Feel a bit guilty

[Penny Less]

Ive just changed my Vetinary practice after 20 years. I feel really guilty which is daft as its a bought service!
New practice opened up in town, plus points, they are an independent practice, they have parking, its a new building, and 24 Hour service.
All of these reasons are why I decided to leave the old surgery dreadful trying to find a parking space, part of a conglomerate now, building is really scruffy inside and tiny,(its a terrace house) and having to trek 12 miles away for emergency out of hours . The Vets and nurses themselves are lovely and I have no complaints about them at all.

 

[SAujla]

Ive just changed my Vetinary practice after 20 years. I feel really guilty which is daft as its a bought service!
New practice opened up in town, plus points, they are an independent practice, they have parking, its a new building, and 24 Hour service.
All of these reasons are why I decided to leave the old surgery dreadful trying to find a parking space, part of a conglomerate now, building is really scruffy inside and tiny,(its a terrace house) and having to trek 12 miles away for emergency out of hours . The Vets and nurses themselves are lovely and I have no complaints about them at all.

I'd say you should feel guilty if you didn't switch, loyalty is to be applauded but blind loyalty won't help your pet in times of need. It is obviously sad if the previous practice loses customers but you have to do what is best for your pet, thats your responsibility.

 

[Bionic Boy]

You have no reason to feel guilty. I have done exactly the same last year. The out of hours service is a deal breaker for me. In a stressful situation I don't want to be farmed out to a different practice that has no knowledge/access to my records and charge me a hell of a lot more for the privilege.

 

[Marnie]

Ive just changed my Vetinary practice after 20 years. I feel really guilty which is daft as its a bought service!
New practice opened up in town, plus points, they are an independent practice, they have parking, its a new building, and 24 Hour service.
All of these reasons are why I decided to leave the old surgery dreadful trying to find a parking space, part of a conglomerate now, building is really scruffy inside and tiny,(its a terrace house) and having to trek 12 miles away for emergency out of hours . The Vets and nurses themselves are lovely and I have no complaints about them at all.

I changed practice for exactly the same reasons - in fact it is almost as if you were using the same practice!

 

[Birker2020]

I changed my practice after the one I'd been using for 18 plus years decided to become part of a large veterinary provider and we were told that every day drugs like bute were going to be cheaper along with common practices like vaccinations. A friend on another yard found that they were charging an extra £60 for a routine vaccination that the new practice wasn't charging. When they took 7 weeks to forward my completed claim form to my insurance company and it was sat in the vets in-tray all that time, and that same vet patronised me and accused me of getting in a 'tizz', I left them to it and went to another practice which half the yard seem to have deflected to.

You have to do what is right for you.

 

[Penny Less]

That makes me feel better, except for the fact I spelled Veterinary wrong! I thought it looked strange

 

[OldNag]

I chose my practice on the basis that they offered 24 hour cover (with nurses on site overnight) so absolutely don't feel guilty - your animals' needs come first.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I felt guilty when I changed mine having been with the current one since I was a teenager. However I changed to get a better vet, an orthopaedic specialist. Only found out after changing that they didn't do 24 hr cover which the other practice did. However both have now sold out to chains as have the other local vets and none of them do 24 hr cover. Still prefer the one I am with now.

 

[EventingMum]

I have done the same, our practice was bought out and stopped out of hours meaning we would have a 30 mile trip in the evenings or weekends. The new practice has a waiting list of several hundred now so many people feel the same way.

 

[MurphysMinder]

I changed practice after being with the same practice for over 30 years, and I felt very sad and guilty about it, but becoming part of a larger group which meant ooh was an hours drive away , plus the retirement of the senior vet, meant I just didn't have the confidence in them any more. I moved to a fabulous practice and am now so glad I did as have since had some fairly extensive limb surgery on my younger dog, and just recently the sad and unexpected loss of my GSD, and in both I just couldn't fault their care.

 

[Penny Less]

I just hope down the line this practice doesnt go down the Group route or stop emergency out of hours !

 

[Moobli]

The mixed practice I use was taken over a few years ago and was recently taken over again. There is one vet in particular I really like to deal with and she knows me and my dogs well. If she were to leave I think I would be looking at another practice which is a bit further away but is independent and has an excellent reputation. The problem with living in the sticks is that my current vet is 30 mins drive to the normal practice and 45 minutes to the out of hours one. The independent practice is 50 minutes to the normal practice and they do their own out of hours so would be do-able.