# Good and bad vet stories?



## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

I just wanted to know what kind of vets you all have had in the past. And I wanted to shear some of my stories as well. This is going to be long!!!
The good
So I have had 3 veterinarians in the past that I love(don't ask what their names are I can't remember  ). The first one was when I was very young(6) he was only just out of vet school and we had a down cow. She had been in labor all day and the calf was stuck. He pulls up and says "I have never done this before so bare with me". He gets is long glove on and put the lubricant on and go's in. he was talking to her the whole time and manged to get the calf out alive and not hurt the mother. And after he was done he said "Now don't breed her to that bull again other wise I will charge you extra". He was joking but that calf was to big for the cow.

The next one's name is Kim or that's what we call her she has two stories with us. The first story is her putting down and old dog. Every vet we called said we had to bring her to them and that would stress her out so after three days of looking and our poor old girl suffering a friend gave us her number and that day she came out and walked in sat with our dog and loved on her. Then with one quick movement the needle was in and out. And old Dote was gone. Kim sat with us as we said goodby. Dote was 15 years old and Kim was so nice to her in her last moments.

The next story was her saving our cow Jenny from mike fever. Jenny had just had her calf and he was HUGE and Jenny produces 8 gallons of milk day at her peak. So Jenny go's down one day and we thought it was heat stroke so we cooled her of and got her walking and watched her all day she was fine for three days. And then while we were gone she went down again. My brother got home from work and saw her laying there he tried getting her up but had no luck. so he called us and we were about 30 minutes out and it was hot so we called Kim. She got there 20 minutes before we did and had Jenny on her feet and had given calcium orally and some other things. After she was done with that we asked what caused this to happen. She looks to the calf and says that monster is to blame. He was 150 pounds at birth and every inch of him had to be pulled out of Jenny. And at butcher he was 6 months and 1200 pounds!!! So he was a monster 

The next vet was the most recent last year the same cow Jenny had milk fever from a Huge heifer calf. I get up from bed with a bad feeling it was about 10:30 pm. And I go check all the animals and see Jenny laying on her side. I run in and wake my mother up saying Jenny is laying on her side. She gets up and call the vet and Kim is not there:shocked: we hate the other vet that's there. So we ask if they have any body else. They say "yes but he's new and we don't know how good he is yet". Mom says "send him" He gets here and see the cow laying there and says "wow milk fever right off the bat" he gets out his stuff and gets to work. It takes about two hours to get Jenny on her feet and moving but he did such a grate job and was so kind. The next day we call the vet and they ask how he did all mom says is "Put him on the phone" so the lady did and he answers with a nervous vice "Hello?" Mom says "Do you know what you did to my cow?" There was a long pause then mom says "You saved her life and for that I have to thank you" He sighed and said "I thought she was dead because of me" Mom just laughed.

The BAD 
Okay so this vet is an old ***:evil:. We were taking Jenny's bull calf(He was 3 months at the time) to be weighed and a small Dexter cow to be pregnancy checked. The little cow was WILD and didn't want any body toughing her. We got her were they wanted her and she wouldn't hold still. So this old vet come out cursing up a storm with a cattle prod and starts non stop zapping her until she was just laying there panting. He then sticks his are in her and pulls out saying "this cow isn't pregnant it was just a waste of my time". He was so lucky I am a lady of the lord:evil:!!! 
How do they get like that?!?! 
Jenny's calf was haler broke so we walked him to the scale and an assistant weighed him for us  he was 600 pounds at 3 months :fireworks:

Anybody have good and bad stories to tell?


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I have one vet I really like, she is nice and fairly good with goats. She's always sweet and gentle with them and gives good advice. She's more of a cattle vet, but is still pretty good. 

She works at a practice with 5-6 or so other vets. We usually just bring the sick animal in and get her as our vet. 

The most recent time, we got the owner of the practice, and I was pretty pissed by the time that visit was through. The doe (Honey) had (still has actually) a retained placenta. 

