Cheaper than your veterinarian

Today I was reading a newly posted Consumer Report (CR) titled "Tame Your Pet Costs" released by Consumer Reports July 5th.  In general, the report tells pet owners to shop around when it comes to veterinary care and purchasing medications and flea and tick products.  I even read their links to previous articles related to this report.  The business side of me shakes her head in frustration...the veterinary side of me is screaming out of fear for my patients and clients!


Don't get me wrong, on a personal level, I work to live within my budget and shop for 'bargains' too, but there are many things I just refuse to compromise quality vs. costs on.  Admittedly, I am prejudice about veterinary care and my role in this care for my patients.  However, I can honestly say that I would not compromise my pet's health and well-being by accepting 'cheaper' services and medications in place of quality, compassion and through veterinary care given by my trusted veterinarian and veterinary staff.


I have not always been a veterinarian or business owner.  In fact, I did not join the veterinary world until 1994 at the age of 37 years old, after having gone back to school at age 30 with 3 children still living at home.  Then as now, I had a lot of animals, all requiring care, sometimes from a veterinarian.  As a mother of young children, I had to live within a budget (still do, now I have grandchildren and retirement to save for).  Often times my animals had less than ideal veterinary care because of financial constraints.  The key was trust and loyalty in my veterinary providers, living within my means and acquiring good budgeting skills.  Whenever I had need for a my veterinarian, he gave me treatment options, estimates, honest prognosis' and communicated with me about my animals' needs.  He educated me, helped me make sound health decisions for my critters.  We developed a special team with the purpose to provide the best care possible (within my budget) for my animals.  I could not have said the same for the sales employee at Walmart or the local feed store.


The CR article encouraged owners to shop around for the best price.  I cannot deny this is sound advise on many levels.  It does not however, take in account many unseen aspects of veterinary care for our pets; the biggest being the special medical animal knowledge that your veterinarian and their staff provides for your pet.  With flea/tick products, for example, there are many different insecticides used in these products, all poisons and all potentially toxic.  Does your retail sales person have an expert working knowledge of these products, which is safest for your pet, which will work best for your pet's lifestyle?  Do they understand and share with you their education about insecticide differences, how they work and how to properly apply them?  Do you feel safe applying these products to your pets based on the information you may or may not receive from these retail stores?  Every year new products are placed on the market, do you or your retail sales people keep in the know about these products and their safety; your veterinary provider does.  When you compare prices between some of the products from retail stores vs. your veterinarian, you are not just paying for an insecticide, you are also paying for the expertise and knowledge of your veterinary provider.  A provider that cares about you and your pet....can you say this of Petco or PetMeds?  It's like comparing apples and oranges.


TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW!

Reality Veterinarian

I am not really one to watch television.  There have been programs that I have been rather addicted to, but they have long since gone by the wayside to numerous reality t.v. programs.  For me, by the time I get home from the clinic, feed the cats and dogs, change out of my fur laden work clothes, cook and eat dinner, and do a few domestic chores, it is 8 or 9 pm before I am finally sitting down to relax.  If my husband, Bruce, has control of the remote, we are usually watching sports or something very manly like Sons of Guns, American Chopper or something with cars.  While I will watch baseball, a rare football game, generally, I am sitting on my side of the living room with knitting needles working on a project, not really paying attention to what is on t.v. If I get remote privelages, I rarely find anything worth watching, with exception of National Geo, the Discovery Channel and sometimes old re-run sit coms and old movies on TBS.  The majority of programs I have surfed through in search of entertainment include a plethora of reality shows: America's Got Talent, Soroity Life, Fraternity Life, The Bachelor, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Survivor and the list goes on and on .....and on and on.  The one thing I believe they all have in common is that not one of them really has alot to do with reality.  At least no reality that I know and I am relatively certain that my friends and neighbors do not share either.  To date, I have never heard of my neighbor experiencing a Survivor moment mowing their lawn, tending their garden and sharing life experiences with the children.  I haven't ever "Traded Places" with anyone and not sure that I want to.  These programs do however have lots of viewers and please accept my humblest of apologies if you are among one of the avid fans. 

