The new normal in veterinary medicine

[Anonymous]

Thank you, OP. We have been with the same vet practice for 20yrs. They are kind, compassionate and so good to us and our pets. We have seen it get busier and more expensive and know it isn’t easy. I also have a good friend in another state who is a vet and has shared with me some of the stresses in the profession.

You are needed. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t more bets band together and open more practices to compete with ones taken over by corporate ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t more bets band together and open more practices to compete with ones taken over by corporate ones.

OP here - because it all comes down to money....much more expensive to do it that way. Corporations buy the practices, offer higher salaries, etc....to get the share of the market.

[Anonymous]

When many of us were young, did you pets have an annual exam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vet here....I am going to write this as compassionately and realistically as possible.

Your vet's office is slammed. More pets. Decreased number of vets because many older ones retired during the pandemic. Some offices closed entirely. Decreased staffing - huge shortage of veterinary technicians and assistants. Increased negativity from clients. Corporate ownership of many practices, so the vet has NO CONTROL over prices. Vets leaving the field because of dissatisfaction. Crippling educational debt (often over 120K). High suicide rates. Long waits for annual exam appointments - sometimes 4 weeks or more. Sick visits are often scheduled only that morning - just like at your doctors office - or you may be sent to an ER/Urgent care facility.

These are the facts. The new normal. You cannot just walk in an expect to be seen. You cannot call and expect them to fit you in around your schedule. Those days are gone. When I walk into work every day, my schedule is booked from start to finish and I have to be very creative to squeeze in the extras that I know need to be seen. I have not taken an actual lunch break in years. I eat at my desk between appointments - if I get to eat.

So, when people complain about prices or not being able to be seen, this is why.

Your vet's office is working their tails off. Have some compassion and appreciate them.

my daughter had outstanding GPS from a science program at Virginia Tech. She was rejected 2 years in a row from 5 different Vet schools.

You get no sympathy. You and your ilk created this issue by limiting the number of Vets

Holy s! What an inappropriate response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vet here....I am going to write this as compassionately and realistically as possible.

Your vet's office is slammed. More pets. Decreased number of vets because many older ones retired during the pandemic. Some offices closed entirely. Decreased staffing - huge shortage of veterinary technicians and assistants. Increased negativity from clients. Corporate ownership of many practices, so the vet has NO CONTROL over prices. Vets leaving the field because of dissatisfaction. Crippling educational debt (often over 120K). High suicide rates. Long waits for annual exam appointments - sometimes 4 weeks or more. Sick visits are often scheduled only that morning - just like at your doctors office - or you may be sent to an ER/Urgent care facility.

These are the facts. The new normal. You cannot just walk in an expect to be seen. You cannot call and expect them to fit you in around your schedule. Those days are gone. When I walk into work every day, my schedule is booked from start to finish and I have to be very creative to squeeze in the extras that I know need to be seen. I have not taken an actual lunch break in years. I eat at my desk between appointments - if I get to eat.

So, when people complain about prices or not being able to be seen, this is why.

Your vet's office is working their tails off. Have some compassion and appreciate them.

my daughter had outstanding GPS from a science program at Virginia Tech. She was rejected 2 years in a row from 5 different Vet schools.

You get no sympathy. You and your ilk created this issue by limiting the number of Vets

OP here. Really? You think I have control over this??

[Anonymous]

Thats private equity take over for you. Sucks!

[Anonymous]

We think the world of our vet. What’s the best way to show appreciation? Is there anything a client of yours has done that boosted your morale? Or that you wish they would do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you can control basic visit fees. My last vet (we moved far away) charged $65 per visit and then increased it to $75 which is a huge difference, especially when a visit is for a shot and lasts all of 5 minutes and the vet doesn't even deal with the pet, it's a technician.

Op here. No I cannot control the price of an office visit. That is set by the management. Not the vet.

