What do you wish your vet practice would do?

[Auslander]

I just got a vaccination reminder through from my small animal vet - and it occurred to me that I don't get one from my equine vets. They are fantastic, and have no quibbles about the service I receive, but it got me thinking about the difference between types of practices. My small animal vets have all sorts of things which are designed to attract and retain customers, whereas equine vets just do vet-ty stuff. That's all I personally need from them, but I'm sure that some people would like some bells and whistles.

If you could have any additional services from your vet - what would they be?

 

[JinglebellJessi & MistletoeMagic]

Many have this but i wish my vet did free or half price callout days! They do however text when i have my vaccs due

 

[dunkley]

We are quite lucky with ours - they have a 'routine' day for jabs, and clipping sedations etc, where there is no callout. However, I wish they would do vaccination reminders - I have been caught two or three times with different nags over the years

 

[mik]

I have a diary for all such stuff but I wouldn't mind vaccination reminders, especially as when you have more than one it is good to know someone else is keeping an eye out.
What I would really like is a monthly summary of any epidemics, new treatments and the research going on in the equine world. If they could share summaries of research into nutrition, treatments, management, drugs coming out, FEI rules. Research reports and summaries into travelling, rehabilitation, and the like. By sharing the links or summaries to such papers, it would be a nice way to keep up with what treatments are coming out.
I don't think I really need any more from my vet.

 

[LovesCobs]

I get reminders, a card and a call if the date is close and I haven't arranged. It does really help bit can make you dependant on it so you don't bother checking yourself.

 

[AdorableAlice]

My vets have small and large sections. The horses fit into the large along with farm livestock. Vac reminders are sent out for the horses. They also offer annual health packages which can be tailored to suit individual needs, worming + vac + teeth etc.

They also run equine education afternoons for clients to come along and and get hands on experience at bandaging, poulticing and wound care/management, basic and more advanced equine health management. Those afternoons are well attended and very informative, several vets speak and use slides with examples of varying types of injury and how they are managed. I thoroughly enjoyed it and my horses were used as 'patients' the big lad had all his joints bandaged standing like a rock while everyone practised on him. He did look a bit puzzled at the end though, all four legs up to his elbows and stifle and his neck.

Refreshments are provided and question/answer sessions end the afternoon.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

We get newsletters quarterly, also vacc reminders via post or email, so am pretty happy.
Also got a 'drive in' service.

However - I wish they had a call out area day for routine things

 

[Slightlyconfused]

We get a text when our horses are due for vacs.
And have free call out days..........though at the minute I would like a "Have too insurance worthy injuries and get the third free!!"

 

[Auslander]

Interesting how different practices operate - I guess it comes down to manpower - a ot of equine vets are one or two man bands, and physically cant lay on all the bells and whistles. I like the idea of health packages - I guess its like the health pet club that my dog is signed up for - I pay a small amount each month, and all his routine stuff is covered. I'd love to have that for the horses!

 

[p87]

My small animal vet do a healthcare plan - £9.99 a month and all routine stuff is covered, including as many appointments as I like. I think all that isn't covered is medications/surgery etc, it even included microchipping and the first lot of vaccinations - I only have to pay for boosters (I think). Would LOVE it if they done this for horses, would save a fortune. Last week I had vet out for a consultation, exam and to take bloods.... £200!!

Had that been on a healthcare plan I would only have had to pay for the bloods!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Interesting how different practices operate - I guess it comes down to manpower - a ot of equine vets are one or two man bands, and physically cant lay on all the bells and whistles. I like the idea of health packages - I guess its like the health pet club that my dog is signed up for - I pay a small amount each month, and all his routine stuff is covered. I'd love to have that for the horses!

My horses are with a large equine practice but I still have a very good relationship wit the two vets that I see. They remember my horses, always ask after family members that aren't their and are always calm, polite, speak normal English (Not Vet) and one of the important bits.......have a fantastic sense of Humour!

Wouldn't change them for the world.

 

[Auslander]

My horses are with a large equine practice but I still have a very good relationship wit the two vets that I see. They remember my horses, always ask after family members that aren't their and are always calm, polite, speak normal English (Not Vet) and one of the important bits.......have a fantastic sense of Humour!

Wouldn't change them for the world.

Mine are exactly the same - I absolutely rate them. I posted more out of interest, not because I have a beef with them! I use two practices; one because she was the original person who was recommended for Alfs orthopaedic stuff, and the second because the first one is too far away for routine stuff, and they are fab too!

 

[PapaFrita]

I just got a vaccination reminder through from my small animal vet - and it occurred to me that I don't get one from my equine vets. They are fantastic, and have no quibbles about the service I receive, but it got me thinking about the difference between types of practices. My small animal vets have all sorts of things which are designed to attract and retain customers, whereas equine vets just do vet-ty stuff. That's all I personally need from them, but I'm sure that some people would like some bells and whistles.

If you could have any additional services from your vet - what would they be?

I wanted loyalty/reward points when all my horses seemed to be at the vets at the same time. I actually mentioned it and they laughed but sadly didn't take me up on it

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Mine are exactly the same - I absolutely rate them. I posted more out of interest, not because I have a beef with them! I use two practices; one because she was the original person who was recommended for Alfs orthopaedic stuff, and the second because the first one is too far away for routine stuff, and they are fab too!

