The Incredible Dr Pol~not so incredible?!?

[zcb]

All I can say is he would not be welcome at our horse barn. Just because the animal is large doesn't mean they can be handled roughly. I do not like him one bit.

[Ellie May]

Owning large animals is not an excuse to do very painful procedures without pain relief. Production farmers don't always want to spend extra $$$ on lidocaine. Unacceptable.

The small animal medicine being practiced is an outdated joke. Even the state has a problem with it. His associate is just as bad. All the care, concern, and money saving in the world doesn't make up for the fact that these vets practice way below standard of care as set out by vet schools.

If I posted that my vet constantly injected anesthetics without knowing the animal's history/lab results, didn't scrub in for surgery (no caps or masks)!!, left an animal upstairs during a tornado when dog was still asleep from surgery, carried animals around like ragdolls, did surgery without monitoring, ever seemed to use the safest anesthesia, etc., etc. I'm sure most people would have a fit. Yet when good ol' Doc Pol does it it is praised.

[gracielove]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Owning large animals is not an excuse to do very painful procedures without pain relief. Production farmers don't always want to spend extra $$$ on lidocaine. Unacceptable.

The small animal medicine being practiced is an outdated joke. Even the state has a problem with it. His associate is just as bad. All the care, concern, and money saving in the world doesn't make up for the fact that these vets practice way below standard of care as set out by vet schools.

If I posted that my vet constantly injected anesthetics without knowing the animal's history/lab results, didn't scrub in for surgery (no caps or masks)!!, left an animal upstairs during a tornado when dog was still asleep from surgery, carried animals around like ragdolls, did surgery without monitoring, ever seemed to use the safest anesthesia, etc., etc. I'm sure most people would have a fit. Yet when good ol' Doc Pol does it it is praised.

Television has a way of making even some of the worst behavior seem endearing.

[WannaBe]

I like Dr. Pol. He is the vet for the local Amish and English (he is x-Amish). He is not as bad as they betray him to be. He isn't that harsh and he treats animals very well. You have to remember, this is television, they edit everything! How do you know he didn't administer a local if they edit it out? He is a kind and gentle guy and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt an animal.
Almost all the vets in our area are the same when they work with the local large animals.

And I would like to add... how many of us has said harsh things to our pets when they make us upset? I know if I'm mad at Gunner I will say things that I don't mean. He doesn't know I am saying bad things, and I still love him.

[nanahas3]

We have a older vet in our area (been practicing for 40 years) who will get up in the middle of the night and come to treat a horse, cow, sheep etc. There are not many of the younger ones who would do this. His son is now trained and treats the smaller animals brought into their practice. I too grew up on a farm and sometimes it is just a matter of saving the animal in minutes if they took the time we all might think they should to get them somewhere more sterile they can die. I don't watch the show other than a few episodes on youtube as we don't have satellite, but I do know from what I saw on those videos he seems a typical country area large animal vet.

[bailie]

This is one amazing vet ,, he is way above the norm,,, Fitzpatrick , watch him on utube the bionic vet ,,he is from Ireland

[Lou]

I actually regularly watch the show and love it. I get a kick out of the good doctor sayin "see ya" after he leaves a farm. As far as him saying "stupid dog" ....he was saying it affectionately I believe.

Don't forget that there are actually three vets in the clinic and Dr Pol is out doing farm calls most of the time.

[Lou]

And by the way one of my favorite shows was the emergency vet show! I wish it was still on the air.

[Sunnydayz]

One of the reasons he does not do a local on a farm animal is because if a cow or horse goes down, they are very likely to die and it's a proven fact. It would also possibly take too much time to kick in and have the animal die while it is waiting. I had a pony with colic go down and the vet used a local. My pony died in 5 minutes while waiting for the drug to work. The treatment of large animals is much more complicated then domestic animals, and needs to be done as fast as possible. If a cow or a horse cannot stand, they will be 100% dead because they cannot digest or dispose of excremts while lying down. I actually think he's amazing how fast he saves these large animals. I think you would have to see how fast they die when they are down to understand why it's so important to be quick.

[Ellie May]

Large animal emergencies aren't what I have a problem with. And he is definitely not the only get who calls animals stupid.

It may be standard of care for that area. It is NOT good small animal medicine. It is not safe, not healthy, not supported by vet schools, not sterile, not in the best interest of pets. If somebody wants their beloved pups to go there to see him or Dr. Brenda, or anybody else, hey, that's for you to decide. It is clearly unsafe and not sterile. Compare to Emergency Vets. Dramatized, yes, but at least they aren't playing games with lives.

BTW, I sometimes watch...only to see what ridiculous actions they are trying to pass off as good medicine.

