tdierikx

I am certainly not a fan of the "upsell" prevalent in so many of the chain (we all know who they are) vet clinics... to the point that I refuse to take any of my animals to them if I can avoid it. I do know that even vet nurses are trained to do it as part of their courses... so assume that vet students are taught the same. I understand why the prices can be a bit steep in vet clinics... there are many overheads that need to be paid for that might not be obvious to the general public. Equipment that needs maintaining, rent, wages, stock maintenance, etc... none of it is cheap... Most clinics are happy enough to write a client a prescription for medications if asked... but may charge a small fee for it. Then you can try your luck getting the medications online at a slightly cheaper price. Note that some medications may require the pet to be regularly checked over by the vet to make sure the meds are doing their job properly, and that the pet doesn't need dosage changes, etc... T.

When I took Pickles to the emergency vet clinic nearest to my place in the first week of the last Sydney lockdown I had a less than great experience. She had eaten something that had ruptured something inside, and was vomiting up blood. I had already gently palpated her abdomen and could feel the obstruction that was causing the issue. She was a very sick girl, and I've seen enough of these things to know that even with surgery, her outcome was going to be poor. I was there to end her suffering pure and simple. What transpired was that Pickles was taken inside, and I was left outside in the carpark. The vet eventually called my mobile, and started trying to push for doing a myriad of tests, suggestions of surgery with a very low chance of success, etc. I was forced to basically plead with the vet to just cut to the chase and end Pickles' suffering... all while other people were milling about, listening to my end of the conversation, and giving me side-eye. An already traumatic situation was compounded by the complete lack of privacy, and the vet's insistence for wanting to try all sorts of things that weren't actually going to fix the problem at hand. I was firm but calm, and eventually was led to an isolated room to be with Pickles as she became an angel. Based on that one visit to that emergency vet clinic, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone... but at the time, I just handled the situation as calmly as possible, paid the bill, and left. I can see how people would become agitated and/or upset and angry in a situation like that... it was all I could do to stay calm myself... and I've been in that sort of situation more often than I care to count... working with animals does have it's downside... Oh... and the next day, I recieved a text message from the emergency clinic ostensibly "following up" on Pickles' "progress"... ummm... not very professional IMHO. As a complete contrast, I once had to take a young goat to the vet clinic near my work. The goat had a distended stomach (not bloat) and was in quite a bit of pain and distress. The vet did an ultrasound, took a sample of the fluid in the abdomen, did a thorough check all over the goat, and unfortunately it had to be euthanaised due to a ruptured bladder. Not only was the vet kind and caring with the goat, his bedside manner with it's human (me) was second to none. AND then he only charged a consultation fee for the visit. That clinic ended up getting all of our business, including weekly visits to my work to maintain all the animals' health and wellbeing... and we had over 200 animals at any given time. 3 guesses which vet clinic I ended up taking bunny to the other day... T. ETA: My neighbour came over yesterday to tell me they had received a lovely condolence card from the vet for the passing of their bunny...

It just seemed pretty strange that a practising vet couldn't stomach doing what amounts to a good 45-50% of their standard job function. Anything more complicated than a male neuter was off the table when she was on... and quite frankly, a vet nurse can actually perform a basic neuter if it comes down to it. Vet nurses already do all of the basic scale and polish dental jobs... the vet only steps in if a tooth needs removing. It's actually interesting to know exactly how much "vet" work the nurses perform on any given day... T.

I am a fully trained zookeeper and vet nurse - something that both local vets I called about the bunny knew - not that it took any of that training to know that bunny's front leg was badly broken, and that it was not a treatable problem. It was made perfectly clear that this was going to be a euthanaisia case, as bunny was suffering. As a vet nurse, I am trained to be able to gas down an animal and/or find a vein (and insert a catheter) for a vet if needed... which is not outside any scope of practice here. Basically, I could have done the procedure myself had I the access to the drug required for the job. When I was doing my vet nursing work placement, I saw the numbers of people with pocket pets (rabbits and guinea pigs) rise even over the 2 years I was in training. It seems ridiculous that some vets are choosing to stick to the "safe" bread and butter fare of dogs and cats only - desexing and dentals make up at least 90% of what happens in a suburban vet clinic nowadays... *sigh*... I even came across one locum vet we had that refused to do speys, as she wasn't "comfortable" doing them... WTF?? All that said... I still stick to my previous statement that a good vet is worth their weight in platinum. Their job is not an easy one, yet they still turn up day after day trying to do their very best for each and every animal (and owner) that comes through their doors. T.

