Last night every emergency vet hospital closed their doors on us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

The point is that other animals were ALSO experiencing emergencies. OP wants us to believe that she was "shut out" due to malice or laziness, but in reality the emergency vets were at capacity.

They can't bend space time to service OP.

So, yes, it's sad and frustrating and eye-opening but OP's tone sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

+1

Nobody except one person suggested not to adopt, so no, this thread is not bananas. We are simply pointing out the math that more pets = fewer care opportunities, as well as deflecting the blame OP was clearly sending to vets, who are under incredible stress right now, and don't need OP's added guilt.

Do you think vets are happy to deny care? Why do you think a lot of them are suicidal right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

Do you think most people adopted by rescuing a dog from under a truck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

The point is that other animals were ALSO experiencing emergencies. OP wants us to believe that she was "shut out" due to malice or laziness, but in reality the emergency vets were at capacity.

They can't bend space time to service OP.

So, yes, it's sad and frustrating and eye-opening but OP's tone sucks.

Agree. As a person who has had 3 animals experience bowel obstruction surgery over the years, some are far more “emergency” than others. What OP describes would be a drop off at my vet, and he would get to it when the more acute issues were under control, prob not surgical but needs to be checked. Could be many hours. I have seen the other kind too...that looks very different, like vets waiting for your arrival and have the surgical table prepped level...the animal is much more sick. And before anyone gets panties in a wad because I have seen this a few times, I have a farm that currently houses 50+ animals, and have for 40 years, so I have seen a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

The point is that other animals were ALSO experiencing emergencies. OP wants us to believe that she was "shut out" due to malice or laziness, but in reality the emergency vets were at capacity.

They can't bend space time to service OP.

So, yes, it's sad and frustrating and eye-opening but OP's tone sucks.

Agree. As a person who has had 3 animals experience bowel obstruction surgery over the years, some are far more “emergency” than others. What OP describes would be a drop off at my vet, and he would get to it when the more acute issues were under control, prob not surgical but needs to be checked. Could be many hours. I have seen the other kind too...that looks very different, like vets waiting for your arrival and have the surgical table prepped level...the animal is much more sick. And before anyone gets panties in a wad because I have seen this a few times, I have a farm that currently houses 50+ animals, and have for 40 years, so I have seen a lot.

Thank you for this. As a new pet owner with a puppy (first dog we've ever owned), how do we know when it's a real emergency versus something that will pass on its own?

[Anonymous]

Being a regular vet had not been "lucrative" in decades: vet school is expensive, young people aren't becoming vets, old vets are retiring, and practices that could make it work are getting bought out by big chains. Emergency vets have even higher costs and a less stable client pool than daytime vets.

There was just a story in the news about a vet who's retiring and giving away his practice because if no one takes it his rural county will have no vets. No one will buy it, he is giving away everything for free including his truck.

My aunt was support staff at one that got bought last year: some of the vets stayed on as employees, some retired, and all the support staff were laid off. My aunt was retirement age already and working there to get discounted care for her menagerie; it's not like people were jumping on those jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

The point is that other animals were ALSO experiencing emergencies. OP wants us to believe that she was "shut out" due to malice or laziness, but in reality the emergency vets were at capacity.

They can't bend space time to service OP.



So, yes, it's sad and frustrating and eye-opening but OP's tone sucks.

Agree. As a person who has had 3 animals experience bowel obstruction surgery over the years, some are far more “emergency” than others. What OP describes would be a drop off at my vet, and he would get to it when the more acute issues were under control, prob not surgical but needs to be checked. Could be many hours. I have seen the other kind too...that looks very different, like vets waiting for your arrival and have the surgical table prepped level...the animal is much more sick. And before anyone gets panties in a wad because I have seen this a few times, I have a farm that currently houses 50+ animals, and have for 40 years, so I have seen a lot.

Thank you for this. As a new pet owner with a puppy (first dog we've ever owned), how do we know when it's a real emergency versus something that will pass on its own?

