"We'll take him now"

[Beca]

I have lost many cats to kidney failure, and have had to put them on subcutaneous fluids at home (sticking them with a large needle and holding them still while fluids go under their skin) on a daily basis. My kitties began hiding from me....it was horrible!!!

So, I have now adopted a policy of, "I do not do anything painful to my babies, nor do I allow anything painful to be done in my presence". If the vet needs to take blood or whatever, I ask them to take the animal out of my presence, and I will be the cuddler/safe haven when they return.

 

[tonilea]

I totally agree. While some animals are better with their owners present, most are not. Often, the owner will not allow the staff to properly restrain the pet and insist on doing it themselves. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard "No. I have him. He never bites..." only to have teeth come whizzing past my face/hand/arm a minute later.
Sometimes, the safety of me, my co-workers, the owner and the pet makes it necessary for the animal to have a treatment in "the back".

The only thing worse than some one telling you their dog would never, ever bite - while said dog is growling like it wants to tear your throat out - are the ones who think it is funny.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

The only thing worse than some one telling you their dog would never, ever bite - while said dog is growling like it wants to tear your throat out - are the ones who think it is funny.

No kidding. How about the ones who say "Here, Baby... don't bite the doctor, bite Mommy instead." or the ones who think it's your fault that their dog wants to bite you.

 

[zumbergc]

my parents vet, does the stuff in another room. My vet does the exam and stuff in my presence. Some times when i have both cats, one of the vet techs might take one of the cats to get blood, while the vet does the exam Of course they take them in the back for x-rays and ultrasounds, etc.

The emergency vet / specialty vet near us, does the meeting with us (i think the low end doctor). Then takes the cat in the back, with the main vet (or specialized one) Although i don't like it at all, when you need a cardiologist or a spine guy, you don't have a lot of them around, so your kind of stuck. Or your cat has a seizure and you don't have much choice at 11 pm at night.

 

[darlak]

All of the exam rooms at my vet have two doors; one that we enter from the hallway behind the front desk and another door on the opposite side of the room that opens into a large center room. In the exam room we're in, there's the standard equipment; scale, exam table, etc. In the center room are more exam tables, supplies to do painful things like injections, as well as my vet's work area where he has his microscope, etc. When they need a shot or other painful treatment, my vet and his tech take them into the center room. We're able to watch from a distance, or I suppose I could close that door, but I never have.

The general exam is always done in the exam room with me there though.

 

[NMAmy]

The only time they take my dog back without me is when she needs blood drawn. Everything else is done in the exam room.

What does drive me insane, though, is the vet tech. She's a very nice girl but she insists on talking to animals in this high pitched, excited voice. Since my dog is not used to people speaking to her like that, she immediately gets excited, too, and I spend the entire time calming her back down (because the girl comes in and out of the office and does this each time.)

Last time, after 10 minutes of this, the girl told me, "Sunny always gets so EXCITED at the vet's, doesn't she? Does she always get so excited around other people?" Umm...not if they aren't saying, "WHO'S a good girl? SUNNY'S a good girl!" in a munchkin type voice.

 

[never_enough_pooh]

My regular vet doesn't do that. We go in back with our pets. Once we had to take our male mastiff to the emergency vet. We were told OK we'll take him from here and I was like, take him where? I told them he wasn't going to go anywhere with them if I wasn't with him, literally.

My dog won't budge without me and hes 180 lbs. I handed over the leash and Brutus dug in. It looked like he would have to be dragged! The vet quickly said OK mom you come too. Yeah, good thinking!

Ha ha.... had to chuckle on this! Our male mastiff is such a huge baby at the vet too!! He WILL NOT go in the back room w/o us and even then he is such a baby about it... the scale is back there and this poor dog ....all you see is him shaking and tail between his legs just so we can get a weight on him!

Of course he did have both ACL's repaired at this vet so that may have something to do with his fear of the vet.....

 

[WDWBarb]

There are several vets at my practice and they each handle this differently. The vet I typically try to see knows I prefer to be with my dogs and understands that my crazy, lunatic Shepherd is much better with me around. He took her in the back once for X-rays and I heard crashing sounds from where she knocked trays over.

