Gosh I miss Doc Hawthorne.....The California vets just don't have the love of the animal in their hearts as doc does........I still call him for answers and my meds.

sadly i have met alot of educated idiots so just because someone went to school and is book smart does not make them good at what they do - i believe passion is key and being passionate about what you do and wanting to help others and truly caring about people along with having an education make you good at what you do. People do not care how much you know unless they know how much you care so that is the first step. I think many pet owners when their dog gets sick are very passionate about it and do the research and educate themselves and the ones who do this and give back to others along the journey I have the utmost respect for as they want to help others and are many times more knowledgeable. I believe there is a reason they call it practicing medicine as i believe they are practicing and you as a pet owner and a person need to educate yourself if there is something wrong with you or your pet so you can work together with the professional and i have found the specialist always welcome that info but many vets say do not read on the internet - why? because the specialists are much more confident in explaining and in what they do alot of times. I use to take for face value what they said but after i almost lost dexter and vet basically told me he was going to die he had a tumor at 2 years old lolll and i said heck with this I got him to a specialist and they saved my dog. The specialist told me they fed him a food that they wish was not on hills list for pancreatitis. I can go on and on with disappointing things and i have spent 25k plus in vet bills so i have learned alot of what goes on sadly - I wish I did not feel this way but the experiences we go through and what i have seen others go through on the dog groups i have been on for 5 years has made me very disappointed and on a positive note realize they are just human they make mistakes and they do not know everything about everything so it is up to me if i am going to take responsibility for myself and my pet then i need to do my homework too as i need to take a roll in their health and mine too

Lissette:

Still praying for sweet Lola. Give her sweet hugs and kisses from me and Van, the 3 B's and Jazzy.

and you ask why i do not trust them here in california? I think you know why as obviously you have had similar issues in stating that as we do not live too far from one another :(

Debbie, I promise you, there is a good vet in California, you just gotta find him or her. I agree I went thru about 3 or 4 before I found the ones I like. As a matter of fact I fired the specialist that I had and got the one Dr Hawthorne recomended. After that it was smooth sailing. I also used my own Radialogist, Dr Cole who I consider the best Radiologist. And they are hard to come by. Please have faith, You love you pups so much but you need to have some faith in the RIGHT Doctor.

I had one bad situation with an emergency vet. But, what I do find is these vets have the California syndrome.....money........they don't have the passion of the vets in Texas.......I guess I was spoiled by Dr. Hawthorne.....never, never was it about money for him, it was always about my dogs. I know this for a fact. When I lived in Dallas, I could call him at 8 in the morning, he'd personally answer the phone.....I'd give him my dogs symptoms....and always tell him I'll be in.....I would if he felt it was necessary, but if it wasn't, he'd tell me what was going on and call in a script for me. He never hem and hawed....well lets try this and see and oh we'll try that and see. Very assertive and aggressive in his treatment, never wasting time......If one of my girls needed an emergency c-section and he was on duty at the ER.....he never charged me ER cost....but, his office cost. If he wasn't on ER duty, he'd meet me at the office. I still have his home # and Cell #......

Lissette can tell you....when she took her girl in for a spay, she mentioned to me that she was gonna have doc have her teeth cleaned (he does his own dental). I told her don't, he'll do it anyway, it's something he does when he has a dog under. She informed me that when she picked up her girl , (he brings your baby out to you hisself, wrapped in a blankie) he told her I cleaned her teeth while she was under, no extra charge

Lissette,

No there aren't.....I've been here 2 years, and I thought I'd found one....he moved to San Diego......but, he's the only one.

He did Mary, at no charge. I wish more vet cared like the ones I have. I wish you all could have seen it on Friday. WOW. Most docs would have said, we cant find anything and we have to do a biopsy, but not Dr Cole and Hawthorne and my specialist, they would not stop, it was amazing.

