Choosing a vet practice

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BBP2

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What are your key criteria when choosing a veterinary practice? Proximity? Number of vets? Their own in house clinic for round the clock care?

I'm looking to swap practices. I'll always be grateful for the care my existing practice has given my horses, but a few things have changed and I would like to switch.

I have two main options. One is approx. 25 mins away. It looks to have 4 ambulatory vets to cover the basics, from lameness workups, scopes, vaccinations etc. All surgeries or other in clinic care gets referred to a third party hospital (which is what my current vets have switched to. They are used by people my sister knows who have good things to say about them.

The second option is approx. 45 mins away which is the same as my current practice, who I had moved further away from part way through using them (it does make me twitchy about real emergency call out times, but I know a lot of people are much further from their vets), a much bigger team of 11 vets, their own in house clinic where they can take in patients for surgery and intensive care. Not a wildly convenient location for that as it is the complete opposite direction from my work and my sisters work, but that isn't a huge issue. I used them for mobile neck x-rays a couple of years ago as my vets didn't do neck x-rays out in the field and was very happy with them.

My key criteria I think are that I need vets who are kind to my horses with good horsemanship skills and are easy to talk to. I don't want gruff vets who see me as a fluffy horse owner not worth listening to. Part of me thinks with a bigger practice I would have more chance of getting the right vet to suit me and my horses, and a broader range of knowledge to access, but the other part thinks a closer practice is better.
 
I can't answer your question as my vet of 20+ years left big practice and is independent. He has an amazing amount of equipment but we do have a number of excellent equine hospitals locally if needed. I know I can, and do, phone him at any time if day or night in an emergency and he'll be here in under 30 minutes.

I'd try the nearest ones. 45 mins is a long way when time is of the essence.
 
BBP2 said:
What are your key criteria when choosing a veterinary practice? Proximity? Number of vets? Their own in house clinic for round the clock care?

I'm looking to swap practices. I'll always be grateful for the care my existing practice has given my horses, but a few things have changed and I would like to switch.

I have two main options. One is approx. 25 mins away. It looks to have 4 ambulatory vets to cover the basics, from lameness workups, scopes, vaccinations etc. All surgeries or other in clinic care gets referred to a third party hospital (which is what my current vets have switched to. They are used by people my sister knows who have good things to say about them.

The second option is approx. 45 mins away which is the same as my current practice, who I had moved further away from part way through using them (it does make me twitchy about real emergency call out times, but I know a lot of people are much further from their vets), a much bigger team of 11 vets, their own in house clinic where they can take in patients for surgery and intensive care. Not a wildly convenient location for that as it is the complete opposite direction from my work and my sisters work, but that isn't a huge issue. I used them for mobile neck x-rays a couple of years ago as my vets didn't do neck x-rays out in the field and was very happy with them.

My key criteria I think are that I need vets who are kind to my horses with good horsemanship skills and are easy to talk to. I don't want gruff vets who see me as a fluffy horse owner not worth listening to. Part of me thinks with a bigger practice I would have more chance of getting the right vet to suit me and my horses, and a broader range of knowledge to access, but the other part thinks a closer practice is better.
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Eleven vets and the clinical facilities sounds good - but any likelihood you can insist on the same vet each time, and how likely are you to be utilising that hospital, that surgical referral to a third party clinic makes the bigger practice more attractive?
I’d be inclined to go closer to home, recommendation of friends, and don’t allow anyone to treat your concerns as ‘airhead’.
 
It's really difficult, isn't it? Many years ago we had a series of 'hiccups' with our vet practice that we had used for a long time (equine and small animals) at about the same time as the best/most experienced horse vet resigned his partnership and left the practice to work for a charity.
We spend a few years in the wilderness; one excellent vet was a small practice who changed to outsourcing his OOH to a practice that was too far away and we had a very poor experience with another, recommended practice. Then the original vet left the charity and opened his own practice in our area. We heaved a sigh of relief and used the practice for several years until he retired. The practice then changed to small animals only.

Not long afterwards we needed an equine vet in an emergency and contacted the practice we had left years before. They had increased in size, some vets had moved on. We have had mainly good experiences with them since then. They have opened their own equine clinic and updated their small animal hospital.

All of which is a longwinded (sorry) way of saying we went with access to OOH care and wom recommendations for vets who listen to the owners.
We are fortunate though that we are in an area with plenty of choice for both equine/farm and small animal vets. I do prefer to deal with one independent practice for both.
 
My vets have an in house clinic, which I probably wouldn't use as they had my horse to x ray and scan and then when he was referred to Liphook they did all that again. Investigations cost me twice what it would have if he'd just been referred to the hospital initially.
 
Personally, good vets and practice management with good communication are my main criteria followed by location for emergency call outs and OOH service. If there was a choice an independent practice would be my preference but my main thing would be the quality of care for my horse. I wouldn't mind if referrals had to made to a vet hospital for more severe or complex issues.
 
I choose small independent vets, who know me and my horses well. I can communicate directly with them, and haven't had any major complaints.

They do their own out of hours and are local, which helps if I need to collect medication as well as meaning emergency care isn't far away.

They will refer on if it is out of their remit - which I don't mind.
 
Can you dual register? We have a local independent vet for most day to day things then we use the bigger vet hospital for stuff like scopes, work ups, and god forbid any surgery. They communicate with each other and it works really well
 
for me vets that do their own OOH and who also turn up quickly for emergencies which means having sufficient vets so they can provide that level of cover. Also vets who can handle horses. Most of our vets have their own so no problem there. Having a larger number of vets means you have more choice. I can choose based on their experience/horse handling and how I think they will get on with a particular horse be it a very nervous one or a total PITA.
also good reception on the phone. When I ring it is usually I need a vet now. (with several older horses there is always the potential for the inevitable) Within a few minutes someone has been found and is on their way. I am always 60 minutes away in an emergency. (unless someone just happens to be working closer to me)

My last vets were closer but had a lot less vets so if one was on a course and one ill say then I could be left without a horse vet and then in an emergency they would send a general vet who couldn't handle a colicing horse at 3am.
 
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