Vet Question??

[Roxi Ree]

For 25 years I had the same vet. He and his wife owned their own practice. He performed all services on my pets himself...exams, shots, bloodwork, etc. A few years back he sold his practice to what I call more of a corporate vet office. There are 3 vets now, so you have to schedule appts around the schedule of which vet your prefer or else you have different vets everytime you come in.

Here's my dilemma...the assistants in the office give the pets their vaccinations, not the vet. Twice now in the past year I have had to stop the assistant from giving my little Roxi (2.5 pounds) a vaccination that she had already been given earlier in the year . I'm getting very frustrated. What if I was a pet parent who didn't pay attention? Also, this last time the assistant gave my Roxi her shot in the waiting room while I was holding her. She has never had any side effects of her vaccinations, but last night she was crying all night because of pain at the injection site. I'm thinking that might have not happened had she been in a room on the table.

I'm just wondering how other vet offices work. I know I was very spoilt with my first vet. I have no problems with the vets themselves. Is it time to look for another vet office?

[chachi]

Time for a new vet. My vet gives all vaccinations

[MY OSCAR]

i agree, time for a new vet.
imo, technicians should not be giving vax,
at least they never have at my vet.
good luck

[rubymoon2072]

agreed my vet does it all....his assistant works right beside him helping but he does the shots himself.

[chachi]

I also think its outrageous she was given her shots in the waiting room. That is really uncaring type of care

[Yorkiemom1]

Why is it nothing good ever lasts??????????? Just ANOTHER issue to deal with!!! My vet sees each pet in a room, reviews the chart, gets caught up on how things are going, what the issue is today, and she give any injections, or at least she decides which one is to be given and she is in the room when any form of treatment or shot is given. How unprofessional for them to give injections out in the waiting room....at least that is what I am thinking...If I had gone to the same vet for 25 years, I would just have a chat with him and (I dont know how confrontational you are....) express some concern over the accuracy of your babies records, since the assistant was apparently NOT SEEING those 2 vaccinations on the record that had already had been given....that puts the blame on the record and NOT the assistant...not threatening, no hurt feelings.....and I would just say the pup "is having some site pain which she has never had before, possibly she squirmed when I was holding her out in the waiting room when she got that last shot...In the future, I think I want to go into a room and hold her securely on an exam table, since this has never happened before...had to be the way I was holding her when she got the shot....." There again, no blame for them, but you are getting your point made! Or you can be confrontational like me ands just say, "WHOA! I will wait until we can get in an exam room for any treatments or shots! Makes me feel less 'assembly line' like!" With the records, I would just say, "Lets look over the shot records to make sure everything is accuraste and up to date....I dont want my babies vaccinated with the same shot 3x/year!"

[TxVicki]

I would certainly find another Vet. I would never allow any of mine to have their shot's in a waiting room. to me this totally uncalled for.

A vet needs to see and exam he pet in my opinion.

[Gail8750]

My vet gives all shots with an assistant available to hold the dog if needed. I would think you are paying for the expertise of the Veterinarian not the assistant. If they are so busy they can't take the time to administer shots - I think it's time for a new Vet.

[jadabug]

Vet techs at my vets office (my DIL is one of them) are there to assist in holding the pet, handing the vet the vacs..and generally assisting the doctor, but the Vet does the actual innoculations..never the tech.

[Marilize]

Definitely time for a new vet. You might want to find one who follows Dr. Dodd's Vaccine Protocol if you want to avoid side effects from continued exposure to vaccines, especially combo shots. The side effects increase with the amount of vaccinations that a dog gets... next time, Roxi might have a worse reaction than pain. Over-vaccination and vaccinosis are very real and very devastating results of negligent vets.

[gemy]

Same with my vet. Vet tech holds - Vet administers Vaccination. Actually they also show me the vaccine prior to administering......Which was a good thing, cause one time, they were going to administer a combo shot...and I said hey doc ... this is a combo.. OOPS.

WEll actually I hold my big boy. Safer for everyone that way.

[Ellie May]

It's perfectly acceptable for techs to vaccinate. They do a lot more serious things than that..like monitoring your pets' anesthesia during surgery.

An assistant that has only been on the job for a few weeks...not so much..

Vaccines are never given in the wIting room here. They are always given by a vet or tech. If the tech gives them, the vet isn't far and is asked, "is it ok to give xyz"?

I would say that you should just talk to the vets about apthe mixups, but if they are sending assistants to the waiting room to give injections, I'd move on. Assistants can't do exams anyway.

i don't think table vs no table is a huge deal as long as pup is still.
Techs draw blood too. They do fine. Actually some are better at it than vets. Just depends. Remember, techs learned a lot of technical skills in school. Maybe even more extensively than vets...

[Roxi Ree]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Just to give a little more background on the situation...

Because of Roxi's small size, her vet and I decided that we would not give her all her shots at one time. 2 weeks ago she went in for her rabies shot. At that time her vet did perform her 6 mos exam and gave Roxi her rabies shot. So yesterday I took her in to get her dhpp-lepto (sp) only.

I have one vet that I prefer to work with on 2 of my 3 animals (my problem children). I have to take Roxi back in to see her in August to have another liver panel workup done (Roxi has been diagnosed with MVD). Her nos keep going up...34 to 84 to 100 last week. Anyway, I will be discussing this situation with her. I want only her to administer Roxi's shots in an exam room. If this is a problem for her, I will definitely be finding another vet since it seems from your comments that this situation is not the norm (I wish my old vet had not retired...I hate change)

Thanks again for all your help.

[BabyGirl Rosie]

No way no how!! My vet gives ours and also exams them before giving them. Yes it cost a little more but worth it. I would discuss this with my vet. And if you get no where, then I would find a new vet.

[LunasMomma]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

It's perfectly acceptable for techs to vaccinate. They do a lot more serious things than that..like monitoring your pets' anesthesia during surgery.

An assistant that has only been on the job for a few weeks...not so much..

Vaccines are never given in the wIting room here. They are always given by a vet or tech. If the tech gives them, the vet isn't far and is asked, "is it ok to give xyz"?

I would say that you should just talk to the vets about apthe mixups, but if they are sending assistants to the waiting room to give injections, I'd move on. Assistants can't do exams anyway.

i don't think table vs no table is a huge deal as long as pup is still.
Techs draw blood too. They do fine. Actually some are better at it than vets. Just depends. Remember, techs learned a lot of technical skills in school. Maybe even more extensively than vets...

OH this makes me feel a little better, thank you! Two weeks ago Luna and Izzy went to the vet for their yearly checkup, rabies shot, and to check out Luna's itchies. They had an appointment this morning for their distemper/parvo vax. The office called me yesterday and said that the vet would be in late (after my appt. time) and they asked if I minded if a tech gave the vax. I said okay and they got them this morning, one tech holding, the other injecting. They did a good job. When I read all the replies here about this, I thought that maybe I had done the wrong thing So glad to hear that this is pretty normal. The vet did a thorough exam two weeks ago, and he did give them their rabies vax then. Whew

As for the waiting room thing, unacceptable imho. If they were that busy maybe they should have rescheduled.