5 Generations Pedigree.

Oh! He looks so much better!! You rule, Smudge! Ref the vet, I see my vet every time I walk through the door. Period. That's how they work. I've never been shuffled off to a tech, nor would I allow it. But that's me -- I'm a royal pain in the tail! :biggrin2:
 
Insist on seeing, and speaking to a vet. A groomer, and a front desk person have no business making any kind of diagnosis. These people are not vets.
There is one veterinary practice who runs similarly to the one you have described where I live, and I refuse to go to them. I will not go to a vet where I can not personally speak with the vet, and have my dog evaluated by the vet on my visits.
 
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great pix- glad to hear that Smudge is doing better and jumping into the truck. Callie has only done that once. She walks to the car and waits to be put in it. The time that she jumped in- it was pouring and apparently I was taking too long to get her out of the rain :winkgrin:
As for the vet- we always see the vet- our last visit, the receptionist said he couldn't see us because he had surgery scheduled for first thing in the morning but we saw him before the surgery. love our vet :yes:
 
Smudge is looking ever so much better.

Now for the vet visit....I don't mind techs serving as messengers from the vet, but I'm not there for their advice. Check your vet bills; see what you have been billed for. Count up the dips, scrapes, etc; and then call the vet's office back and insist on speaking directly to the vet. Let them know what you have in your records for # of treatments, etc. Be brief, but thorough in explaining your stress and not getting the trained opinion that you needed at EACH visit. Lay down the law as the consumer, basically. If the vet won't talk with YOU, the PAYING CUSTOMER......

Enough then.
You deserve informed consent and knowledge on each aspect of Smudge's treatment; not a pass-the-buck.

Now when we took Newton in for a fast lab test (vet had no appointments left that week), I was happy for the vet tech to draw the blood and return with the results from the vet. We didn't pay for a vet visit and we didn't get one; we only paid lab fees. When we went back for the full eval; thank you very much we saw the vet and got to discuss our concerns about Newton's background.
 
I can understand the vet nurses giving the dip (as long as they aren't charging a consult fee for it). But if you want to see the vet they should just ask if he can give you a few minutes between consults. Boy, I am constantly phoning my vet and the nurse always puts me through to him if I ask. The only time I dont see him (or his wife who is also a vet) is when they go for their monthly weight check and that costs me nothing anyway.

PS - Smudget has grown heaps!
 
Treatment involves clipping the hair from the affected areas and then shampooing the skin with a good quality degreasing shampoo. The skin is then rinsed with clear water and towel dried. A dip solution containing amitraz (Tactik or Mitoban®) is then sponged over the entire dog and allowed to air dry. A word of caution: Amitraz can be toxic so protective gloves, eye and face protection should be worn by the person applying the dip. This process is repeated every two weeks until skin scrapings reveal all dead mites. This may take from 4 to 8 treatments. If bacterial infections are present, appropriate antibiotics are also administered. It is very important to not stop treatment too soon. We suggest that the dips be continued on two separate occasions two weeks apart AFTER skin scrapings reveal all dead mites. This ensures a complete kill of all stages of the demodex mite (egg-larva-nymph-adult).

That was taken from this website:
http://www.dr-dan.com/red.htm

So they should be doing skin scrapings after each one. After I dropped Smudge off at the vet, my sister and I went to go look for the other vet I wanted to try. A friend gave me directions, and I couldn't find it. I'll go back and look another day when I'm not in a rush to go pick Smudge back up.

I couldn't get him to hold still for a picture of his eye so here's an enlarged picture of one of the other ones I posted earlier today:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/hobitfancier/icu.jpg

That's the same way his eye looked when it first started. It's very close to his eye.
 
That is a really cute picture of Smudge and your gram. You can see he is most interested in what is going on. I think his eye looks so much better.
 
I believe that vet care should be about both the pet and the parent. The vet is our first hand source of knowledge. If they aren't communicating with us... why go?

For a while, I took my babies to a vet that I was less than thrilled with. He made us feel as if it weren't our place to ask questions and that we were less than good parents if we had them. He was expensive and sometimes the tech did everything and he would saunter in to look at the chart and leave.

When we decided to have Pierre fixed (not a hard decision, but we were on the fence about growth issues - partially because our vet wouldn't talk them over with us) - we wanted to get a new vet. We took all of our animals a few times and discovered a whole new world!

They offer new customers a walk-through by request (if they are slow, they will offer). They have an in-house grooming business (separate but share some things - I believe the grooming place rents the space). This is great because I like to get Pierre's nails trimmed back every couple months (I go in every 2 weeks, but am a wimp at length) by a groomer, rather than a vet tech. The vet himself answers the phone when he isn't directly involved with something. And if you ask, you can either get him straight away or he will call you back - and he will consult you over the phone at no charge. The techs are knowledgeable, remember you and your doggies, and if they aren't sure, they make a note of it in the chart and the Doc actually follows up. We have 5 animals altogether and the Dr asks about each one, even if the appt is only for one. The doc doesn't have to be asked to explore homeopathic remedies. He even suggested certain fruits for Duncan to supplement his vitamins while he grows instead of a multivitamin or something.

Most importantly, he is compassionate. When I went to get Chancellor after his x-rays, he sat on the couch in the exam room with me and explained what he saw. He showed me on the picture. He laid out all of the points, while I just nodded and tried not to cry. When I needed it, he gave me space so I could call my husband. He didn't rush our decision (which is 'watch and wait' because of the size and aggressiveness of it compounded with his age). I could feel his remorse for the situation and his understanding that we simply might not be able to afford an optional $950 exploratory surgery and that one Chance - with all the evidence of weight loss, age, and previous living conditions - it wasn't best for our boy.

That is what I hope for every pet and pet parent. A vet like mine. If your doctor treated you this way, you would find a new one - I hope. Your gut is telling you a lot.

Perhaps this second vet has a telephone number your friend can give you? I've found that a phone call can tell you a ton about a business.
 
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