Looking For A New Vet

[MooBoo]

After some suggestions for a great vet in the sutherland area. We are moving to Bundeena this weekend and Bella gets monthly cartrophen injections and is on thyroid medication, so I need to find someone within the next month.

If it wasn't an hour commute I'd be staying with my awesome vet.

We have 3 dogue de bordeauxs, one of which who has had 2 knee ops and severe arthritis.

Any ideas would be great.

May not get back to check for a day or two due to the moving (having a break from packing at the moment) but please let me know what you think.

Thanks

[pipsqueak]

It will be a bit of a trip for you from Bundeena, but Sylvania Vets (Princes Hwy) are good. I've also heard good things about Darren at Sutherland Vet (near train station at Sutherland)

[poodlemum]

If you can possibly put up with the long drive, I would stay with the Vet you currently have. I did this when I was in Melbourne and moved to a southern suburb which was also an hour's drive away - can't really do it now that I'm 3 1/2 hours away, though. A Vet whom you trust, and who knows you & your dogs, is worth his/her weight in gold!

[mysticpaw]

I can highly recommend our vet at Heathcote.

We had a girl with suspected pyometra, he gave us his mobile number in case she got worse.

We didn't need it on that occasion, but when my boy got a tick I rang him and he got the resident vet to

open the surgery and start getting the drip ready.

He is excellent with my four huskies.

Also have a friend that uses Sylvania vet and says they are really good as well.

Bundeena is a lovely spot, good luck with your move.

[lucylotto]

I can highly recommend our vet at Heathcote.

We had a girl with suspected pyometra, he gave us his mobile number in case she got worse.

We didn't need it on that occasion, but when my boy got a tick I rang him and he got the resident vet to

open the surgery and start getting the drip ready.

He is excellent with my four huskies.

Also have a friend that uses Sylvania vet and says they are really good as well.

Bundeena is a lovely spot, good luck with your move.

I have had only but good dealings with Heathcote vet also and have always heard positive recomendations for them. My more local vet is OK for most routine stuff but Heathcote is the one I prefer. Not too far from the nat park turn off either.

[mysticpaw]

I have had only but good dealings with Heathcote vet also and have always heard positive recomendations for them. My more local vet is OK for most routine stuff but Heathcote is the one I prefer. Not too far from the nat park turn off either.

Just thought I would also mention this as I think it shows the type of guy our vet is.

After the Victorian bushfires a Doler asked for specific medical things to be sent down to Victoria.

I asked Joe (our vet) if he could get these things at cost from a supplier as I wouldn't be able to purchase them.

He agreed and then matched what I had spent. They also gave me a lot of leads and collars as well.

[corvus]

We are very happy with Sylvania Vet as well. I was extremely impressed when one of the vets took 5 minutes to get some roast chicken out of the fridge and bribe Erik to allow her to look at his mouth when he was 16 weeks old. She said she'd rather spend a bit of time on it now than have to deal with him trying to bite her for the rest of his life. Of course, we went on to teach him a cue for looking at his teeth, but it was made a lot easier by the fact she sent us down the right path. They were also wonderful when we had our elderly girl.

I have heard good things about Sutherland as well.

ETA Bundeena is beautiful, but a bit of a pain. It takes 20 minutes just to get out of the park! I used to work there and enjoyed the ride through the park, but sometimes you just wanna be there already. Folks I know that live there avoid going anywhere on the weekend. The roads are full of cyclists and motorcyclists and I hear deaths are not uncommon.

Edited October 31, 2010 by corvus

[melzawelza]

I agree that Heathcote and Sylvania are good but i'll also throw Kirrawee into the mix.

I grew up in the Shire and when my childhood dog got very sick two years in a row (Canine epilepsy the first year, pancreatitis the next) my parents had all but run out of money to continue spending on his vet bills. They were very distressed of course and Bill told them that he believed that with the treatment, our boy would pull through, and we had been taking him to them for 8 years..... so they covered all vet bills from then on for us. Our boy recovered and lived another 4 years until he needed to be put down, when Bill came and opened up the surgery at night time for us and didn't charge us the emergency fee for out of hours service. He cried with us when my boy was put to sleep.

Ever since then I can never recommend them enough to anyone that will listen, and if I still lived in the shire i'd take my cats there without a second thought.

This was coming up to 7 years ago now but as far as I know Bill is still there. Wonderful, wonderful vet.

[MooBoo]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will definately look into them.

I would love to stay with our vet, they have done sooo much for us over the years but I work in Greenacre, so would have the hour commute home to pick up Bell, then the hour trip back up for her cartrophen injection and to fill her script,then the hour trip back again!!

I googled some vets the other night and found one (can't remember the name now though, will have to google again) that visited Bundeena once a month, which could work out well for Bell as she hasher shot every month.

She goes in today for her last visit, I think I may cry!

Can't wait till we are fully moved, am looking forward to the peace and quiet and the water. I grew up in a little town of about 2000 people on the coast and we had a 1/2 hour drive to "town" to do shopping etc, so I think I'll fit back into that mindset easily, OH on the otherhand!?! It was his idea though!

[~Anne~]

I'd ask the Vets you currently have if they know of anyone in that area they could recommend.

[Kalevi]

I totally feel your pain, we are going through the same process at the moment as our vet has left the clinic we use and I'm not a huge fan of the other vets there. I think its a bit of trial and error. First up I think its about finding a clinic that practices what you believe.

I ended up switching to another clinic for a few minor things but then the question of annual vaccs came up and for me it was pointless continuning to see this vet who was still on the annual vaccination schedule and unable to order in the kennel cough vaccine alone.

So when I went searching for yet another vet I rang around and asked the annual vacc question (to a lot of vets its too progressive, however, I was looking for a vet that was already in that mindset and more in touch with the goings on) but that's what is important to me, so it was trying to find a vet that had values and practices that gelled with my views so I was not always fighting them on the issues.

[griff]

cant help with a Vet just wanted to say as a Kid

I was a Bundeena person once lived in Thompson street .