Do Vets Help Or Hinder The Horse Owner?

Eml I agree - I would rather have less bedside manner and a science based conversation than social skills - what I detest is vets who dot consider other possible diagnosis (ie sore footed pony = laminitis automatically) and vets who are unable to use scientific results alongside clinical observations
 
I prefer a vet who is straight to the point and blunt.
When Jack had colic that Saturday, vet who came was well see how he goes over weekend.
Come Monday I rang vet who did the op. Thankfully they agreed with me, let him go .

Some owners cannot bear the thought of that decision, or it.s not something that gets talked about. Having lost my last two, is it easier for me to see pain. Does it make you stronger.

I think if lose this one I will get a hamster.
 
Libbyo said:
My vet is just lovely. Shes one of a group practice, but unless emergency when I will have any, I always request her.
She listens to me, she helps me and she guides me. She will be brutally honest with me too. she has also been know to catch a pony, make the tea and be a dam good friend.
I can truthfully say on the occasions when shit hit the fan , she was incredible.
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are we with the same vets?
 
The question I ask is what would you do if you were me and why?

When Ceefa, our cat, had an RTA just over a year ago this was the question I asked. We had 2 choices, go for pioneering surgery to try to save his leg or go for amputation.

Because Ceefa was a people person and chilled we went for the long and harder option of saving the leg which involved 3 ops and months at the vets with 6 months being confined. If it would have been one of our girls we'd have gone for amputation as they are stressy and it wouldn't have been fair.

I did as much research as I could on both options to enable me to make the most informed choice I could.
 
Well we have been with same vet practise now for 20 years plus - they are brilliant on the most part - its grown somewhat and lots of new blood so to speak ..... we have only really been in the position twice where we have had to consider PTS - same horse, first time he pulled through although we had been warned if he has another colic ( been down 4times within as many hours) then there would be nothing more could be done and we would be looking at PTS - he rallied and we didn't have to face that -although a year later for different unrelated issue we had him down in the field, the vet came got him up - and we were prepared to try again for him - the vet mentioned it would be 6 months box rest minimum as he knew the problems that would lead to and did we want to go ahead, I asked him outright due to ongoing health issues he couldn't give more than a 50/50 prognosis on full recovery but with the box rest on top we may end up with the same issues as before on top of this and they would fight tooth and nail for him but it might not be enough if he had complications - we made our my up there and then and he was PTS within 30 minutes of call out in his field, had time to say goodbye to us and his field mate - he had been sedated so no pain - our hearts where broken but we knew it was the right thing, The vet had no qualms he knew his history, his ups and downs and his fears and reactions - he had dealt with him a number of times amongst the other practise vets - they don't sign up
to end life so its often as difficult for them - I would trust them to tell us if we were ever in that situation again - give us the full facts but at the end of the day the Choice is ours and they cannot make it for us - its a thankless power we have to be able to chose life or death and you have to be strong and selfless to use it.
 
newforest said:
When you have sick or injured horse, you don't always have that chance.
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No I was replying to the context of the original post which assumes you do, if the sickness or injury was that bad that the vets decide that is the only option then you are not in that position - in that context they wouldn't be hindering the horse owner they would be doing their job which is patient first.
 
newforest said:
When you have sick or injured horse, you don't always have that chance.
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That's the difficult bit and I guess thats where being as informative as you can about your own situationa nd expectations and the personality of the animal is crucial. There's no one way to proceed in most cases and so many cases are judgement calls.

Tis hard being responsible for animals.
 
Over the years our vets have been wonderful. Particularly one of the members - who unfortunately is leaving the practice. They made losing Joe and having to do the necessary bearable. I do know a lot of horse owners aren't so lucky. Because we are new to horses they have given us a lot of guidance and help - not sure we'd have got that elsewhere.
 
We've been with our vets 20 years. They know our horses and they know us and that helps. The vet who came when Bonnie had EGS knew we'd move heaven and earth for her so was realistic with his prognosis. Had one of their new recruits out last vaccs and he was fantastic. Maybe it's their recruitment procedure? they never seem to employ dud vets.

I do partly blame the admissions system for vets school aswell. And yes there is a huge spoon of bitterness there as i'm a vets school reject.
 
newforest said:
What as EGS?
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Equine Grass Sickness...I think! :)

When Rio broke his leg, Paul fully expected to be digging a large hole that morning for him. The vet never even mentioned putting him down, and said it was completely fixable, and Rio being tiny was a huge plus, as heavier horses couldn't recover from the injury. I trusted the vet completely. Had he said 'no, this is too complex/poor prognosis' then we would have made the other decision.
 
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