This Is A Bit Scary

[~Anne~]

Tdierikx, maybe a comparison to Bunnings fits here.

The Westfarmers Group bought out BBC and another chain (was it Hardware house?) and then Mitre 10 and now we have these fabulous stores that sell everything and at very competitive prices.

Edited December 18, 2013 by ~Anne~

[moosmum]

It all starts innocently enough - a slick business model, and lots of dosh floating around for those willing to do pretty much anything to get their hands on it...

T.

And in a perfect position to influence the market the way that suits themselves. What other areas are ripe for an influential voice/expansion of the brand?

Its not their current stake or plans that worries me.Its the logical progression unless there are changes to bring closer relationships between breeders and their communities.

Edited December 19, 2013 by moosmum

[OSoSwift]

Over here we have Vet West but I have no idea how many clinics they have or what their business practices are.

[Odin-Genie]

The vets my dogs have been going to are now part of Greencross. I haven't seen any changes. They charge the same. They get to see the same vet. Service and support is excellent. In fact I have taken injured wildlife a few times to these guys and they have been very helpful.

[Sabbath]

Tdierikx, maybe a comparison to Bunnings fits here.

The Westfarmers Group bought out BBC and another chain (was it Hardware house?) and then Mitre 10 and now we have these fabulous stores that sell everything and at very competitive prices.

No. We have Bunnings that sell a limited range of mostly cheap and nasty products. Just lots of items with no real choice.

[sandgrubber]

Over here we have Vet West but I have no idea how many clinics they have or what their business practices are.

Vet West has eight clinics. My experience with them was bad: vets newly hired out of vet school with inadequate supervision. They did a C-section for me (uterine inertia) and 3 of 9 pups died. Serious mistakes made, plus they told me to come on in and then kept me and the girl waiting for a couple hours because they had another surgery going.

[Crisovar]

Tdierikx, maybe a comparison to Bunnings fits here.

The Westfarmers Group bought out BBC and another chain (was it Hardware house?) and then Mitre 10 and now we have these fabulous stores that sell everything and at very competitive prices.

No. We have Bunnings that sell a limited range of mostly cheap and nasty products. Just lots of items with no real choice.

That's all we have too, drove the small hardware and garden shops out. A monopoly is never a good thing.

[Tapua]

I wonder when the veterinary clinics will be regulated - both in price fixing and service quality. I don't trust the newbies vets purely because they get too ambitions and look for treatments that aren't there also they have difficulty accepting my experience and insight into my dog. I have been with he same vet 15 years - I would be mortified if they sold to a franchise

[tdierikx]

I simply refuse to deal with vets on their first year out of Uni... and some for longer... I know quite a bit more about doggie ailments than them in most cases.

I had one young lass actually reach for a textbook to look up diagnostics for a certain issue one of my dogs had... then she wanted to anaethsetise my dog for a follow-up x-ray on his paw (funnily enough at an extra $400 cost). I called for the regular treating vet who took my boy out to x-ray, had him sit in a beg position at the x-ray table with his paw in the right spot, told him to stay, then did his x-rays - no fuss, no drugs, and took all of about 15 mins (funnily enough exactly that same way they had x-rayed him the first time). The young lass was still trying to argue that my dog needed to be anaesthetised for an x-ray when the other vet brought him back into the consult room with the completed x-rays.... and she didn't have the faintest idea of how to read them either... *sigh*

I did have one very experienced vet reach for the MIMS once to look up what drugs and dosages to give for coccidia - she had literally NEVER seen a case before... lol! She was so excited doing the fecal float and checking for the nasties that I suspected a foster pup had, she dragged me back to the lab section and let me look in the microscope at them... *grin* Those are the vets I love - ones who really get excited at learning about new things and working with owners on treatment plans and the like. Sadly she left not long after the practice was sold to Greencross...

T.

[LisaCC]

First year vets have to learn somehow. The only reason Sam survived past 7 to 11, was because a first year out Vet actually believed me when I said something was wrong. She spent months treating him and even having conferences with specialists for free just to figure out what was going on and why treatment wasn't working.

If everyone refused to work with first year out vets there wouldn't be any experienced vets in the first place.

