How do you find a good vet?

[Southpaw]

Grrr. We ended up "breaking up" with our vet last week. Apparently a vet tech student insisting there's a problem is really bruising his ego, because he ended up scolding and ranting at my mother when she called to talk to him about Juno's thyroid results. Needless to say, we will not be going back to him (which is a shame, we've been going there for 15 years and I love, love the techs there).

So.... how does one go about finding a good vet? Word of mouth doesn't really work for us because we have referred everyone we know to this guy. I've looked at websites but all the information is so similar, there's really nothing on them that makes one place look better than another. It makes my head spin.

Juno has an appointment with a new vet on Friday, they were just the first place we called and they have a coupon for a free exam, so we said sure why not. I want to get this new vet's opinion on her thyroid results, and we have some other questions that never really got resolved by the old vet. But what if we're dissatisfied with this new vet? Is it just a matter of trying every clinic out until you find one you like??

 

[Saeleofu]

I'd start off with an AAHA accredited clinic. After that, it's kind of a crapshoot :/ Good luck!

 

[GlassOnion]

I reckon it depends on what you're looking for in a vet.

 

[PWCorgi]

Go to Lake Harriet. Seriously, I would give them my soul to keep treating all my animals, lol. They are AMAZING, learned about them from word of mouth. IDK where you are in Minnesota (for some reason I think not too far from the Twin Cities?), but they would be worth the drive if anywhere close. I have nothing but great things to say about them and neither do anyone else who takes their pets there.

Lake Harriet Veterinary | Holistic & Traditional | Welcome!
We saw Dr. Nicole Palmieri and I would highly recommend her, though a friend of mine saw Dr. Cathy Sinning and really liked her as well.

I swear they don't pay me to say these things, lol.

 

[Southpaw]

Go to Lake Harriet. Seriously, I would give them my soul to keep treating all my animals, lol. They are AMAZING, learned about them from word of mouth. IDK where you are in Minnesota (for some reason I think not too far from the Twin Cities?), but they would be worth the drive if anywhere close. I have nothing but great things to say about them and neither do anyone else who takes their pets there.

Lake Harriet Veterinary | Holistic & Traditional | Welcome!
We saw Dr. Nicole Palmieri and I would highly recommend her, though a friend of mine saw Dr. Cathy Sinning and really liked her as well.

I swear they don't pay me to say these things, lol.

Hmm what is their pricing like? I do really like the looks of that place. I'm only about 30mins south of there which IMO is really not that far, especially for a place that's worth it. I just don't know if my mom would go for it, and right now it would be okay if I'm the one bringing them to the vet, but when I move out (which is hopefully sooner rather than later haha) I know she wouldn't want to stay there. Unless they were really awesome, which I'm sure they are, and their pricing was reasonable.... but I'm also sure they're expensive!

I would like to bring future puppy there though.

 

[jameserickson80]

I used to look for a certified vet clinic. As for my vet, she is recommended by me by a friend to I'd give it a try and she was all good.

 

[PWCorgi]

Hmm what is their pricing like? I do really like the looks of that place. I'm only about 30mins south of there which IMO is really not that far, especially for a place that's worth it. I just don't know if my mom would go for it, and right now it would be okay if I'm the one bringing them to the vet, but when I move out (which is hopefully sooner rather than later haha) I know she wouldn't want to stay there. Unless they were really awesome, which I'm sure they are, and their pricing was reasonable.... but I'm also sure they're expensive!

I would like to bring future puppy there though.

I'm not sure about the general prices from around this area, since I just moved here, but the people who recommended me to them said that they are pretty expensive for the area. It is *so* worth it to me though since I have the worlds worst patient

When I took him in for the mouth thing my receipt says the exam (excluding sedative) was $59. So just a normal exam.

I got a quote for his dental/surgical tooth removal, and it has the breakdown of cost. It is expensive, well over $500, but it's a little confusing and I know she said the tooth he broke is the most complicated/expensive tooth to get out of the mouth (Premolar #4).

 

[joce]

Depends what you like in a vet.

