil: :cry:
 
I don't think I ever had to go against vet advice for the bunnies, but I have had to on numerous occasions for the smaller furries. Mainly because vets really aren't very clued up on them. :(

edit: actually, thinking about it, although she didn't out and out say it, my vet was angling this time last year for having Sukie pig PTS, but I held out another few days (till the vets opened again just after Christmas), and I really regretted it. Should have listened to the vet then, even though she didn't clearly say 'I advise PTS' in so many words. :(
 
I did with Kermit at the first vets i took him to, they told me to get him PTS when he first developed head tilt. I said no, came home, and the OH found this forum, then i found a different vets.

With my new Vets i was the one that was pushing for all the steroid injections when Inca got EC. They kept saying that they would giver her them but they didnt think that they would work. Needless to say, Inca is still here about 8 months later.

I do think that in most cases Vets know what they are doing, but in some advanced illnesses i feel that they cant possibly know your pet as well as you do, and should take your opinion into consideration, especially when you have previous experience or have done a lot of research.
 
I agree with sarah's point about vets not always being clued up about smaller furries, even if they are with rabbits.

This was my problem. My mouse's eye had closed up a bit so I took her to the vet, coincidentally she got a scratch on her other eye the day we took her. my vet showed no concern for the closed eye and said that the scratched eye was swollen (it's just how a mouse's eye is supposed to look) and prescribed steroid eye drops.

I used them thinking that the vet probably knew better than me but her eye gradually got worse, eventually crusting up to the point where she couldn't close it and was in pain so I had to have her PTS. It was only with retrospect I realised that the steroids probably stopped her eye from healing itself.

My other mouse got a scratch a few days after her and it went away on it's own within a couple of weeks.

After this I will never just listen blindly to what a vet has to say again :cry:
 
I do think that in most cases Vets know what they are doing, but in some advanced illnesses i feel that they cant possibly know your pet as well as you do, and should take your opinion into consideration, especially when you have previous experience or have done a lot of research.

This was the case with Mischa. And the vet wasn't listening to me, she couldn't see past this poor rabbit with a 90 degree tilted head struggling to keep on all four paws. Whereas I know Mark would listen to me about how they are at home and would explain to me the options.
 
Yes I would and do if I knew in my heart that the vet was wrong.

I've had some bad experiences with vets local to me when it comes to my rabbits. I've been told you don't need to vaccinate, don't need pain meds for tooth root abcesses, mis-diagnosis which led to my rabbit dying, vet laughing when one of my show buns was bit on his testicles when I used to show even though he screamed in pain when she touched his wound :shock:and being given baytril for everything.

It's not just with rabbits that vets make mistakes though as one of the vets gave my cat flea treatment for large dogs instead of the cat version. If I hadn't checked the label I dread to think what would of happened.

Some vets I would trust their opinion without question like the vets I used to go to in Bristol when I lived there but the ones local to me seem really clueless.
 
I have done in the past and then gone to another vet for a second opinion. Like when I knew Salt was going into stasis, and they gave him Baytril.:roll:
I am finally with a great vet, and I'm not sure I would go against her advice. She respects the fact that I know a lot about rabbit care and my bunnies, so we talk things through together. I'm very lucky, and so are the buns!

Mulling this over, I think this is what me and my vet do. I've never done anything without his consent and have always been able to explain and justify why I think as I do and he listens and we come up with a plan relating to that. I think its because, as Kermit says, no one can know your pet as well as you. PLUS, they only see what is going on in the vets room and also what is communicated to them. If someone is communicating well, then that's very different from someone who communicates poorly with the vet.
 
I don't think I would ever have to, I trust my vet and he is very open to discussing options, I think if he was really against something I would trust he was right..
 
When Tippex was at her worse with her head tilt the first option the vet offered was PTS. From the vet's point of view it was completely understandable- during that 10 minute consult she was rolling uncontrollable and very stressed. It wouldn't have been fair to keep her like that. However as I explained to the vet she wasn't the same at home, it was just the stress of the car journey and being handled. At home she can run about when she wants to rolls only very occasionally.

It all boils down to quality of life really xx
 
My vet told me, like so many people do, that neutering Mango would be enough and that I didn't need to have Maia done. I insisted and she was spayed.
They usually only spay older females who have cancer, but why on Earth should I wait for that to happen?!
 
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