Finding a GOOD vet

[Minnerbelle]

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Hey guys,

So I could use some good advice here. I'm looking for a new vet for my kitty cat, and I'm feeling a little lost trying to find a good one. Ya know, I only want the BEST for my baby girl🙂. That being said, a few thoughts. As much as I would do just about anything it takes to prolong her life 2+ years from some expensive ailment, I'm a poor student too... so I need a vet that is reasonable. By that, I mean I don't want to be paying exorbitantly for overhead on a bunch of techniques and super cool equipment that my cat probably wouldn't be benefiting from anyway. I don't need concierge treatment. I just want a skilled GP with good quality medicine/ethics, but not necessarily all the bells and whistles. I also don't want to be paying extra to make up for bad practice management, rather than paying for the actual quality of medicine. I want one that will keep her healthy while she is healthy, and be able to assess her when she is ill. Someone who will work with me to consider all the options if it comes down to it. Someone who takes CE seriously, and isn't still practicing vet med from the 80's. If I schedule a dental, I want a good anesthetic protocol, and don't want it to be just 1 tech doing everything from induction to the dental + monitering, etc... while the vet is off doing something else "supervising in shouting distance" (how common is that anyway?).

How should I go about assessing different GPs? Would the best way be just word of mouth from other students? Or should I call around myself with a list of targeted questions? And if so, what questions to ask? I don't think I know enough about sound clinic protocols/medicine at this point to even begin assessing quality of medicine. I also don't want to be that annoying non-client that goes around price shopping... but is it really that inappropriate to get an estimate of ballpark figures?

Sorry if this sounds stupid and ignorant (I prob sound like I'm full of sh**), but I really want to know. Having never worked in a "real" vet clinic (will have to work on that real soon), I feel rather clueless. I know enough to know that there are some amazing vets and some nightmare vets out there. Though I appreciate lower prices, I know that can mean several things. I also don't believe that expensive always means good either.

Not really looking for reviews (rants nor raves) on different vets in FoCo, as I'm really interested in seeing how any client could go about finding a vet that's a good fit for them. Any ideas? Or is word of mouth the only really good way? If that's the case, and you're a layman stuck with stupid internet reviews, are you totally f***ed?

 

[vetme]

I would say that you just gotta sample their services and see which is the best fit. It will probably take longer that way, but when you find the "one" you will know.

 

[awaring1]

Would the best way be just word of mouth from other students? Or should I call around myself with a list of targeted questions?

I would do both of these.👍 While some people may disregard word of mouth, there is usually some truth behind it. I've worked at two clinics, one that kind of had a shifting client base with not many complaints or compliments either way and the another that had a hughely dedicated client base and everyone raved about how awesome they are. If I had to compare the two, the more popular one was defiantly the better clinic.
I think asking how much a basic exam costs may give you a good ballpark to compare the prices of practices. (Somewhere that charges more for an annual exam will probably charge more for an emergency and more for sx and other stuff.)
Be sure to talk to a tech or someone who is more than a receptionist. Some receptionists only leave the front desk a few times a day and would need to ask a tech some questions anyway.
As to what questions to ask, just ask what you want to actually know. Some clinics (especially ones that also do boarding) will let you tour the back treatment area so you can see what it is like. But do not assume that old equipment means outdated knowledge! Some x-ray machines are still from the 70s but they take the same images as the new fancy digital radiographs.

 

[LetItSnow]

I think asking how much a basic exam costs may give you a good ballpark to compare the prices of practices. (Somewhere that charges more for an annual exam will probably charge more for an emergency and more for sx and other stuff.)

I think word-of-mouth amongst students is probably about the best you can do if you don't have other contacts (vets?) in the area. So many students have worked in clinics that you ought to be able to accurately assess a bunch of clinics' approaches to care and find one that seems to fit. Probably I'd start just by asking around for students who have experience in clinics geographically suitable for you and go from there. My class has a FB page, for instance... easy enough to post something in a place like that.

I'd be cautious about asking only for exam pricing. For example, the clinic I would recommend (in a heartbeat!) has higher-than-normal exam pricing; but it's because they've made an intentional decision to have longer-than-typical exams, because they feel they deliver better care that way. But it would be a mistake to think the rest of their pricing is 'high', so you could get somewhat misled.

 

[pooter]

If I schedule a dental, I want a good anesthetic protocol, and don't want it to be just 1 tech doing everything from induction to the dental + monitering, etc... while the vet is off doing something else "supervising in shouting distance" (how common is that anyway?).

I don't mean to scare you, but that's pretty much how it worked at both of the (well-regarded) reg-vet clinics where I worked. The vet usually gave the pre-meds and sometimes supervised the intubation (we used isofluorane) and then handled X-rays and extractions if neccessary, but a senior tech did the actual cleaning while monitoring the anesthesia. It was always handled by the most senior RVT's with 10+ years of experience, and we never had a bad outcome. Dunno how this setup compares to what you're worried about . . .

 

[awaring1]

I don't mean to scare you, but that's pretty much how it worked at both of the (well-regarded) reg-vet clinics where I worked. The vet usually gave the pre-meds and sometimes supervised the intubation (we used isofluorane) and then handled X-rays and extractions if neccessary, but a senior tech did the actual cleaning while monitoring the anesthesia. It was always handled by the most senior RVT's with 10+ years of experience, and we never had a bad outcome. Dunno how this setup compares to what you're worried about . . .

I agree. Every dental that I have seen (that did not include an extraction) was done 98% by just the tech. They just had the vets double check their drug dosage and had an assistant help with pre-med. The vet leaves the tech to do their own thing and only comes back if needed.

 

[LetItSnow]

I agree. Every dental that I have seen (that did not include an extraction) was done 98% by just the tech. They just had the vets double check their drug dosage and had an assistant help with pre-med. The vet leaves the tech to do their own thing and only comes back if needed.

