By Holistic and Organix Pet Shoppe
What to Expect and How to Select the Right Vet
First let’s start off with finding a good vet. A good vet with a sick pet will do a thorough job of testing, x-rays, sonograms etc to find the cause or reason for the illness. A good vet will be willing to listen to everything you tell them. The more information you give them, the more it will help them determine what may have caused the illness and what you are expecting for an outcome.
What to Expect and How to Select the Right Vet
First let’s start off with finding a good vet. A good vet with a sick pet will do a thorough job of testing, x-rays, sonograms etc to find the cause or reason for the illness. A good vet will be willing to listen to everything you tell them. The more information you give them, the more it will help them determine what may have caused the illness and what you are expecting for an outcome.
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Many vets have a crappy attitude and will blow you off. They will say this or that can’t be done and yet they try nothing to help that pet. I am so disgusted with all the stories I hear about how a vet basically KILLED their dog or cat. The malpractice going on today is overwhelming. So we, us pet parents, HAVE TO LEARN all we can to care for our pets.
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Many times small things can be dealt with at home without seeing a vet. Always keep medical supplies available. Even antibiotics and what the right dosage would be for your pet. Always watch for side effects if it’s a new medication. Keep bandages as well in case of injuries. Also have a stash of cash for emergencies. At least $1,000 but in many cases it can run up much higher especially depending on the illness, the area you live in and what vet you use. Find one you can afford. Prepare and expect that one day, you will need all of this. It’s inevitable.
Franchises and chains that provide animal health care are truly the ones to avoid. New vets with a high overhead will charge you out the wahzoo and tell you your pet needs this and that.
DO NOT allow vets to push many drugs onto your pet that may be unnecessary. Many times they aren’t. Learn about drugs. Steroids, NSAIDS, etc and what kind of damage they CAN do. And even vaccines. Very dangerous as well.
DO NOT allow vets to push many drugs onto your pet that may be unnecessary. Many times they aren’t. Learn about drugs. Steroids, NSAIDS, etc and what kind of damage they CAN do. And even vaccines. Very dangerous as well.
I avoid steroids at all costs UNLESS it means a life saving event is occurring.
NSAIDS are ‘as needed’ and used very little.
I am not against using medications but I certainly am against them when they are not necessary (flea and tick meds, heartworm meds etc). Also learn about vaccines and the damage they can do. Bigger than you think.
If you walk into a clinic and everything feels wrong, leave. Your gut is screaming at you this isn’t the place you need to be.
Also find a vet you can trust mostly BEFORE a life saving emergency occurs. Vets need to get to know your pet, what they eat, where they can roam to, how often they are out in public or in parks etc. Let that vet know what you expect from them for your pet. Less drugs, more natural remedies etc.
Vets are VERY much needed for checkups and emergencies, otherwise its best to avoid them.
Just know, a pet can be mopey or something off; don’t ignore the subtle hints. Sometimes they are hard to see. But always check the poop, how well they are eating or not eating, drinking or not drinking, if their mood or behavior changes. This could be a sign of something happening. If you ignore it, within 24 hours your pet could take a huge turn for the worse. Be ready for some sleepless exhausting nights if your pet is sick. DO NOT make any haste decisions. Vets love to recommend euthanasia; why is beyond me. They are losing a patient. But this past year I have seen this happen with several of my friends dogs and it makes me absolutely furious and why I am writing this article.
What do you expect from a vet if your dog is having an allergic reaction? Could be a bee, spider etc? If you didn’t see what happened, don’t assume it was a sting or bite until you have ruled out everything else. NOR SHOULD YOUR VET. Your vet SHOULD ALWAYS do a full workup of the blood (CBC) to rule out illnesses and look for answers. If your dog is limping, don’t assume its arthritis. Have blood work done and an xray. If a tick bite happened, then it will show in the blood work which also can cause limping. Distemper and Rabies vaccine together can cause lameness as well. Let the blood work do the talking. I have seen where vets NEVER check for anything. They assume/guess at it and give you meds and send you home. THAT JUST MIGHT BE THE DEATH of your pet within the next 24-48 hours. YES THAT FAST! This vet said she couldn’t stick a needle in it because the lump was hard. SAY WHAT? She gave 3 rounds of the same antibiotic and NEVER did blood work or x-rays. The dog was put down because the pet parent assumed that’s all that could be done and didn’t want her dog to suffer anymore. WHO made this dog suffer? THE VET DID, that’s who! This vet didn’t do a da** thing.
ALWAYS do blood work if your pet is sick. ANY VET that does NOT want to do blood work, is a corrupt vet. Any vet that assumes your dog has arthritis because it is limping and doesn’t do x-rays; just put you off and is a corrupt (could care less) vet.