He was nice I guess, but really didn't know much about goats. But boy he thought he did :angry:

I guess there was never really one thing he did that I disliked, but everything added up.

- didn't really respect my doe, he was rough and not patient or nice to her.
- was absolutely convinced there was another kid, which was pretty bootleg. I had already bounced her several times, and her sides were super sunk in, my does never get that look until after all kids are delivered.
- gave her shots in the rear leg, even after I told him he could paralyze her if he hit the nerve back there. He just said, oh he knew where the nerve was and won't hit it. 
- didn't discuss much with us. He saw her at our van, he walked out of the vet office and started checking her and giving proclamations without asking me anything about her symptoms. Then he just randomly walked back into the office to get stuff several times.
- he was fairly talkative, and this often displayed his lack of goat knowledge - inserting antibiotics into the teat was a last resort when dealing with mastitis, and other similar things 
- he couldn't listen. He kept telling me to keep an eye on her milk for mastitis, I should check at least once a day even if the kids weren't on her, and this and that. Acted like I wasn't milking her twice a day even after I told him several times


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I have mostly bad lol needless to say I don't go to vets very often.
First one I took a doe, my first doe who was more a family pet then anything in because she had a huge lump on her cheek. He was rude and told me the bill would be more then THAT goat would ever be worth. I should have just taken her home when he said that but didn't. She had a cyst, but it was huge and pushed her bottom jaw to the side and she drooled all over the place. She needed surgery he said. Someone on here had mentioned that #1 all it needed was the fluids pulled by a syringe and 2 goats do not do well with being knocked out. Well he was a vet and I wanted it fixed but the knocking out worried me so I called him and he rudely told me he knew what he was doing. 3 hours later he called me and said there was so much trauma and she bled out. My bill was $560 and it would be another $300 to dispose of her. Next morning I called my brother and asked him to go get her. I never called the vet to say he was going down and there was hardly any blood! He didn't even clean anything up, it was all still sitting there. So he knew it all and I paid $560 for him to kill my goat.
Next get I used was good! He was honest and told me he didn't know anything about goats but let's see what can be done with a doe that had Preg. Tox. He spent so much time looking into things and helping me and just really did a fantastic job and we saved the doe and kids. He was just REALLY expensive. He ended up moving.
The next gal, OMG was she a witch! I called her about a buck that was sick, she told me she doesn't work for nothing and that the bill would be a lot of money. I got rude back at her and told her yeah and he's worth it. She did say sorry and told me she sees he is not a pet but a quality animal but it still ticked me off. She made it well known that she does horses not goat and I said understandable. I called again just to get a shot for a cystic doe and she told me do blah blah and if that doesn't work then the tests to see what is wrong will be so expensive that it's best to cull her and wished me luck. 
Last year a had 2 kids with huge abscesses on their necks, took them down to another vet and he drained it and only tested my 1 month old kids for cl......SURPRISE it was negative. That was a waste of money.
I did take a little doeling to the vet about 2 months ago maybe for a broken leg that the bone went threw the skin and he casted it gave me a round of antibiotic so I guess he was good but again made it clear he is a horse vet and that will always come first. 
So basically I figure things out on my own and if I can't I'll put them down myself. I can't rely on them to even see my animals and if I'm lucky for them to see them they just end up dead or nothing fixed so it is what it is


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

Well I have another bad story to tell!
We took my mothers dog and cat in to get fixed. They asked if they had their vaccinations we said "No" they asked if we wanted them vaccinated we said "No". They told us it would be $128 to get them fixed we said "Okay" they say they will have to keep both animals over night we say "Okay". We come back the next day to pay the people and take our pets back and the nurse says we need to pay $170!!! Fine we pay them and get our pets back. The first thing I notice is the cat(Buttercup) hasn't had any pain killers and hasn't been given water!! The next thing I notice is that she has been vaccinated!!!!!

And the same thing with the dog!!!!


