SCBluetickGal
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: SC
Posts: 1012 |
Just have to vent...bad experience at the vet's.
This morning I took my 8 month old Walker to the vet to have his heartworm test pulled. Now in the past couple months he's decided that he's pretty afraid of the vet's office. The last time he went he got pretty mean to the staff, and it worried me a bit. However, since then he hasn't been the least bit ill with a stranger anywhere else. Anyway, when the tech came in I asked her to let me muzzle him because he was already nervous. When I got the muzzle on she proceeded to rubber band his leg so she could find the vein. Of course he didn't like that too much...red flag number one for me. In all the years I've been taking dogs to the vet I've never seen a tech have to tie a leg up to find the vein. After that little episode he absolutely was NOT going to stand still to have his blood pulled. This pup weighs close to 75 pounds, so it's no picnic to hold him still when he's unhappy. Two more techs ended up coming in to "help" but neither would initially get close enough to do any good. After a couple more tries the lone male tech in the room made the comment "He's not worth all this." Ok, WRONG thing to say to me. Besides the fact that the pup IS of monetary value, he's more importantly a member of my family, as are all my dogs. I'd say no matter if the dog is just a free mutt from the shelter or a high dollar hunting dog if someone is taking the time and money to bring it to a vet it IS "worth" it to them. The male tech finally proceeded to very roughly put my dog on the table and hold him around the neck while the other two jabbed him about 3 times in two different legs before finally getting enough blood for the sample. My pup was obviously frightened, I believe mostly because he wasn't able to breathe from the way he was being restrained. This dog is so housebroken that he won't so much as urinate in the pen when he's outside, but he was so scared he defecated on the table. The final straw was when the tech jerked him through the feces off the table by his leash and remarked in an extremely rude tone "Nasty a** dog."
Now I know some of you will say I'm making a big issue out of nothing. My issue with this whole situation was the lack of professionalism and technical skills by the staff, not to mention the way my dog was treated. I know it's probably a pain in the rear when a dog comes into the vet's office and is a handful-however, vet techs SHOULD be trained to restrain the animal properly and with as little distress as possible. Now I don't take any junk off of my dogs, but there's a way every situation should be approached. I tried to get the male tech to tell me his name, but he flat out refused. I'm sure he knew I was getting ready to complain. However, when I asked to speak to one of the actual vets the staff would never get one to come out. Needless to say, when I've had a chance to calm down that office is getting a phone call, and if that doesn't work I'll be writing a nasty letter.
Anyway, I just had to vent about that one. I guess I'll keep on with my search for a vet that hunts or else a large animal vet that doesn't mind giving my dogs their rabies shots and heartworm tests...
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