yeah that would never happen here - i took dd in to pick up clindamyacin and she has been in cone as she was rubbing her eye and he walked out now mind you i just spent $400 this last month on urinalysis free catch, culture, antibiotics, fecal $200 one and he says ok make an appt and i will check out her eye - guess he wants his $50 so i walked out and said to myself if i am going to pay another $50 i am taking her for a second opinion to our more natural vet who practices both regular and holistic and pay her the money and have her check out the eye and discuss the whole case screw this - I honestly feel i have been raked over these past 5 years. I left in tears called dh and told him this whole vet thing is a TOTAL RACKET do they not care about the dog at all - there are 3 eye ointments as i looked it up he could have just looked prescribed an ointment and moved on as she did not scratch it as i saw her rub it and immediately put cone on her. Sadly i get more support from dr dodds and online vets who help others on off duty on my vet group and they do it for FREE than the people i have paid money too how sad is that. I will say though the specialist hospital helps me all the time over the phone and by email but have yet to have a vet - It is not even about the money anymore it is more about i feel like they do not care about my dog who has alot of issues and no sympathy for what i go through on a daily basis that is what hurts me

Gosh, I am so sad for you guys that live in California. It seems to be all about Money. How sad.

Here's a situation that happened to me......I had two virgin dogs that I wanted to breed. So, I called the vet here to set up an appointment (since I didn't know how to AI) for an AI ( really wanted this breeding. He said that the fee would be $500.00....they would have to run a multitude of tests prior to the AI to make sure it was the correct breeding time.

I was back in Texas in September and told Dr. Hawthorne this and he roared.....$500.00. My gosh you asked for an AI not a C section. You've had your dogs tested for all the important stuff...you know your dogs cycle better than I do.....two AI would have cost me no more than $50.00 there, or he would have charged me for the kit and instructed me on how to do it.
Whenever, I had a girl ready to whelp, he'd put my little whelping kit together, along with POP shots, feeding tubes, surgical gloves, and whatever he felt I might need in an emergency....with his home and Cell number glued on the box.

so now you understand why I feel the way i do and that is only 2 years I am going on 6 years of this andi said to heck with this I need to educated myself or my dogs are gonna die as i almost lost dexter - she did not even know about the specialty hospital i called every vet in county and asked who is the best internal medicine specialist and they all said the same name and she is awesome and i asked do they do 24 fluids and they said yes. I went to vet picked him up said give me everything and she did and said i have not heard of this place and i said exactly and she said they will only treat for surgeries and i said NOPE they do 24 hr fluids you are not shuttling him charging me for shuttling him and i already paid you 3k and he is still jacked up i am done and specialist said they both went to vet school together and she graduated top in her class a couple years behind the specialist - i think my dog would have died had i left him in her care. Oh yeah and she is the one that gave my dd the 25mg dose of atopica when there is 10mg i said NOPE TOO MUCH need smaller dose she said it is safe - i said dd is 7lbs and this drug makes them vomit so why would i give her that high of dose so rather than argue i paid for it tossed it and went to dermatologist and never went back for dex or dd -that was the last straw for me

Now, my girlfriend has a wonderful vet in Orange County and from what I understand there is a wonderful Vet Hospital in Irvine.

Another thing you'll find Lissette, doc will rarely charge you an office visit if he's treating your dog for something.

WOW - it sounds dire out there or at least in your vinicity of CA. I am so sorry for you especially, when problems arise. :(

I, too, do not know what that is like. I can not attest to the expertise of my vet in comparison to others but I do know that much of what I research prior to discussing with him, he is right on the same plain. Furthermore, the auto immune disorder my Jazzy cat had was a whopper and very rare. He was there for us both at a moments notice.

Now, he continues to give full access. I believe I have spoken to him more via the phone than in person and he is very helpful, supportive, and most of all - available.

oh it is 25k plus in 5 years this is why i feel so sorry for pet owners here

oh you will love this one dex was hospitalized for pancreatitis I take him to vet after for ear infection as groomer plucked one ear i flipped out said no plucking he has been through alot just trim him up well of course he got an infection in that ear she plucked so i do not believe in it in some dogs.

so vet says to me when did dexter ever break his jaw - wth i said what do you mean? well his jaw is out of align so either due to puppy mill or what i found out is in small dogs when they take puppy teeth out they can break the jaw if not careful so when he was spay he had 10 teeth removed and everyone told me neutering was a piece of cake well it was not he screamed all nigth would not lay down and i rushed him in 7 on the dot as dummy me did not know about er vets or i would have had him in see i did not know anything back then - they gave him a pain shot - so now when i get the dental he is getting a full mouth xray by dentist as i want to know if his jaw was broke by that vet - i feel i should have noticed something like that but his tongue hangs out and mouth tilts as if jaw is out of align