Would you switch vets for a nervous dog?

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poiuytrewq

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We have a dog that's so absolutely terrified at the vets that he wont even stand up forget about give any form of pain response, even to me. I can give him a prod and he would say Ouch instantly, anywhere other than at the vets.
He always gets sent away with a clean bill of health- not quite but not far off. Great range of movement, no pain response what so ever, no reason to think he's in pain.

I took lots of video and photographs so they now accept he's not right. A combo of pain killers and lots of physio have done wonders and he is a markedly different dog. However this week the physio has said that although she is actually quite amazed by how much better he is that she thinks there could be another unrelated issue that she is unable to help with. So had advised bringing our scheduled appointment forward to discuss this with the vet, unless there is no improvement by next week.
Now i really do like and trust my vet, I've been with him many years and have no complaints so I don't want to switch. However I know we are going to get there and dog will turn into a quivvering bag of nerves and give them absolutely nothing at all.

He has no real reason to hate it so much as far as i can think. He has his jabs each year and was chipped many years ago. He also had a little cut stitched and bandaged, again years ago and OH stayed with him so he's not been left there ever.
I'm wondering is a new totally unknown place/vet (there are several well reccomended locally) might be less traumatising, or would all new be even worse?

He adores going for physio but i explained all this and the first session was done here at home, so he met her and had treats and cuddles first- Her treatment room for dogs in a converted stable so he seems weirdly happy and content there. It was her that first got to the source of the problems really as he will tell the truth at hers!

Might this work or would you stick to what you know (and I like!)

edited to say physio also has a big secure field that we play and run round in first so she gets a really good view of his movement, That can never be recreated in a vet car park sadly.
 
Is there any way your vet can visit at home? I'm not sure if thats something small animal vets do but it would possibly help in your case. I hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
Fjord said:
Is there any way your vet can visit at home? I'm not sure if thats something small animal vets do but it would possibly help in your case. I hope you get to the bottom of it.
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I don't know. He's hard enough to get a regular appointment with (easy to get seen if you will see any vet there) I wonder if a bit of it is to do with the fact he's a man. I'm not sure the dog would be happy with an unknown man coming into the house and messing round with him either. There is a lady at the surgery but I'm not a fan.
 
The thing is that judging by your description, he didn't accept his physio person simply based on that she's a woman, without because she was able to gain some of his trust first. I therefore suspect that even if you book an appointment with a female veterinarian at another vet clinic, the gender of the veterinarian probably won't make that much difference for him, because a normal vet visit usually doesn't leave that much time for gaining his trust before the actual vet examination starts.

Also, judging by my own experiences, it doesn't take long for them to recognise that a for them new vet clinic, still is a vet clinic. My ordinary vet clinic moved to a bigger building some years after that they had opened, and on a few occasions it also happened that I took my bitches to the big emergency vet hospital in my city, and even though my bitches overall were quite okay with going to the vet, I could still tell that they always quickly caught on that they were at the vets, just in another building/in another part of town.

That said, it's not impossible that it could work to try another vet clinic. On the other hand, using a veterinarian you trust is also worth a lot. *Sigh* So difficult to know what I would do in your shoes.
Whichever option you choose, have you tried Adaptil spray or collar? Or using lots of hand detergent on your hands (perhaps "accidentally" get some on your clothes) to try to make yourself smell more like a vet when examining him yourself at home? Or just going there to sit in the waiting room for 15-30 minutes before giving him some treats, and going home again? Have you tried/would you be able to e.g. book an appointment to 11, but go there early, so you're in the waiting room by 9, and 2 hours later maybe he doesn't have the energy to still keep up the stiff upper lip act when it's finally his time to be examined?

One last crazy thought, which end of him have you been holding when they've been examining him previously? When Jonna was about 14,5 years old I think it was, she started having some trouble with gnawing on gnaw bones, but despite X-rays we couldn't figure out which tooth that definitely caused the problem. At the 2nd, or was it 3rd, vet visit, my most favourite vet (she sadly retired last year) suddenly realised that Jonna would stoically endure absolutely anything as long as she could see me out of the corner of her eye holding her chest + neck. I was "demoted" to the back end, and when the vet again poked around in Jonna's mouth, we got a small yelp at the bad tooth. (By the way, the bad tooth was surgically removed, and Jonna lived happily for a few more years.)

Sorry to not be able to be more of a help. I think that I would probably end up giving your ordinary vet one more try if I was in your shoes, but I don't know.
 
One of our labs arrived with us absolutely terrified of the vets, the big stroppy ex show girl. She is quite a hefty lump and took my husband quite some struggle to even hold her still on the table long enough to be looked at let alone treated. Our other little pretend lab who arrived on the scene a few months later adores going to the vet, or pretty much anywhere to be honest, because obviously everybody is her best mate aren't they and if they are talking to her and handling her then obviously they are her new best friend forever.

We would usually take them into the vet one at a time while the other was still in the car and had even resorted to vet giving us tranquilisers to give her at home before she had to go to the vet. One day my son was with me and he said don't give 'big stroppy trembling jelly mould of fear lab' the tablets and try just taking her in at the same time as 'ecstatically happy little pretend lab'. Eureka! She was so eaten up with jealousy at all the oohs and aaaahs and fuss the happy little trooper got she forget to be frightened to try and get in on the act of charming everyone with her sunny disposition, and that was that. Never a single bother since.

I can't remember if you have another dog poiuwtrewq but if you have might that be worth a try do you think?
 
In our area there are a few mobile vets that do home visits for basic vet care. They’re pretty expensive, but it was just what my niece needed with her nervous rotty. It worked very well for him. Getting him treated at the vets has been a nightmare- for him and the vets prior to this.
 