I was thinking this evening (9 p.m.), watching the Royals vs. Detroit (and yes the Royals are losing), that maybe I can pitch my reality to one of the national programmers. "So You Think You Can be a Veterinarian"  (forgive the pun from So You Think You Can Dance).  We will start the program with being woke up by the ringing phone at 4 a.m. by someone asking you what time your clinic opens.  Your alarm clock goes off at 5:30 a.m., you jolt yourself awake with coffee and a shower, let the dogs out and are off to work by 7 a.m...Hospital rounds, dislodging the velcro cat from you left arm, you see your first patient of the day with a smile ... "Land Shark" your favorite Chihuahua patient already licking his lips with a smirky lip raising growl (which I am sure must mean Good morning to you Doc).  Your technician and you wrestle Land Shark to the ground to clip his toenails, while he thanks you by self expressing his anal glands on your lab coat (clothes change #1, and I start re-thinking why I put perfume on before work every day).  The day proceeds with a stream of patients with complaints of itching, vomiting, diarrhea, not eating for 2 hours, barking funny at the mailman and the ever popular pet eating foreign materials (tin foil, panty hose, cat litter, etc).  By the end of the day you smell like wet dog, cat urine, and anal glands(not really sure if I can still get a small hint of my Este Lauder).  You head for home, your husband kisses you from arms length because armpits stained from the cow manure of the cow you pregnancy checked late in the day is not his idea of romance.  Your dogs, always happy to see you, spend 10 minutes smelling your legs, trying to figure out just who you have been with all day and convinced they better be on their best behavior because you smell like another dog and figure they might be replaced (or better yet, may decide to mark their territory by urinating on your foot, so that in the future the next dog that approaches you will know the you are his owner!).  Now this is my REALITY.

I am not sure NBC will be interested and pretty sure I won't be offered millions so that I can retire.  I have forgotten one important aspect of the Reality Show....I may make fun of it, even sometimes grumble and growl about it....but always...I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.  I cannot wait to start another day, because mixed among all that pet hair and foul smells and cat claws and growlers, are the tail waggers, and the face lickers, along with their attached people that share their pets antics and their lives.  My lucky day.

Just working to offer the best

Today, like many others, I had someone come into the clinic, without the pet, who shared with me the symptoms of their pet and gave me their diagnosis and asked me for a antibiotic for their pet.  Politely, I explained that I could not prescribe medication without the benefit of having examined the patient, and all the reasons why I can't.  The person was irritated with me and left unsatisfied.  There may be a veterinarian that would accommodate them, but I am not one of them...I strive to always do what is best for my patient. Additionally, there is a regulation set out by the AVMA that makes prescribing without benefit of a Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR) unethical and illegal.  Let me explain.....

A Veterinarian-Client –Patient relationship exists when your veterinarian knows your pet well enough to diagnose and treat any medical condition your animals develops.  Your role in this VCPR is allowing your vet to take responsibility for making medical judgements about your pet’s health, asking questions to be sure you understand and follow your vet’s instructions.  Your vet’s job is making judgements about your pet’s health, diagnosis and treatment plans., accepting the responsibility for providing these medical decisions, advising you about your options and risks, keeping written records for your pet’s care and helping you know how to get emergency care if needed. 

This relationship is established ONLY when your vet examines your animal IN PERSON and is maintained by regular vet visits needed to monitor your animal’s health.  If a VCPR is established but you do not visit your vet regularly for them to maintain a good knowledge of your pet’s health, the VCPR is NO LONGER VALID and it would be illegal and unethical for your vet to dispense or prescribe medications or recommend treatment without examining your pet.  A valid VCPR cannot be established online, by e-mail or over the phone.

This VCPR is required by law in many states in order for a veterinarian to diagnose or treat an animal.  A veterinarian that prescribes/treats an animal without having the benefit of examining the animal is breaking the law and can loose their licesence to practice medicine.  Additionally , it is the best thing for your animal’s health, it allows your doctor to make the best possible decision about the health and welfare of your animal; which is what both you and your veterinarian should strive to provide.  Nothing could be worse than having a doctor prescribe a medication ,based on only information you gave them, that may be harmful to your animal.  Additionally, the veterinarian could not be certain of your pet’s true condition without an exam, and any treatment they prescribed would not help (could hurt) and you would still have a sick if not more sick or dead animal.

To the person that left unhappy with my work, I hope this helps ease your frustrations with your veterinarian and their staff, when you hope to receive treatment or medications for your pet without having the expensive of an office visit or diagnostics to probably treat your beloved family member.  Speaking for my office, we want only what is best for your pet, and your pet cannot get the best over the phone or without an examination.  

I wonder if a human doctor has as much difficulty with this, or if a parent of a human child would even expect an MD to treat their child without them having examined them.