Our luck is going to change...

Wow, I can't believe that vet wouldn't see your dog. Years ago, our Maltese puppy had a hypoglycemic attack and we called a vet who wasn't our own. She immediately responded and came in early to treat our puppy.

If that vet is a member of the AAHA, I would report them.

I hope 2013 is a better year for Serendipity.
 
How awful for you and Seren. Shame on them!

So the vet that you talked with, just brushed you off? Unbelievable.

I would report that office immediately, and tell your sis to find another vet because that clinic will let her down some day also.

Can't make people care, not in the US and not in Canada. It is epidemic this new "I,I,I,I....." attitude.

Keep us posted on Seren.

Hugs,
Kate
 
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I'm glad I'm not the only one shocked by this - thanks for the support, everyone. The point where complete disbelief turned to fury for me was when they wouldn't even sell me the food. It was just food! There are no special medical ingredients in it - it's just food that happens to be sold at veterinary offices because of the profit margin!!!

My sister was shocked too, but there are very few vets in her area so she can't really switch. It was a real eye opener for her, though.

I'm going to take a look at the Canadian Veterinary standards - I'm assuming there's a clause in there similar to the one on the AVMA site.

Seren had her surgery this morning, and came out of it in good shape :smile2:. She currently has a blow up cone on, and absolutely hates it. She keeps sending me the evil eye. I bring her back to get the stitches off in two weeks, and then hopefully that's it for medical issues for the year. I also picked up a couple cans of the food (in case of emergency), and her hypothyroid medication...so now we're hopefully set! I could use a few months without vet bills :lol:
 
So sorry to hear of all this...glad that Seren is better.It's really good you recognizd what was wrong with her !! Some vet. hospitals want to make sure that their clients are given first preference for appointments so maybe this was the case...IDK, holidays are always tricky with early closings and light staffing etc.,but HGE is serious and most vet. hospitals will go the extra step to accomadate relatives of clients...maybe they were maxed out appointment wise. I am wondering why an emergency hospital couldn't see you on a Sunday-that's when they are open and we are closed around here. The food is by prescription only-get one from your vet to keep on hand-if it's Hill's ID, that is just chicken/rice and as you know can be fixed at home. As you mentioned it's always a good idea to have a copy of your pets's medical hx and vaccination certificate as well as medications and special diets when traveling. In the states a vet can't prescribe meds to a pet they've never seen before, I would imagine Canada has similar laws. It seems heartless, but maybe the vet had all the emergencies he could handle or maybe that is just the practice policy...the perfect storm in your case.
 
Not surprising they wouldn't see her or sell you food (and I am not shocked at this, guess because I work in the human medical field). Check into the Ontario Vet Association and see what they say about it. I know a vet here in town didn't want to sell me their food as it is considered a prescription and they can't be sure, if they don't know the animal, that it is the right food. Still no excuse for not seeing an animal in distress. Hope she is better soon.
 
Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought such a thing would happen. A vet that would not treat a dog in an emergency situation. Unbelievable. That vet should be put out of business.
 
I was thinking about this again last night and something occurred to me. I worked a number of years in a doctors' office and very often, for established and new patients, what should and would have been considered urgent medical situations by the healthcare provider often were not considered as such by the person(s) handling the phones. If the caller didn't speak directly with a provider, or the phone person did not convey the message properly to the provider, a patient's situation could have been mishandled. Speaking for myself, certain things (chest pain, breathing problems, bleeding, etc) always set off the alarm to me - better safe than sorry - but not every person answering the phone interprets caller's words the same way or has enough medical knowledge to hear the ding-ding-ding.

The phone operators are very rarely medical professionals, at any office, and you have to be adamant about getting your message to the provider. If, of course, you spoke directly with the vet and were still blown off, then yeah, I'd definitely be ticked off. Regardless of whether the schedule was packed, if unable to squeeze you in they should have at least offered to refer you. It's not like you were calling because your dog had the sniffles.

