Useless at confrontation-should I mention something?

a kind of magic

a kind of magic

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Last Tuesday our 6 month old foal was three legged. He was fine at morning checks, it was when I went in the late afternoon with hubby that he was hobbling around.

I must admit I panicked a bit (not like me but I am full of hormones and all over the place), couldn't find any heat anywhere on the leg nor any signs of abscess other than a pongy smell.

I rung the vet to cover all bases should it not have been a problem with his foot (have known of two horses with sweeny shoulder and the way he was hopping around reminded me of them). Vet came out and after some digging 'found' the abscess. She gave him a tet shot as he's only just started with his boosters to be on the safe side. I told them my farrier was due on Monday anyway so she said he may as well check up on it. It may be worth mentioning that the vet was not our usual one from the same surgery. We poulticed and although he was weight bearing and walking he was still lame when the farrier came yesterday.

Turns out the vet had TOTALLY missed abscess and instead of a hole in his sole it went all the way around his white line, farrier trimmed back the wall of the hoof and sufficiently dug out the abscess, when I changed the poultice this morning the little man was so much more comfortable and there was lots of gunk on the poultice.

The thing is...should I mention something to the vet surgery? It will have cost us around £70 in all and didn't actually do the job properly. I am useless at complaining. :(
 
I would have a conversation with the senior vet/practice owner - he/she needs to know that one of their employees missed a potentially serious problem. It doesn't need to be confrontational - just give them the facts and see how they respond.
 
Im not sure I would complain but would call the vets and mention that the vet hadn't solved the issue, I would feel rather frustrated at the thought of paying out £70 for a tetnus and a piece of mind that it was a abcess, but I am a bit of a tight wad.
 
lwvtb said:
Im not sure I would complain but would call the vets and mention that the vet hadn't solved the issue, I would feel rather frustrated at the thought of paying out £70 for a tetnus and a piece of mind that it was a abcess, but I am a bit of a tight wad.
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Agreed, there are ways and ways of managing this kind of thing. You don't have to go screaming in all guns blazing... but you can mention it in a 'Just thought I'd let you know...' kind of way to the practice manager.
 
Oh I am never the 'all guns blazing' type. Far too bashful for that lol. I only really wondered if it was worth mentioning it or if I should just keep quiet and keep my head down.
 
Turn the question round - if you'd made a mistake in your job, wouldn't you prefer to know about it and have the opportunity to apologise and/or put it right rather than be left in the dark?
 
The money is OK, as did find an abcess but you defo should mention it. Mine missed an abcess this year and my farrier said 'a ********** blind man with a banjo could have spotted it'. I might have felt more aggreived had it been more serious but it had come out before the farrier arrived. Also babies are less easy to examine in general? Well mine are anyway as pretty feral. Certainly when I went to my vets to complain about their bandaging I have a very nice letter saying they will address the issue as part of practice training. Ways and means of going about it!
 
Unfortunately the vet is not always the best to deal with a possible abscess - I always call out my farrier first. If in doubt poultice it won't harm and if there is an absccess brewing it will encourage it out.

Vet may have found a small part of the absces and the farrier found then main part.

I would discuss it with the vet concerned - they may be prepared to reduce your bill. There is never any harm in asking!
 
I will mention something to the vet, agree with Sarah W and others I suppose she would like to know she had the right diagnosis but unfortunately actually missed the site of the abscess. Our foal is very tame and has been handled since birth so luckily was super easy to examine (both vet and farrier) and has been a total star changing his poultice.

Today he is almost totally sound. :)
 
You might want to discuss it with your vet, but I don't think you have any cause for complaint; her diagnosis was right and it sounds as though there was some initial improvement.

It's not always possible to dig out an abscess completely on the first visit, and further pockets can develop, which is very frustrating for everyone. Several days later and after poulticing I imagine your farrier had a much easier job. If the farrier implied that the vet was somehow incompetent, that seems a bit mealy mouthed.
 
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