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Moving house vet dilemma...what would you do?

Santa

Wise Old Thumper
Well here's the thing, we are hopefully moving house at the end of this week. I currently use a local companion care vets practice which is hugely convenient as it is open 7 days a week, I have been with them for a long time and have a good relationship with the owner. The vet I have been seeing for the past few years has recently left to set up her own practice, and originally this was going to be opening in November, which would have been perfect as it is about 20 minutes from where we are moving to. But the building works have been put back and now it won't be open until some time between march and may next year. When it is open I will swap to that practice in any case.

So the question is, do I change practice now to one nearer to where we will be living, or do I just stick with it for now.

Pros of changing include:
- more convenient to get an appointment after work, it would be really pushing it to be able to get home and back to my current practice after work, especially if I got home and found I needed to rush an animal in
- easier and quicker to get to in an emergency
- I could go to a practice which does acupuncture for my cats (I currently have a referral elsewhere but that vet is off long term sick with a nerve injury) which would be easy as the notes etc would all be in one place

Cons of changing include
- having to start building relationships and trust all over again - is it worth it just until next mar-may
- probably won't be open on weekends (maybe sat am only) meaning more likely to need out of hours care with an unknown vet and harder to get routine appointments
- unknown quantity in terms of their bunny-savvyness

Pros of staying with current vet are
- already know them and have good relationship with owner and nurses
- no faff of transferring records/insurance issues
- open 7 days a week for routine appointments
- near where I work so if an animal is very sick in the morning I could just take them to work with me and drop them off at the practice to be admitted

Cons of staying with current vet are
- probably a 45 minute journey on a reasonable run, could end up getting stuck on the A12 for ages
- wouldn't be able to get there after work in an emergency
-no-one available to do acupuncture on the cats at the moment

I need your collective wisdom, RU, should I stick with my current vet until the new practice opens next year, or should I move to one closer (but with shorter opening hours) in the meantime? At the moment I have 2 cats and 2 bunnies and I just can't for the life of me work out what is the best thing to do!
 
I would ask to make a pre registration appointment with a 'Rabbit Savvy Vet' at the new Surgery. Then 'interview' them and see if you feel they are as described- ie Rabbit savvy !!

That's what I did with C many years ago :oops:
 
Now you know that I swap vets at the drop of a hat, but I'd stick with them at the moment.

Although I don't know what to suggest about the acupuncture...
 
:lol: the practice I am thinking of is used by another RU member and she says that a couple of them are 'ok' with bunnies. I can work with 'ok' if it's for a limited period of time and if they will listen to me...but even if they are the same bunny savvyness as my current practice (which is probably also 'ok' to 'good' depending on the vet now my usual vet has moved on), would I be better moving nearer for the interim period, or sticking with what I know and the weekend opening hours.

It's all such a dilemma!
 
Well, I think what I would do is look up the closer vet on the internet and see if there is a rabbit specialist there.

You could post on here and ask if anyone uses such and such a vet in such and such place, as a personal recommendation is always good.
 
Thanks - it's less about getting a specific recommendation in the place as I know what practice I would use in the interim and know exactly where I will be going once Sam opens her new practice, it's more about the balance between longer journey with longer opening hours, v local practice with shorter opening hours. I just don't know what to do for the best! :lol:
 
Thanks - it's less about getting a recommendation in the place as I know exactly where I will be going once Sam opens her new practice, it's more about the balance between longer journey with longer opening hours, v local practice with shorter opening hours. I just don't know what to do for the best!

I've travelled a fair bit to my vet practices, and I've honestly never had it be a huge issue, ie in an emergency. Personally, I'd go with longer opening hours every time.
 
Thanks - it's less about getting a specific recommendation in the place as I know what practice I would use in the interim and know exactly where I will be going once Sam opens her new practice, it's more about the balance between longer journey with longer opening hours, v local practice with shorter opening hours. I just don't know what to do for the best! :lol:

Okay then - I'd go for local practice with shorter opening hours.




I think! :oops:
 
It's a toughie but I think I'd stick with the current place (better the devil you know and all that). Like Sarah, I'd go with the longer opening hours too - nearly every time I've needed the vet in the last 6 mths or so it's been a Saturday or Sunday :roll:
 

I know!! :lol: I am swaying backwards and forwards all the time. I guess I could always stick with where I am and in the event of an emergency that won't give me time to get there before it closes (or if its too far with a very sick animal) I could just turn up at a local practice with a sob story about how I've just moved into the area and haven't transferred the animals yet but here I am and can you see me please! Twice over the past few weeks I have just turned up first thing in the morning with emergencies and have been dealt with very well, so I'm reluctant to change when I know that they will be good if that happens. But I was speaking to the owner this morning and she totally understood my dilemma. If I knew exactly when the new practice was opening that would also be easier. One person has told me that the building works aren't starting until march, the other told me that it was planned for opening in march. If it's the former I would be more inclined to swap practice, but if it's the latter I'd be more inclined to stick. Gaaaahhh!!!
 
It's bloomin' ages to wait, isn't it? :roll: (For info, I'm planning to swap to this new practice too! :D)

The only reason I would change would be if I thought that the new practice might be better.
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works - I use two different vets!

I take my rabbits to an exotics specialist about 40 mins away.

As they travel so badly I take my cats to a local vet. Having said that, out of hours I have to take them to the local vet main practice about 30 mins away.
 
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