I'm sure you were more worried then Holly was. The drop off time is set so that all the patients are there and ready for surgery. Usually a surgery schedule isn't set until they see which patients are coming in for the day. Sometimes surgery's cancel, and sometimes they get in emergencies so they can't determine the schedule until after surgery appointments are seen or dropped off. i know its frustrating for the owner to be waiting and not knowing if their dog has gone into surgery or not. My hospital gets in a lot of surgeries everyday. schedules are starting time vary each day. There can sometimes be 10 surgeries or more in a day. When this happens our receptionist will call the owners in the early afternoon to tell them their dog hasn't had surgery yet but is going in soon. your vet probably should have called to tell you she wasn't going to go until later that afternoon, but i agree with them that she did need to be dropped off at the time they told you. Most of the time the dogs sleep in their kennels or just watch what's going on.
it may be frustrating to the owner but think from the vet clinic's point of view too. Say they have 5 surgeries to do that day. Originally Holly was scheduled to go 3rd because there were two major surgeries ahead of her. So they prep the 1st pet and get it ready for surgery. While that pet is in surgery for an hour or so, the next pet is being prep'd (blood work, x-rays, U/S, whatever). What if the second pet in the line up can't go right away for whatever reason (they have to do another test before they can procede) and they are ready for the next case? If Holly isn't there because you wanted to keep her home longer for your piece of mind then she misses out and won't get done until much later. She gets bumped and the others end up going before her.
schedules can change throughout the day depending on stability of patients, test and retests, availability of instruments, and emergencies.
I don't mean to make it sound like your worries and frustration are not important because they are. However the frustration can go both ways. The vet is just trying to do his job and you are a wonderful caring owner that just wants the best for their baby. Try to see it their way too and don't blow up at them. Their goal is to help the animals, not piss you off.
__________________ Kellie  and  Morgan |