I must say that I was surprised and very disapointed to find that virtually no local vet clinic wanted to see my neighbour's bunny the other week when it broke it's leg and needed to be given it's wings. My own treating vet refused to see it, even thopugh he knows that my diagnoses of such things are pretty darned spot on... and the clinic I did my vet nursing work placement (where this same bunny had been desexed a year ago no less) was the same... refused to even look at the bunny. Seriously, I had to drive clear across Sydney to the only vet I knew for sure would see the bunny... a 35km and hour's drive away. How freaking difficult is it to gas down a bunny and do the right thing to stop it's suffering? Last time I looked, the jugular is in pretty much the same place in a bunny as in a dog or cat if one needs to find a good sized vein in a hurry... even I can find that one... you don't need to be experienced in pocket pets to euthanaise one. T.

Exactly! I seemed to be the one they all wanted to hug and cry on... maybe I just gave off the vibe that I understand exactly how they are feeling, and that gives them some comfort? Dealing with emergencies, surgeries, cranky or rude clients, etc... definitely easier to deal with emotionally than the losses. It's because in all the other scenarios, you can actually DO something to try to make things better... but death is so final and so upsetting for all involved. T.

@Loving my Oldies... even when one of my dogs almost died during her spey surgery - not through any fault of the vet doing the procedure may I add - and then the naughty beast chewed her stitches out 4 days post surgery... there was never any thought from me that anyone at your brother's clinic had done anything wrong. Their standard of care was excellent at all times. Your brother was also most understanding when I had one of my pet rats in for a consult, and the receptionist insisted the cage be set on the floor while we waited... then the clinic cat decided to check out my rat, and the rat savaged the cat, who then proceeded to tear up the hall and out the back area bleeding all over the place from the nasty bite on it's nose. He made the receptionist clean up the mess because she had refused to let me put the rat cage up off the floor... apparently she was a bit funny about seeing rats... errr! When I was doing my student placement for Vet Nursing, I actually found that the hardest clients to have to deal with were the ones in the grip of grief at the passing of their furry companions. In many cases, the clinic staff had gotten to know the old and ailing pets, and we had feelings for them too... but one isn't supposed to show that to clients... we are supposed to console them while our own hearts may be breaking as well. It's soul destroying to have a giant bear of a man hanging onto you sobbing his heart out at the loss of his old mate... and that can happen more than once in any given day. Cranky clients are just the tip of the iceberg... T.

Some years before I met you @Loving my Oldies, I had the honour of your brother treating my pets. He was my beloved heart dog Woosie's first doctor, and he was so lovely that she never lost her love of going to the vet for anything she needed... she knew he was good people, and loved him very much. Your brother treated my first 4 dogs, and a few of my pet rats to boot. Your brother happily gave me advice when one of my dogs decided to have a difficult whelping on Christmas Day... when he was the poor sod on call that day... and he was ready to drop everything and come help if needed. Good vets are very special people... T.

The best adventures are had with Rotties, yes? They are gorgeous @grumpette... T.

Jodie is now with Stevie, Sam, Rocky, and Greg. She passed peacefully this morning with a tiny bit of help from her fave vet and in Katdogs' arms. It was her time... I will cherish all the memories I have of this awesome little black dog. She joined Katdogs' family with an unknown history, but fit in perfectly. I've been priviledged to have known her since she arrived nearly 16 years ago. I'll remember her complete obsession with tennis balls, and her insane athleticism when she jumped to catch them in the air, landed perfectly on all fours, and then came running back to give you the ball to throw again and again. She definitely picked her perfect family with a tennis coach and access to LOTS of tennis balls... lol! I'm gonna miss my little friend and the special cuddles only she knew how to give me... when I needed them and came to visit. Fly free with the angels JoJo... you were the very goodest girl... T.

@asal... any ideas? Huckleberry looks like he really wants to be a good boy... and is only young, so some training might sort out his barking issues... T.

I'm at a bit of a loss with this one... hence suggesting posting here for possible advice or ideas as to what may be going on. One would think that something like poison or a stroke would be showing escalating symptomology by now, so I'm leaning towards ruling those out... but I'm not a vet... Since both episodes have started out in the yard when she was on her own, maybe supervised toilet breaks are advisable for tonight at least... then see how she does overnight and if she's any more settled in the morning? If the Rescue Remedy is having a positive effect, I'd keep topping her up as necessary overnight to try and let her get some much needed rest/sleep. A good sleep might help a lot... If things get scary overnight, call me and I'll be there in a shot... anything at all for you and my little buddy JoJo... T.