My small animal vets also do large and I often get asked my don't I just have them all together but with the horse vets they have local clinics and their own surgical clinic so everything is in house so to speak.....which was a god send when the tb though it was a good ideas to deglove his cannon bone back in April :/

The one thing I think is important when owning horses is having a good relationship with your vet. When my WB was diagnosed with KS I basically asked my vet to tell me what he would do as I was torn. And he was honest in his view that she wouldn't cope with the surgery and rehab mentally and as she had been in pain under saddle her entire life she would have a pain memory that we might not get rid of so he wouldn't do it but it is my choice......my wb is now retired happy in a field with my old mare.
My small animal vet when I told him about her said he would have told me to have the surgery done as it could mean she could get ridden.

 

[nikicb]

Struggling to think of anything else that my vets could provide. I guess I'm lucky here because they are based only 3 miles down the road and have all the latest equipment, surgery facilities etc. That goes with being in an area which has a lot of studs and racing yards. We get the text reminders for vaccinations, and the zone calling where you pay for routine stuff immediately, but no call out fee. Although there are quite a few vets I haven't come across any that I didn't feel comfortable with. I do try to go for specific ones that know my horses if it's something more routine. They also listen to me as I know my horses and I have never had them not want to come out even at midnight on a Sunday.

Hope that helps.

ETA they are also not pushy in terms of treatment. For odd lumps and bumps they work on the wait and see approach, rather than the immediate intervention approach. Even with Raff's nosebleed they were cautious about jamming him full of ABs until they knew it wasn't a fungal infection. That's not me putting them off because I don't want to spend, but them going easy on the amount of treatment they are giving. I guess they are always busy as they also have a lot of referrals, so don't need to punt for more business.

 

[dafthoss]

Mine send reminders about vaccinations, which is good as they come at the beginning of January and left to my own devices I would always be leaving it to the last minute to book them. They used to do free call out days but I think its half price call out now which is a shame but better than nothing. I think they are generally very helpful, last year I couldn't find his passport (had been sat in A&E with very ill relative till 3am the night before) so she put it on a separate sheet so I could still do rc areas and then I popped in when I had the passport and she changed it over for me.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I use a large vet practice with a separate equine department. It has an attached equine hospital which can cope with most things, and if not they will refer to Leahurst. I am very pleased with it. Good point though, in that they don't send out vaccination reminders, which would be useful. I think that I will mention that to them next time that I pop in to pay a bill (been doing a lot of that lately .)

The only beef that I have had with them was this last summer, when I was dealing with the aftermath of poor farriery. Whilst telling me that the foot balance of two of mine was extremely poor, they would not directly recommend a new farrier to me. They seemed to be too concerned that they would upset the local farriers by showing favouritism. On the end, one of the vet receptionists whispered a name in my ear and I now have a superb new farrier who does a lot of remedial work for the practice!

 

[criso]

Mine send out card reminders for vacs and have recently started doing annual maintenance packages which look good value.

What I would like is some sort of shared, reduced call out fee is they are in the area for routine jobs.

They have a flat rate callout of almost £40 whether you are miles away or next door. It was ok when I was on a big yard as I could join together with people to share it but now I'm not I pay more for the callout than treatment if it's routine.

Wouldn't use anyone else though.

 

[southerncomfort]

We get occasional newletters and they often organise talks on various subjects such as colic and laminitis.

What I really wish they would do is have a once a year MOT examination for oldies. I know this is something you could organise with your vet anyway but it would be good if they had a specific thing at a set price that includes a physical exam/trot up, discussion about diet/nutrition/teeth/arthritis/other oldie-specific illnesses and maybe a blood test for liver function. Or maybe even a Veteran Day where anyone can take their oldies in to the clinic for an MOT/tests.

 

[Donnie Darco]

An interesting thread

Mine send text reminders for jabs. We have zone days where there is no call out for routine stuff.

However!! I was thinking this week (after Lyla had her jabs on Wednesday) and we discussed her weight that I wish they would do a "Fat Horse Slim" club like small animal practices do for overweight pets

 

[Janah]

I got a vacs reminder for a gpony that I had taken off there books, changed vets, and had PTS. Gutted to get reminder as pony no longer with them and PTS some moths ago. I do realise that there are glitches in every office, I have them in mine. Could have done without it though. Phoned them and they apologised and accepted, these things happen. Sorry about spelling on IPad.

 

[MagicMelon]

Just regular vacc due notifications would be good. Mine don't do it for the horses, only for our cats and dog which is annoying. They are a vet that do all sorts (small, horses, farm). I stupidly let one horses vaccs lapse last year so had to restart all over again! I know it was my fault but if they'd just sent a reminder...

The only thing I want from them is to only send out vets who are experienced with horses. I've had the odd one who is pretty useless with them (clearly more small animal), so I have to specifically ask for specific vets now, but I dont think they should send out the non-horsey ones.

 

[cavalo branco]

I can't fault my practice as they send out reminders, have a newsletter and arrange talks in the local area covering health topics. They also do zone days but can't remember the rates as I have moved a mile down the road from them - very convenient!!
Their small animal practice is run from a different location but is also very good, they were very caring when our much loved retriever had a stroke on Easter Monday a few years ago.

 

[Gloi]

I wish ours had a day when each zone had free/reduced price visits for routine appointments like some other practices do. They do however send out vaccination reminders and have horse health care plans for teeth and vaccinations.