I have posted horrible accusations by others against many vets, many associated with LAAS.
VCA is making record profits, and, as one commenter related, due to them performing unnecessary numbers of procedures.
I must have received 15 emails concerning bad vet acts or practices. It is overwhelming. I don't post many because some are from insiders and I want to protect them.
So, I, and one (and possibly two) consultants have decided to set up a website providing information of vet care and animal related prices in the Southern California area.
Vet's will receieve a rating of 1 to 5 in several different areas. Readers can leave ratings and comments just as you find on eBay or ResellersRatings.com.
Horror stories as well as good will be posted. Various vet prices for different procedures will be listed and readers can submit bills for analysis. Procedures would include consult charge, SQ hydration, charges for fluids, catheterization, vaccines, shots, take home antibiotics and prescription food. Naturally these prices will change, but we will update the information as new info comes in.
Bills could be submitted for our analysis and comment to you as well as allowing us to build a database of current charges for vets as well as "irregularities" we see. Referrals may be made for legal action if the reader wants.
Readers will be able to submit complaints about a specific vet, submit medical records and they will be reviewed by a professional with comment.
Retailer food prices will be posted so you know the cheapest current price for Friskies or I Ams at Walmart or Petsmart. Naturally we will allow advertising by retailers and possibly from vets until they get on our Bad Vet list.
There will be periodic exposess of specific vet practices, as well as stories of changingservice patterns in Southern California.
As of now, the animal community has only word of mouth as to who is a good vet or a bad vet, whether they are being overcharged and whether their pet is receiving good care or not.
This website will fill an information gap, hopefully allowing you to avoid being overcharged for poor or even life-threatening services such as Lakshmi got from Value Vet.
As one professional told me, the veterinary industry has no oversight and vets go out of their way not to criticize other vets' practices.
Please tell us the kind of information you would like to see on such a site.
My friend Ken Rockwell has a how-to photography site which gets well over 100,000 visits a day. Of course he appeals to a world-wide audience and our site will only be for Southern California, but I'll bet there are more animal owners on the web in So. California than Nikon users world-wide.
Help us out; what information do you want?
Also, if any of you have seen sites with similar content, or see site we can link to, please let me know.
8 comments:
You can pull information about vets from the state vet website and sites like yelp that rate vets.
I want to know the qualifications of every person in my vet practice. Sure, the vet is doing the surgery, but who is taking my dog's x-rays? Who is giving drugs to my cat? I know it's not the vet. I want to know what goes on in "the back" and I want to know by who.
If you have a veterinarian with character, and your pet is being treated in a practice of excellent quality, he/she should not mind giving you a tour and introduction of staff. In fact, they should be proud to show off their facility and personnel.
Try asking! The acid test is whether the request is met with enthusiasm or excuses.
But please, don't expect to be present in the room when x-rays or surgery is being done. That would not be appropriate.
--A Seasoned DVM and former practice-owner
I am not sure if it is only a rumor (and I pray to God that it isn't)--but I would like to know why Dr. Sharp's office does not sedate before performing neuters and spays and how they perform euth on anxious animals without any form of sedation first.
Does this mean that the animals are held down by force? Papoosed with their little legs held by force until some kind of needle goes in for blood drawing, whatever?
It is impossible to believe that animals, mainly cats, are cut open without anesthesia or that even semi-fractious or fractious cats are euthed with no sedation.
Any way to find out how many vets in fact perform these procedures inhumanely?
I do know the vet at Devonshire Hospital cut open my cat unnecessarily when she had a spay scar. They sliced her open at the last minute and didn't give her any pain meds when the trapper caught my cat and took her in for a spay. They never checked for a microchip and my cat not only had a spay scar, clear as day, but she had a microchip and a cropped ear to physically demonstrate she had a caregiver. She was shivering and crying uncontrollably when I discovered my cat had been trapped and the vet had her at his office. They didn't notify me either. I discovered they had my cat and what had happened to her by chance when the trapper came over to ask me if I could foster a cat she had trapped and was going to put her up for adoption.
The trapper never bothered to ask the vet to check for a microchip and she didn't want to take the cat to the shelter so that her owner could retrieve her.
She ended up sliced open cruelly, inhumanely because the vet wanted to take advantage of the voucher. Never even asked the trapper if she wanted to give the cat a pain killer following the butchering she received unnecessarily.
