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Lost confidence in Vet Practice after Referral.

toria

Warren Scout
Not sure this is the right forum so sorry if it is wrong.

At the end of July, I got up in the morning to find Toby was not eating. I phoned my vet practice (Vets A) and they had no appointments at the branch I go too but had one an hour later at another branch slightly further away. Having not lived in the city I do long, this brings me extra panic - even with a SatNav and I rang up again asking if I could be seen at my usual branch but no luck. So, I took Toby and he was examined by a vet I had never met before, given some injections and we were sent on our way. I was not totally happy. You can read the rest of what the day brought here:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?427547-Something-Wrong
However, we were referred to another vet practice (Vets B) - with Exotic specialist Vets which if I wanted to do my very best for Toby I'd go too. I did and he is now home and happy.

What got me thinking was that my own Vet practice (Vets A) felt it would be best that I was referred which I am very very grateful for but I feel like I have lost confidence in them, if that makes sense. It did not help in the slightest that they didn't allow me to take Toby to my own branch and be seen asap and the care I did get on that first visit, I was not confident with.

We have lived in 3 cities and a town now, been registered at 4 Vet Practices which I do my research on and visit alone, before hand to feel confident they are the right people and have the correct facilities if needed.

But, my other rabbit Willow has had wax in her one ear for a couple of months now (started before Toby was ill) and I took her to my Vets practice (Vets A), she was seen by a Vet and I was given ear drops which I have administered and I have taken her back between a week and 3 week intervals for a nurses' appointment for check ups with no real improvement. In between I would apply drops and remove the wax that had worked it's way out. I was starting to think this is stupid and I took Willow again last Friday but did not see the regular nurse and was told by the nurse we saw that Willow needed to see a Vet again - which I agreed with and had wanted to do. Throughout all this time, I heard 'I've never seen wax in Rabbits' ears'...

So I came home and phoned the other Vets (Vets B) where Toby had been treated for his Gut Stasis, we were seen later that day by an Exotic Vet who had seen Rabbit Wax and treated it many times. Willow was given an injection, which needs to be repeated in 2 weeks. I came out of there feeling like something was being done. Relieved even.

Thing is I feel like I have betrayed my original Vets... who have done a great job for the past 10 months since I moved here.
I was confident with my Vets (Vets A) they are Accredited and are a small animal hospital manned by Vets and nurses 24 hours. Vets B are Accredited and a small Animal General Practice. With Toby I have learnt that they do hospitalise too, but what I don't like is that there is only 1 Vet there unless an emergency an on call Nurse comes in.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel I have lost confidence in my own Vet practice (Vets A) just recently when they haven't done anything wrong. All I have done is get the best care for my rabbits and wanted someone who had experience with these problems to deal with them.
However, what do I do now? I don't know which Vet practice I should continue using and if I should really be using both...

Really, I think I know I should use Vets B, as they specialise in Rabbits. Perhaps, I just needed to write this all down but I just wondered if anyone else has had similar experiences with their Vet practices?

Thanks for reading.
 
I use two different vets: I take my cats to one that a has a branch in my village, but I travel further to an exotics specialist for my rabbits. I think it is worth sticking with the same vet for all treatment, so they have a full record, and I would definitely choose an exotics specialist.
 
I use two different vets: I take my cats to one that a has a branch in my village, but I travel further to an exotics specialist for my rabbits. I think it is worth sticking with the same vet for all treatment, so they have a full record, and I would definitely choose an exotics specialist.

I'm the same, I use different branches of the same vets for different pets, one for my dogs/cats, another for the rabbits, where there are only 2 vets both rabbit savvy so it's good for continuity.
Then I use a farm vets for my goats. A good vet is worth their weight in gold, and one that doesn't know enough about the animal being treated can be a disaster, I nearly lost one of my goats last year when a different farm vets didn't know much about them, despite me questioning the receptionist first.

I would go on gut feelings and recommendations from others who have rabbits, I changed branches fairly recently and the difference is amazing :thumb: you could post on here asking for rabbit savvy vets too.
 
Though I think you should stick with the exotics vet. At the end of the day, they are specialist because they know more! You might as well get the most for your money!
You can ask vets A to send a history to vets b, or ask vets b to ask for you. Then they have an idea of what treatment the buns have had before.
 
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