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

To many good and bad to go into so will highlight. So will just name a few from different vets. Dog attack, vet was able to save a few pregnant does. Even puzzling back together half an udder. The dogs had ripped about half of it off. Simple de horning and castration of a bull calf, calf died. Sick doe and the vets diagnosis was a throat irritation when it was beyond obvious it was pneumonia. We just needed meds, otherwise would not of call her. And now our current vet is the best vet outta dozen we have had over 20 years. His knowledge of goats is unmatched. He is kind, funny, works way to hard and is open to ideas and suggestions.

Here is the thing with vets people should know. Most come with a slight God complex. As they should. They save a great many animals and get praised by grateful owners all the time. But this often gives them a false sense of superior knowledge. It is everyones responsibility to question any and ever diagnosis from a vet. Not only are they human but its easy for them to get clouded thinking or tunnel vision with a past similar victor and apply that to any case that resembles it. OR they are a go by the book never waiver kinda vet. Or maybe they have had a bad day. A busy day. Maybe they just wanna get home and are in a rush. Also keep in mind, like a doctor, we look to them for comfort. The more assuring they seem, the better they make us feel. And they know this. They are not just treating a sick animal, they are comforting a worrying animal owner. You also need to understand what kind of vet you are dealing with. Pet vets who run a clinic are not going to have as much livestock knowledge as a, yep you guessed it, a livestock vet. There are several dozen different livestock animals. Can you imagine trying to learn everything about them as well as dogs, cats, birds, lizards... Take the time, do your research and find a livestock vet. Mobile is preferred. The extra $25 or whatever farm call fee is well worth it. When we found Matt (our vet) we were on day 3 and 6 vets in. No one either wanted to or was available to do an "emergency" vet call for a goat. But each one gave us a number for the next one. Matt doesnt even live in our town, so we would not of found him otherwise. So do your work and see what vets are around your area before settling on a vet you dont like.


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

TDG-Farms said:


> Here is the thing with vets people should know. Most come with a slight God complex. As they should. They save a great many animals and get praised by grateful owners all the time. But this often gives them a false sense of superior knowledge. It is everyones responsibility to question any and ever diagnosis from a vet. Not only are they human but its easy for them to get clouded thinking or tunnel vision with a past similar victor and apply that to any case that resembles it. OR they are a go by the book never waiver kinda vet. Or maybe they have had a bad day. A busy day. Maybe they just wanna get home and are in a rush. Also keep in mind, like a doctor, we look to them for comfort. The more assuring they seem, the better they make us feel. And they know this. They are not just treating a sick animal, they are comforting a worrying animal owner. You also need to understand what kind of vet you are dealing with. Pet vets who run a clinic are not going to have as much livestock knowledge as a, yep you guessed it, a livestock vet. There are several dozen different livestock animals. Can you imagine trying to learn everything about them as well as dogs, cats, birds, lizards... Take the time, do your research and find a livestock vet. Mobile is preferred. The extra $25 or whatever farm call fee is well worth it. When we found Matt (our vet) we were on day 3 and 6 vets in. No one either wanted to or was available to do an "emergency" vet call for a goat. But each one gave us a number for the next one. Matt doesnt even live in our town, so we would not of found him otherwise. So do your work and see what vets are around your area before settling on a vet you dont like.


I would like this multiple times if I could!


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

Love my vet!!!! BUT, I think that because we have had a relationship for over 20 years, he is confident in giving me meds I ask for, and only doing things (neuter the cat - $38 no vacs), etc. He is not the ultimate goat vet, but he does continually educate himself when I mention possibilities and doesn't get in a snit over a suggestion. Also sets me straight on some things. Will come at 2 am, doesn't charge a unreasonable fee, even came during an emergency when he was sick in bed at home. I'm blessed many times over. I think what I've learned is that is it takes time to establish a relationship with a vet that you are pleased with. I can't stress enough for all goat owners, having a vet is a MUST. We can do a lot of things, but we need their help and expertise. Give them a care, some cookies at Christmas, and let them know how much you appreciate them! Our vet has a horrible schedule and I don't know how he does it at times. If he ever retires I'm sunk.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

I've been blessed with fantastic vets. It's a real disappointment when they relocate.
The only not so great experience was when I had some FFA goats that had to be dehorned. His iron never did heat up proper so I brought out mine. 
I think he OD'd one of them cause it took at least 20 minutes for him to come around after the reversal. One of the students was patting him gently trying to bring him around.
So I got down. "You can be fairly aggressive with this", and started giving him some good slaps on the sides.