ALWAYS do blood work if your pet is sick. ANY VET that does NOT want to do blood work, is a corrupt vet. Any vet that assumes your dog has arthritis because it is limping and doesn’t do x-rays; just put you off and is a corrupt (could care less) vet.
Let me tell you my story that has happened recently.
My 14 yr old pit mix was showing me subtle signs something was wrong, YEP I missed it. I knew things were not right but I kept watching for more to happen. Well did it. Within a few hours we had a humongous swollen neck. Baseball size. I happened to have on hand some antibiotics. I called the emergency number of my vet clinic on Sunday and spoke to the on call vet. I didn’t know him but asked him his name and I had heard his name before but that was all. He said she would ok to wait till the next day since I had the meds. That night I went to googling. Vets will tell you, that’s the worst thing you can do is search the internet. WRONG AGAIN. DO IT! If something is wrong, research the symptoms. Many times you will find some sort of an answer or close to. It helps you to know what to expect from your vet when you DO take your pet in. And I will say a lot of times when researching, it sounds really bad.
My 14 yr old pit mix was showing me subtle signs something was wrong, YEP I missed it. I knew things were not right but I kept watching for more to happen. Well did it. Within a few hours we had a humongous swollen neck. Baseball size. I happened to have on hand some antibiotics. I called the emergency number of my vet clinic on Sunday and spoke to the on call vet. I didn’t know him but asked him his name and I had heard his name before but that was all. He said she would ok to wait till the next day since I had the meds. That night I went to googling. Vets will tell you, that’s the worst thing you can do is search the internet. WRONG AGAIN. DO IT! If something is wrong, research the symptoms. Many times you will find some sort of an answer or close to. It helps you to know what to expect from your vet when you DO take your pet in. And I will say a lot of times when researching, it sounds really bad.
For example..back to my story. Her lymph node was swollen it seemed. Well what popped up…Lymphoma. If it’s Lymphoma your dog has about 4-6 weeks to live at best. OH BOY talking about scary. BUT keep looking, other answers are there too. Infections etc. It doesn’t always have to be cancer.
She lost 5 lbs over this as well in a short time. That was fast weight loss.
So yep, here I sat without cash in pocket for the vet. It was Tuesday when I was able to dig up cash and I took her into my long time vet of 10 yrs. In the past he has missed a few things, nothing major but overall I liked him and he knew my dog well.
He stuck a needle in the lump to be sent off for testing but he had the grim look of…a dog that age, it’s most likely cancer. I told him I wanted to do her yearly checkup which meant a full blood workup and to xray her neck and her knee since she tore her ACL a few months before. I watched it when it happened and knew right away what it was. So I requested an x-ray. You see most of the time a vet is waiting on you to REQUEST tests. I told him the antibiotics I was giving (Clindamycin) and asked for maybe something stronger that she can tolerate as Clindamycin was making her act funny too. So we went with Clavamox. She’s done well on that before. She has a sensitive system now that she is older.
She lost 5 lbs over this as well in a short time. That was fast weight loss.
So yep, here I sat without cash in pocket for the vet. It was Tuesday when I was able to dig up cash and I took her into my long time vet of 10 yrs. In the past he has missed a few things, nothing major but overall I liked him and he knew my dog well.
He stuck a needle in the lump to be sent off for testing but he had the grim look of…a dog that age, it’s most likely cancer. I told him I wanted to do her yearly checkup which meant a full blood workup and to xray her neck and her knee since she tore her ACL a few months before. I watched it when it happened and knew right away what it was. So I requested an x-ray. You see most of the time a vet is waiting on you to REQUEST tests. I told him the antibiotics I was giving (Clindamycin) and asked for maybe something stronger that she can tolerate as Clindamycin was making her act funny too. So we went with Clavamox. She’s done well on that before. She has a sensitive system now that she is older.
The day her neck was huge, she wouldn’t eat, was mopey, seemed weak and I could only get her to eat some NEW freeze dried meat treats I bought. NEW treats made her want it. In hindsight, about 4-6 weeks before this, some days she didn’t want to eat. I thought it was the heat. I also felt her lymph node and was unsure if it was slightly bigger than it should be. I did check it often. It was within hours this thing went from small to humongous. THAT fast and all eating stopped. At the time she didn’t have a fever.
