"The Vet Can't See Me Until..." - Insert Timeframe Here

angels mommy

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Yes, my vet takes emergencies as well. The first time Angel had a UTI, It was 5:30pm when I called, He hadn't peed in almost 24 hrs & they were worried he had a blockage, so they checked to make sure his vet could stay, & told me to get there right away. she stayed to take care of him. Thank goodness, no blockage, but he had to stay & be catheterized. It killed me to leave him there when I'd never left him before, but I knew he was in good hands.

I love my vet!  I can email her anytime, & she always gets back to me!
 

ritz

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Yes, I can't understand why vets/receptionists don't understand the word "emergency" or "hasn't peed in 24 hours".

The two vets I've used have openings every day just for emergencies.

I took Ritz in for a non-emergency, though not routine, appointment, scheduled for 8 a.m.  A little after I arrived, the receptionist explained that the vet had an emergency appointment for a dog (had difficulty breathing and walking) and wouldn't see me at the scheduled time.  I understood perfectly.

If it were an emergency with Ritz, I would have no hesitation getting her into a cat carrier and showing up unannounced at the vet's office.  Though I am also fortunate in that there is an e-vet/hospital 15 minutes from where I live.
 

binkyhoo

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I have had good luck with most vets over the years.  My vet also charges extra for an emergency, but I allways get in in a timely manor.   it is only like 25$ diagnostic fee.

i would guess my worst was when a vet charged 125$ to have my rat euthenized. It was by appointment, I was the only one in the waiting room and the only car park in the lot, yet they made me wait 45 mins.  My new vet now only charges $35 office visit.
 
 

goonie

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at my vet's on tuesdays they have 'walk-in-day'. usually there are 2-3 vets there and the one that owns the clinic told me once that all appt. are scheduled with a little extra time in case of emergencies
 

catspaw66

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My vet does surgeries all day Tuesday and farm calls on Thursday. And is closed on Sat. and Sun.  I can usually get an appointment for the next day she is open, though. The nearest e-vet is almost 60 miles away and charges ten times as much.
 

williecat

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Part of the reason I love our vets office is when Willow was at the end of her battle with CRF, they. Told me I could bring her any time, appt or not. When I called, they'd ask if I wanted to bring her immediately or make an appt for later in the day, my choice. I will always be grateful for the Friday before she was PTS. She crashed and I rushed her in at about 630 on a Friday night. We were there until almost 10 and never once did I feel like they wanted to leave. She was also a walk in the following Thursday when I knew it was time to let her go. Again we were there for hours without an appt and they encouraged me to spend as much time with her as I needed before the procedure.

I was there for a routine visit last week and a woman rushed in with her cat who had been attacked by a stray dog. She wasn't even a patient there, but they ran the cat back to a room. I had to wait an extra hour, but I didn't mind. Poor kitty didn't make it, but the woman thanked us in the waiting room because they were able to put kitty to sleep pretty quickly and she didn't suffer longer than necessary.
 

barbb

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I think it is easier to see your own doctor than to get a vet appointment right away. I understand if the appointments are all filled and you want to bring your pet in and put them at the front of the line.

But I think it is ridiculous that they charge emergency fees for walk-ins. Here in Chicago there are only a very few practices that will see your pet when appointments are full - even if you are willing to wait to be seen- without charging a significant fee. A regular office visit, non emergency, costs between $60 and $80 just to walk in the door. If it is an emergency, depending on the practice they will tack on between $50 and $100 more, again, just to walk in the door. Then, because it is an emergency, you are talking $100 at least for xrays and more money for a complete blood panel. Some places will have the nerve to also hit you up for shots if your cat is not up to date, despite the fact that your cat is ill or old. I'm sorry, I know this sounds very negative. I just wish they would be more reasonable. 
 