Some people hate my vet. He is brutally honest. I love him. He won't do a million tests and charge you a ton. He will tell you your dog has a month left and you have this and this option. Where the vet down the street will make you feel bad if you don't run thirty tests prior to telling you the same two options. I don't need the bedside manor-just tell me the truth.

I also HATE when a vet will make it seem like you are killing your dog by not giving a parvo shot when the dog is thirteen Or something similar.

 

[Southpaw]

I'm not sure about the general prices from around this area, since I just moved here, but the people who recommended me to them said that they are pretty expensive for the area. It is *so* worth it to me though since I have the worlds worst patient

When I took him in for the mouth thing my receipt says the exam (excluding sedative) was $59. So just a normal exam.

I got a quote for his dental/surgical tooth removal, and it has the breakdown of cost. It is expensive, well over $500, but it's a little confusing and I know she said the tooth he broke is the most complicated/expensive tooth to get out of the mouth (Premolar #4).

Oh that's not too bad. Right now we're paying $42 for an exam but we always thought that was on the cheaper side, my mom knows that by switching vets we'll probably end up having to pay more. I work at a clinic in Bloomington (yeah I could go there lol, but I probably won't be working there in a couple months so I don't see the point) and their exams are $59 as well.

Dentals are suuuuuper expensive where I work too, maybe I always just see the prices for the really bad mouths lol but they always seem to hover around $1000. Someone recently had a $3000 dental.

Some people hate my vet. He is brutally honest. I love him. He won't do a million tests and charge you a ton. He will tell you your dog has a month left and you have this and this option.

That's what this vet is like. And we had always been okay with that, he wasn't the most personable guy but we thought he knew what he was doing. But being yelled at is just unacceptable. Looking back, there were other bad vibes too--we referred someone to him and he couldn't diagnose the dog with Addisons disease (they went to a different vet to get that diagnosis), and when we refilled Molly's thyroid medication, after taking the new pill she got very restless, panting, pacing, etc.... he told us it was fine, continue giving her the pills. Turns out, those are symptoms of OVERDOSE. We stopped giving her the medication, regardless of his opinion.


We'll see how Friday's appointment goes and if it's just same old, same old, then I might have to see about trying out Lake Harriet...

 

[GlassOnion]

It is expensive, well over $500, but it's a little confusing and I know she said the tooth he broke is the most complicated/expensive tooth to get out of the mouth (Premolar #4).

It's the shearing tooth: the largest in most dogs. Has three roots to cut out too. Not much fun.

 

[mrose_s]

We're thinking about changing vets aswell, I don't really have a problem with ours and we'll probably stay because they are so close but I sometimes wonder if the guy that owns the clinic is exactly what I want in a vet.

I have another vet I love but he's 20 minutes away and I don't have my license which causes problems.

 

[AgilityPup]

We're kind of in the same situation since our vets oncall called us and told us we were abusing Zoey and said he'd call the SPCA on us (because after our vet told us NOT to bring her in, we didn't...?, and honestly, for me it's just been who is the best with our worst dog. We always judged before with Bella. Any vet who could work with Bella and make me feel calm and comfortable and confidant that they knew how best to handle her was who I wanted to go to. Now I just use Psyche, and who ever deals best with how... well, weird, she can be at times. We're still bouncing.

Another thing we're doing is volunteering with a local program that spays/neuters 70+ feral cats a day by having vets volunteer their time. We see who was there helping, where they're from, and check them out. My theory is that any vet who will give up their weekends for free to spay and neuter stinky, and often sick, cats, and let a 17 year old stand by and ask questions and help when possible is a pretty good vet to look into.

I guess, the point of all of this, is that I vote just try a few out for really small things. Or take a dog in just to see how they interact with them. (just a visit, not an appointment, if at all possible? Call and tell them what you want to do and ask if that'd be okay)

 

[Bigpoodleperson]

Since you are a tech student, are any local vets teaching at your school? The school i went to had some, and i would go to 2 of my teachers if i ever needed to. Any recommendations from the school (like local techs teaching there)?