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## Deborah Haney (Jul 11, 2017)

I have only had 2 goat vets ever and they are both great. One is an exotics vet and it says on the website that they treat goats so we went to the clinic and the vet was cramming for goat knowledge from old textbooks. She is very kind and honest but the clinic is EXPENSIVE. She's our go to vet for routine stuff and probably emergencies just because of how close they are to our house. We only have two goats so a house call wouldn't be worth it.

I should point out that she missed my wether kid's cryptosporidia while the other vet we saw diagnosed it in 20 minutes with just an exam and history. She also thinks that wethers can't have alfalfa because of urinary calculi. Purdue University (and several people on TGS) actually recommend feeding alfalfa to PREVENT urinary calculi because it's high in calcium so it keeps phosphorus in check.

We've also had a livestock vet who immediately diagnosed my kid's mystery disease and had a comfortable, livestock-friendly clinic. She was nice and knowledgeable but they're so far away that I think we'll only use them if we have a problem we can't solve or the other clinic's vets aren't available for an emergency (both clinics do emergencies).


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

I went to a seminar at our local vet & they were preaching no alfalfa. It's the only hay we feed; does, wethers bucks.


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## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

I don't really have any stories good or bad but we have been very fortunate in that we have vets knowledgeable about goats
Our first vet we used (and still is a an option) is a professor at the vet school at NC State
He is the small ruminant specialist
He has a mobile practice and only treats goats , sheep, llamas, and alpacas

The primary vet we use now has bred and shown goats for 25 years, is active in ADGA, and is the superintendent of the show at the state fair 
We got the Toggs from him and he is always a phone call away

Not vet related but we are also blessed to be 15 miles from our state lab and can get necropsies for $35 
If you do this long enough and have a little scale ( we have 51 goats at this time) you will lose some and it is very useful to know why they died


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## darth (Jun 13, 2017)

Gosh, don't get me started. Back to the idiot in the helicopter, he flew over low and my mare, who was about 4weeks off of dropping her foal, got a huge fright and slammed herself into the stable wall. We thought she only had a sore hip but the next morning I went to check on her and her foal was hanging out, dead. I called our usual vet, who is an absolute brilliant man, but he couldn't come till later so I called a new one in the area. Little did I know this vet took on apprentices from overseas to gain experience. While I'm telling this folks, remember this is Australia, not the green pastures of the wealthy in England. This very young girl shows up, in frikin snake season yet, to the farm in those sandals with one toe held on with a slim band! She was so rude because she had to drive 10 minutes from the clinic and she got dust in her hair. Here's an idea..shut your car window fool. She looked at the mare and clenched her fists and raised them to her chest and said eeewww! She asked a few questions then gave me a lecture on how if I want to live sooooo far out, I should invest in a big fancy 4x4 and a huge horse float to take the one horse that needed a vet in 40 years of farming to the vet instead of inconveniencing her to come to me. She then held up the mares tail and stuck her hand in and said what just astounded the poop out of me..."the foals dead" HUH! really. Wonder what gave that away since I can see half of the poor dear hanging from it's mums bum! She then told me she would have to go in with a scalpel after cutting off the foals head, chop it up, remove it then hope the mum doesn't get nicked and die of an infection. My other option was to put the mum to sleep. I chose the second one. She was already in enough distress. Then she backflips and starts to say maybe if she's careful we don't need to go down that track. She had obviously never put a horse to sleep and got scared. She then went back to the clinic to get a nurse and all the equipment. Nope folks didn't bring diddly squat with her! As she left, my regular vet showed up so I rang her clinic and told her not to come back....the real vet was here, he will fix things. She didn't take that nicely. He gave mum pain relief, cut the head off, put a block and tackle on foal and had him out took 5 minutes from beginning to end. Mum doing well to this day. Rooky was fresh off the boat from Leister, England. When her clinic rang to see how things went I told them exactly how it went even down to the part where she didn't even take her rings off or wash her hands before but had no trouble washing them in the mares drinking water, then told them my grandparents in law who also live there, (no lie), told me they know her family and I was right to tell her to leave. She left their clinic a week later. Her reason I'm told is that this country isn't to her liking because we are all a bit rough!