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catspaw66

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To get an appointment with my doctor (actually a nurse practitioner) takes 3 to 12 weeks. I go to a VA outpatient community clinic 30 miles away.
 

tulosai

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If your vet will literally not take emergencies, and you live in a town that is big enough for you to have options, in my opinion you should get another vet.  I do agree with some others about the need to be assertive though- it is not reasonable to expect a receptionist to understand it's an emergency unless you use the word emergency, and describe why, in excruciating detail if necessary.
 

denice

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I think too building a relationship with a vet's office staff makes a difference too.  The receptionist knows me and knows that I don't call to get in quickly unless it is an emergency.  I even got Alice in on a Saturday because she just didn't seem like herself and I wanted to avoid a trip to the much more expensive emergency vet.   She didn't see  our regular vet because she wasn't working that Saturday but she was seen.
 

tulosai

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I think too building a relationship with a vet's office staff makes a difference too.  The receptionist knows me and knows that I don't call to get in quickly unless it is an emergency.  I even got Alice in on a Saturday because she just didn't seem like herself and I wanted to avoid a trip to the much more expensive emergency vet.   She didn't see  our regular vet because she wasn't working that Saturday but she was seen.
Yes, I totally agree.  I think building a relationship with one vet and their office is SO important in general.  I always get so frustrated when people complain no vet will give them a payment plan.  Of course no vet  is going to work out a payment plan with someone they've never seen before or who has come in super irregularly, seeming to keep the pet up on vaccines only when they felt like it.  I have never heard anyone I know in person or online say that the vet they went to regularly, each and every year, for checkups and vaccines and dental cleaning and for other issues if there were any, paying each time in full, cruelly denied them a payment plan when they ultimately needed one.  And I have l lived only in huge cities, so I don't think  this is some small town oddity.  In fact, one year I tried to push off a yearly physical for a pet and tried to reschedule one for 2 weeks later instead after I'd be paid.  I lived in Chicago at the time and the vet, who I had  been seeing for some time, told me she knew I was good for the money and should just come and call to pay 2 weeks later, which I did.  I think this kind of story is or would be more common than people think if more people truly went to the vet regularly.  

Anyway, just my two  cents.
 
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AbbysMom

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I guess I am lucky in that my vet doesn't have a receptionist really. A vet tech always answers the phone.
 

barbb

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I agree Denise, if you can build a relationship with the staff, it makes a big difference, and that is a vet you want to keep.
 

barbb

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I have been to many different vets in the course of working with different shelters who used them. You can usually tell if they are kind people or "money first". I have learned that you need to find a caring vet before you have a true emergency, and before your pet is aging and more medical problems begin to surface. Most of my friends who love their vets have relationships with the practice owners and can bypass the gatekeepers who answer the phones.

When you are in rescue you tend to follow the vets the shelters use, bc your own pets may get the uri from the fosters you are treating (hard as u try not to spread it) and u can get the meds thru that vet without paying for 3 or 4 more office visits for each of your cats from a different vet- which can be really costly. i do love the vet my current shelter uses, so we will probably stay there. It is a young practice and the office staff are great too.

I say trust your instinct too, if the office climate seems very rigid you may want to go elsewhere.
 

catkiki

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A few weeks ago, Rusty started snezing all the time, my vet got her in the next morning. Poor girl had a URI and got a shot and sub-q injection. She got some liquid antibiotics. She hated that! But she is better now and Dusty did not get sick. They told me if I had waited, Rusty would have developed pneumonia. It was very close.
 

mewlittle

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every time i have a emergancy with my pets i call the vets asking can i make a same day appoinment when they say what about around 4? i say no i dont tink my cat/dog can wait can i drop off? they say yes every time :p

one time i had a vet wanted to wait 1 day to see jazmine when she broke her wrist when i told them she broke her wrist and she is around 9 mos old and she alreay has a previous i injery in that leg they wanted to see her with in a hour lol i'm good on getting in lol
 

tammat

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I live in a rural town. My vet of choice ( there are 3 to choose from) is a husband and wife team. I have always been able to get in on the same day for an appointment. The clinic phone number diverts to their house after hours for emergencies. They are awesome vets and I appreciate them even more after reading this thread.
 

otto

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When Tolly :angel:'s seizures first started I was still in the process of looking for just the right vet. I was on my third try, when the seizures started. I had chosen this vet based on an article in the local paper, calling her a "feline specialist" because she took some special course at Cornell. How could I go wrong with that, right? I had been to them already, once for his herpes eyes (for which she was not helpful).

