# How many vets do you have?



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I"m on the fence about splitting some services to another vet due to care philosophy and cost. The potential second vet is an hour from me but is right up on vaccine titers/ minimal vaccine/ RAW diet. An hour away.

The current vet is great. Really like them but high costs for titers, vac every year and have to have the same argument on vaccines every year. 45 minutes away.

Then the e-vet...I don't have one! There are a couple vets closer but have never contacted them for emergency services or their policies.


Sooooo...how many vets do you have? Are you ever concerned that splitting the vet services creates incomplete records?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

3. Rocky goes to a holistic vet specializing in the needs of senior dogs. Kopper goes to a local vet who doesn't harangue me about neutering and annual shots. Then there's the e-vet, a person I seem to see more often than I would prefer.


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

4
One awesome regular vet for pretty much everything.
One gigantic full service animal hospital for anything serious that our regular vet feels is beyond his scope, and for after hours emergencies.
One for OFA x-rays.
One reproductive specialist.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

We have one vet, same one for 7 years. She is awesome. If I have any differences of opinion we discuss them. I was concerned about giving Rimadyl to one of my dogs and she full explained the risks vrs the benefits included the story about how she had lost one of her own dogs (heartbreaking) but still felt that the benefit was worth the risk. I 100% trust her on the care of my animals and that is a wonderful feeling.


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## LaneyB (Feb 5, 2012)

My dog has our regular vet, who is 35 minutes away. Then he has the emergency vet, which is a university that is 5 minutes away. Sometimes I have taken him to specialty clinics at the university. So far my vet has been able to get all of the info she needs from the emergency vet/clinic. They are excellent about sending records and often call her on the phone to update her.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> The potential second vet is an hour from me but is right up on vaccine titers/ minimal vaccine/ RAW diet. An hour away.
> 
> That hour drive will *contribute to the health and long life of your "fur baby"!* You do need a back up plan, so just find out where the emergency clinic's are if you ever need them!


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

I would not be opposed to having more than one vet. At this time I don't have the need. But like you also got sticker shock over the cost for a parvo/distemper titer with my current vet.

*knock on wood* never had to visit the E Vet but have the number in my cell & address on my GPS in case.

My vet and I agree to disagree on vaccines & raw diets but it would be nice to have a vet on board and supportive...tempting.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

We go to one clinic which has multiple vets but we will only see 2 of them.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

3

1 - Regular vet stuff
2 - OFA x-rays
3 - Repro Specialist


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## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

3

Holistic Vet for accupuncture/chiro/allergies- 45 minutes away

"regular" vet for titers, shots, general health issues. It is a full service animal hospital but I go to one particular vet every time - 1 hour 15 minutes away

e-vet - a timed 25 minutes away


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

We use 2 vets- one clinic is a fabulous walk-in clinic with 2 or 3 vets available at all times, the hours are great and every one there is wonderful. Good prices too

The other vet is completely holistic, alternative, chiropractor, acupuncture, etc. His hours are very limited and his place is always packed and he's very expensive. But he does some miraculous things.


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## TimberGSD2 (Nov 8, 2011)

I have 4 vets. 

I work in an emergency clinic and know the strengths of the vets I work with. One is a great surgeon, one does ultrasound, and one is the most up to date on practices/vax protocols/diseases. 

I also have a regular "daytime" vet that they see for annual wellness/heartworm/flea preventative type of things. This vet is not a fan of minimal vax and raw diet. I did not tell her I was starting raw with Kya who has lots of issues. Last week at her annual she was raving about how good she looks and seems to be doing and asked what I was doing with her, that's when I told her about the raw diet.


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## Chance&Reno (Feb 21, 2012)

My vet is almost an hour away to me as well. I have a local vet in case of simple things like prescription food pick up, medication pick up...

My vet is pricey but I have NOT found any other vet that my dogs like so much. They treat you, your animals with respect and like you are their family. They go way above and beyond. 

I send my students and clients to my personal vet for second opinions all the time. 

I also have switched to an E-vet that is a little over an hour away. I won't go to the e-vet that is closest to me because I dont trust them. They have almost killed 2 of my animals and 1 of my mom's with misdiagnosing them.


