Vet Practice Rankings?

Is there such a thing as a web site which ranks vet practices in the USA by state?

We want to switch vets and I'm running up against a brick wall trying to find one that has a good reputation.  I can go by word of mouth, but those are further than we'd like to drive with the kitties.  I'll do it if necessary but some are closer than others.

thanks!

That's a hard one, I went through the vet hopping thing for six years with a chronically ill kitty before finding a good vet.  Are you looking for a vet for just kitties or a general vet?  I am sure it varies by state but I know Ohio publicizes vets that have received disciplinary actions in the past two years on their vet licensing website.  Most of the punishments consisted of a fairly small fine and a requirement to take a class.  The class title is also listed and I am assuming that the class has to do with what they are receiving disciplinary action for.

I know that doesn't help with the best vets but it would help with which ones to avoid.

I'd prefer a specialist, but alas, that much I already know does not exist anywhere nearby.

A regular vet is fine.  I'm in North NJ and we have many near us but the two I've already been to I really have disliked.  There's one about a 15 minute drive (as opposed to the 2 minute one I currently do) that the rescue group we got Cocoabean from uses.  I met one of the vets at an event and she was very nice and I felt good about her, but the drive is a bit off putting.  Casper in particular gets very agitated in the car (although, is a very good patient once there).  Cocoa is somewhat better but once he starts complaining I think it sets her off lol.  Then we have two annoyed cats yowling and crying in the car.  Awesome right?  

Are there any mobile vets in your area?

You can try Yelp!, but I would say accept nothing less than 4.5 stars or 5 stars. People tend to rate their vet very highly. Plus, I found that it is hard to downgrade their rating once you go to them. At one vet I started having problems with availability (have to wait too long for appointments). I wanted to keep them on good terms just in case, but in truthfully I would've downgraded their rating.

Visit their office. Make sure it is clean, ask some questions ("What is the doctor's opinion on _________?"). Look up where they got their degrees from.

I moved to a new area last year and in an effort to find good vets for both cats and birds and I used Yelp!, VetRatingz, my local subreddit, my local LiveJournal community, and if there are other users on this or other forums who live or have lived in your area, it can never hurt to ask.

On the same note as @Raintyger, be sure to read the written reviews too. Two of the vets I've seen (specializing in exotics) have received some less than stellar reviews but have been great. For example, the vet I visit every month and have fantastic, caring, courteous experiences with has a 3.7/5 rating because the people who have bad things to say certainly won't be shy about sharing their personal experiences. This could be the death of a pet (whether inevitable or not at the time of the visit) or a terrible rating based solely on the cost, which at a vet, is high to begin with.

People who have good experiences fall into two categories: the raving, excited customers who want to blurt out to the world how great a find this place is, and those who see it as commonplace and that it meets what they need in a vet, so it works, and nothing has to have a bonanza celebration of online reviewing because it's just an office they use.

Going out of your way to do online reviews, just like those call centre "rate your experience" surveys will only be done by people who were blown away by either how good or bad their experience was. The people who left happy but don't have the time or effort to go out of their way to do those are just happy people that we seldom see reviews from.

Another thought--I noticed that online reviews were very heavily weighted towards vets whose price was cheap. Low prices don't necessarily mean the vet is bad, but I do think the bias towards saving money was rather heavy.

I have only written an online review for my vet, nothing else.  I waited until I had been going there for 2 years so it wasn't just that I was grateful for figuring out what was going on with my kitty and pulling him through a serious illness after 6 years of vet hopping.  I wrote reviews in three different places.  I noticed on yelp that at some point my review went into the second page of reviews that yelp says are iffy.  I guess you have to regularly wright reviews for them to consider you to be reliable.  I personally am leery of people who have written literally hundreds of reviews.  I just wouldn't give anything they said a lot of creedence, I would even doubt if they have any personal experience with whoever they are reviewing.

Try Angieslist.com

I have found it very useful and the cost is reasonable.  You can always cancel.   Of course it will help with most other services besides vets too.

Consumer Reports has a subsidiary of sorts, called Consumer Checkbook. They occasionally do a full-length, full rating, of vets (as well as plumbers, day care centers, etc.) If you're near one of the areas they cover, that is an excellent resource.

Denice said:

 
I have only written an online review for my vet, nothing else.  I waited until I had been going there for 2 years so it wasn't just that I was grateful for figuring out what was going on with my kitty and pulling him through a serious illness after 6 years of vet hopping.  I wrote reviews in three different places.  I noticed on yelp that at some point my review went into the second page of reviews that yelp says are iffy.  I guess you have to regularly wright reviews for them to consider you to be reliable.  I personally am leery of people who have written literally hundreds of reviews.  I just wouldn't give anything they said a lot of creedence, I would even doubt if they have any personal experience with whoever they are reviewing.