When I asked my vet to do the bloodwork and x-rays, he said..you sure you don’t want to wait..to see what the test for the lump says? I said NO; I want bloodwork done today as if nothing has happened. RIGHT THERE he screwed up. First thing he should have WANTED to do was bloodwork. X-rays or sonogram would have been another. Since I requested the x-ray for her knee, he felt compelled to go ahead and xray her neck, I did ask him if an xray would show anything and he said probably not..but after he brought her back to me after getting blood and xray, he told me then he x-rayed her neck. So after that he sent us home with the antibiotics and a wait thing. THAT NIGHT was horrible. I swear I truly thought she was dying. Those meds were killing her, not helping. She was shaking and panting and wouldn’t eat and drinking water and peeing like a fish. I just knew this was it. I had no sleep and was out of my mind. I took her back to the vet and upon checking in, I told them I brought her back cause she’s worse and with my vet (Dr B) or Dr G (the on call vet) I had spoke to on Sunday. Well my vet was in surgery so we got to see the new vet, Dr G. I told him I was worried about her not eating cause she hadn’t ate in 4 days. He said well dogs can go a long time without eating. I said yes I know but, I feel it is making her weak and she isn’t able to fight whatever this is. And I did not want to be cramming pills down her throat and her stomach upset or causing her pain. I felt I needed something more to act faster with this infection of some sort. It could be a tumor with infection wrapped around it. So he listened to me and took aggressive action. She also had a little bit of temperature. He wanted to do an xray of her gut and a sonogram.
He took me back to show me the x-rays and said, her intestines were infected and her spleen and liver were slightly enlarged (caused from the infection) as well as her heart..but she has heart issues and her heart has been slightly enlarged but she’s done well without meds for her heart. The sonogram was clean. No signs of tumors anywhere. I asked what could have caused this? He said possibly a bug bite or something. It really could be from anything. I said well we don’t go anywhere. She doesn’t leave the house and I have a small backyard in which she’s in my sight most of the time. We do go out in the front every night to check the mail and I am with her at all times. Oh I also asked him when I was explaining I didn’t like cramming pills down her throat when she wasn’t feeling good already and could we maybe get a shot to bypass the stomach. He said yep sure can. So he gave her a shot of antibiotics. It’s called Convenia (not to be given to dogs with kidney or liver issues). She was fine with that. He said it worked best for about 10 days although they say 14 days. He has seen it work for 10 days only. He also gave her a shot of Cerenia. It’s to stop vomiting and nausea. It was good for 24 hours. He sent us home with a box of tablets of that to give for a few days of it.
He also recommended a shot, don’t know what he called it, but it's B12 with minerals to help give her a boost of energy. It wallow's around under the skin like jello and the body absorbs it. That was a wild feeling. Also he gave another drug that was an oral liquid called ENTYCE (an appetite stimulator). Boy I liked that stuff. It made her want to eat. In-between all of this I was mixing up Slippery elm, Calcium carbonate, probiotics and digestive enzymes and a few other things. I mixed it in purified water and syringed it into her mouth. I did this twice a day for about 3-4 days to help line her intestines and stomach. I asked how long will the lump stay like that and for the antibiotics to kick in? He said a couple weeks probably. If it is a tumor, that won't go away.
He also recommended a shot, don’t know what he called it, but it's B12 with minerals to help give her a boost of energy. It wallow's around under the skin like jello and the body absorbs it. That was a wild feeling. Also he gave another drug that was an oral liquid called ENTYCE (an appetite stimulator). Boy I liked that stuff. It made her want to eat. In-between all of this I was mixing up Slippery elm, Calcium carbonate, probiotics and digestive enzymes and a few other things. I mixed it in purified water and syringed it into her mouth. I did this twice a day for about 3-4 days to help line her intestines and stomach. I asked how long will the lump stay like that and for the antibiotics to kick in? He said a couple weeks probably. If it is a tumor, that won't go away.
Within about 48 hours, my girl’s eyes lit up again. She was feeling better. After 10 days, I started her on antibiotics for another week. I stopped them on a Monday and I took her back for a follow up vet visit on Thursday and it was the size of a pecan. Dr G didn’t really do much that day. He sent us home on a watch and see thing. I KNEW in my gut, this wasn’t over. That lump shouldn’t be there. Two days later, lump came back with a vengeance. It was almost back to original size. UGH. So back to see Dr G. We had a long talk about her diet, supplements and how maybe we just didn’t go long enough with the antibiotics. I told him of a story with me years go over a UTI and how I went through 3 drs that put me through the ringer all over a simple bladder infection that was not treated long enough with antibiotics. The old school dr I decided to go see said, they just didn’t give you antibiotics long enough. And that was that, I was cured. Those other drs put me through some VERY painful tests all for nothing.
Anyway we decided on another Convenia shot and 20 days of Cephalexin for my dog to try to knock this infection out. IF the lump returns, then to TRY to possibly do a lidocaine type biopsy although it’s close to her vocal cords so may not be possible. Or try a weeks worth of steroids but we are trying not to use those unless absolutely needed.