I've always had multiple dogs... upwards of 3 is my general leaning... but I'm a crazy dog lady of the highest order... *grin* Be aware that they may all get on famously... or there may be problems. There is no magic "formula" to how things will pan out long term. My experience is that males can tend to be more submissive to the females, but obviously others have had different experiences. I do know that once 2 females decide that they don't like each other, it can escalate VERY quickly, and the best advice there is that they will need to be separated permanently once that scenario occurs - they will try to kill each other given the chance... In my last group of 4, I had some pretty strict management going on, as all were female, and all had issues with at least one of the others. I am now down to one dog, and am actually enjoying not having to manage issues... although I REALLY want another dog (or 3). Not gonna happen while this one is here though, as she hates all other dogs, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to have to manage issues again. T.

Most likely the latter, as evey inch of her was soaked through a few times. I will say that she recovered very quickly once the storm was over though, so usually by the time I got home it was all over and she was fine... just wet... T.

My Zeddy felt safe in the bathroom... but the door had to be closed for her to settle fully. Once the door was closed, she would just lie down in there and go to sleep. Pickles preferred to just lie near me and tremble until it was all over... if I was at home when a storm came. If I was out, when I came home she would be soaked through as though she had been out in the rain for some reason... ?? As for the mower, both wanted to attack it if it was on, so they were shut inside the house when I did any mowing. Luckily, Harper doesn't seem to be affected by thunderstorms or fireworks... but she wants to kill the mower, so gets shut inside when that is on. T.

Harper is 9 years old now, and being Dane cross, is a large breed dog. Evey indicator says that she should be showing signs of old age, such as arthritis, etc... but this is not the case. She still runs around like a 2 year old, and as stated before, hasn't had to see a vet for any health related issues for around 7-8 years... maybe I'm doing something right? As she was born to a dog that had ended up in the pound whilst pregnant, one can't necessarily say she would have gotten the very best care while in utero - until her mum came to our rescue shortly before whelping. I do know that once born, she and her siblings were given the very best care... but can post birth care negate possible in-utero neglect? Maybe she is just genetically blessed? All dogs (just as all humans) are different/unique, and as such should be cared for as individuals. What works well for one, may not work as well for the next... The pet care industry has exploded in recent years... and a lot of "advice" has been driven by profit making by the companies that stand to make the most of the boom... food for thought... T.

Pickles' dogmother used to be the CEO of the AVA... with a doctorate based on animal vaccines. She told me that the basic C3 vaccine will generally provide protection against Parvo, Distemper, and Canine Hepatis for around 7 years... longer if the dog in question is subjected to conditions where those diseases are in the environment - due to small attacks regularly by those diseases keeping the antibodies fighting them active, such as when I was continuously bringing home foster pups from pounds and other unknown backgrounds, my dogs were essentially being exposed regularly to all manner of things including the big 3 diseases, and that was actually a good thing for their immune systems. Funnily enough though, the Canine Cough addition vaccines (C4/5 extras that cover influenza and bordatella) only provide protection against those bugs for around 6 months... pretty much the same as how our annual human flu shots work. If your dog may be at risk of Canine Cough, then annual boosters are recommended. All of my dogs have generally only had their puppy vaccinations (C3 only) and their first adult booster shot... then nothing unless I had to board them somewhere. As for diet... over the years my various dogs have been fed various diets... from supermarket kibble/tinned, to high end premium kibble, and Harper is currently basically on raw chicken carcases or turkey necks. Very few of them have ever had any diet related issues regardless of what they were being fed... and none of them have ever been regular patients at any vet clinic. The last time my vet saw Harper for a medical problem was about 7-8 years ago when she was stung by a bee and turned out to be highly allergic... *sigh* Vets (and vet nurses) are educated to give advice about "complete and balanced" diets - essentially plugging the premium kibble options is part of their "job". Whether this is completely medically sound advice, or the premuim kibble manufacturers have a hand in forming general opinion is moot... technically, the general idea is to feed your dog whatever it is doing well on. Most dogs do well on the premium kibbles out there... but many also do just fine on kitchen scraps or supemarket pet food options. I won't poo-poo Reiki... I have actually used it to good effect on one of my own dogs. Also, some supplements containing strange ingredients can be beneficial for aging issues like arthritis and the like, so I won't poo-poo those either - especially when many studies have proven that some of them actually work, and have less side effects on the body than traditional medicines used for those problems. I would much rather feed an arthritic dog Antinol (or similar) than anti-inflammatory medications that can damage kidneys or liver if used long term. I will say that I am not your average pet owner... my vet actually said that I only come to him for a second opinion or medications... *grin* (pretty much sums it up though). I also have years of hands on experience with various animal species and their possible medical problems. I now have my Vet Nursing qualification, and am a qualified zookeeper also. I can be a vet's worst nightmare client... or an effective participant in diagnosis/treatment of any issue with an animal in my care... it's up to the vet which rendition of me they choose to deal with... *grin* T.