I forgot the man's name who performed the surgery..Farhid something. I know my cat wasn't given anesthesia before surgery either, and they weren't going to give my cat back to me when I showed them ID and wanted my cat back. They said I wasnt' the owner. The owner was the person who signed for the surgery as far as they were concerned.
I would like to know how many vet techs out there are forced to pin the animals down with no anesthesia before surgery and no sedation before euthanasia and why not, particularly if an owner is willing to pay the extra costs--if the vets would only perform their procedures correctly.
How many of these vets are pushing these huge needles into the tiny veins of these poor little babies, including IV drips, without giving them something to bring down their stress level, anxiety, or pain?
I'll bet there are quite a bit of them out there, including low-cost and higher paid vets.
I'm no vet or vet tech, but I have a feeling there are a lot of procedures that do not take into account the stress level, anxiety, and pain of the animal.
When one of my cats was crushed by a car, or shot out here (he had a huge hole on the side of his body and was left quadraplegic)---the idiot vet tech pushed some kind of thick needle with a vile of a sort into his vein in order for the final needle to go in. I wanted to be with my cat during his last moments--but they took my cat into the back room and pushed the damned thing into his little vein and left it there, causing him more pain than necessary.
When I had my cat cremated, he still had the damned thing stuck into his little vein with the tape wrapped around his little leg.
What good did it do to TNR that cat. It sure didn't save his life like alley cat allies and stray cat alliance promise.
He had a hole in his side the size of my fist when I found him lying underneath my neighbor's bush at midnight when I went looking the hell all over for him.
He was limp when I picked him up, still alive; his head dropping from side to side. His spinal cord had been crushed.
How he made it from across the street if he was crushed by a moving vehicle, I'll never know.
Yesterday, there was a creme colored German Shepherd mix laying upside down along the shoulder of the 101 going south...just north of the 405 intersection. My cat looked just like him when I discovered him. I'll bet someone threw their dog off the freeway because they didn't want him; couldn't afford to keep him; wouldn't take him to a shelter, or wouldn't take him to a vet to have him humanely euthanized. He had to be beaten and killed, stabbed, or thrown off the freeway to die by a tortous and frightening death.
I'll bet the dog is still there. I would have picked him up, but I was on my way to an oncologist appointment with my husband. I felt like crap...nowhere to park the car, either.
How many of these animals are dying by torture or are being "treated" inhumanely at a vet's office as they are dying painful deaths on the street?
You take an animal to the vet because you don't want the animal to die a slow painful, horrible death. Yet, the vets perform painful unnecessary procedures, if you are willing to pay for them. What the hell?!
The whole point of quality care and quality of life is to be able to properly manage the pain, stress and anxiety for a little animal who doesn't know what the hell is going on and why any of these things have to be done to them in the first place.
Most of the time, the vets won't talk to you. They have their vet techs talk to you, and most often, they sound as if they could care less about the questions being asked--they don't think about what is being done to the animal, and/or have never gone to school.
What are they doing handling your animal? I don't care if it is a stray or feral and he is going back out into the street! He deserves humane treatment, such as pain control, and his anxiety and stress level needs to be reduced to a minimum.
Friggen trapper and vet's office who had my cat in a tiny trap gave her back to me with NO towel around the trap to control the enormous stress she had been under that that office--apparently the trapper also never covered up the cat once the cat got into the trap.
Then, they just left her there, crying all day, under horrific pain and anxiety after she was sliced open.
What nerve to be able to tolerate these acts of cruelty.
>>>I would like to know why Dr. Sharp's office does not sedate before performing neuters and spays<<<
Because sedation costs money. Most clients don't realize like you do that sedation is a necessary part of the preanesthetic process. It is for this reason that many vets will skip this step at the animal's expense. They do this for one of two reasons. 1) They want to save money on the drugs, or 2) They want to charge cheaper then the guy down the street so that they will get your business. Again, most owners don't know anything about preanethetic drugs or how they make the anesthetic procedure less stressful and less painful. All they know is that they shopped around and got the best price. This does not equal the best care. There are those that will respond with arguments about what "should" happen. You seem to realize what DOES happen. Good for you and good for your animals.
