bad experience with a vet?

1047 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by InkedMarie, Jul 21, 2009

AmyBeth

Discussion Starter · Jul 20, 2009

I was reading one thread and it got me to thinking about something that happend with one of my dogs. So I thought I would share and see if anyone else has had a bad experience with a vet.

I adopted Tanner from the local shelter, all they could tell me about his past is he came in as a stray with 5 other dogs, and they believed that Tanner was the alph. The owner of all the dogs came to claim them and learned that Tanner had heart worms and surrendered him. He has several bad scars, chunks missing out of his ears and tongue, and several missing teeth and was very fearful of people. I've worked with him over the last three years and he is now over his fear of feet and strange people. You can't even till its the same dog, he LOVES attention from everyone and is very patient and sweet. Except when it comes to older, heavy set, white men who are balding, I've believe this is what his old owner looked like.

Well anyways I took him to a new vet thats right across the street, my normal vet is 30 mins away, because he had a small tumor in the front of his mouth. Once there I realized the vet fit the description of Tanner's previous owner. The vet walked into the room and Tanner wedged himself in the corner trying to get as far away from the man as possible. I informed the vet that he had been abused and was fearful of people. The vets response was "its alright I'll fix him of that!" then he grabbed a dog treat and walk very forcefully over to Tanner, stood above him and tried to shove the treat in his mouth. Tanner was trying to press himself in to the floor eyes wide, tail tucked, and the intire side of his body and head digging into the tile. I'm surprised, but thankful the vet didn't get bitten for not backing off. Oh and then the icing on the cake, he was going to charge me almost $400 for a teeth cleaning alone!

Needless to say I went to my vet the next day where they know me and Tanner's one of their favorite patients and they're always gentle with him

. Not only that but they charged me $400 for the removale of the tumor and a tooth, the biopsy, and the teeth cleaning. Oh and the biopsy came back negetive!

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deege39

· #2 · Jul 20, 2009

The only bad experience I had was being rushed in and out of a vet without my dog getting a check-up, and that was the whole reason I was there! I had him checked for Heartworms, which he was negative, got him preventative, but my whole reason was going for a check-up... -.-

I would not ever take Tanner back to that guy! That is not the proper way to handle a dog that has been abused and fearful of people... I don't think any dog that's not scared or been abused would have liked that! He must have got his degree from a Cracker Jack box. lol!

Glad his biopsy came back neg. : )

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LilMissSunshine

· #3 · Jul 20, 2009

My first puppy Jazz had distemper.. the vet kept telling me it was kennel cough and pneunomia and made me pay for expensive treatment, this went on for 5 months.
No progress, new treatment. No progress, new treatment.

I went to another vet and it took him 5 minutes to tell me my dog had distemper and that due to the other vets misdiagnosis and charade after that.. it was too late to do anything. my puppy was too weak

I still haven't been back to that other vet.. I wish I could say I didn"t hate him.

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K9companions

· #4 · Jul 20, 2009

When my cat was sick we took her to this one vet that kept her overnight for three days without checking on her, then charged us for the overnight stays. I know now that he is all about the money and kept her as long as possible could while making excuses while he couldn't check her so that he could bill us more. Meanwhile, my cat could have died...

After barely diagnosing her, we rushed her to another vet. He did test right away, confirmed she had an infection and even gave us a free IV bag and needles to take home so that we could keep her hydrated.

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AmyBeth

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 20, 2009

deege39 said:
I would not ever take Tanner back to that guy! That is not the proper way to handle a dog that has been abused and fearful of people... I don't think any dog that's not scared or been abused would have liked that! He must have got his degree from a Cracker Jack box. lol!QUOTE]

I really don't plan on it, I"m happy with my vet I just didn't want to have to drive that far. But they know us well, my family has been going to them for 15yrs. And that other vet is just horrible they have a reader board out front and are always trying to scare people into bring their pets in. At the beginning of the summer it read "3 snakes bites so far this year! Bring your pet in for an anitvenom shot." That stupid thing has said a lot of kinda scary things over the last 1½ yrs. But another thing that made us mad is their name is feather and fur veterinary hospital, and they don't even see birds! I know we tried to take our sun conure Dudley over there.

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MegaMuttMom

· #6 · Jul 20, 2009

AmyBeth said:
I was reading one thread and it got me to thinking about something that happend with one of my dogs. So I thought I would share and see if anyone else has had a bad experience with a vet.

I adopted Tanner from the local shelter, all they could tell me about his past is he came in as a stray with 5 other dogs, and they believed that Tanner was the alph. The owner of all the dogs came to claim them and learned that Tanner had heart worms and surrendered him. He has several bad scars, chunks missing out of his ears and tongue, and several missing teeth and was very fearful of people. I've worked with him over the last three years and he is now over his fear of feet and strange people. You can't even till its the same dog, he LOVES attention from everyone and is very patient and sweet. Except when it comes to older, heavy set, white men who are balding, I've believe this is what his old owner looked like.

