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Useless vets

Rhian33

Warren Veteran
This is going to be a right moan but I'm sick of vets having zilch training in small furries.

My normal vet is really good with buns so I have no issue with her. I have rats too and she freely admits she doesn't know a lot about them but is willing to learn and she goes away and researches stuff if the client doesn't know the answer and she can't come up with a definite solution. This is the sort of vet I like and I will continue to see her as I think she will get better as time goes on. There is also a really good vet at one of the other branches who I can see if I really need to for things which are more complicated.

My problem is some of the other vets at the practice who sometimes you just have to see if the good ones are not working. Today for example in the whole group there was someone I know to be not very good and a locum so I plumped for the one I knew as it wasn't rocket science what I needed. 2 weeks ago I took one of the buns for a myxi vac. The health check was awful but I'm capable of doing them so let it go. Same vet got rota'ed on today for VHD vac and admitted not knowing much about rabbits in the consult so I said about checking bums. He said "oh yes of course, flystrike" so I put him right on the diet, teeth, dirty bum connections.

I also took a rat in to be PTS at the same time. He had to ask me how to do it as he was going to just inject her in the heart and not anaesthetise her first and then when he had done it I had to ask him to listen to her heart to check she had gone :shock::evil:. Same vet didn't have a clue a couple of weeks ago when I again had no choice but to see him with a rat with a respiratory infection. Fortunately I knew what meds I wanted and the dosages and he just gave me what I asked for and said rat is now fine. There is another vet I refuse to see as she had a go at me for the weight of a bun (overweight) I'd had 6 weeks who had lost 500g between appointments as I'd put her on a diet. She didn't know one end of a rabbit from another and a friend who saw her the same day also had a bad experience with her not knowing what to do.

I enjoy diagnosing my animals and planning treatment and like to think I am pretty good at it. I worry however that a member of the general public who has "a bunny for the kids" will see these vets and be none the wiser and the animal ending up suffering.

I'm not blaming the individual vets but something is seriously wrong with their training whether it's on the vet med course or once they have a job. I wouldn't say the animals I have are particularly rare so I expect my vets to know the basics. Anyone else experince this or have a solution?
 
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I so agree with you - some worry me immensely.

Some of the stories I hear from people who want to adopt (I ask about vets before I decide about passing homechecking) are very worrying. If people use a vet I know to have a poor idea about bunnies I won't rehome unless the new owner is prepared to swop to a more rabbit savvy practice.

I know that everyone has a specialism, or a specific interest but some vets simply have no clue at all and are not even interested in learning.
 
If I'd listened to the vet who said abscesses in rabbits' jaws couldn't be treated then Grimlock would be dead right now. It's sickening.
 
I so agree with you - some worry me immensely.

Some of the stories I hear from people who want to adopt (I ask about vets before I decide about passing homechecking) are very worrying. If people use a vet I know to have a poor idea about bunnies I won't rehome unless the new owner is prepared to swop to a more rabbit savvy practice.

I know that everyone has a specialism, or a specific interest but some vets simply have no clue at all and are not even interested in learning.

It seems so unfair our animals are potentially put in danger by lack of training. As a member of the public with no animal qualifications I shouldn't be telling vets who have the power to make life and death decisions how to treat my animals and then pay for the privilage. It's not about the money, I would happily pay double for someone who knew one end of a rabbit from the other.

There is very little choice around here as the closest exotics vet would take me a good hour and a half to get to after work by which time they are closed. There are some good vets in the group who I can track down and see in an emergency with rearrangement of working hours but how many people would have enough knowledge to know who they should be asking for an appointment with.

They should all have the basics at vet school and I do think it's up to the practice to ensure they are capable of treating all animals on their books unless there is another vet woking at the same time as who can see the animal instead.
 
If I'd listened to one vet Mischa would've been PTSed. It's awful to think about when you see him now. :(

To their credit though that vet practise were very good about doing their research and finding out what to do when Mini dislocated her hip as they'd never come across that before but this one vet who saw Mischa just wouldn't listen to us and how he was at home. She couldn't see past this poor headtilt bunny on her practise table.
 
I am incredibly fortunate in this area to have a number of good rabbit vets to use. Some at our our practice and another in our village.

We are luckier than most who can't even get access to one.

It's shocking that even vets 'can't be bothered' (or that's how it seems to me) when rabbits are so popular and, if they were being business like, could also provide good income for the practice.

