Would You Make Use Of A Vet Whose Clinic Cannot Keep Dogs Overnight?

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

The vet we currently use does not have overnight staff. I don't know if he refers them to an emergency clinic. I do know in some cases he has stayed overnight in the clinic with dogs/cats in his care.

 

In fact, I used to use the evet clinic for regular stuff. We still have a relationship with them so it wouldn't be out of the question to take them there for overnight observation and bring them back in the morning.

 

 

[HopeForHounds]

My vet is awesome, grey savvy and will openly discuss and debate our dog's care. They do have dogs stay overnight, but there is no-one there. If my dogs needed to be overnighted, Foxy did once, they go to a 24 service. The 24 hour service is good, but they aren't as open with me or willing to listen. So we stay with the vet we love and hope we never need the 24 hour service. It's good to know it's there if we need it though.

[Guest Lori]

I've never really thought about it, I didn't realize so many vets didn't have overnight service. Our JRT had emergency surgery last year and was kept overnight. When I went to pick her up, the vet himself was there, looking a bit sleepy -- he had stayed with her all night. He and his partner have been in practice for over 25 years, and they both will do services like that. We are very very lucky to have them so close!

[Hubcitypam]

Most of the vets I have used had/have no one there from about 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. but do keep dogs overnight. The best situation was in Lubbock where the long established vet lived next door to the practice. If she was worried about someone she would pop in during the night to check on them.

[Guest budsmom]

I had this discussion with my vet once, and he told me that in his 30 years of practice, he has never had a case that had an issue overnight. He said that if problems are going to occur, they most likely happen early during the surgery/procedure and are dealt with then. By the time the surgery is over, they are stable. They keep their surgical patients overnight because my vet said most people can't handle seeing their pet post surgery/coming out of the anesthesia. What the animal needs most is undisturbed rest and they can get that the best at the clinic, and then the staff has the chance the next day to make sure the animal is eating and drinking and all cleaned up so they look like themselves when the owner picks them up. For some clients, though, they do let the animal go home the same day depending on the experience and comfort the vets have that the client can handle it.

[RaineysMom]

ours is the same way -- they'll keep them overnight, but no one is there (I do think one of the vets lives above the hospital? ). When Nube had his bloat surgery, they did the actual surgery there, but they closed at 5pm but stayed open for us until 6pm when he was awake enough for US to transport him to the Evet, where he could be watched overnight (to the tune of $1800 for 18 hours total ) Pretty nerve-wracking to drive a just out of surgery pup with 25-30 staples holding his guts together for 35 minutes to the Evet

[Guest MZH]

In this age of computers and web cams, you'd think the vets would have web cams in their holding kennel areas so if they want to go home they could and still keep and eye out on the overnighters from home. This would work well if they live fairly close to the office so they could get back to the office fairly quickly if a problem develops.

 

It's pretty true that most dogs who stay over and are alone are considered stable but I know of vets who leave splenectomy patients alone the night of the first surgery. This is scary to me!

 

Marcia

[Bevd]

I know things are different in different parts of the world and we all have to work with what we've got but seriously, I can;t see the point of a vet practice where a dog ( a ) cannot be held overnight or ( b ) can be held but there's nobody there to regularly monitor the dog. I just don't get it.

 

If a dog is poorly enough to need to be in hospital overnight, I can't imagine the trauma of having to get the dog from one facility and move it to another for the overnight care! It's horrific! What happens the following day? Does the dog just remain at the 'overnight place' or does it have to go backwards and forward for day and night care?

 

And if a dog *can* stay overnight at the vets but there's nobody there to monitor the dog - thats plain ridiculous aswell! Can you imagine a child being hospitalised but they don't have any nursing staff watching the child during those hours?!

 

As you can tell this is one of my bugbears regarding vet services.

 

In the UK, as far as I am aware, the majority of vets can keep dogs overnight - but - the majority do not have someone on the premises to monitor the dog. Crazy.

 

I use a veterinary hospital so it's one step up from a 'normal' vet practice but it's not a specialist or referral practice. Because it has hospital status, it has to have a nurse (at least) on site 24/7 to monitor any in patients. That's why I chose that practice. As it so happens, now that the practice is owned by a new vet, she herself lives on the premises and a nurse is called in overnight if necessary, rather than the other way round so it's even better.

[Guest jziegler]

I absolutely do. The closest 24 hour vets office to me is about half an hour drive, and is a specialty clinic, so prices are extremely high. There's a great two person practice ten minutes from my house (well one full time owner and the old semi-retired vet) that we go to for all of the routine stuff, and any normal hours last minute stuff. When we had a late night emergency, his answering service sent us to the 24 hr clinic. The clinic is good, but expensive and doesn't have the level of personal attention that we get at the regular office. And the regular vet would have no problem referring us to the e-vet as needed. He went to school with many of the vets there, knows them, and trusts them.

 

Not all vets offices are large enough or are in areas that will support 24 hr care, and I'd rather my vet not be called in during the night for an emergency and then be too tired all day for the regular patients.

 

Jim

[Guest VelvetEars]

our vet does not have anyone overnight. if i have a pet who needs round-the-clock vet care, I "upgrade" to an animal hospital that is open until 2a for clients, and still has a vet on-site and monitoring everyone when they are closed between 2a-6a. they are more expensive than my regular vet, but i do not want to go to the Evet unless my pet is already dead, in which case it's not an emergency and i don't need them anyway.

 

but, like many GH owners, I am pretty comfortable with home-care if it doesn't require an IV, etc.

[NeylasMom]

I can really only reiterate what others have said. I believe vets with overnight staff are rare, and I wouldn't choose to leave my pet overnight unsupervised. For me, that means moving the dog to a specialist facility, not an e-vet though, which is more expensive, probably near e-vet prices really, but the dog doesn't have to be moved back and forth, only has to be moved once.

 

I will say, I dealt with a dog that had been incredibly sick, but was doing better and was slated to be released the following day from such a specialist facility. The evening update was that he was doing well, but even with techs on staff (who do hourly checks) he passed later that night in b/w checks without anyone knowing. Not to scare the crap out of anybody as that dog was really sick w/no definitive dx, just saying that even overnight monitoring is not a guarantee.