Well anyways I took him to a new vet thats right across the street, my normal vet is 30 mins away, because he had a small tumor in the front of his mouth. Once there I realized the vet fit the description of Tanner's previous owner. The vet walked into the room and Tanner wedged himself in the corner trying to get as far away from the man as possible. I informed the vet that he had been abused and was fearful of people. The vets response was "its alright I'll fix him of that!" then he grabbed a dog treat and walk very forcefully over to Tanner, stood above him and tried to shove the treat in his mouth. Tanner was trying to press himself in to the floor eyes wide, tail tucked, and the intire side of his body and head digging into the tile. I'm surprised, but thankful the vet didn't get bitten for not backing off. Oh and then the icing on the cake, he was going to charge me almost $400 for a teeth cleaning alone!

Needless to say I went to my vet the next day where they know me and Tanner's one of their favorite patients and they're always gentle with him . Not only that but they charged me $400 for the removale of the tumor and a tooth, the biopsy, and the teeth cleaning. Oh and the biopsy came back negetive!

I had a similar event happen at a vet I went to for a second opinion. Without asking me anything about my dog and without even saying hello to my dog, he bent over him in order to try to lift him onto the exam table. My dog gave one warning bark and the tech immediately swooped in and muzzled my dog. They must always be preparing for the worst since the muzzle must have been in her hands all along. They then proceeded to lift my 52 pound dog onto the table and do their exam.

At may regular vet, he has never had any problems. The vet examines him while he is on the floor and I feed my dog treats while they do whatever they need to do. He has never made a fuss about anything.

Anyway, I went back to the second opinion vet for a follow-up and the tech met us in the lobby with a muzzle in her hands. As she walked towards Cherokee, Cherokee backed up to the door with his tail tucked and a totally freaked out, whites of his eyes showing, look on his face. I asked the tech to stop and to tell me why she needed the muzzle. Apparently, in his chart, my dog is identified for them as a bite risk. My dog has never snapped at anyone, including the vet on the first visit. I told her not to touch my dog and that we were leaving. I was absolutely shaking in anger. They took a dog who had no fear of vets, and because they didn't have 2 seconds to make friends with him before handling him, they now label him as having a problem, and he is terrified of them. I call that being a bad vet

Needless to say, I will not take him back to that vet. I am just thankful that his experience there did not make him afraid to go back to the old vet. He wiggled and wagged the next time we went to them because they greet him with love and care before they man-handle him.

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Tankstar

· #7 · Jul 20, 2009

used to go to a very money grubbing type of vet. Before I met my new vet. It was always money witht he old vet, she didnt seem to care about anything. He major issue with me was blaze is not neutered, and I really dont plan to do it, unless it is needed, plain and simple. She didnt understand why. every time I went in. she would bitch me out saying my dog would be agressive, have health issues, pee on things and just be plain unruly. Sorry but my dog is gentle, calm, well mannered ect. Its called training. She even tried to force a full dental cleaning on Blaze. which I would understand IF he had some bad teeth. he is 6 years old, his teeth are cleaner then 98% of dogs I see that are younger then him. perfect pink gums, sparkly white teeth, no tarter build up ect. She would always tell me it will cost 750 bucks to have done becuase his teeth were to bad.

I think her big thing was, She thought I was alot younger then I am. I look 15 or 16, but Im almost 24, Seems like she tried to intimadate me alot. telling me costcos food was pure garbage and I should feed science diet. when I told her why I wouldnt feed it, she told me I was wrong about corn, by products ect.

My new vet sees no need to push a neuter on me. She said at 6 he is set in his way and it wont change a thing, not that we need to, since he is a sweet docile dog. She said he had some of the most amazing teeth on a dog his age she has ever seen. my old vet was a cooky person, thank god I found my new vet. and I work under neath them, so it works out great.

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Equinox

· #8 · Jul 20, 2009

I've also had my share of experiences with bad vets.

Trent's old vet was absolutely horrible. Every visit cost us over $100, even if it was just for a single shot or a quick check up. As if that wasn't enough, she told me on more than one occasion that he was becoming aggressive and could be a dangerous dog and German shepherds were hard to control and aggressive. Then, she proceeded to alpha roll him. The only thing Trent did was bark in protest when she tried to put him on his side to examine his legs, and she immediately pinned him to the ground. It was terrible, and she kept on making almost snide remarks about getting control over him. She was the only person who Trent has met that he had ever shown a dislike for, and she rubbed me wrong the moment I met her.

We have a different vet now, and we haven't had a need to visit them yet, but everyone has recommended me to them and assured me they are very kind and knowledgeable, and the prices sound great as well.

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InkedMarie

· #9 · Jul 21, 2009

I haven't had a bad experience with a vet, not really, unless you count switching vets because the first vet was charging me ALOT more for the same products/tests as a new vet.

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