But my little rescue dog actually does better without me around. He works my emotions and knows it. I realize that when he's scared and upset, so am I, and he senses this and we just make each other worse.

There is a lady vet that doesn't like me around when working with the dogs and I typically respect her and let her do her job. However, the last time I went to her, she took the little guy in the back and I didn't notice until we got in the car that she clipped his nails too short and I had a bloody mess.

It's odd but with my GS, I always feel like she's being overdramatic and I can easily calm her down. My rescue baby always brings out my sympathetic side and I tend to make him a nervous wreck.

Now, with the rabbit, I don't like to be around when they are clipping her nails or examining her. She gets so scared and it tears me up. But she is one that does better in my lap than anywhere else (she's 20 lbs, so she's not easy to handle) and doesn't seem to sense my anxiety.

A good vet can see the situation and if they have my trust, I do what they suggest.

Now, when it comes to the horses, I have to be with them or someone is going to get hurt.

 

[Hercules10]

My male shepherd has had to go in for a stab wound once. Then I let them take him and I stood outside to keep from getting in the way. Makes sense in that scenario.

But I see no reason that an owner cannot follow with them into the back to at least observe routine procedures. Gives me more time with the vet to discuss health issues. My regular vet knows this and has no problem with it.

 

[tonilea]

No kidding. How about the ones who say "Here, Baby... don't bite the doctor, bite Mommy instead." or the ones who think it's your fault that their dog wants to bite you.

Oh yeah! We had one woman get down in her injured/agitated dog's face. Good thing it wasn't a big dog, or she would have been having facial reconstruction. Facial wounds bleed - profusely.

What people fail to realize is: All dogs will bite under the right circumstances.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

with my GS, I always feel like she's being overdramatic

Whiny Shepherd syndrome?

 

[Fortune1211]

I think that a lot of us may be talking about 2 different "taking backs" lol. I've seen offices where there is one room and the doctor does everything and heck I've even worked with a mobile vet that did everything out of the back of her truck! But for 8 years I worked at a practice that had 6 doctors and 5 exam rooms. All of the routine exam things were done in the room but if the animal needed anything done, bloodwork, x-rays or even anal glands the animal was brought to the back. The smell from anal glands is so fierce that I wouldn't want to do that in a room with an owner(s). Also at that office we had a specific sign up in each room that said "Please for your safety let our technicians restrain your pet during exam". You get bit at the office guess who you're going to sue

Most pets are peoples "babies", believe me I know! Our pets are our family but you still need to remember that they are ANIMALS not PEOPLE. They absolutley without a doubt do not compltley understand what you are saying to them and you yourself could be causing the animal undue anxiety.

 

[bettyann29]

I also hadnt heard of this.. My vet has me walk my pet back to the room and I stay there the entire time.. I would never let them take them without me in there..

 

[teacups]

Sorry I had to laugh!
I remember I posted something JUST LIKE THIS a couple of years ago... except it was about my children and the dentist office. People slammed me for being a wacky overprotective mom- "Helicopter" was thier fun name of the day. And no I dont let my pets go back alone either. UNLESS its for something more detailed then they go back into the "back" and that is perfectly OK.

 

[Becky2005]

You know at first I was like -- HUH? We always go back with our cat but then thought about it and that's not 100% true.

They have you go in the exam room with them but if they need something more extensive such as x-rays or something like that, then they take them from the exam room to the back without you going along.

For her routine check-up with weighing, shots, etc... that's all done in the basic exam room with you there. You are expected to go with them. One time we took her in since she wasn't acting right (yes, I know a vague description of what was wrong but she just seemed off). They took her back, did an x-ray on her and didn't like how she was reacting/breathing so wanted to check her heart. It all turned out OK but she looked a bit dehydrated, they gave her some solution or something for that under her skin and she was back to her old self after she got that. During most of that treatment, I was sitting in the exam room -- I didn't go back to the testing area.

 

[WDWBarb]

Whiny Shepherd syndrome?

Oh, she has it BAD! If anything doesn't go her way, or is out of place, or simply doesn't please her - it's such a show!!

In retrospect, I wish I had named her Drama Queen.