If the seroma is being caused by a reaction to the external stitches, then taking them out a little earlier than "normal" is probably the right move. That said, the only stitches that are being removed are the external ones... there are possibly up to 2 other layers of stitches internally that are holding the scary stuff in. If the vet feels that the healing process is going well externally, and thinks the stitches can come out early, then it may not be as big a worry as you are thinking. I had a dog who managed to get her external sutures out by herself after only 4 days - and she had had a rather complicated spey where she had almost died on the table - took her to the vet immediately, worried that she'd have to be restitched... but the vet found that her external wound had virtually healed already, and restitching wasn't necessary at all. 10-14 days is a guideline for wound healing time under stitches... not necessarily gospel. Each dog will heal differently... some faster, some not so much... T.

In my case, I have bodycam footage AND legal documents showing the lies told... by RSPCA inspectors AND their "expert witnesses"... around 700+pages of it... This... *sigh* T.

I have what can only be described as a form of PTSD after going through the case I did... and I wasn't the person they targetted... Any mention of RSPCA gets my blood pressure up, and I flash back to the hundreds of pages of "evidence" that was tendered that spelled out exactly what they did to the animals they seized, the lies their "expert" witnesses told in their statements that went completely against the actual evidence tendered, including their own bodycam footage. Friends know to never bring their name up in front of me, as I am prone to starting to rant and rail about how they operate. I recently went back to TAFE and completed my Cert 3 Animal Studies (we were in lockdown, and I figured why not do something constructive), and my teacher previously worked with RSPCA as a vet locum. I explained to her that I'd had very bad dealings with RSPCA, and that I may be triggered by any positive mention of "the good work they do"... and she was very careful about not triggering me by mentioning them. I have nothing but respect for all the volunteers who work really hard to make a difference to the lives of the animals in their care... and nothing but loathing for their inspectorate arm, legal team, and management who encourage prosecution over prevention. The case I was involved in has bodycam footage of the vet onsite NOT in favour of seizure of animals, but one of the inspectors was actively overriding the vet... and the 30 minute break in the footage noted as contacting RSPCA legal team for advice, then deciding to seize as many animals as they thought they could get away with after that call. Contacting the legal team in the middle of an "inspection" is NOT standard practice. I will note that RSPCA had tried to do over the person targetted in this case previously, and their case had failed around a month prior to the visit that resulted in seizure of a number of animals for spurious reasons. Even their own bodycam footage shows the complete opposite of the "conditions" of the animals as claimed in their "evidence" and court notice details. Of note is the number of animals that were seized under the auspice of needing URGENT veterinary care that never recieved ANY treatment for their supposed ailments... and the fact that NONE of the animals seized even saw a vet for treatment of any issue until at least 3 days after seizure - 3 days in the care of RSPCA at Yagoona where there are literally NO records of what happened to them during those 3 days, apart from a couple of blood tests and fecal tests that all came back as normal and parasite free the day after seizure. POCTAA clearly states that seizure of animals is only the very last resort, and only in cases where immediate vet attention cannot be facilitated by the owner of said animals. This was not how it worked in the case I was involved in... we had a vet available to come out on the spot, but were not allowed to call him while RSPCA were at the property... not to mention that said vet had made a visit to the property 2 days prior to RSPCA "visiting", and records of said visit were shown on the day. All animals' health records were kept up to date, and regular worming, vaccinations, and any other medical notes were updated daily and in full. I know this because I was the one who kept those records up to date. I knew the health status of EVERY animal on site. T.

