Bella booked in for 3rd June

I phoned the vet today and booked Bella in to get spayed so the 3rd of June it is    The receptionist now thinks I'm completely nuts because I asked if she could be given the pre-med before I leave her because of her anxiety. I know that if i try to walk out of the room she will go into a complete panic :(She told me that wouldn't usually happen but to talk to the vet on the day.

Hopefully if you explain the situation to the vet, it can be sorted!

Good luck!

Thanks Eleanor   
I hope so. I sound like an over protective mummy lol x

No you're not Caroline!

Although some receptionists might like to think they know everything, they don't, and if Bella has separation anxiety/fear of vets then imho your request is perfectly reasonable. Most vet practices don't like us to see behind the scenes, but a quick jab of sedative in the consulting room whilst you reassure Bella until she drifts away with the fairies is not a lot to ask.

Big hugs xx

Nothing wrong with caring!

She is really bad Linda, screams, jumps chewing at her lead, trembles and wees. It's horrible and I would rather not put her through that if possible.

 

Surely if you can talk to the vet they'll let you stay. I know it isn't the norm, but there are exceptions to every rule.  

Hope all goes well xx

Hopefully the vet I see will be understanding. Adding stress before an operation can't be good.

For her welfare, they'll hopefully allow it!

Good luck with it all!

Fingers crossed.
thank you

Caroline wrote:She is really bad Linda, screams, jumps chewing at her lead, trembles and wees. It's horrible and I would rather not put her through that if possible.

 

Oh poor Bella. Is it separation anxiety or fear of the vet?

Either way, I would think any vet would prefer that Bella goes to their "inner sanctum" in a state of relaxation, whether induced by sedative, reassurance by you or a combination of both. Some vets (like some doctors/nurses in the human world when you have a frightened child) will want you away from the patient on the spurious and patronising grounds that you are transferring your fear/tension to the patient.

We don't have a lot of choice in the human world, but we do in the animal world - we can choose a more sympathetic vet.

I would suggest that you talk to your vet beforehand, calmly explaining your concerns, and investigate with him/her how far they are prepared to accommodate your pre-op plan for Bella.

Its more separation anxiety but she is a generally anxious dog. The last time we were at the vet she froze when she was in the consulting room then when the vet tried to take her out of the room to get weighed she started the screaming (only word I can think to describe it) jumping so he got me to take her. I think I will take her in the week before to talk to the vet about it. She has caught me on the arm and leg before while she's like that, just accidental nips, but I'm not so sure the vet would see it that way so that's worrying me a bit.

Anybody working with animals in an environment which may be stressful (i.e., a sick or injured animal) should be prepared to get hurt. The policy I take is that if you don't get bitten, scratched or otherwise hurt at some point by one of the animals, you're doing it wrong.

I'm sure they'll allow it though!

I have a kind of similar thing with Buster. It is not separation anxiety at the vets, it is just being at the vets. I hate taking him there because he gets so stressed out. I have to tell whatever vet is in there not to bend over him as Buster will try to jump up thinking he is appeasing them so that they will not stick him with a needle.

Caroline, once the vet told me that Buster had bit her. I was there at the time and he had not bitten her. Apart from anything else, there was no blood and there was no puncture marks. There was simply a very feint red mark were Buster's tooth had slid past her arm in his effort to desperately appease her.

For this reason, whenever I take my dogs into the vets I ask for them to be muzzled. I am not trying to protect the vets - I am trying to protect myself and my dogs against allegations.

Note: In the back of beyond town where I live, the local vet clinic is part of a county wide chain that puts all of it's trainees in the town where I live. Every time I see a 'vet' they are generally in their mid 20s and have an attitude much higher than theier knowledge and competence. They don't even do surgery at my local vets they just train. It is bloody annoying. Sorry for swearing. I have to use this place as I don't drive. I do have a car though, so thankfully I can command the OH who drives it to go places in an emergency.

Haha good way to look at it Eleanor. You just reminded me of a poor student when  Millie was getting her glands done. It takes two people to hold her and the student was at her head. When the vet went near her glands she jumped, butted the student and gave him a bloody nose  

Wendy the vet here is part of a group as well so you rarely get to see the same vet. The upside is that it has drop-in clinics every day.
You would think a vet would know the difference between a bite and being caught by a tooth.