I understand about the food, though. As another poster mentioned, there are legal barriers preventing physicians from issuing prescriptions to patients they have never evaluated, and most healthcare providers will not issue prescriptions to patients that have either not been seen for a long time, or for conditions that have not been evaluated in person. If the food is Rx-only, well... seems silly but it probably comes down to legal concerns.
 
celloyogi said:
I was thinking about this again last night and something occurred to me. I worked a number of years in a doctors' office and very often, for established and new patients, what should and would have been considered urgent medical situations by the healthcare provider often were not considered as such by the person(s) handling the phones. If the caller didn't speak directly with a provider, or the phone person did not convey the message properly to the provider, a patient's situation could have been mishandled. Speaking for myself, certain things (chest pain, breathing problems, bleeding, etc) always set off the alarm to me - better safe than sorry - but not every person answering the phone interprets caller's words the same way or has enough medical knowledge to hear the ding-ding-ding.

The phone operators are very rarely medical professionals, at any office, and you have to be adamant about getting your message to the provider. If, of course, you spoke directly with the vet and were still blown off, then yeah, I'd definitely be ticked off. Regardless of whether the schedule was packed, if unable to squeeze you in they should have at least offered to refer you. It's not like you were calling because your dog had the sniffles.

I understand about the food, though. As another poster mentioned, there are legal barriers preventing physicians from issuing prescriptions to patients they have never evaluated, and most healthcare providers will not issue prescriptions to patients that have either not been seen for a long time, or for conditions that have not been evaluated in person. If the food is Rx-only, well... seems silly but it probably comes down to legal concerns.
Click to expand...
Yep sounds like good advice. Bring the dog by and if they still say no then ask where should I go since I live 10 hours away and she needs care NOW not 10 hours from now.
 
celloyogi said:
I was thinking about this again last night and something occurred to me. I worked a number of years in a doctors' office and very often, for established and new patients, what should and would have been considered urgent medical situations by the healthcare provider often were not considered as such by the person(s) handling the phones. If the caller didn't speak directly with a provider, or the phone person did not convey the message properly to the provider, a patient's situation could have been mishandled. Speaking for myself, certain things (chest pain, breathing problems, bleeding, etc) always set off the alarm to me - better safe than sorry - but not every person answering the phone interprets caller's words the same way or has enough medical knowledge to hear the ding-ding-ding.

The phone operators are very rarely medical professionals, at any office, and you have to be adamant about getting your message to the provider. If, of course, you spoke directly with the vet and were still blown off, then yeah, I'd definitely be ticked off. Regardless of whether the schedule was packed, if unable to squeeze you in they should have at least offered to refer you. It's not like you were calling because your dog had the sniffles.

I understand about the food, though. As another poster mentioned, there are legal barriers preventing physicians from issuing prescriptions to patients they have never evaluated, and most healthcare providers will not issue prescriptions to patients that have either not been seen for a long time, or for conditions that have not been evaluated in person. If the food is Rx-only, well... seems silly but it probably comes down to legal concerns.
Click to expand...

It was the vet that I talked to - it was after hours, so I was trying to arrange an emergency appointment.

If there was anything in the food that required a prescription, I could understand it - but there's no medicine in the food. It's sold at vet's offices because of the profit margin. I've bought it from multiple vet's offices in Thunder Bay, and never required a prescription. But that's besides the point - if they wanted me to jump through hoops to get an appointment to get a prescription to get some food, I would have done that - but they wouldn't give me the appointment to get the prescription to get the food. It's one thing to say "we can't sell this food because you need a prescription"...but it's another to say "we can't sell you this food because you need a prescription, but we won't make an appointment for you to get a prescription because you're not a client." Emergency appointments here cost about 400% more than a normal visit - I was willing and happy to pay it...but we weren't clients.
 
I went through this when Shona seizured. My vet was an hour away and she was doing 360's with each seizure every 9 minutes. I called everyone around me and no one would let me bring her in even though it was office hours as "she wasn't a client of the clinic". Finally, my horse vet came to the house, after he finished a C section on a cow, and euthanized my girl. Now, with the vets worried about losing their license if they sell anything prescription without a yearly PTR on file for an animal it's pretty hard to get them to do anything for you. I doubt there is an emergency clinic in Thunder Bay and I do know what the pricing is up there - my friend is charged by the minute when the horse vet comes out for anything!
So glad your girl made it okay. My fingers are crossed that you have an uneventful 2013 but so far my luck hasn't changed either. We'll just have to sell pencils on the streetcorner together :winkgrin:
 
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