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## SiegersMom (Apr 19, 2011)

I have one traveling Vet. I love her. She does all house calls and has an emergency pager. If it is too much to treat on-site she has a full surgery trailer at her house. She is on-call almost 24/7. There is a clinic/hospital we can use if she is unavailable.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I have used several vets in the past, but nowadays I'm pretty much down to two: my regular vet who is just a mile down the road, and the mobile vet that I used to work for. Oh, and my large animal vet. So that makes three.


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## Heidigsd (Sep 4, 2004)

1. Regular Vet
2. Holistic Vet who is married to our regular vet 
3. Internal Medicine Specialist
4. Gastroenterologist @ Texas A&M
5. Dermatologist
6. E-vet of course


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

I prefer to have one vet for all of my animals. I like how my vet knows what is going on with every one of my animals, I think a vet having the whole picture of a household is important.

That being said, if I have a dog with a special issue that was beyond the scope of my local vet, I wouldn't hesitate to get a second doctor for the specific problem. Like Rosa has her Ortho vet, and her regular vet. But the records between the two vets have been shared, that was important to me that they be in communication with each other.

I guess if it was just a case of not wanting to argue about vaccines and diet, I would just switch vets completely, and have a place on hand for emergency services (maybe establish a relationship with the e-vet before it comes up in an emergency situation).


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

I have 2 vets. My horse vet & my regular vet.
My horse vet for about 25yrs, he comes to my house for the horse and will do the dogs/cats if I want, if I had an emergency I would get a second opinion from him. His office is 25minutes away with NO traffic, because of Kiya's seizures we frequent the vets office so with the price of gas I started using a local vet for the small animals. I wasn't happy so last year I switched again to my new vet and I am happy with her. 
In the event of an emergency I have a choice of 2 ER clinics both will beat you over the head.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

1. Regular vet-- expensive, but really good staff and I very much like how they handle my dogs. Particularly "The Boys"... who can be a handful.
2. 2nd vet-- OFA's and simple stuff for my "easy-to-handle" dogs
3. Low cost clinic- simple procedures (RV), spay/neuters for my rescues

We have two options for emergency, the ER vet and the Vet School. Neither would be my choice.

Specialists as needed


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

I have a main vet that has 4 vets on staff so I get a different person almost every time we go in. If it were important I could ask in advance about the schedule and make a choice. My backup E-vet is a major vet college 20 minutes away. They are open 24/7 but I only use them when absolutely necessary.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I have 3 vets.

1) Equine vet. Large animal only. However, I've known him for years and can ask him for advice regarding the pooches and he is very helpful. 

2) Large & Small animal vet. I only use him for vacs, health certs. etc. I can purchase all of my vet supplies (heart guard etc.) from him. He doesn't charge an office visit for vaccines. 

3) Small animal clinic. I take all my puppies there for their well puppy visit. I use them for all health care needs with the exception of vacs. I bring my vac records with me when I visit them. 

My vet is less than 15 minutes away. The e-vet is 30 minutes away, although I've never been there - they have access to my clinic records.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Oh wait- I forgot about the opthamologist in Dallas. Stosh's eye and nostril has to be checked every few months since the shooting. He had a detached retina and needs to be checked for possible cataract growth. So that makes 3 vets


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

Stosh said:


> Oh wait- *I forgot about the opthamologist* in Dallas. Stosh's eye and nostril has to be checked every few months since the shooting. He had a detached retina and needs to be checked for possible cataract growth. So that makes 3 vets


Apache also has an opthamologist, fortunately we only have to go 1x a year, one more thing to add to my list of things to do for the critters.


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

PaddyD said:


> *I have a main vet that has 4 vets on staff* *so I get a different person almost every time we go in*. If it were important I could ask in advance about the schedule and make a choice. My backup E-vet is a major vet college 20 minutes away. They are open 24/7 but I only use them when absolutely necessary.


That would make me nuts, I like to have a repor with my vet & I like them to know my animals & thier history. The current vet I see has her own small practice and I think they were suprised when I gave them complete medical histories & Kiya's own spread sheet for her bloodwork (I think it was a 1st for her but she agreed how easy it was to compare the values).


