Choosing a Vet

[waynebrown]

Hi All,
We will hopefully very soon have our first Greyhound and am new to having a dog in general though we have 'dog sat' quite a few times!

Any tips on choosing a vet please, we live in Hoo, near Rochester and there are local vets and ones a little further into the Medway Towns too.
We are not sure what questions we should ask or whether we should be trying to get a recommendation from someone local.

Many thanks,

Wayne

[andywillow]

Do you know many folk with dogs? If so I'd ask them who they use and if they are satisfied, also its important to get a greyhound savvy get who is well aware of their needs with anaesthetic as they are sensitive to some.
One of my main things is that they have their own 24 hour cover. Some vets local to me don't have this and I'd have to drive quite a way if I needed them during out of hours, also I do like to know who I'm seeing and that its someone I trust.
Good luck with your hound and don't forget to post pics for us to see

Sue

[Emma]

I agree with Sue, I would never use a vet who didn't do their own 24 hour cover.
The best way to find a vet is by recommendation from people with the same standards as yourself. Go in, have a look around, see how frinedly the staff are, ask what the waiting times for an appointment are, is there parking close (no fun trying to carry a sick large dog)
and gut feeling.

Good luck, and it's no problem to change vets if you find you're not happy for whatever reason

Emma x

[Flaperoo]

A good place for advice re vets whenever I moved to a new area was to walk them in popular areas and speak to other dog owners about their vets. Have your questions ready and see what answers you get.

Thank you for rescuing a greyhound - they are soo undemanding yet soo deserving and................

Welcome to Greyhound gap, we are a very friendly bunch who offer support and advice to all.

Maryx

[Nettie]

We do use a vet who doesn't have out of hours although they are open 7 days a week. The out of hours vet they use is actually closer to us than our regular vets are so for us it is in fact better, 5 minutes to the emergency vet and 15 minutes to the regular vet.

Definitely speak to dog owners to see who they recommend. Anaesthetics for greyhounds used to be a problem but now, most vets use anaesthetics which are on a par with those used for humans. Anaesthetics for animals have moved along a lot in the last few years although there is no harm in checking. Vets should also be aware that vital signs in hounds differ from other breeds in heat rate and blood results.

[waynebrown]

Thanks for all the replies, it's good to get an idea on this. Luckily we spoke to a very nice lady in the local library today, we had a good chat about some of the local vet's in our area which was very useful. We are still not sure whether to go for an insurance policy or stuff the money into a savings account, there seems to be such a mix of reactions from the few people we know regarding that we'll have to think on it a while.

The exciting news is, we chose our hound today, Jack. To be honest it was always going to be him from the first time we met him. He's seven years and just great. Will definitely post some pictures once we have him home in a week or two - just need to get the fencing sorted and buy a load of dog stuff now!

Wayne

[dizzi]

Our choice kind of happened by accident - our first dog came with reduced price neutering if you bought a voucher from the rescue, which linked in to a specific vet... we were impressed with them and now have both of our dogs registered there (we don't have the cat there because she travels soooo badly it's kinder for us to keep her registered at the most local possible vet).

Things that matter to us are friendly staff, and consultations that aren't rushed (unlike my mum's vet who has patients in and out in 10 seconds and that'll be 50 quid madam); opening times - it's really handy that ours does later evening surgeries till about 7pm since we can get there after work; and doesn't take the mickey with their prices (ours is actually cheaper than the aforementioned one my mum goes to)... a vet with greyhound know-how's also important since they react so differently to anasthesia - ours has a fair few hounds on the books judging by what we've seen in there when we've been in!

I do wish ours would quit doing newsletters with what basically boils down to "comedy pet injury and painful vet bill of the month" sections though!

[nataliesian]

I'd just add don't be afraid to move if they don't suit you. When we moved up to Newcastle it took me 3 vets before I found a good one :0)

Looking forward to seeing your pictures :0) I hope you've had chance to look at the old threads for 'equipment recommendations' they were really usefull when we got mak xxx