Bit of trouble of late with my little mutt, Cassie.
I've had her 11 years and she was at least 1 when i got her from rescue centre, border collie cross.
she was ill mid Sept, took her my usual vet, hi temp, 41 degrees, he took blood samples etc massive dose of anti biotics and a six day course to follow, The blood tests shown a low white blood cell count which was indicative of a bacterial infection, the anti-b's cleared this up, temps ok now but the squits are making both of us miserable. everything cleared up but the meds i'd requested for her ongoing arthritis, metacam even though they worked, seemed to give her severe diarrhea. this would come and go in cycles, 5 days of being ok, 5 or 6 days of being ill with the squits and generally really unwell, shaking, rear end weakness, back legs giving way etc. thought she was a gonner on more than one occasion.
Rung the vets today, 'do you offer other testing apart from bloods etc?'
- 'what like?'
Me- 'I want a full body ultrasound of her abdomen, reproductive organs and all other organs, preferably today.'
- 'What makes you say that? - we don't have an ultrasonologist on site, we can get one in as and when required but only if the vet requests it'
Me - 'I'm requesting it, this is what want to happen, today, with my dog, as I think there's something untoward inside her and keep guessing and stabbing in the dark isn't getting us anywhere and I want to look inside to see what's happening'
- 'if you bring her in the vet will have a look and take it from there'
I rung a different vet, told them a brief history of ailments etc and gave them details of age and condition etc then I asked the same question;
Me- 'I want a full body ultrasound of her abdomen, reproductive organs and all other organs, preferably today.'
' - OK no problem, bring her down at 2.15, ultrasound and bloods will take 25 mins and you can wait in the waiting room and we'll get the results shortly after'
£277 all done, ultrasound etc shown nothing untoward going on with any internals, heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, spleen etc all normal, bloods mostly normal, one or two slight discrepancies probably related to the squits, this included 2 prescriptions, one for pain relief in place of the metacam (stop using it!) and the other a probiotic binder for her plops and to line her intestines
It cost me over £200 at the first vet and no ultrasound, detailed blood analysis or anything of any use apart from the antibiotics. moral of the story is, don't throw good money after bad, shop around, we are all customers and where the health/wellbeing of our family members is concerned, quality and service takes precedence over everything else - I assumed the first vet was 'good' because his prices were fair - ok providing you're only going there every 12m for a booster, not much use when the sh!t hits the fan, telly, fridge and lightbulbs - pay a little more and get a much, much better service, plus, at least I know that her organs are OK, you can't find this out with a blood test and this is worth £277 on it's own
I've had her 11 years and she was at least 1 when i got her from rescue centre, border collie cross.
she was ill mid Sept, took her my usual vet, hi temp, 41 degrees, he took blood samples etc massive dose of anti biotics and a six day course to follow, The blood tests shown a low white blood cell count which was indicative of a bacterial infection, the anti-b's cleared this up, temps ok now but the squits are making both of us miserable. everything cleared up but the meds i'd requested for her ongoing arthritis, metacam even though they worked, seemed to give her severe diarrhea. this would come and go in cycles, 5 days of being ok, 5 or 6 days of being ill with the squits and generally really unwell, shaking, rear end weakness, back legs giving way etc. thought she was a gonner on more than one occasion.
Rung the vets today, 'do you offer other testing apart from bloods etc?'
- 'what like?'
Me- 'I want a full body ultrasound of her abdomen, reproductive organs and all other organs, preferably today.'
- 'What makes you say that? - we don't have an ultrasonologist on site, we can get one in as and when required but only if the vet requests it'
Me - 'I'm requesting it, this is what want to happen, today, with my dog, as I think there's something untoward inside her and keep guessing and stabbing in the dark isn't getting us anywhere and I want to look inside to see what's happening'
- 'if you bring her in the vet will have a look and take it from there'
I rung a different vet, told them a brief history of ailments etc and gave them details of age and condition etc then I asked the same question;
Me- 'I want a full body ultrasound of her abdomen, reproductive organs and all other organs, preferably today.'
' - OK no problem, bring her down at 2.15, ultrasound and bloods will take 25 mins and you can wait in the waiting room and we'll get the results shortly after'
£277 all done, ultrasound etc shown nothing untoward going on with any internals, heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, spleen etc all normal, bloods mostly normal, one or two slight discrepancies probably related to the squits, this included 2 prescriptions, one for pain relief in place of the metacam (stop using it!) and the other a probiotic binder for her plops and to line her intestines
It cost me over £200 at the first vet and no ultrasound, detailed blood analysis or anything of any use apart from the antibiotics. moral of the story is, don't throw good money after bad, shop around, we are all customers and where the health/wellbeing of our family members is concerned, quality and service takes precedence over everything else - I assumed the first vet was 'good' because his prices were fair - ok providing you're only going there every 12m for a booster, not much use when the sh!t hits the fan, telly, fridge and lightbulbs - pay a little more and get a much, much better service, plus, at least I know that her organs are OK, you can't find this out with a blood test and this is worth £277 on it's own
) etc but these are rare treats, once a week f that.