And as far as the client who said they have had to call around twice to find a place open to see their pet - we have sick visits set aside every day for our clients. New clients need to possibly wait, but we try. We just cannot do it all. We offer dropoffs , fit in appointments, etc. We are doing all we can.

And you have called around twice. I have called emergency facilities hundreds of times during this pandemic to see my critical patients. It takes a toll on all of us.

Trust me. Your vet is not rolling in the dough and eating bonbons. If they are making a lot of money it is because they have earned it.

My vet was the management. He set the fee himself.

[Anonymous]

^^he also always pushed for unnecessarily expensive things - ooh your cat vomitted, let's do a sonogram for $300

no thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^he also always pushed for unnecessarily expensive things - ooh your cat vomitted, let's do a sonogram for $300

no thanks.

OP here. Then pick a new vet. Why do you go to someone you do not trust?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^he also always pushed for unnecessarily expensive things - ooh your cat vomitted, let's do a sonogram for $300

no thanks.

People like you are why vets are leaving the profession. If you don't want to do a test that can help to diagnose a GI problem, then decline it. For every person complaining about a vet offering an unnecessary test, there are others angry that their vet only prescribed medicine and didn't offer more testing to determine the cause of symptoms. Vets are damned no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^he also always pushed for unnecessarily expensive things - ooh your cat vomitted, let's do a sonogram for $300

no thanks.

People like you are why vets are leaving the profession. If you don't want to do a test that can help to diagnose a GI problem, then decline it. For every person complaining about a vet offering an unnecessary test, there are others angry that their vet only prescribed medicine and didn't offer more testing to determine the cause of symptoms. Vets are damned no matter what.

Are the vets I’ve dealt with unicorns? They have always explained all the options to me, letting me know what is an aggressive approach, what is the minimum standard of care, and anything in between. Before ordering tests, they let me know how they would prioritize tests, according to likelihood of possible diagnoses. The decision is always ultimately mine.

At the veterinary ER, they go over pricing for every item before any decisions are made. It was made very clear to me that for a particular issue, the gold standard treatment posed the least risk to my dog, but was very expensive, and that the vet didn’t feel that it was unreasonable to take a wait-and-see approach because it was possible that my dog didn’t need any treatment at all. I wasn’t pressured into spending big bucks, but I also wasn’t making a decision without all the relevant information.

I have been really impressed with the care my dog has received at both our regular vet’s office and the ER.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^he also always pushed for unnecessarily expensive things - ooh your cat vomitted, let's do a sonogram for $300

no thanks.

Why did you bring your cat to the vet if you don't want them to diagnose the cat? How would you suggest they diagnose the issue? Quiz the cat on what it ate? Palpate the cat's abdomen and ask "does this hurt? how about this?"

Most people don't bring their cat in because it threw up a couple of times. Obviously this was a recurring issue that indicates a potentially serious problem that went beyond trying a change in diet or making sure they didn't eat something poisonous.

Diagnosis is challenging, because the cat can't tell you what's wrong. So you are stuck with the option of trying some cheaper diagnostics first. Let's say you can try a medication first for $50 (which is hit or miss), then an xray for $100 (which may reveal some, but not all conditions), then a sonogram for $200 (which will give you the most information). If you go with the first two and neither of those reveals the issue, then you end up doing the sonogram, and the total spend will be $350 and the client will complain about why you didn't just do the sonogram for $200 to begin with. If you skip straight to the $200 sonogram, the client will complain that you should have tried the $50 fix first, instead of going straight to the expensive diagnostic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We think the world of our vet. What’s the best way to show appreciation? Is there anything a client of yours has done that boosted your morale? Or that you wish they would do?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this too. We have been "frequent flyers" at our vet during the past few years with two senior dogs with various health issues. Once, after they took us in on zero notice for an urgent issue, we came back with donuts. We've tried to send gift baskets here and there and also send lots of messages of thanks. I wonder what would be most appreciated.