Reprinted from Reader’s Digest, June 2012
We asked veterinarians and vet technicians to reveal pet vet tips and cautionary tales, which can save time, trouble, and trauma for everyone in the family.
By Michelle Crouch from Reader’s Digest | May 2012
GK Hart/Vikki Hart/Getty Images
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“We’re a vet hospital, not a dog hotel.”
1. “People always ask, ‘How do you handle pit bulls and rottweilers and big German shepherds?’ The truth is, the dogs that scare me most are the little Chihuahuas. They’re much more likely to bite.”—Mark Howes, DVM, owner and medical director of Berglund Animal Hospital in Evanston, Illinois
2. “We know when you’re twisting the facts. If your dog has a five-pound tumor hanging from his skin, please don’t tell me it wasn’t there yesterday.”—Phil Zeltzman, DVM, a traveling veterinary surgeon in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the author of Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound.
3. “Most hospitals keep comprehensive records of behavior—of both your pet and you! If you are aggressive to the staff, you will be treated differently.”—Oscar Chavez, DVM, program director for the vet tech program at California Polytechnic State University in Pomona, California.
4. “Looking for a way to say thank you to your vet? Last year, one pet owner gave us a check for $100, saying we could use it at our discretion for an animal in need. That was a wonderful gift.”—Patty Khuly, VMD, a vet in Miami, Florida.
5. “We’re a vet hospital, not a dog hotel. People will get upset because their dog got a sheet instead of two fluffy blankets or because their dog didn’t get hand-fed. We’re just trying to get your dog better so he can come home and you can spoil him.”—Jessica Stout-Harris, a vet tech who runs confessionsfromtheanimalshelter.com.
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