[mixeduppup]

I work with first year vets and they can be pretty good in a lot of ways. Because they are so interested they really look for everything in hard cases and most have a more experienced vet as back-up and the nurses of course :)

[~Anne~]

Bunnings must be different where you are Sabbath. In Sydney and the south coast they offer a huge choice, quality and competitive prices and the range is huge. The stores are massive.

[~Anne~]

First year vets, like anyone else starting out, have to get experience somewhere.

I agree that the very green ones can be a worry. I can recall having to show a couple all the tricks on things like how to find veins and inject iv. Still their theoretical knowledge far outweighed mine and it only took 2 seconds for them to build experience in the simple techniques of everyday small animal practice.

We all have to start somewhere.... and if the animal rights movement would allow more access to real animals they would have more experience before graduation. That's a touchy subject though.

[LisaCC]

First year vets, like anyone else starting out, have to get experience somewhere.

I agree that the very green ones can be a worry. I can recall having to show a couple all the tricks on things like how to find veins and inject iv. Still their theoretical knowledge far outweighed mine and it only took 2 seconds for them to build experience in the simple techniques of everyday small animal practice.

We all have to start somewhere.... and if the animal rights movement would allow more access to real animals they would have more experience before graduation. That's a touchy subject though.

We get a lot at our school of Animal and Vet, but yea... don't want to upset too many people.

[Nic.B]

A first year vet saved Russel my Goldie with a tick just after closing hours. She busted her backside for my Russ at 10 years of age and used new methods she had just learnt in her uni degree. One of them was putting him over a rack on the sink and cooling him down. Russ was freezing and shivering.

This first year vet actually allowed me to stay with Russ from start to finish. She never dismissed me, never told me to leave. She was happy for me to be there for Russ (I keept him calm) (and cooled with the water ) while she explained everything step by step and began treatment.

I will never forget her as long as I live. This was 13 years ago, this very young red head vet, was incredible and saved my dogs life.

[LisaCC]

A first year vet saved Russel my Goldie with a tick just after closing hours. She busted her backside for my Russ at 10 years of age and used new methods she had just learnt in her uni degree. One of them was putting him over a rack on the sink and cooling him down. Russ was freezing and shivering.

This first year vet actually allowed me to stay with Russ from start to finish. She never dismissed me, never told me to leave. She was happy for me to be there for Russ (I keept him calm) (and cooled with the water ) while she explained everything step by step and began treatment.

I will never forget her as long as I live. This was 13 years ago, this very young red head vet, was incredible and saved my dogs life.

Thats a lovely story.

I will never forget this vet either, she left the clinic a few years ago to move back to the city, but when Sam passed we sent her a card thanking her for his extra 5 years. She was always talking about him like her own because he was her first serious case.

Before she left she had a baby and leant down and introduced Sam to the baby at the clinic, thats how close she became to us.

[OSoSwift]

First year vets can be awesome! They are not scared to say I don't know I will ask or I will research. Yes they don't have much practical knowledge but I would prefer a young vet who will happily ask anotehr vet for an opinion or say they don't know than one who tries to bluff their way thorugh

[tdierikx]

Maybe I've been "lucky" to get the ones that seem to be trying to bluff their way through then... or the ones so darned eager to prove to the clinic that they can bring in the money...

Considering I tend to bring in "interesting" cases for my preferred experienced vets to ponder on - you'd be amazed at the range of diseases and ailments you see in rescue - I'm just not comfortable with a kid that reaches for a textbook or wants to run a battery of expensive tests for all manner of things because they have really no clue where to start.

T.

[sandgrubber]

First year vets can be great, but it's best if they have an experienced vet around to fall back on. I would imagine it's pretty frightening for a vet to have attended one Ceasar in vet school, perhaps a dog, perhaps a sow, and to be thrown in to doing a Ceasar solo for the first time. Same with a lot of other procedures. It's even worse if they get put in an environment where they lack support and face pressure to meet revenue expectations . . . as is likely to happen in a franchise.

The good side is that they tend to be up to date on newer findings, more open minded, and in many cases, better trained in communication.

[OSoSwift]

My vet would never expect or ask a first year vet to do a caesar solo. They are always making sure they have supervision and ask questions no matter how trivial they may seem.