Well, the first thing I discovered, on my first visit, was that she was rough and impatient with Tolly. I figured maybe she was having a bad day, and gave her another try, this time with one of my other cats, for just vaccinations. This time (I wasn't told when I made the appointment) I saw her husband, also a vet, and he spent the entire 20 minutes complaining about the area (they are from New York City) I also discovered, to my horror that they do de-claws.

The third bad mark against them was that their front desk person was really a miserable person, rude and..oh just awful.

So I had just about decided to keep looking, when the seizures happened. Out of my mind with worry, I packed Tolly in his carrier and flew to the vet. I walked in with him, it was about 4:30 in the afternoon, I was trying to stay calm but was very near hysterics.

The vet was sitting on the front desk on the phone. The receptionist barely looked at me, only just long enough to say "we're closed". At that point, they both turned their backs to me. Now I am not normally an assertive person, but when it comes to my cats...watch out. I insisted, loudly, that this was an emergency, Tolly was their patient and there was something was terribly wrong him. The vet put her hand over the phone, turned and gave me a filthy look and said "Do you mind? I'm on the PHONE. I'm off duty, can't help you" and turned her back again. The receptionist started filing her nails, also keeping her back to me. I was.....astounded. They flat out REFUSED to help him.

I never went back there of course, but I have a friend who uses them. She has encountered their refusal to deal with emergencies in "off" hours too, but she continues to use them, I have no idea why.

A "feline specialist " who declaws and refuses emergencies. Can you imagine?

PS: I guess I should add the rest of the story. I flew home and called another vet, out of the phone book, the next one on my list to try, in fact. They were closed but had an "on call for emergency" number. I called the on call vet, who was some distance away, and when I told him what was happening he told me "It sounds like a behavioral problem I can't help you". My gosh, I couldn't believe this. At that point I called my former vet, the vet I had used before I moved too far away for him to be practical. He had a machine and I left a message. He called me back at 11 pm. Questioned me closely about symptoms and asked me how Tolly was doing right then. Asked me how long it would take me to get there. When I told him a little over an hour (which meant after midnight) he said "I'll be here, come on in". Bless him. He started Tolly on phenobarbital right away. I think he expected me to stay with his practice now, but the travel was just too much for me and the cats. I found another vet locally (didn't stay with her either, more awful experiences, but she never turned away emergencies at least), though at first I did keep him updated on Tolly, but he was..a bit put out that I didn't stay with him.
 
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misty8723

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A "feline specialist " who declaws and refuses emergencies. Can you imagine?
 
There is a feline only vet in the area who used to proudly proclaim on her web site that she "specialized" in declawing.  Needless to say, my cats have never gone there and it would have to be a dire emergency before I would even consider it.

We did see another cat only vet (two of them at the same practice) when we were tryng to get a diagnosis for Cindy.  They were very nice, very gentle and thorough. The staff were all very nice.  But both vets advised us not to "put her through surgery," and had pretty much written her off, like 3 months left take her home and make her comfortable.

Our regular vet said she thought Cindy was a great candidate for surgery, asked us if we wanted to do chemo, told us she was not about to give up on Cindy.  The surgery was in January, and she is doing very well.  I don't know what the ultimate outcome will be, since she's still doing chemo and has had a bit of a set back with a yeast infection, but it's definite we would not have her now if we had listened to those other vets.
 

denice

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The vet clinic that I take my cats to do have the laser declaw on their website.  They also have behavior counseling and advertise declaw as the last option.  I know a lot of vets don't like to declaw but see it as a way to keep some cats in their home.
 
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