Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2633090)

.... Just look at the subject of overvaccination and one can see that the best interest of our pets' health - and what a vet actually does in practice can be 2 very polar things....and that's sad.

Originally Posted by MeAndMyOlivia (Post 2633200)

I do know that my little 10-month old girl seems to have a baby tooth still there, right in front of a permanent tooth - and seeing that, knowing that it might have to be removed by a vet, literally made me sick to my stomach. :cry:

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 2633248)

I do and I don't. We need vets to give us certain things and information that couldn't get otherwise. So they definitely are a necessity obviously. But I really don't trust a whole lot of them to be honest, just as I don't really trust doctors fully.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2633090)

I think this is a great subject, and an important one! :)

I have had many very bad experiences with vets, and have only met 2 or so whom I respect and feel comfortable with, in terms of their knowledge (see my recent thread on Wylie, for one :rolleyes:). I think there ARE good vets out there, but I think you really have to look or just be lucky to find them. I think there are a lot of vets out there who aren't very good at all - and I don't know what recourse there is for that. Because the industry isn't all that well regulated, it truly puts a lot responsibility on pet owners to be advocates (and do their own research) for their pets. While that's fine, in one way, in another it's not - bc we "should" be able to pay them for their expertise and trust that they have it. Just look at the subject of overvaccination and one can see that the best interest of our pets' health - and what a vet actually does in practice can be 2 very polar things....and that's sad.

I think it's tough being a vet - you have to know multiple species, and all systems - very few people's brains can be *really* skilled at dealing with that amount of information. A good vet, imo, should be skilled at the basics - a good generalist - and be secure enough to refer on to a specialist when they hit a road block (and many don't do that :().

As far as nutrition, no way. And it really disappoints me when vets who know hardly anything about nutrition (given the 1.5 hrs of animal nutrition in vet school) feel qualified to give advice about it.

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2633745)

Actually, this is something else I'm curious about. I've seen this come up many times, and I am not particularly familiar with this topic in pets. Why haven't vets changed their protocols if this has been clearly established? I have a difficult time believing that vets would do something they think actively harms pets simply to make more money.





I don't know much about this either, but I've seen that sometimes you can wiggle them out yourself. It turns out I probably could have done that with Thor - he had four baby teeth removed and it was cheaper than I expected because they said none of them had roots.





I'm interested in what people think vets' motives are. Clearly, if you've had bad experiences with vets, you won't trust them, so I understand that. What is the Why behind the What, if you know what I mean?


Thanks to everyone for their responses. :)

Originally Posted by Breeze (Post 2633807)

I think one part is the "old school" vaccine schedule. Why bother to research or change it if it was regular procedure before if no-one is complaining, dying....

It also brings in a lot of money with more frequent immunizations, they charge for the vet visit, the shots..... People go to work for money for the most part. Vets included. The more money they bring in the more they make. Sad world but most professions and businesses work to make large profits no matter the costs to others.

Just like the crappy cheap pet food companies that sell really bad food for our pets, people trust them thinking that they would not make the food if it was bad. But it does not make the crappy food "good or healthy" in the end.

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2633830)

That's the thing. I don't think people necessarily end up making / marketing pet food for the love of animals. Also, with mass produced food, there are so many people involved, it's unlikely that you are lovingly cooking up the food yourself and then hand-delivering it to pets. It's much easier to be detached when you are one cog in a large corporation.

Veternarians, on the other hand - you don't "end up" a vet. You have to really want it. The people I know who became vets wanted nothing else form the time they were small children. And I think it's very different to inject an animal with a vaccine directly and think"that probably took a year off their life, oh well, at least I made another hundy."