I used a vet who was giving a rabbit I had gone to pick up from them (stray) a myxo jab, and when I asked "how do you give the 10%? in the ear or do you just withdraw" - she said "oh I don't bother". Needless to say I had to explain why it was so important that she did bother!!
 
I am incredibly fortunate in this area to have a number of good rabbit vets to use. Some at our our practice and another in our village.

We are luckier than most who can't even get access to one.

It's shocking that even vets 'can't be bothered' (or that's how it seems to me) when rabbits are so popular and, if they were being business like, could also provide good income for the practice.

I used a vet who was giving a rabbit I had gone to pick up from them (stray) a myxo jab, and when I asked "how do you give the 10%? in the ear or do you just withdraw" - she said "oh I don't bother". Needless to say I had to explain why it was so important that she did bother!!

I get that impression too. The vet today who has recently moved from South Africa said "in South Africa people don't really care for their rabbits well so I've not really seen them before moving here". Like that's a justification for not knowing. He should be organising training in the species that he's likely to be treating. I know there are plenty of rabbits registered at the group as I've spoken to the nurses about it whilst in the waiting room.

Another practice I called when I was thinking of swapping laughed at me when I enquired about the price of VHD vaccinations there and the their vets in the town wouldn't prescribe me the minimum dose of baytril when I took my rat (who incidently the vet was scared of and couldn't hold) with a minor respiratory infection. My experiences really haven't been good considering we have a vet school in the county.
 
It seems so unfair our animals are potentially put in danger by lack of training. As a member of the public with no animal qualifications I shouldn't be telling vets who have the power to make life and death decisions how to treat my animals and then pay for the privilage. It's not about the money, I would happily pay double for someone who knew one end of a rabbit from the other.

There is very little choice around here as the closest exotics vet would take me a good hour and a half to get to after work by which time they are closed. There are some good vets in the group who I can track down and see in an emergency with rearrangement of working hours but how many people would have enough knowledge to know who they should be asking for an appointment with.

They should all have the basics at vet school and I do think it's up to the practice to ensure they are capable of treating all animals on their books unless there is another vet woking at the same time as who can see the animal instead.

how far away are you from us??
 
how far away are you from us??

It's a good 1/2 hour in good traffic. I have tried to get from here to near your vets in rush hour before (which are the only times I can realistically make routine appointments) and it took a good hour and a half so would just not be possible with work commitments. Obviously if something serious was wrong and I couldn't get an appointment with one of our good vets then I would call your vet straight away and get a referral and to hell with work.
 
I'm torn with whether to leave my vet or not.

He wasn't great when Molly was poorly and it was only because of advice on here - particularly from Jacks-Jane - that she got through her pyometra. He showed me her X-ray and asked me what I thought was wrong? I didn't have a clue:oops: He used to be quite cheap but that has now changed, sadly.

On the other hand he is a one man practice and does his own out of hours work so I always get to see the same person unless he is on holiday when he arranges a locum from Italy who is brilliant with bunnies (although allergic to them). He is local so poorly buns don't have a long drive. He is happy to come out to me to do vaccinations for no extra cost, which saves the buns - and me - a lot of stress.

He is usually willing to listen to me and to research suggestions I make. He does accept I know my bun best and has given pain relief when I have said a bun needed it, even though he disagreed.

If I change, I will have to go to a large practice where I would sometimes get a bunny savvy vet and sometimes not.

It is so wrong that ALL vets aren't bunny savvy. Bunnies aren't exactly uncommon pets.
 
Spenser's vet is very nice, but not particularly rabbit-orientated. She has a nice way with him though (and he's very diffiuclt to handle), and has given me the details of a rabbit specialist to use if necessary.
 
It is so wrong that ALL vets aren't bunny savvy. Bunnies aren't exactly uncommon pets.

Agreed, they're not BUT how many of those millions of pet rabbits are ever taken to see a vet? Let's face it, most backyard prisoners are dead before their owners even realise there's something wrong. Then they just put it down to bunnies "only living about 4-5 years" :roll:. I wholeheartedly agree that the majority of vets get very little training with regards to rabbits. But, in their defence, so few owners care enough to take a £20 rabbit to the vets when the treatment would most likely cost more than the price of a new one. If the vets don't get to see the rabbits to treat, they can't get the experience needed. It's a vicious circle. What could be improved is the training they receive in vet school.

I'm so glad that my vets specialise in bunnies :D.
 
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