Quote: Connie Sutherland

I'll bet that aside from that, many (maybe most) of the owners a vet practice sees on an average day would be a real hindrance in the exam room.

Having been in the midst of giving a feral cat recovering from a neuter sub-q fluids (and the cat was NOT cooperative) with the person who was holding the cat for recovery 'helping' me suddenly announce that she wasn't good with needles and felt faint, I can have a bit of sympathy for that.

That said, I stay w/my animals.

It's not even an issue w/Teagan....the vet is a little nervous of her (for no good reason, i swear - she's an angel at the vets), but I'm expected to assist w/everything, which I'd rather do anyways.

This always makes me see red; Lady had to have a spot shaved and they wouldnt let me go with her. I was only 16 and still thinking that the adults knew best but Ill NEVER let anyone besides myself, not even family, handle my dog again. I could hear her screaming and couldnt get them to tell me why..I nearly broke the door down. Shes not that chicken-hearted but there were three guys holding her and no one would tell me what went one..never again!

With the 4 or 5 vets I've gone to with my current and previous GSDs, I have to say that trust is not something I could give even moderately anymore. I get real pissed when I'm duped, deceived, taken for a fool, or treated with disdain when I refuse to feed my (last) dog the crap-in-a-bag that they sell. Something has happened with every vet I've seen. The last straw was a vet I had come to my home to put my beloved last GSD to sleep - he took a cell phone call and held a conversation while my dog was dying in my arms.

I will do anything to keep from seeing a vet. Only an emergency now will cause me to take my dog to one. Not that I trust them for that either, but I'd have no choice.

For all their "policies" (like a policy is one of the Commandments) and talk of fear of "liability", I have yet to hear of EVEN ONE vet being sued for malpractice or wrongful death or anything for that matter. The day I hear that, I'll be one darn happy camper.

Edited to say: so take my dog into the back room without me??? Not on your life.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I'll bet that aside from that, many (maybe most) of the owners a vet practice sees on an average day would be a real hindrance in the exam room.

I can understand such a policy.... but I won't let my own dogs go without me.

So there ya go: definitive answer!

My vet's office just instituted this policy. The reasons given were sort of what Connie said...the average owner is (they say) more likely to cause their dog to be more nervous by accidentally encouraging the behavior. Or the owners are super jumpy. Or the owners *think* they can restrain their pet, but they can't really.

I guess I can understand it for many situations. But the vet I see makes exceptions for certain people and I'm one of them. But when I read the letter announcing the policy, I called other vets to make sure they had openings before I called my vet, even though I like my current vet very much Because there is no way no how that they're getting my dogs alone.

 Quote: Michelle Berdusco

I was asked to let my dog go in back for a nail trim. They explained that many dogs are better without the owners.

And PS- I've seen vet techs do some pretty bad nail clipping in the back room. They try to get it done quickly and it can be traumatic for the dog. There's a big red note on my file that no one is to trim my dog's nails, ever. My dogs are awesome about getting their nails trimmed and I'm not about to let someone else screw that up! I'm sure many techs are fine...but if they're in the back room without me how can I know that?

Oh Sandy, that's terrible. How incredibly insensitive.

For me, it was losing my first ever bunn and realizing that vets weren't smarter than me that made me a lot more independent, I stopped taking what they said on trust, and sorry, I stay with my animals.

I've had a vet assume I was a vet tech and then get upset when they find out I'm not....he didn't stay my vet. He said himself I did everything right, including dosage - so what exactly was the problem? That I don't need the vet for much past diagnostics?

 Quote:

It sounds like you're highly respected by this vet for who you are and what you know about your dogs and their health,

It is definitely a mutual respect. I don't claim to know everything about veterinary medicine and my vet doesn't claim to know everything about Neapolitan Mastiffs.

Shannon

I am pretty sure that my docile sweet Veeda will become quite a handful if I were to leave the examination room. I am the one that holds her, restrains her if needed and even with uncomfortable procedures she knows that if I say she has to stay still, she will. I dubt this whould be the case if some strangers whould try to handle her. She had a couple of stiches on her toes without anesthesia with her standing and leaning on me and stiches under her paw at the middle of the night at another dobe breeders kitchen floor (with that amout of blood gushing out of that paw, I think she whould have been dead if whould have started to wait for the on-call vet). She trusts me but without me I couldn´t even be sure with her she won´t act agressive. I was there not only the time she passed out for her hip x-ray but the time the pics were taken and as she woke up.

I whould be the first one out of the door, if the vet asked me to hand over my dog and wait. I simply will not. The microchip needle looks terribly big and if the owner is terrified, it is another story and perhaps her freaking out another side of the door will be a good idea but I don´t even think it needs an anesthesia (perhaps for tiny dogs). I am dead sure that my dog is alot more comfortable around me than with some strangers holding and poking. Even the pound dogs are more calm with their everyday handlers restraining them for vaccines and chipping.

I have left my animal in the vets office only once and this was when the cat got neutered. Fortunately most of the vets in our town know me and that I have an uncontrollable need to NOT leave my dog for a second and I will not freak out. Seeing the things that people do to animals that end up in the pound sure toughens you up...

Of the three vets at the clinic I use only one ever took a dog out of the exam room to the back (to draw blood). This same vet is condescending and negative. She doesn't allow owners to be present during surgeries, she takes her own sweet time (hours) answering emergency calls, and blew me off with lame excuses in one case, grrrr, (my husband and I ended up stitching the wound ourselves; next time I'll use a skin stapler).

She now works for the State where she can condescend to her heart's desire.

The other two vets in the office let me assist in surgeries and treatments, and they treat me with respect. I am very fond of them.

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

The other two vets in the office let me assist in surgeries

Wow, is this common? I've never been able to be present for surgeries and I never thought to ask. I didn't think any vets let you do that! Anyone else have a vet that allows this?

I have never assisted other than holding my dog; but that was for a minor procedure, removal of a stick that was impaled throgh the webbing of his paw.

My vet also invited me to watch her remove a weed that was stuck in his throat. Thor had to be sedated, that was really weird, it was a form of conscious sedation and the anesthesia caused his head to twitch but it wears off in 10 minutes which was enough time for her to go into his mouth and down his throat to remove the weed.

The only other procedure was removing a cyst from his elbow. I didn't watch that but if I asked I am sure it would not have been an issue, unless it would of compromised the sterility of the area or something. That was a planned surgery vs. the other two which were minor emergencies.