If it is really bad they’ll fit you in, for one thing. You should still seek care for the symptoms OP saw, but you won’t be at the top of the cue....like a human ER, vets triage. But acute constant pain/distress (not just when having the bowel movement), lethargy/growling or oppositely, thrashing-type behavior, vomiting repeatedly, high temp, etc. are a few signs of an issue that needs swift action. Failure to eat or drink is a less acute sign, but still needs seen by someone. Keep a list of vets to call, not just one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

+1

Nobody except one person suggested not to adopt, so no, this thread is not bananas. We are simply pointing out the math that more pets = fewer care opportunities, as well as deflecting the blame OP was clearly sending to vets, who are under incredible stress right now, and don't need OP's added guilt.

Do you think vets are happy to deny care? Why do you think a lot of them are suicidal right now?

Your hysteria = bananas. Thanks for proving PPs point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

I think the reason this thread is "bananas" is because the OP's post seemed to blame the vets for not helping her dog. It's not the vets' fault that there has been a huge upsurge in demand for vet services. They cannot clone themselves, and there are only so many pets that a vet can handle safely. It is a really unfortunate situation, and as a pet owner I am glad to be aware of it. I am also glad to hear that the dog is okay. But blaming vets in this situation is just going to cause more of them to leave the profession and exacerbate the problem.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to try to offer a slightly different perspective FWIW. Last weekend my dog suffered a health emergency and we rushed him to our closest emergency vet. It was about 5 in the afternoon and they took us right in and immediately started working on him because he was in distress. As we sat there waiting for test results, at least 4 other animals were brought in in varying states of emergency. We left for a bit and came back and even more animals had come in. There were two vets working and a variety of techs and other staff. Every one of them was working their asses off and were so incredibly polite and kind to everyone there waiting for news on their pets. They explained that they were backed up, explained that they had to triage and prioritize the most dire cases, and did their best to give everyone an idea of how long they might expect to wait. By the next morning, when our dog thankfully had recovered, they were completely full and were turning people away. Inside, when we went to pick him up, the staff had begun to turn over and everyone was still hustling. People from the night shift had stayed to help manage the overload. They brought an extra vet (I guess they have some on retainer?) to help stay on top of the cases and allow them to accommodate additional patients.

OP, I wasn't with you yesterday and I'm sorry your puppy had to wait a long time to get seen. I'm sure it was scary and frustrating, but I wanted to offer my experience because I'm willing to bet that inside each of the clinics you were turned away from, there were dedicated people trying their best to help every animal that was already there and they had to make the call.

[Anonymous]

It’s a real problem. I had to call ten to twelve places before I could find someone to see my dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is bananas. OP is relaying a scary experience that we should all be aware of as pet owners in the area. Yes, a lot of us adopted pets during the pandemic. My dog was living under a truck... is it better if we don't give dogs loving homes because it's hard to find veterinary care? I'm sorry this happened to you, OP, and I hope your dog is doing ok.

The point is that other animals were ALSO experiencing emergencies. OP wants us to believe that she was "shut out" due to malice or laziness, but in reality the emergency vets were at capacity.

They can't bend space time to service OP.

So, yes, it's sad and frustrating and eye-opening but OP's tone sucks.

I didn't get that implication at all- malice or laziness. What I got is that she was frightened about possibly not getting help for her screaming dog. At no time did she suggest she was denied, she just couldn't get help. You, PP, inserted a tone that was absent from her post. I hope you aren't a vet.

[Anonymous]

For those of us in the back, how has Covid interfered with getting help or emergency hrlp? Too many vets and staff quitting? And, while I understand the larger picture of veterinary stress and hours and pay, what's different now causing these closures and back ups? It's definitely different than human covid care. The animals don't have covid. Is it more animals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are full, they are full. It's no different that a hospital ICU at capacity because of COVID, who can't take someone who gets in a car crash. If you don't have enough vets and enough staff and enough ORs and beds, you don't have them.

My brother was in a car accident during Dec and was rerouted to a hospital 20 min further away. He was the last patient they took that night. If one person had arrived before him, he would have needed a medical helicopter to another county. This is life in a pandemic.