And therein lies the rub... they start off by serving people with multiple charges, smear that person's name in the media from the first court mention, delay proceedings as long as possible in order to run up that person's legal costs and costs associated with holding/"treating" the animal(s), then at the crucial point before actually going to trial, will offer to drop all bar one charge if the person pleads guilty to that charge... effectively giving RSPCA a "win". And to rub salt into the wound, the media is then advised of that "win", further smearing the person's name... while the person is gagged by the court from saying anything negative in public about RSPCA and their tactics used to secure that "win". The case I was involved in defending started off with 13 "charges"; was delayed numerous times to rack up maximum legal costs (total approx 200,000 before it even looked like going to actual trial; estimated costs to proceed through said trial was around 2 million all up; offer came to drop 12 charges if plaintiff was amenable to pleading guilty to one charge, and all legal costs (bar the fine allocated for that one charge) would stop. Is it any wonder that people take the plea as offered? Who has a spare 2 million to fight trumped up charges with no chance of ever recouping those monies even after a successful outcome in that person's case? In our case, the fine received by RSPCA (they have a legal moeity on fines, so receive said monies) didn't even cover the costs they were claiming for "treatment" and holding of the animals they seized, let alone their own legal costs... so effectively, the "win" wasn't really cost effective with regards to outlay vs return. But they did get to smear the plaintiff one more time in the media announcing said "win", and thus cementing their "good name" and fooling the donation giving public into thinking they are doing a great job bringing animal "abusers" to "justice"... The system is badly broken when organisations like the RSPCA can rort it to maximum effect. T.

When a large animal "charity" organisation spends more annually on touting for donations (around 5-6 million) than they spend on their actual animal care costs (around 3 million), methinks there may be a "problem". In NSW there are approximately 500 paid staff... and approximately 5000 volunteer staff. The inspectorate section (paid staff) cost around 3 million-ish last financial year... and brought in around 137,000 (ish) in fines from "successful" prosecutions... not a reasonable return for the "investment, ya think?? No mention about how much the actual legals cost there either... RSPCA NSW had incoming funds of around 34.3 million last financial year... around 1/10th of that was actually spent on animals in their "care"... and more than 7 million was spent on "administration"... The cat rehoming stats are better than usual at 7450 rehomed out of 13,400 taken in (still 5950 euthanaised), but dog figures were pretty horrendous at only 2205 rehomed out of 6900 taken in (4795 euthanaised) - one would think that an extremely large and well funded "rescue" would have much better stats than that... I think that rather than handling actual prosecutions, RSPCA should build their cases and pass them to the DPP for prosecution (which is how AWL handles their cases) - at least that would mean that only worthy cases with actual credible evidence would make it through the system... instead of RSPCA bully tactics forcing the accused to plead to lesser charges (and recorded as a "win" by RSPCA), rather than going bankrupt due to the exhorbitant cost of legals to fight them all the way though the system. Those who do manage to fight them all the way and win never see a penny of awarded costs, and then need to get on the court/legal roundabout again to try to get them to pay... rarely with any success... they just don't pay, and it seems not even the courts can make them... T.

7 months = approx 215 days 42000 / 215 = approx 195 per day That is only marginally less per day than you'd pay for a full hospitalisation stay at a vet clinic... In NSW, RSPCA daily "boarding" costs for seized animals is around 42 per day, and I'd assume similar for QLD in cases where kenneling only was the case for the vast majority of the animal's incarceration. One can only imagine what other things were being done to the dog to end up with a 42000 bill for costs... As for the Audit report... pity the same hasn't been done for NSW RSPCA... as I reckon exactly the same negative findings would be the result. T.

There is a specific test for pancreatitis in dogs... it's called cPLI... it tests lipase and amylase levels (certain types of fats in the blood). Generally, if your dog had pancreatitis (acute, suddne onset)), then he'd be in a world of pain and you'd know it. If he has chronic pancreatitis (longterm type), then there is a possibility he may have just gotten used to certain levels of uncomfortability over time, which could make picking it up harder on first sight. Similarly to liver issues, you'd want to keep the levels of fat in his diet as low as possible if he had chronic pancreatitis, as fat can set it off and he would not be a happy boy. I've had pancreatitis (acute) myself... and I certainly would not wish it on any animal. T.

When I had a deaf foster puppy, I was always forgetting he was deaf, and would call him... lol! When he was asleep and I needed him awake, I would tap on my wooden floor softly so he could feel the vibration, and it didn't startle him. My friend's oldest dog has lost most of her hearing now, so we clap, tap the floor, or use deeper speaking tones to alert her that her attention is required... she can feel the vibrations of those and responds well so far. Other old dogs I've had to move from one place to the other responded well to me hitting my thigh rhythmically so they could follow the vibration... I have no real experience with dementia as an added complication though. T.