Do I have an attitude problem?

[Skippy's Mom]

I am flabbergasted as I sit here. I just brought Gabby home from her vaccine appt. When we got there- I asked if seeing the vet was nessecary as I need to keep the $ down as much as possible, and he charges to look at her. The girl said she would have to check. Well- after about 20 minutes, the vet came in and had Gabby's chart and was reading what looked like alot of handwriting. He said-"you know when you come in with an attitude like this, I have to tell you- do you want us to give away the place?"He went on to explain that at Gabby's last visit when she had a "reaction" to the Lepto- Yes, I would be charged for him to see her. He said 'my doctor gave me a staff infection and he charged me 65 thousand dollars to get rid of his mistake!"
What he was referring to was- Gabby had a large painful lump where she got the shot and I had called to complain and that I wanted her seen by someone(I was worried about her)and that I shouldn't be charged for it. Apparently the girl that took my call that day wrote a ton of stuff in Gabby's chart about me. I called later that day to cancel seeing him because I called my breeder and she explained this was normal given that Gabby is so small. We've always gotten along with this vet, and I'm so sorry now that I called that day and said anything at all to the girl-I wasn't nasty to her-just insistent that something was wrong with my dog. I'm going to keep going to him- but I wonder--anyone else ever have trouble with their vet offices?

[anthroboi]

I think that was really unprofessional of your vet to say anything. He wasn't part of your conversation with the assistant and shouldn't judge you by what she wrote in the chart. Personally, I would have called him on his "catty" comment but that's just me I guess I have an attitude LOL

[BamaFan121s]

You have every right to voice your concerns about your baby whenever you feel it is needed. Keep in mind, your vet can only go off of what his staff is relaying to him though and who knows if that is accurate or if it was twisted around. In any case, I don't think he should have said that to you.

That being said however, I can fully understand why the vet would want your dog to have a standard visit if they are vaccinating. The same practice as with humans--eventually, the docs don't approve the perscriptions if you dont' go in for a check up. If they are putting themselves on the line by injecting your furball with any kind of med or vaccine, then I think it's only natural they'd want to do a routine examination of them as well.

[Deenie]

I'm sorry the vet said anything. I hope you were able to clear that up! I've had an attitude before when it come to the health of my furbabies and my boys, so I wouldn't feel so bad about that. Hopefully, he realizes it was a miscommunication and not an 'attitude' problem

[LuvMySissy]

I think you have every right to have an "attitude" when it comes to your baby. You always know your pup better than anyone - so keep paying attention to that. I think the vet was very unprofessional with his response. That being said, my vet always gives the injections to my girls herself. Because of their smaller size, she adjusts the amount of vaccine given (it is NOT the government mandate amount fora 25 lb dog!) and we only give a single vaccine at a time. Thankfully, the only reaction we've ever had was to the intranasal bordatella - so we now get that in injection form. If you can't have a working rapport with your vet, I'd be looking for another - and that includes phone calls of concern.

[kuku2121]

I think you should say something the carge a fortune to see your dog and when they do something to put them in danger they should have to pay. My dog got kennel cough from my vet office and I was mad because it has cost me alot of money. They didn't care they told me I couldn't prove that.

[FL Tink]

Well, I Wasnt There To See His Body Language Or Hear How He Talked To You..but If Was Anything Like I Imagined...i Would Find A New Vet. But That's Just Me!

[Ellie May]

I would be so mad. That vet sounds real friendly.

Yes, a vet should always do an exam before vaccines but there is no reason for the comments. That said, Ellie has been to the vet a lot lately (I mean a LOT). She needed a vaccine and the policy is doctors only unless approved to get it done by a tech. The vet told me that she would approve it for a tech and avoid the $38 doctor fee.

When Ellie had a reaction to the lepto vaccine all we paid was $25 for the meds. There was no doctor/er fee for that.

By the way, for future reference be careful what you say to the receptionist. Most of them are required to write everything down that they talk to a client about.

[larsensyorkies]

We had some problems with one of the vets at our normal office. We'd asked her just to take a stool sample to see if they could tell why Osbourne's stomach was making noises. He wasn't sick or acting weird in anyway, just a simple precaution. Well she took him in the back and then came back with xrays too!??! We were like umm you were just supposed to do the stool sample for now. She tried to justify it was needed to help determine the cause and still charged us almost $200 for it They took a whole $30 off when we complained. I think they are a great vet in emergencies and trust they know what they are doing completly, but that really pissed me off. So now anything routine we just go to the Petsmart vet and surgeries/emergencies still go there.

[hha]

This is my little story..I had a vet that I loved dearly..he even has a great website that I still go too..But, back when I bought my biewer, I went and got my voucher to have him fixed..Not mind you, I could afford the $100 to have him neutered, but, the voucher was to have him neutered for $45, I mean won't every one of us save if we can? Well, I took Fritz in and had him neutered, when I went that afternoon to pick him back up, my vet came out (now mind you, there were like 6 people standing behind me) and said hey Ms Sherrie, of course, I said hey back..then he said what kind of dog is Fritz, I said he's a german yorkie, he said, well, I bet he cost you at least $2500? I said yeah around there..He said and I did it for charity? Well, I paid my bill, and went out of that office and never went back..It's not that I didn't think he was a good vet(he was excellent), but, with his comments, and me knowing how much $ I had paid him over the years, well, i changed vets after that day and never looked back..Now the vet I use, when you call to make an appt. for spaying/neutering, they ask you if you have a voucher..The one time i said no, she said well, you go get one, why pay the extra money if you don't have too?? So, long story short, I don't care how good the vet is, if they act like they unprofessional, even though they may be the greatest vet on earth, I don't give them a dime of my money

[FirstYorkie]

I'll play devil's advocate here...

