If you saw the Panorama programme on Medivet I am sure you were all feeling sick too! I do know some of my clients use practices owned by Medivet, and in many cases, the original private owner is still in charge and the service is great! My thought was that the Vets we saw behaving inappropriately, either with animals or by not supervising their staff enough, would be the same whoever they were working for. With a company as large as Medivet they are bound to get some bad apples!
For me it is a reminder that Vets are not Gods! And we must question everything, even if we have trust in our own Vet, if I don’t understand I ask more questions until I do. If I was ever unhappy with my Vets diagnosis or behaviour I would change Vets. There is nothing like trusting your own instincts in these cases, if it doesn’t feel right then it simply isn’t right!
From a training point of view we can help our animals accept the attention they may need medically, to ensure they never need mishandling! The sounds of the Shar Pei in distress really affected me, as I am sure it would other dog lovers! The poor animal had received major surgery and must have already been in a great deal of pain! We cannot be sure that training would have helped him, but I believe it could have, my guess is that he may well be a dog that would resist handling, good training would have made him more accepting and less resistent and eased his stress.
Owners must not shirk the responsibility of preparing their animals for Veterinary treatment! We must seek a partnership with the Vet and do our part to help the process!
I guess it brings Vet nurses and trainees under the spotlight more, and not before time. Staff training on how to handle a stressed dog is not given enough attention, and little training time is given to animal behaviour. At least not in some of the practices I have known.
I look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts and stories please?