Well after the shot, within those 10 days the big lump has went completely away. That means no tumor was in it. It was all infection. We shall see how this ends in a few weeks once meds are stopped.
The reason for this story is, my vet of 10 yrs that knew my dog very well looked me in the eyes and gave me a grim look that my dog most likely had cancer and was going to die. He also did not do a thorough examination of her that first day. He failed us. He almost let my dog die. Dr G saved her with his aggressive approach that first time with him. I even told Dr G, you saved my dogs life.
Well after the shot, within those 10 days the big lump has went completely away. That means no tumor was in it. It was all infection. We shall see how this ends in a few weeks once meds are stopped.
The reason for this story is, my vet of 10 yrs that knew my dog very well looked me in the eyes and gave me a grim look that my dog most likely had cancer and was going to die. He also did not do a thorough examination of her that first day. He failed us. He almost let my dog die. Dr G saved her with his aggressive approach that first time with him. I even told Dr G, you saved my dogs life.
He listened; he came up with options when I asked him questions and took what I said serious and worked with me. He FOUND what was going on inside of her body. To date we have no idea what has caused this but it got serious real fast. I have since been home still searching the web and I haven’t found the answer to why this happened. Dr G said sometimes you never know what causes these things.
I understand that but for me, I like answers. I want to know what caused it so I can watch out next time. If I had of trusted my vet of 10 yrs and just came home with no answers and me just doing what was expected of me..cram pills down her throat and hope for the best, my dog would be dead. So see, as a pet parent and a vet, you must be able to communicate, and work out a plan. My vet was negative. Not the first time I have seen this in him. Dr G was not. He stayed completely neutral.
I understand that but for me, I like answers. I want to know what caused it so I can watch out next time. If I had of trusted my vet of 10 yrs and just came home with no answers and me just doing what was expected of me..cram pills down her throat and hope for the best, my dog would be dead. So see, as a pet parent and a vet, you must be able to communicate, and work out a plan. My vet was negative. Not the first time I have seen this in him. Dr G was not. He stayed completely neutral.
Oh on our last visit, Dr G said this wasn’t acting like it was cancer. I even told him I didn’t think it was. My gut said it wasn’t. Apparently now..that the lump is gone, its not.
Point here is, find a vet that will be aggressive in finding the answer, listening to your requests and answering your questions. One that stays neutral and never mentions euthanasia unless you ask.
It is up to you to learn the warning signs of oncoming illness or injuries and at least have basic knowledge on what you can do and how to NOT back down from a vet nor let the vet call the shots without your decision. Learning is power. Power over saving a life and power over a corrupt vet. Always ask questions and speak your mind. It’s your pet, your money, and your decision on how you want this to play out. IF you cross paths with an uncaring - could care less - vet, walk away right then. Find a vet you like and can mostly trust BEFORE an emergency happens. Take your pet in for yearly full blood workups and x-rays if needed. Keep an eye on the organs.
Point here is, find a vet that will be aggressive in finding the answer, listening to your requests and answering your questions. One that stays neutral and never mentions euthanasia unless you ask.
It is up to you to learn the warning signs of oncoming illness or injuries and at least have basic knowledge on what you can do and how to NOT back down from a vet nor let the vet call the shots without your decision. Learning is power. Power over saving a life and power over a corrupt vet. Always ask questions and speak your mind. It’s your pet, your money, and your decision on how you want this to play out. IF you cross paths with an uncaring - could care less - vet, walk away right then. Find a vet you like and can mostly trust BEFORE an emergency happens. Take your pet in for yearly full blood workups and x-rays if needed. Keep an eye on the organs.
Oh BTW, that lump on my dog that got aspirated, it was inconclusive. The reason is, there was so much infection surrounding it, and even if there was a tumor, chances are iffy if you even hit it until the swelling goes down. And never assume it is cancer as my vet thought. I missed the warning signs 4-6 weeks before this but looking back, it was clear this was coming on for awhile. It will take awhile to heal completely as well.
As a pet parent, YOU can be aggressive in taking action with or without the vet. LEARN LEARN LEARN. And sometimes if you have no clue whats going on, while sitting in the vets waiting room or in a room wanting..start googling for answers. If you find something that sounds like it might be, ask your vet if thats possible.
DO NOT give up just because your vet has. Your pet will die every time if you let the vet call the shots.
As a pet parent, YOU can be aggressive in taking action with or without the vet. LEARN LEARN LEARN. And sometimes if you have no clue whats going on, while sitting in the vets waiting room or in a room wanting..start googling for answers. If you find something that sounds like it might be, ask your vet if thats possible.
DO NOT give up just because your vet has. Your pet will die every time if you let the vet call the shots.
