Would you go to a vet about 90 mins from you?

[linderbelle]

I was talking to a gal yesterday that lives about a hour from me and her dog had the sm surgery at the same place as Abbey with the same neurologist. Was a very interesting conversation for me since we're i the same area. She told me of a vet that is about 90 mins from me that actually knows alot about sm and that was like music to my ears. It doesn't bother me to drive that far but what would happen if we really had an emergency and had to get to a vet quickly? I've never ever in my adult life had something like that happen but its obviously possible. With this breed to have a vet that is familiar with cavs and actually very informed of sm would be a blessing.

Feedback--comments?????

[harleyfarley]

Whats your current vet like, would they understand you going elsewhere just for the sm treatment and you could keep everyday stuff, shots, flea treatment etc with your current vet. I dont see why not, we get referred to a specialist say for h/d so why not sm. Id have a word with them.

[Love my Cavaliers]

Linda - I am so spoiled because right next to my regular vet is the Animal Emergency and Referral Center with all specialties like neurology, cardiology, ortho, internal medicine, etc. While I like my regular vet, there is another vet I like better but his practice is located in the city of Chicago and could take me 45-75 minutes to get there depending on traffic. I choose not to do that. I have had several emergencies with my babies and was so thankful to have the vet 5 minutes from my house. Oliver swallowed a cat toy and needed surgery to clear the obstruction, Maddie got into some Advil and started to go into kidney failure, Maddie had a 6 inch long piece of grass up her nose and began sneezing blood, Oz had what I think was Episodic Falling syndrome - each of these times I was so lucky not to have to worry about them on a long drive to the vet. But my vet is also very good at referring to the specialty center if she's uncertain about a diagnosis, etc. Also this morning, Riley and Oliver both had slimy stool (I posted a question about that today also) and I was able to just quickly drop off the stool samples. So personally, I wouldn't drive the 90 minutes.

[Karlin]

To be honest I really don't think it matters whether a vet knows much about SM once you've had the surgery and are under the supervision of a neurologist. They can't make any significant decisions as this isn't their speciality and they aren't neurologists (I would be very concerned about vets that would decide they knew as much or more than a neurologist).

Vets would generally only change care procedures after consulting your neurologist anyway and nothing would be likely to come up that your own vet cannot manage in the short term (there aren't that many things that can be done for a pain flareup for example and a vet can do this as well as a neurologist short term and managing pain or a post-surgery setback doesn't differ by breed/mix or really even by illness ), and if the dog needed to be referred back to the neurologist or a vet school, this would be done regardless of the location of the vet. I'd rather have a vet I like and can discuss things with nearby. SM is a specialist condition and very few vets know that much about it. They can learn quite a bit -- and pretty much everything that they will find useful and relevant -- simply from reading the SM FAQs on Clare Rusbridge's website. My only issue with any vet would be if they showed little interest in learning more.

[AliceAbbyBellaDaphne]

For a specialist I would see no problem with a 90 minute drive, but like most others I would want my regular vet to be closer for emergencies....

Tawna

[Lani]

For a specialist I would see no problem with a 90 minute drive, but like most others I would want my regular vet to be closer for emergencies....

Tawna

Me too. My relationship with my vet is important for all aspects of my dogs' health. I like that I can drop them by on my way to work if one of them has something wrong. I've been to my vet a LOT for things like eye ulcerations, ear infections, colitis ... I would not want to have to drive 90 minutes each time.

[AT]

My vet is 40/ 50 minutes away.
He never makes you have things you dont need & ezme needed antibiotics & he just posted them to me so I didnt even have to drive up.

At the local vet you wait for over an hour & they seemed to be making things up to get extra money , I took my pup for vaccinations as it was local & ended up spending nearly 200 fixing problems i'm not sure he even had.

So for me its worth the drive to see the vet I like.

90 minutes would be a bit much though

[Karlin]

It can take me 40 minutes to get to my vet 8 miles away if traffic is heavy. I think a good vet is worth travelling to but I wouldn't change vets from one I like to travel a long distance to a vet simply because they have a few cavaliers at their practice -- I don't think this has any value or advantage whatsoever.

Just a couple of other thoughts on this: cavaliers aren't really any different from other breeds in terms of how a vet approaches them -- not where they'd need vets used to seeing the breed. I'd just want my vets to know not to give injections in the neck or back and to be aware of the incidence of MVD and SM so these could be watched for. But all breeds have their genetic issues to watch for. And this is really an owner responsibility; vets are GPs and cannot possibly know every genetic issue in every breed nor stay abreast of ongoing research in all those breeds.

Cavaliers are also the most common small breed in the UK and Ireland and honestly, the vets don't care for them any differently (I don't really know what they would or should do any differently) -- and most vets still are unaware of SM in the breed so knowing this kind of info really is an owner responsibility to share with a responsive vet. I'd rather have a good vet that I like as close to me as possible. Out of hours cover is more important to me than whether a given vet knows much about SM for example. And I have two with SM. The fact that they have SM doesn't much change how they are treated or managed except for not getting injections in certain places.

[Rumor]

I drive an hour to my Vets office. She practices both Eastern & Western medicine. I prefer the Holistic approach. I also have a Vet close to home for emergencies. All records are kept on file at both offices.

[sunshinekisses]

I live in a rural area so driving 60+ miles is normal. I don't mind the drive for good service, but for emergency always keep the closest vet number.