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

We have 2. The one we love is over an hour away, but her philosophy on vaccines and general care jibes with ours. Minimal vaccines, Raw if fine, surgery is a last resort and she has a holistic and Reiki guy on staff. 
We have the second vet who is nearby and only go to if it's something we need immediate care for, we have only been there once in the past 5 years or so.
I hate all the e-vets near me, they are all alarmists who do their best to pad the bills with as many tests and procedures as they can come up with.

For big, scary stuff we are almost exactly center between University of Georgia Vet School and Auburn University Vet School, so can go to either depending on the problem.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

Jax08 said:


> I"m on the fence about splitting some services to another vet due to care philosophy and cost. The potential second vet is an hour from me but is right up on vaccine titers/ minimal vaccine/ RAW diet. An hour away.
> 
> The current vet is great. Really like them but high costs for titers, vac every year and have to have the same argument on vaccines every year. 45 minutes away.
> 
> ...


No, I keep track of what I need to keep track of so I'm not concerned about whether the vets have everything UTD.

I have one primary use vet that is about a half hr away with no traffic. Could be an hr if it's during rush hr AM or PM. But I love the practice. I know them so well because it's a large farm clinic that originally was just stock animals but expanded many years ago. I've used them for almost as long as vet #2 discussed below, but I used them for my horses long before I switched to my dogs going there as well. It was just so far, and vet 2 didn't go downhill until the owner retired and the practice was being run by new vets.

I have another I will use in an emergency that is two blocks away. I used them for almost two decades (they treated our family pets growing up, so naturally I just stayed there until I got wiser and moved on to better vets). I will ONLY use that vet for an emergency. I have no problem with their quality of care - it's good. But they are absolutely obnoxious about speutering everything that walks on earth from the youngest possible age, vaccinating for everything under the sun every yr and some every 6 mo, they charge insane amounts for meds and various things, and they've outright lied over the years about some things being "prescription" only (such as some common OTC dewormers and enzymes for my EPI dog which they were changing $100/mo for). Also lots of issues with constant overturn of techs, etc who always wanted to do everything in "the back." Snotty attitudes. Difficulty getting appts, always running way late even when they had no one else in the office, I could go on and on....

I also use a local (good) shot clinic who does a very thorough body exam as I only do vacs every 3 yrs or so anyway and a 3 yr rabies. I do my own HW testing and I use ivomec for HW prevention. so I have little use for the vet other than major medical issues. 

We have multiple emergency vets around here, have always been happy with the one we use. Haven't had to use one of the other ER vets so I can't speak for them.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i use 2 Vets (Traditional and Holistic). having 2 Vets doesn't
create incomplete records. when you get the records from both
Vets you have the complete records. both of my Vets know i use 
another Vet and if need be i would have them speak to each
other about my dogs health, records, etc.


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

2. Just depends on how invasive a procedure is and what needs to be done.

1. e-vet. i like their clinic although the wait there is like waiting at an ER for a person


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## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

My vets office is 10 minutes away. There are several vets there....but I see the same one for each of my dogs. My vet is a little expensive, but his office has everything...so all the other vets around here always send special cases to him anyway. I know some people drive up to 40 minutes around here to get to his office.

He or one of his other vets is always on call 24/7. They will meet you up at the office of any emergency (except this past weekend when they were all at a conference)

They do EVERYTHING at his office. That place is huge.


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## vicky2200 (Oct 29, 2010)

Oh boy. 

We have a vet downstate and a vet up north. We live down state but use the vet up north as much as possible because 1) they are a little bit more reasonable with prices and 2) we like them better. We also have an emergency vet that we use, a 'friend' of the family who is a vet who we don't like much but will ask him questions from time to time, and Ditto as been two a different vet up north on 2 different occasions ( normal vet couldn't fit her in and we wanted a sooner appt.) 

The vet up north faxes the record down state and when we are up north we have a record of everything from downstate. All our records at home and in the office are complete, except Dakota's home record. The first 2-3 years of his vet records disappeared. Not too worried about it.


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