[nanahas3]

One more thing I wanted to say. We have in our town a "Beautiful" new animal hospital. All state of the art. Very sanitary looking. But......it has been there for 3 years now and so far they have had 4 dogs "escape" outside while in their care and 2 never found afterwards. Several died and lots of complaints filed. What I am getting at is sometimes even what appears to be the very best just isn't.
We took Lolita there when she first became ill and they wanted to pull her teeth. Bless her heart she could not even stand at the time and they wanted to put her under. When we took her to our now vet she was diagnosed with her heart problems. Putting her under would of killed her.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I just couldn't stomach the Dr. Pol show and hoped and prayed it wasn't indicative of standard large animal vet care! His lack of sterile conditions and offhand/offbeat way of handling some startling things put me off so badly I couldn't get through the first show. I cannot stand to see animals suffer or in distress so it was hard to even try to watch it but wow, it was worse than I thought it was going to be and his attitude and ways sent me flying. I do check back here and there and can never stick watching for but a few minutes.

Originally Posted by Britster

I don't know about standard for large animals, but for dogs, cats? Heck NO would I go anywhere NEAR a guy like this.

Disgusting.

His bedside manner is horrible (i.e. I've heard him say 'stupid dog' to an anesthetized animal, NOT that the animal will care or hear, but it's just the point) He never wears a cap, I hardly even see him in gloves, just unsanitary conditions all around. His sterilization technique is horrible, anesthesia monitoring...???, pain relief, etc?

Not to mention he was on probation as were ALL the other vets in his hospital.

Veterinarians Behaving Badly: The Incredible Disciplinary Action

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Owning large animals is not an excuse to do very painful procedures without pain relief. Production farmers don't always want to spend extra $$$ on lidocaine. Unacceptable.

The small animal medicine being practiced is an outdated joke. Even the state has a problem with it. His associate is just as bad. All the care, concern, and money saving in the world doesn't make up for the fact that these vets practice way below standard of care as set out by vet schools.

If I posted that my vet constantly injected anesthetics without knowing the animal's history/lab results, didn't scrub in for surgery (no caps or masks)!!, left an animal upstairs during a tornado when dog was still asleep from surgery, carried animals around like ragdolls, did surgery without monitoring, ever seemed to use the safest anesthesia, etc., etc. I'm sure most people would have a fit. Yet when good ol' Doc Pol does it it is praised.

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Large animal emergencies aren't what I have a problem with. And he is definitely not the only get who calls animals stupid.

It may be standard of care for that area. It is NOT good small animal medicine. It is not safe, not healthy, not supported by vet schools, not sterile, not in the best interest of pets. If somebody wants their beloved pups to go there to see him or Dr. Brenda, or anybody else, hey, that's for you to decide. It is clearly unsafe and not sterile. Compare to Emergency Vets. Dramatized, yes, but at least they aren't playing games with lives.

BTW, I sometimes watch...only to see what ridiculous actions they are trying to pass off as good medicine.

ALL of this .

This person would not be allowed ANYWHERE near my animals, or should I say my "stupid dogs" since that's apparently now acceptable bc he means it in some 'cute' way???? WHAT? Disgusting, on so many levels.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by WannaBe

I like Dr. Pol. He is the vet for the local Amish and English (he is x-Amish). He is not as bad as they betray him to be. He isn't that harsh and he treats animals very well. You have to remember, this is television, they edit everything! How do you know he didn't administer a local if they edit it out? He is a kind and gentle guy and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt an animal.
Almost all the vets in our area are the same when they work with the local large animals.

And I would like to add... how many of us has said harsh things to our pets when they make us upset? I know if I'm mad at Gunner I will say things that I don't mean. He doesn't know I am saying bad things, and I still love him.

We can see if he administered a local because they generally show the surgery taking place on the show. And very clearly with no heating pads underneath, no IV's, etc.

And yep, I've called Jackson a dummy, stupid dog, dumb-dumb, and all sorts of other funny endearing names. We can call our own 'kids' things, but how would you feel if a professional doctor called your kid 'stupid' for falling and breaking his/her leg, even if it was joking, or 'endearing'? Yeah, I'm not sure that would go over well.

Dr. Pol supporters here on YT: would YOU allow your dog to go to him? Why or why not?

I know for my baby, THIS is the standard of care I expect.

Behind the Scenes, Dog Teeth Cleaning.m4v -...

[theporkieyorkie]

I don't have any large animals...but I can say for sure that I wouldn't take my small animals there.

What really scares me is when I start to wonder how many other vets out there are practicing the same way and we just don't know it. We have the ability to get a behind the scenes view of Pol's clinic, but if we didn't, would I think he's practicing good medical care??

[Lou]

Has anyone checked to see if there ARE any other vets in that area?