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If you write only one review and make it either one star or five stars Yelp! will filter it. They consider accounts that were created for the sole purpose of writing one review not reliable. If you write a lot of reviews the hidden review will eventually resurface. Other actions that will get your reviews hidden are to write a lot of reviews at once, all good (Yelp! figures this probably means you were paid to post positive reviews), or all bad (in this case you're considered to be creating false reviews because you probably own a business and want to demolish the competition). The Yelp! filter is too sensitive and I read all the filtered reviews all the time. If the review mentions specifics, then I believe it. If the review makes a bunch of vague, BS sounding statements ("Tasha at the Cook's Emporium is awesome, she'll do anything to help you..") then I take it with a grain of salt.

I have 116 reviews on Yelp!. I went to each of the vendors and try very hard to think of BOTH good and bad points for every review I write. They were written over 2.5 years, so that's 4 reviews a month on average. A high number of reviews doesn't necessarily mean the reviewer is bogus, you just have to keep writing. I keep writing because it's fun when someone hits that "useful" button for your review (similar to "Purraise" here), plus I figure if I use the reviews I should contribute back.

Raintyger said:

I have 116 reviews on Yelp!. I went to each of the vendors and try very hard to think of BOTH good and bad points for every review I write. They were written over 2.5 years, so that's 4 reviews a month on average. A high number of reviews doesn't necessarily mean the reviewer is bogus, you just have to keep writing. I keep writing because it's fun when someone hits that "useful" button for your review (similar to "Purraise" here), plus I figure if I use the reviews I should contribute back.

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I have 417. :anon: I gave my vet 5 stars. It's a feline only practice that I drive over a half hour to get to. Going to a few other vets made me realize how good my vet is.

If you decide to use Yelp, read the filtered reviews as well.

Because of Yelp I now know of another feline only vet in a nearby city. Some gave them awful reviews, but the bulk of those were because of price. It's good to know another good local feline-only vet if I need one. A friend that lives in that city was recently looking for a vet and I suggested them. She really liked them and the prices weren't that bad.

That's a good question. Is a feline only practice preferable? There is one 5 minutes from me but I have avoided it because I heard of one person with a bad experience.

I had a bad experience with a feline only practice before going to the feline only practice that I go to now.  It really depends because there are no requirements beyond only treating kitties.  The head vet, who is now my kitties vet since our vet bought an established practice in another state, is a certified feline specialist.  I don't know if that is why the practice is much better or not.  They do charge more than the average for general vets in this area.  I don't know if their charges are in line with other specialists in this area.

Great feedback everyone, highly appreciated.

Totally forgot about Angie's List, I'm a member.

As for reviews, I take them with a grain of salt a lot of times because people who DO like their vets (or, whatever they are rating) tend to be a lower majority than those who complain.  I know - I'm one of them LOL.  I have read through everything possible but can not come up with a single one that is overall highly rated.  All vets in my area are equally loved or hated and it's difficult to make a decision based on those kinds of reviews.  

BTW, it isn't necessary to have a feline only vet.  To me it's a nice perk because well, no doggies barking to irritate the cats.  But these are hard to find from what I understand.  Perhaps in very metropolitan areas but not the suburbs or rural areas.

BTW, the vet I go to currently on Yelp gets pretty darn good reviews but we hate him.  He's rather condescending, has a huge ego and implies we should not do research on our own.  Also, they consistently screw up their billing; you have to go over it with a fine tooth comb and what is worse is all the charges they try to upsell as well.  

We've been getting "Your Pet is Overdue for a Visit" cards since the summer.  Their last visit was late February of this year so, still a few months out before due again.  

I think this is an instance where they are in it for the money more than truly caring for the pets which they see.  Only good thing I can say about them is they are pretty good handling our two, and seem to enjoy them.  Of course, I have two insanely well behaved kitties when being vetted, so patient and good,  so any vet would be happy to have them as patients LOL

There is also the mcdonalds approach to vet care which is Banfield. They are associated with some petsmarts. I like their transparent pricing. They are good for simple standard care but in difficult situations they are not good.

I disliked Banfield even more than the practice we go to now.  We used them first when we got Casper because we didn't know better.  Awful customer service at the local ones by me.  And didn't like the way they treated him either.  I know each one is different, and at times they might be the only choice, but based on my experience I wouldn't recommend them.

I read that vet techs feel private practices are in general much better because the vets there have more dedication to their profession. This is because the vet had to spend a lot of energy establishing their own business.

Oh, and don't dismiss vets because of pricing. I finally got tired of not getting answers and went to a vet that was a bit expensive. He gave a diagnosis which was correct, using less tests. So in the end he was less expensive even though I paid $85 for the exam fee.

Ok so, just got in touch with the person that fostered Cocoabean when we got her.  She recommended the vet she uses, and thinks very highly of her and the practice on the whole.  

Certainly for me, money isn't the issue; I can afford it.  I just want someone I can have a conversation with and not feel like I'm being talked down to especially since I'm fairly knowledgeable about feline health by now.

I called to request their records from the current vet.  They said they had to put a request in with him.  I asked to have it mailed, I have NO intention of going out of my way to pick them up.  She asked if we were switching and I told her yes.  Then asked to who, and I said I didn't know yet since their yearlies are months away.  Hoping he doesn't try and call me lol.  He's been really vocal on Yelp, etc. when people give him poor reviews - he sounds like a ranting insane person blaming the customer instead of taking a look at his own actions.

That one will go to voicemail for sure