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Rabbit vets

*Funny*Bunny*

Warren Veteran
I just called to make an appointment with my vet to find out that she's left the practice!!! :( really sad because she was excellent with rabbits, wasn't officially a specialist but had an unofficial special interest and went to all the rabbit medicine conferences and treated all the rabbits at the practice

The other vets I've seen are ok with rabbits... But they don't know enough and usually go off to consult her before doing things!

There's one other vet who seems very good with rabbits but she only works nights, which will be good in overnight emergencies but now I'm worried about the day time! I really like my vets and it's very close by so I don't want to change... But what if they now have no vets who are good with rabbits grr!!!

I also don't know how to ask the vet if any of them are actually properly trained in rabbits without insulting them! Most of them are young so I think I'll manage to phrase it right... But there's one old senior vet who's very set in his way who I think would be horribly insulted if I insinuated he didn't know enough about rabbits!
 
Aw man, that's frustrating! Hope you can phrase it appropriately and they take it the right way!

Thanks, I hope so too!

I really don't want to have to change vets... :( they're 24 hours, a <5 min drive, brilliant facilities, loads of great rabbit care information all over the practice (probably as a result of the vet who was good with rabbits), not extortionately priced either, easy to get an appointment with, night vet is good with rabbits, they're nice... if I can just work out if any of the vets there are good with rabbits then it'll be perfect again!

We're booked in at 330pm, I might have to put a thread up in health with my query to see if there's any good advice around here!
 
I would just politely ask if there is now one particular Vet who has a special interest in treating Rabbits. You are paying for a service after all, so it is not unreasonable to make sure that service suits your needs. I think any Vet who takes offence at such a question, if put politely, is a Vet I'd want to avoid. Arrogance can be a real obstacle to further learning and not one Vet, however well qualified, can claim they know it all. Rabbit medicine is a constantly evolving science and I'd much rather be with a Vet who may not have all the answers, but will always do his/her best to find a colleague who can help/give advice rather than a Vet who blunders on and refuses to ever utter the words 'I don't know'.
 
I would just politely ask if there is now one particular Vet who has a special interest in treating Rabbits. You are paying for a service after all, so it is not unreasonable to make sure that service suits your needs. I think any Vet who takes offence at such a question, if put politely, is a Vet I'd want to avoid. Arrogance can be a real obstacle to further learning and not one Vet, however well qualified, can claim they know it all. Rabbit medicine is a constantly evolving science and I'd much rather be with a Vet who may not have all the answers, but will always do his/her best to find a colleague who can help/give advice rather than a Vet who blunders on and refuses to ever utter the words 'I don't know'.

I asked the receptionist on the phone and she didn't know, so I'll ask the vet when I see him/her :) most of the vets I've seen have been great, as in even though they don't know loads about rabbits they are the kind of people who will go get a book out and check on things or go consult a colleague, knowing your limitations is a good quality imo (it's just that one older vet who I'm a bit hmmmm about, but if I work out his name I can avoid him!). There has been a couple of small issues where their books have been not so accurate though for example when I wanted Lilly to go on panacur after Harvey died of unknown causes and they gave me 14 days rather than 28 days (thanks Jane for letting me know, meant I could just pop out and get more!). I think in emergencies and stasis they're all quite good as they always treated Harvey brilliantly, it's just the day to day things... and checking rabbit teeth is a skill which most vets struggle with until they've had lots and lots of experience!
 
Thanks, I hope so too!

I really don't want to have to change vets... :( they're 24 hours, a <5 min drive, brilliant facilities, loads of great rabbit care information all over the practice (probably as a result of the vet who was good with rabbits), not extortionately priced either, easy to get an appointment with, night vet is good with rabbits, they're nice... if I can just work out if any of the vets there are good with rabbits then it'll be perfect again!

We're booked in at 330pm, I might have to put a thread up in health with my query to see if there's any good advice around here!

One thing to remember of course is that you know so much yourself! Even if a vet doesn't know all you need them to (my trusted vet has admitted more than once that she had no idea what to do about a problem!), at least it means you can work towards a solution together. Also, so long as they are willing to consult an expert, you should have enough support ...
 
One thing to remember of course is that you know so much yourself! Even if a vet doesn't know all you need them to (my trusted vet has admitted more than once that she had no idea what to do about a problem!), at least it means you can work towards a solution together. Also, so long as they are willing to consult an expert, you should have enough support ...

Good point! I do know quite a bit on rabbit health because of RU! Also I have a good amount of medical knowledge regardless so I try to extrapolate from humans to rabbits sometimes which makes the vet realise I know some stuff :lol:

The vet who has left was going to send Harvey to a specialist for his surgery if he needed it when he had a tooth root abscess even though she said she could do it she thought it best someone who did it on a week to week basis would be best, luckily medical care worked fine for him though :)
 
Good point! I do know quite a bit on rabbit health because of RU! Also I have a good amount of medical knowledge regardless so I try to extrapolate from humans to rabbits sometimes which makes the vet realise I know some stuff :lol:

The vet who has left was going to send Harvey to a specialist for his surgery if he needed it when he had a tooth root abscess even though she said she could do it she thought it best someone who did it on a week to week basis would be best, luckily medical care worked fine for him though :)

Exactly what my vet did/said when molar extraction was considered for one of my rabbits. She said that she didn't want to risk breaking my rabbit's jaw. Always a good sign when someone acknowledges their limitations.
 
Needn't have worried, the vet who saw us was the one who seems very good with rabbits who I thought only did nights (she definitely used to only do nights), she must now work during the day instead or as well, but as long as there's at least one vet there who I know is competent with rabbits I know the rest all seem to follow suit and know about the big important things at least :D

Phew!

(Oh and little-mr-inhales-his-food has perfect looking teeth, a mobile jaw and no problems anywhere... so the only reason he nearly choked yesterday was that he was eating too fast! He'll be observed eating from now on to make sure it doesn't happen again! Little monkey loves his food too much!)
 
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