Do we use the vets too often?

[Stuart]

This is in no way aimed at anyone in particular, just a very general question

Do we use the vets too often,...or more often than we really need to?, I have been here for a couple of years now and see so many threads where the dog is taken to the vet for what I would call very minor things

My nearest vet is over an hours drive from me, with no after hours vet on call, so I have learnt to bring a few of the old ways to the fore,.. for instance, cold tea bags for infected eyes, always worked for us when we were kids,..and works for dogs too,.. instead of some cream at about £80 a go

Sam was limping the other day after our walk, I rested him for two days and he was fine,.. but I know that many people would have gone to the vet,..at another wallet denting sum

I would not go to the vet with a cut paw, the vet cant realy do any more than what you can do at home,..[ unless very, very deep ],.. but he is going to charge a great deal for what he does do

I realise that in some places, it is easy to simply `pop` into a vets, and if you can afford it and it gives peace of mind then thats good,.. but many people either cant do that or cant simply afford the constant high fee`s that we are expected to pay out for the simplist of vet treatments.

I personaly believe, we are the people who push the vets fee`s as high as they are,.. we all know that there is no cap on what vets can charge,..so if they are forever inundated they are sure to raise the cost of their time

[Caryll]

I stay away from the vet as much as possible! Like you I try the tried & tested remedies for minor ailments, including cuts/upset tums/stings/sprains & strains.

I do go to the vet if I think something is not right about my dog for more than a couple of days, if you see what I mean.

Dempsey has had so many things wrong with him in his short life so far that if I'd gone to the vet with everything he would have cost £10,000 in vets fees instead of the £5000 it actually cost!

[Stuart]

Of course it goes without saying that I would also go to the vets for anything that is outside of the realm of minor injuries, but most things that a dog is going to suffer from is going to be what I would call minor.

Some people and their dogs are going to fall unlucky, but thankfully, touch wood I have never had to go to the vets for anything else other than Jabs, weighing, and social visits,.. but they have had their share of minor injuries that have not needed a vet for

[sams mum]

i wouldnt go to the vet unless i really felt it was neccessary.. ie dog in definate pain or a cut too deep that needs nylon stitches... (i have sticky ones here)

joe did something to his back leg a few weeks ago and was limping quiet badly.. i decided to see how he was the next day but he still wouldnt put his foot on the floor.. pressed and fiddled and nothing wrong with his pads or toes or ankles and massaged all his muscles and didnt get a reaction and he could stretch legs out behind him although one leg seemed tighter...still on 3 legs but i guessed he had just pulled a muscle playing so left it just kept an eye.. took 3 days but he soon stopped hopping and was back to normal..
sam cut top of his ear on barbed wire 2 weeks ago. a proper little rip and the kitchen looked like a murder scene when we got back from the walk but i just cleaned him up and let it scab.. has now healed well, just a little scar (his new id mark)
joe cut his pad last year when my mum was looking after him and she did take him to the vet. the cut was caused by glass and his whole pad was split to the bottom so it looked like 2 pads so i prob would have taken him for that ....
dennis was 14 when he died. i think i visited the vets 5 times.. once for neutering once for 1st jabs once for a badger attack where he needed many stiches when he was 5 and his 2 final app's when he developed accute pancreitus literally over night..was put t sleep on the 2nd app

[sami]

Yes

[Maddie]

I think you are right. Perhaps we use them as a comforting device, they are meant to know best, or so we think.

[Manchester-Mike]

Are you sure this isn't to us? lol

Your probably right Stuart. You by now probably know what me and liz are like with taking lexi to the vets (I would put money on it that reading a lot of our posts has made you think about posting this one, even if subconsciously). I think its to do with experience and confidence in your own knowledge.

I'll be the first one to admit we were a bit ridiculous at first. You'll laugh when i tell you that i took her to the out of hours vets after about 2 weeks of having her costing us £128 and do you know what for, an upset stomach. £90 of that was an out of hours fee, the rest included an anti sickness injection, medicine to calm her guts etc.

Wouldn't dream of it now, and im glad to say alot of vet bills later we've learned an expensive lesson. If she cut her paw like she had last night when we first got her, we would've been at the vets straight away.

I've found that once we've been to the vets and got the treatment, once we know the proper action to take care of it if the same problem occurs again we've found the same solutions online for a fraction of the price. Its all about knowing what to do though.

I've never heard of using teabags for eye infections until just now reading your post. So yeah to answer your question i definitely think people rush off to the vets too much, not just because they can afford it though (we certainly can't, used the last of my wages more than once and even had to borrow for a couple of vet visits) but more through not knowing how to properly treat it at home without all these expensive medicines off the vets.

Places like this forum though are a life saver for things like this though i bet alot of people have saved pointless vet fees by asking on here first. I've been there, done it, learnt the lesson, and i bet other people will do exactly the same im sure of it. Its one big expensive learning curve if you haven't got the knowledge to begin with.

[gsdlover4ever]

Zara has hardly ever been to the vets apart from vac, spey, lump removals and now for her back legs.

I also would bandage a cut paw; rest her for a few weeks if she was lame...

It is hard seeing a very active dog that would run about all day with a ball in her mouth... become the complete opposite and not want to go on a walk.
To me it sets of alarm bells and that is why she is getting x-rays done, Just hope it isn't the dreading C, just like her sire and Granddad had.

Hours after she had her spey OP, she was in zoomie mode wanting to jump about and play.

[claire_88]

I have never considered my vet trips a regular thing, only unless it was something i considered necessary.......at the time.

However since becoming a member of this forum a lot of what i considered an important trip turned out to be like Stuart says minor problems that can and have been fixed at home.

Titon's skin problem: Change of diet and sudocrem........ vet's suggestion a 15mg tube of cream costing £18 that didn't work.

Overweight: Specialist food 15kg bag, £50 that he wouldn't eat........... although he is still overweight the reduction of food and careful exercise seems to be working.

I do however take advantage of the weigh-ins each month for them both, just simply because.......it's free!

As titon is very anti-vets, i think it is a good thing to take the little one for random drop ins just so she doesn't associate something bad with the place.

[sami]

To be fair Mike (and Liz) I think we are all like that when we first have a dog, I know I was.

But now I look on here first, then I do a search on the net and then I make my decision.

I once rushed Leo to the vet on an emergency call on a Saturday afternoon. He had collapsed, paralysed. Got him to the vets, vet rushed out to the car in the carpark, I opened the back of the car and Leo jumped out!!! It was his first seizure, terrifying. The vet said, "guess there is not much wrong with him then I will only charge you the £75 call out" and that was ten years ago.