*shrug* Just to toss into the mix ... every dental at the clinic I'm at is done by two techs and a doctor. One tech for induction/radiology/autoscaling, and one tech for monitoring, though they may flip roles back and forth depending on circumstance/experience/whatever. The doc steps in to chart the mouth and then steps back in after radiology is done/assessed to hand scale and (if necessary) do extractions. (But, and maybe this is what you were getting at, the doc isn't immediately present for the induction/radiology/autoscaling.)

But there are always two techs.

 

[bbeventer]

I don't mean to scare you, but that's pretty much how it worked at both of the (well-regarded) reg-vet clinics where I worked. The vet usually gave the pre-meds and sometimes supervised the intubation (we used isofluorane) and then handled X-rays and extractions if neccessary, but a senior tech did the actual cleaning while monitoring the anesthesia. It was always handled by the most senior RVT's with 10+ years of experience, and we never had a bad outcome. Dunno how this setup compares to what you're worried about . . .

This is how dentals were done at our clinic as well. As for finding a vet, I have found word of mouth to be the most helpful. Good Luck.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I don't mean to scare you, but that's pretty much how it worked at both of the (well-regarded) reg-vet clinics where I worked. The vet usually gave the pre-meds and sometimes supervised the intubation (we used isofluorane) and then handled X-rays and extractions if neccessary, but a senior tech did the actual cleaning while monitoring the anesthesia. It was always handled by the most senior RVT's with 10+ years of experience, and we never had a bad outcome. Dunno how this setup compares to what you're worried about . . .

oh... well if that's how it's done i guess that's just how it's done. like i said, i don't really know much about these things. i just hear from a couple of specialists at school, and random samplings on vin sometimes... so what i hear as abominations might not really be.

 

[libster06]

I want a good anesthetic protocol, and don't want it to be just 1 tech doing everything

The techs know more about that stuff sometimes than the doctors do because they do it every day. In vet school when you get into 3rd and 4th years, a lot of your specialty classes are taught by techs (radiology, etc.) because they are the ones doing the grunt work day after day. Don't discount a "tech" because of their title. Vet clinics wouldn't run without the techs, and most are very good at what they do.

 

[nyanko]

I don't really think her point was to demean techs in any way - just that in general, one person alone being responsible for performing the dental + monitoring anesthesia + making quick decisions if something goes wrong scares her. I realize it's how things go at a lot of clinics, but I mean it's not shocking that a person who doesn't would be worried at the prospect, is it?

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Why not the state school? Most schools are cheaper than private clinics (at least in my experience), plus you have access to a lot of specialists if need be.

 

[lareinesoleil]

I don't mean to scare you, but that's pretty much how it worked at both of the (well-regarded) reg-vet clinics where I worked. The vet usually gave the pre-meds and sometimes supervised the intubation (we used isofluorane) and then handled X-rays and extractions if neccessary, but a senior tech did the actual cleaning while monitoring the anesthesia. It was always handled by the most senior RVT's with 10+ years of experience, and we never had a bad outcome. Dunno how this setup compares to what you're worried about . . .

This is how it's done where I work, too. Don't let a tech doing a dental scare you, focus more on their dental protocol: what kind of anesthesia do they use? Do they require, or at least recommend, bloodwork and fluids? Etc.

I think you could probably ask someone at the vet school what are good vets in the area. They get enough referrals from "regular" vets, surely they'd know that the standard of care seems really good at place X, but only mediocre at place Y, etc. Maybe some of the techs there have worked at other clinics in their past.

 

[CorporateFatCat]

If I schedule a dental, I want a good anesthetic protocol, and don't want it to be just 1 tech doing everything from induction to the dental + monitering, etc... while the vet is off doing something else "supervising in shouting distance" (how common is that anyway?).

As other people have said, this is quite common. What I would be asking however is who will be doing the cleaning, because some clinics do let lower ranked staff like kennel/vet assistants do this task. Not that this is worse necessarily, but I think you would want to know whether the person is properly trained/has the proper qualifications. Honestly, I've only seen a couple of occaisions when we use a second person to monitor anesthesia because the patient is having issues (usually older pets or ones with pre-existing disease who "just don't want to breathe"). That being said, we are a modestly staffed hospital with one doctor on at a time.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I don't really think her point was to demean techs in any way - just that in general, one person alone being responsible for performing the dental + monitoring anesthesia + making quick decisions if something goes wrong scares her. I realize it's how things go at a lot of clinics, but I mean it's not shocking that a person who doesn't would be worried at the prospect, is it?

Thank you, yes that's exactly what I meant. I did not mean to say "ew, I don't want a lowly tech doing my kitty's dental." And like I said, I don't really know what is normal behind the scenes in most GP clinics and I apologise for talking out my ass. I just knew that there was a huge range of how dentals are done from groomers doing non-sedation dentals to the whole shebang, and I didn't know exactly where the line for standard of care was drawn.

I made that original comment based on the fact that after trying out a bunch of different vets in california with my former menagerie of animals, there were definitely a few that were really good and some that really sucked. I just remember that a big selling point for one of the ones we stuck with was that they really take their anesthesia monitoring very seriously (and specifically that there are always 2 people with anesthesized animals). For some reason, that idea stuck with me esp after talking with a couple of specialists who did the "I can't believe that people think this is okay!" kind of thing. And I figured, well if that's AAHA's standard of care, then surely it must be what all the good vets are doing out there. Obviously, as most of you have pointed out, that's not the case.

Anyhoos, back on topic. I guess word of mouth it is!

 

[bunnity]

I would ask on VIN for a recommendation. If that doesn't work you could also check out AAHA for an accredited hospital.