>>>Does this mean that the animals are held down by force? Papoosed with their little legs held by force until some kind of needle goes in for blood drawing, whatever?<<<
Yep. Been there, seen it, had to do it myself. Not a fun job. Reasons are the same as stated above. That being said, in all fairness some sedation can compromise an animal's already fragile condition. However, it is the vet's responsibility to inform you of you animal's level of stress and pain and the associated risks of sedation. That is what should happen. What DOES happen is that they take your animal away from you, put them through this trauma and bring him back to you that is none the wiser. Obviously, you are the wiser. If you don't want your pet to struggle during routine treatments and procedures, then ask about sedation. Have it done in your presence and do not let you animal out of your sight until you can see that he/she is appropriately sedated. If you don't think your pet needs sedation and that you are the owner of a perfect little angel ;-), then have the procedure done in the room in your presence. Then you will have your answer as to whether sedation is necessary.
>>>It is impossible to believe that animals, mainly cats, are cut open without anesthesia<<<
In all my years I have never seen this happen. It would be pretty difficult to perform surgery on a moving target. Can you be more specific as to what gave you this idea?
>>>semi-fractious or fractious cats are euthed with no sedation.<<<
Happens all the time for the same reasons stated above.
>>>Any way to find out how many vets in fact perform these procedures inhumanely?<<<
That would be the upcoming vet watchdog website. I bet there are lots of assistants and technicians that would be willing to name some names.
>>>they weren't going to give my cat back to me when I showed them ID and wanted my cat back.<<<
You have the link to the VMB website right? The online form is there for you to file your complaint. You have a very valid complaint.
>>>How many of these vets are pushing these huge needles into the tiny veins of these poor little babies, including IV drips, without giving them something to bring down their stress level, anxiety, or pain?<<<
I've worked for a lot of them. They do it for the aforementioned reasons.
>>>I'll bet there are quite a bit of them out there, including low-cost and higher paid vets.<<<
Less so with the higher paid vets, but it does happen. Because there is only oversight by complaint in the veterinary industry, it is up to you to stop it. Again, we all know what should happen. You know what does happen. I simply want you to know why.
>>>The whole point of quality care and quality of life is to be able to properly manage the pain, stress and anxiety for a little animal who doesn't know what the hell is going on and why any of these things have to be done to them in the first place.<<<
Are you sure you're not in the field? Kudos to you if you're not. You are very well informed.
>>>They have their vet techs talk to you, and most often, they sound as if they could care less about the questions being asked--they don't think about what is being done to the animal, and/or have never gone to school.
<<<
...and therein lies the difference between an unregistered assistant and a licensed, Registered Veterinary Technician. If you don't have a license, you are not a tech. That's the law.
Now, why would these vets want techs that have gone to school? Do you think we cost more, or less as educated and trained staff? Do you think maybe we can tell when corners are being cut better than the part-time, high school student? Who do you want treating your pets? What is most important to you?
>>>What nerve to be able to tolerate these acts of cruelty.<<<
What nerve to stay in the field for the sole purpose of exposing it.
By the way, the Seasoned DVM is right. It is totally inappropriate for an owner to be present for x-rays and surgery. Not to mention how it jeopardizes the patient.
Just my two cents...or three...or four.
Are you the person that has vision problems and talked your husband into feeding cats around Callahan elementary school? I have met and talked tom him.
"Are you the person that has vision problems and talked your husband into feeding cats around Callahan elementary school? I have met and talked tom him."
No sir. That isn't me ( My husband would never be talked into feeding the cats at Callahan. He doesn't perform any cat related tasks...and he is just too weak. He can barely just get to work now).
Gee, I'm glad there is somebody at Callahan. I didn't know they had kitties out there at night (Of course, I didn't see them during the day when I was volunteering at the school for a while a few years ago).
There are so many cats in the valley....
If you are having problems with your vet, try this. Get the records from the vet that you think is doing something inappropriate. Take the animal to another vet for follow up if there is something amiss, and tell them why you are bringing that animal the the second vet. Word will get around. Get records from the places you take the animals to the second time. If the vet won't give you the records, complain to whatever veterinary board is in your state. Always, always get vet records in case the "bad" vet decides to charge YOU with animal cruelty or neglect or whatever. Your vet is not necessarily your friend or your pet's best advocate. There are one or two vets here who have apparently turned people in to animal control, or at the very least, did not try to advocate for their client or client's pets; and, one or two more that I think would do it if the client's money ran out. Lots and lots of vets, especially cat vets, seem to mostly be in it for the money these days. I think I have the last decent vet in this town.
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