Now that Gusto is home safe...

*blackrose

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#21
I would definitely speak to them about it, and would be very upset.

I work at a clinic. If we know an emergency is coming in, as soon as they hit the door we're ready to take the pet to the back and start treatment. Some times owners don't realize the dire situation their pets are in and underplay it so we aren't going in thinking "this animal needs urgent care or it will die", but our receptionist staff does a really good job at giving us a heads up if an animal comes in and is extremely ill. It doesn't matter if the vet or techs are in another appointment - if an animal needs immediate attention, that animal will get immediate attention.
 

Miakoda

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#22
I hope Gusto is still feeling better this morning.

I know I've been at my vet and when an emergency comes in, they tend to it and let people waiting know it will be a little longer for their appointment. That's terrible what your vet did.
First, I'm glad he seems to be doing better.

Second, I "concur" with the bolded statement. We always took an emergency and dealt with it first. However, it was a bit easier, because there were always 2-3 vets working exam rooms, so it wasn't as rough losing one to an emergency as it would be if there was only one vet on duty.
 

MericoX

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#23
This is the reason I really like my vet. I've called while I'm in the car driving when Kiba got into some rat poison and they took her straight out back. When Lincoln's shoulder get worse this past Spring they saw him within the hour (wasn't an emergency, but something I didn't want to wait another day on).

When Kiba had her bout of HGE this spring our vet was closed and I took her to the er-vet. Waited I think about an hour to be seen all the while she's pooping bright red all over the lobby and in the exam room. You'd think that because I called around (that's what they require so they can be ready) I for sure we'd be seen right away and at least get something going.
 

Grab

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#24
We always tend to emergencies immediately. If we know ahead of time, we set up an area and have anything we may need ready at hand. We always immediately let a doctor know..even if they're in a room (and they'll excuse themselves to at least come assess the animal immediately)

I'd definitely talk to a doctor to see if this is their normal procedure.
I know when we have new front staff, sometimes things get very confusing for a long while..animals are brought back without us knowing or being told, not being told animals are on the way, and owners being told all sorts of odd things.
 

Locke

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#25
When Matrix had his first seizure, we called our vet and they said "is he stable? do you think he'll have another one?" We had no idea, we had never experienced anything like it before. They took us as soon as they could fit us in, and after he checked out okay, we never went back there.

I would discuss the situation with them and depending on how the vet responds, choose to stay or go.
 

Southpaw

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#26
We get to emergencies right away but, like Miakoda, we always have 2 or 3 doctors working so the odds are likely that at least one of them is readily available. Although, we also put a lot of focus on customer service, so even if it's not a "true" emergency we still get to them quickly.

And it helps to know someone is coming in, then the info can be relayed to the doctor and depending on the info the owner gives us, the doctor can give us some basic tasks to perform as soon as the animal arrives, ie take xrays or give it this injection or place a catheter.

I don't know if I'd switch vets becaue of it, especially if you've been happy there otherwise. But I'd be upset yeah.
 

sparks19

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#27
Agree with everyone else. That is NOT usual and not acceptable.

When Teddy was hit by a car my friend called the vet and told them we were on our way and there was a tech waitingoutside for us when we pulled up. It was too late and he was already gone by the time we got there but they were ready and waiting.

We haven't had any emergencies with beezer or belle but anytime I have called with anything other than routine checkups they have gotten me in same day or first thing next morning.
 

Laurelin

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#28
I had a horrible experience in Texas trying to find a vet to see mia when she was pooping and puking blood almost continuously. I called and said I had an emergency. 'Well we have no appointments. We can see you tomorrow'. I called several vets and got nothing.

I ended up driving in to the closest vet anyways and carrying her in, covered in her own feces, vomit, and blood (and my car covered in it as she got sick the whole way there). They DID see me but I still waited in the waiting room with her a good 10-15 minutes.

I am so glad I have a good vet here.
 

JacksonsMom

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#29
Wow... agree that there was either some lack of understanding/communication or just bad vet. That's terrible.