Can you take him and one who enjoys going to the vet for visits when he doesn't need treatment? Our vet offers this opportunity, whoever is free will give the nervous dog a few treats and make a fuss, then dog leaves, having had a nice time. Also locally P@H has a vet surgery in the back of the shop , so raking them there can help to get them used to the antiseptic smell etc.
 
Actually he always went for his injections at the same time as Doug his brother, my old lab and I don’t recall him being this bad previously. Doug loved the vets.
I could try taking Cecil, my little terrier. He’s far better socialised in general (spud spent his life as a farm dog til the past few years) and not bothered by going. The two also get on very well. He’s also very easy to have tagging along. I’ll give that a try.
 
poiuytrewq said:
Actually he always went for his injections at the same time as Doug his brother, my old lab and I don’t recall him being this bad previously. Doug loved the vets.
I could try taking Cecil, my little terrier. He’s far better socialised in general (spud spent his life as a farm dog til the past few years) and not bothered by going. The two also get on very well. He’s also very easy to have tagging along. I’ll give that a try.
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When I take them all (for jabs for instance) Ffee goes in with Tawny, T being thoroughly excited by the thought of treats and who loves the vets. Ffee is dreadful.
 
poiuytrewq said:
Actually he always went for his injections at the same time as Doug his brother, my old lab and I don’t recall him being this bad previously. Doug loved the vets.
I could try taking Cecil, my little terrier. He’s far better socialised in general (spud spent his life as a farm dog til the past few years) and not bothered by going. The two also get on very well. He’s also very easy to have tagging along. I’ll give that a try.
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Hope it helps. I often took more than one bitch with me to a vet appointment, it has even happened a few times that I've taken one or two cats with me to a dog appointment, or one or more bitch with me to a cat appointment.
More than one vet staff asked if I believed that my bitches was so calm at the vets because they felt more confident with their flock with them as support, but personally I'm convinced that the main reason it made my bitches feel more relaxed, was simply because until they stood on the table themselves, they always had the hope that we were there for one of the others, and not them.
 
I had no idea mobile vets was a thing, it's a great idea. I also didn't know regular small animal vets did home visits.
I think I'll try him with Cecil first off and see if that makes him happier.
Another thing i thought was actually maybe he doesn't need to show pain at this point? We know (from the physio) where the issue's probably are. We know which the physio has improved so this time I'm not going in and expecting them to find a problem, just to see if he agree's and what happens next.

Idiot thing just ran flat out into the room and into a cupboard, He really doesn't help him self :(
 
poiuytrewq said:
I had no idea mobile vets was a thing, it's a great idea. I also didn't know regular small animal vets did home visits.
I think I'll try him with Cecil first off and see if that makes him happier.
Another thing i thought was actually maybe he doesn't need to show pain at this point? We know (from the physio) where the issue's probably are. We know which the physio has improved so this time I'm not going in and expecting them to find a problem, just to see if he agree's and what happens next.

Idiot thing just ran flat out into the room and into a cupboard, He really doesn't help him self :(
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I presume that it should help that the physio have basically told you to go back to the vets because she believes he has an unrelated issue in X area which she's unable to help with. But just in case we're not talking about something simple like e.g. an ear infection, did she also try to give you any details to what made her draw that conclusion? If she didn't, could you perhaps talk to her before the vet visit, and ask her if she can give you any more details?
If your dog again tries his old Absolutely nothing wrong with me trick when the vet examines him, any extra info you're able to share might be helpful, such as e.g. that when the physio did so, she felt B, but she should've felt A. Or maybe she's had other dogs who responded like him when she did C, and that turned out to originate from X area...
 
I didn't know about mobile vets till I asked on a local Facebook page if any surgeries were doing home visits. Absolute god send with a large lame dog that I couldn’t get into the car without probably making whatever injury worse. Definitely worth asking locally if anyone knows one.
 
druid said:
Housecall vet would likely be a good fit in this situation
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Or maybe not.
We had a Lab bitch who needed stitches removed (can't remember why now). Vet was coming out for a routine horse appointment, so i asked if he could remove the stitches at the same time as the dog who had previously needed a weekend stay at the vets really wasn't a fan of the surgery.
Poor dog nearly had hysterics when she realised There was a vet in her kitchen!
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Or maybe not.
We had a Lab bitch who needed stitches removed (can't remember why now). Vet was coming out for a routine horse appointment, so i asked if he could remove the stitches at the same time as the dog who had previously needed a weekend stay at the vets really wasn't a fan of the surgery.
Poor dog nearly had hysterics when she realised There was a vet in her kitchen!
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I do apologise for laughing, but honestly that would be exactly how Jem would react, even now we have cracked the vet visits by sending both in together. An actual real life vet on her home territory I think she would have a fit of the vapours. 😊
 
druid said:
You'd be surprised. I'm 90% house call only and the majority of dogs are much much more relaxed at home.
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I can imagine so. I think all ours would have been happier bar one who actually loved his vet and I’m not sure which one was madder!
He called him (Mexican accent) my little friend the puppy dougaaaaal
Doug turned into a jelly like ball of excitement at the sight of him 😂❤️
 
I don’t think changing vets would help much , but taking another dog with you might work . I’ve really only had home visits for whelping , and whenever possible to pts . I think fewer practices offer this now .
 
MurphysMinder said:
I don’t think changing vets would help much , but taking another dog with you might work . I’ve really only had home visits for whelping , and whenever possible to pts . I think fewer practices offer this now .
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Very few, it's just not feasible on an ad hoc basis.

I do see a lot of of one off in home euthanasias refered by their own vet who can't practically offer this service.
 
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