Wendy wrote:I have a kind of similar thing with Buster. It is not separation anxiety at the vets, it is just being at the vets. I hate taking him there because he gets so stressed out. I have to tell whatever vet is in there not to bend over him as Buster will try to jump up thinking he is appeasing them so that they will not stick him with a needle.

Caroline, once the vet told me that Buster had bit her. I was there at the time and he had not bitten her. Apart from anything else, there was no blood and there was no puncture marks. There was simply a very feint red mark were Buster's tooth had slid past her arm in his effort to desperately appease her.

For this reason, whenever I take my dogs into the vets I ask for them to be muzzled. I am not trying to protect the vets - I am trying to protect myself and my dogs against allegations.

Note: In the back of beyond town where I live, the local vet clinic is part of a county wide chain that puts all of it's trainees in the town where I live. Every time I see a 'vet' they are generally in their mid 20s and have an attitude much higher than theier knowledge and competence. They don't even do surgery at my local vets they just train. It is bloody annoying. Sorry for swearing. I have to use this place as I don't drive. I do have a car though, so thankfully I can command the OH who drives it to go places in an emergency.

I'd be furious if I heard that from a vet! Where on Earth do these people train?

Caroline wrote:Haha good way to look at it Eleanor. You just reminded me of a poor student when  Millie was getting her glands done. It takes two people to hold her and the student was at her head. When the vet went near her glands she jumped, butted the student and gave him a bloody nose  

Wendy the vet here is part of a group as well so you rarely get to see the same vet. The upside is that it has drop-in clinics every day.
You would think a vet would know the difference between a bite and being caught by a tooth.

Youch! Bet that hurt!

I've had my share of animal-related injuries, but I can look back and laugh at them, as none of them were life threatening! I think the worst one was getting my fingers crushed between the shell of a tortoise (third largest tortoise in the world) and its leg. I refused to go to the doctor because it would have meant taking time away from the animals if the doctor told me the fingers were broken! The tortoise had an injury to one of his back legs, so I was lifting his rear end up while somebody else had a look. The tortoise suddenly moved forwards, so my fingers slipped underneath the shell just as he pulled his leg in.

I can honestly say that I have never blamed an animal for biting me and it has never stopped me from completing whatever task needed to be done. That vet should be ashamed of the way they reacted!

Looking at the size of the tortoise in your pics it's no wonder your fingers were crushed   
Having animals at home you assume there will be bites/scratches/injuries so the vets working with them should be the same. I was brought up with the "the cat scratched you? What did you do to it?" Attitude   

Dr's and Vet receptionists can be pains! Luckily I'm well known as a scary person.
With a sterilization I stay at the vets till my dog can go home. Pugsley was an exception because he works himself up when he can't get to me but once I'm gone settles a bit. I've seen a few of mine's ops.

Lequita will also be spayed around that time. I'm making her appointment tuesday.

Caroline wrote:Looking at the size of the tortoise in your pics it's no wonder your fingers were crushed   
Having animals at home you assume there will be bites/scratches/injuries so the vets working with them should be the same. I was brought up with the "the cat scratched you? What did you do to it?" Attitude   

He's a big boy!

Exactly! Animals don't bite without reason. Working in a stressful environment for animals, vets should know how to react and behave in order to avoid those situations. Sometimes it does still happen, but making a big deal out of it is just unprofessional.

Shisa wrote:Dr's and Vet receptionists can be pains! Luckily I'm well known as a scary person.
With a sterilization I stay at the vets till my dog can go home. Pugsley was an exception because he works himself up when he can't get to me but once I'm gone settles a bit. I've seen a few of mine's ops.

Lequita will also be spayed around that time. I'm making her appointment tuesday.

The receptionists at our old vets were absolute cows. Demps sometimes gets bouts of coughing, which we're used to, but it was something we wanted to get checked out when it first appeared as a pup. We knew it wasn't Kennel Cough, and yet the receptionist on the phone to mum insisted that it was KC, despite only being told that he had a cough. The receptionist said that we would need to leave him in the car park outside the vets - a very young puppy in the middle of winter. After that, we switched vets. Our current ones are fantastic, including the receptionists!