I know what you mean though... the first vet Jackson went to, as a pup, was kind of like that. I called and explained that he had been limping very bad (completely holding up his leg and not putting ANY weight on it) for 3 days, I think it was. They were like "Ummm, we can see him Thursday at 3?" and this was MONDAY (after he had been limping the whole weekend). I'm not going to let my dog continue to be in pain for the rest of the week? So I called another local vet, explained the situation (my dad was also getting married later that day... so I kinda had to take care of it asap). They were totally understanding, got him right in, did the proper tests and got the right diagnosis.

We switched to them. :)

But yeah in Gusto's situation, that's BAD... very bad. I can't even imagine a vet turning them down. Maybe sometimes they think the owners are over-exaggerating or something?
 

Saeleofu

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#30
Where I work, we will work emergencies in as soon as possible. If we've never seen the person before, and we're very booked, we'll tell them the closest clinic that can see them sooner. The only times we have to turn people away is when we don't have a vet (because he's at lunch or out of town or something - and people have gotten PISSED that we're open without a vet before :rolleyes: ) or we're in the middle of surgery. Again, if we can't see them we sent them to the closest clinic that can (generally that's the clinic less than a mile up the road, takes 2 minutes to get there).

A lot of times we'll have people come in with what they *think* is an emergency, but it's really not. If we had a dog like Gusto come in, that would DEFINITELY be an emergency. But we've had people panic and rush in with a tick on their dog, a minor limp from a grass awn, dog fight with very minor, superficial wounds - those types of things we take a quick look at and if we're swamped and it's safe for them to wait, then yeah, they may have to wait.

The clinic we took our animals to when I was in high school told us that our cat would be fine until the next morning or an appointment. He died that night. After working in a clinic for 6 years I now know he was blocked and couldn't pee and that it's a life-or-death IMMEDIATE emergency, but at the time none of us were aware of that. When we described what was going on with him, it was a textbook case of a blocked male kitty. There's no reason they should have told us he'd be fine overnight. Needless to say we never went back to that clinic.
 

Southpaw

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#31
What's nice about our schedule is that we have a couple times randomly throughout the day blocked off as "ER" appointments. Those only get filled if we're totally booked but we need to see the patient today. That's not to say that, if your dog gets hit by a car, we're going to say "sorry, you can't come until 4:00." But it does mean that, if someone calls in and says their dog has been limping or has had diarrhea or hasn't eaten - those are not OMG COME IN NOW emergencies, but obviously we wanna see them sooner rather than later, so then they get put in an ER spot. And we do not tell clients about these so that they can't use it against us. :p

But it's nice, because then we are not seeing appointments back to back to back... makes it easier for us to fit in sick animals, without backing up the rest of the schedule. Usually.
 

JessLough

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#32
What's nice about our schedule is that we have a couple times randomly throughout the day blocked off as "ER" appointments. Those only get filled if we're totally booked but we need to see the patient today. That's not to say that, if your dog gets hit by a car, we're going to say "sorry, you can't come until 4:00." But it does mean that, if someone calls in and says their dog has been limping or has had diarrhea or hasn't eaten - those are not OMG COME IN NOW emergencies, but obviously we wanna see them sooner rather than later, so then they get put in an ER spot. And we do not tell clients about these so that they can't use it against us. :p

But it's nice, because then we are not seeing appointments back to back to back... makes it easier for us to fit in sick animals, without backing up the rest of the schedule. Usually.
This too. The clinic I use always has spots blocked off for urgent/need to see that day appointments.
 
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#33
When Argon had his stroke, I didn't even have time to call them. I just threw him in the car and rushed him in. They still grabbed him from the lobby and rushed him back for bloodwork. It didn't end up helping him, but they did do everything possible.
 

Brattina88

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#34
When Maddie hurt her eye I called and was there within 2mins, we got straight in and working on her immeadiatly and they let me stay with her and help.
Now that I think about it though when I went in with Murtagh the rooms were all taken and then I had to wait to see him and I was mad. But after reading your experience, I guess I shouldn't complain. :eek:
 

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