It sounds to me like you both are at fault. It is normal practice for a dog to be examined by a vet prior to immunizations - sick dogs cannot be immunized. A dog who possibly had a prior reaction to a shot would especially need to be certified as "healthy" prior to shots. Your vet probably assumed that you knew this.

I have no idea what your tone was like when you asked the question. I also don't know how bad of a day the receptionist or the vet was having. It's probably safe to say that someone over-reacted a bit.

OTOH, you complained that you shouldn't have to pay last time and then this time you wanted to pay less than others pay.

As far as your vet's $65,000 comment, I don't think he was referring to Gabby's previous experience. When human doctors screw up with their patients or give them an infection, the human patient still has to pay for their treatment. That's what I think he meant.

It sounds like you and your vet aren't a good match. Ya'll would probably be better off if you went elsewhere.

[Brookef18]

i just went to my vet and we talked about Sadie getting one shot a week cause she is so small... He recamended an assistant would give the shot. My vet only charges one office visist then every week, they only charge for the shot. I have 3 offices through this vet to choose some and in one the vet always gives the shot and he only charges for the shot...no office visit. these puppies are so small a shot a week is safer for them and the vet knows it. I think your vet is crazy for being so stern. I also refuse the lepto shot because these babies don't need it if they are not roaming around the woods! lepto is a desese that rodents carry! my dog is always with me out side and he isn't near anything where he would get it. Lepto is also treatable if they get it soooooo not shot for my babies as far as Lepto goes.

My vet also gives a smaller dose of rabies because yorkies are so small.

[maxs_momma]

Originally Posted by hha

This is my little story..I had a vet that I loved dearly..he even has a great website that I still go too..But, back when I bought my biewer, I went and got my voucher to have him fixed..Not mind you, I could afford the $100 to have him neutered, but, the voucher was to have him neutered for $45, I mean won't every one of us save if we can? Well, I took Fritz in and had him neutered, when I went that afternoon to pick him back up, my vet came out (now mind you, there were like 6 people standing behind me) and said hey Ms Sherrie, of course, I said hey back..then he said what kind of dog is Fritz, I said he's a german yorkie, he said, well, I bet he cost you at least $2500? I said yeah around there..He said and I did it for charity? Well, I paid my bill, and went out of that office and never went back..It's not that I didn't think he was a good vet(he was excellent), but, with his comments, and me knowing how much $ I had paid him over the years, well, i changed vets after that day and never looked back..Now the vet I use, when you call to make an appt. for spaying/neutering, they ask you if you have a voucher..The one time i said no, she said well, you go get one, why pay the extra money if you don't have too?? So, long story short, I don't care how good the vet is, if they act like they unprofessional, even though they may be the greatest vet on earth, I don't give them a dime of my money

Great story I also have changed vets because my poor bassett hound (we only had 3 days) had some kind of intestinal worms anyways the vet i took her to said you know she is 7 years old and only will have a 50/50 chance of surviving this and it is allot of money (400.00 not a lot for a loved one) you might be better to just put her down i am like what NO do whatever it takes to save her i don't care the cost well 24 hours later my baby girl was back on her feet doing much better the thing was she got better and LIVED! Ok well that ended it for me with that vet then not even a month later she got down again and of course it totally freaked me out she was lethargic it all happened over night it is Sunday morning at 630am and here i have no vet so i look up the one my mom used ONCE and call i get a answering service they say they will page him well within 2 minutes he calls me back asks questions about her and says get her in right away. So I take her in he checks her out and says her blood is toxic! She was pregnant and had been in labor for a while (i honestly didn't see any signs ) when i got her from the breeder (she was a retired dame) she said don't worry she is not pregnant she is just fat and needs to lose some weight LIER !!! well i like a idiot believed her. Well the baby was pregnant and the babies weren't coming out and had been in her to long well he said she is a older dog and there are allot of risks she once again was given a 50/50 chance to survive he said "i am not going to tell you what to do but if it was my dog i would try everything i could to save her" and also said "it is expensive so if you don't have the money right now you can pay a little down now and the rest on payments" This all shocked me! He saved her and all 10 puppies! the sad news is the puppies later died do to the lethal toxins but he worked so hard to do the best he could for all of them. Later we had to move and couldn't take her but we found her a new loving home where she became queen of the castle. Well as i am sure as you already know we kept that vet and never thought twice about going back to the old one and ourselves and our babies have been happy with the new one ever since

[hha]

Originally Posted by Brookef18

i just went to my vet and we talked about Sadie getting one shot a week cause she is so small... He recamended an assistant would give the shot. My vet only charges one office visist then every week, they only charge for the shot. I have 3 offices through this vet to choose some and in one the vet always gives the shot and he only charges for the shot...no office visit. these puppies are so small a shot a week is safer for them and the vet knows it. I think your vet is crazy for being so stern. I also refuse the lepto shot because these babies don't need it if they are not roaming around the woods! lepto is a desese that rodents carry! my dog is always with me out side and he isn't near anything where he would get it. Lepto is also treatable if they get it soooooo not shot for my babies as far as Lepto goes.

My vet also gives a smaller dose of rabies because yorkies are so small.

rats, raccoons, skunks or opossums

[Yorkiedaze]

Originally Posted by FL Tink

Well, I Wasnt There To See His Body Language Or Hear How He Talked To You..but If Was Anything Like I Imagined...i Would Find A New Vet. But That's Just Me!

DITTO!