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## LizWiz (Sep 12, 2017)

Hi, mainly bad story - but not too bad I guess.

We had a lovely Vet, Joe, very caring for all animals under his care.
But this new vet - O my days.

So, I brought this nubian-boer doe of a friend because he could no longer find enough feed (fooder) to keep her healthy. At this time she also had two twin males on her.
I decided I would care for her, molly . She is the sweetest goat, and such an attention seeker.

However she was not in the best condition, a bit thin and hoofs over grown.- I wasn't confident with clipping hoofs at this time so I asked the vet to do it and show me so I could for my self next time.
She took one look at the goat and told me to put it down! I still made her clip the hoofs anyway, she said they were terrible not worth clipping, I should just kill her ! And then she said I don't keep to learn to clip hoofs as goats shouldn't really need them done - they should be good if I can look after them correctly. (I was outraged to say the least).

I was so heart broken, I fed her up and clipped my hoofs my-self. (Taking only 3 weeks to get them 100%) Getting her ready to be killed. But she looked great ! Coat was shiny and she was much chunkier, hoofs perfect and I was so in love. So phoned the vet, and asked if she really needed killing - the assistant phoned and came over - he said she was in perfect health and no need for putting to sleep.

Never trusting that vet again. - Now I can clip hoofs myself and I realised the mean vet didn't even clip the hoofs right! Molly is now 2 years old, very happy and healthy with her second birth of a lovely boer boy . She even needs to go on diets to keep her weight in check.

 so Happy


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## LizWiz (Sep 12, 2017)

Later talking with other people about this vet (no names) also tells them to put their animals down, for the most daft things. So strange why she wants to kill everything


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## Deborah Haney (Jul 11, 2017)

@LizWiz I heard about a vet who insisted that a woman put her perfectly healthy guinea pig down because he was 8 years old. In my opinion the only reason to put an animal down is if they're obviously dying and/or their quality of life is terrible and won't improve. Basically when there's no more hope.

On the alfalfa matter with my vet: I asked her associate about it yesterday at my appointment and she said that there are different types of stones. She said that too much calcium can cause them, as well as a calcium - phosphorus imbalance so she would err on the side of caution and aviod feeding alfalfa regularly. Then she said that comercial feeds and grains are usually pretty balanced so I could use those. I feed my doe nutrena 17% textured and it's not perfectly balanced but it's pretty close. But my other vet at that clinic said no concentrates for wethers.

I'm pretty tired of flipping back and forth so I'm just gonna read labels carefully and keep the Ca: P between 2:1 and 6:1. There's a hay supplier near me that has a reasonably priced orchard grass/alfalfa mix that is well within that margin and that's my plan for now.


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## goat girls (Dec 13, 2017)

My vet is wonderful she isn't a goat vet but is willing to learn she is working off of donations and just Neutered four cats in 45 mins


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

My latest vet story...

So I had 2 does bred that I really didn’t want bred. I called my vet, figured they’d want to see the does, which I didn’t want. But worth a shot anyways. I called several times over multiple days, and emailed them. No response at all. So I called another vet I’d never used before and they sold me lute without seeing the does. And no patient history either.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow, that was lucky.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

ksalvagno said:


> Wow, that was lucky.


I know right!! I'm probably switching vets.


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