Grrrr. Herp Vet rant

[SteveySingle]

So one of my girls caught an RI.

I'm sitting in the room now as they take her back to do an injection-but this lady is telling me she could be egg bound which may be the issue and that aspen bedding is the reason-after I told her that I keep her on paper towels up until maybe three days ago bc she crapped and I didn't have any paper towels ...

How the FFFF did we get on the subject of being eggbound when she's eating and crapping just fine.
I simply want an antibiotic injection-they want x-rays and say that may require sedation-get real!!!


/rant for now.

[KMG]

How did it get RI? What has been off?

X rays are pretty common to check the lungs. They need to take a swab and get the infection narrowed down to combat the infection with the correct antibiotic.

[albinos_rule]

RI is caused by improper husbandry

[SteveySingle]

They did do an xray but I was able to convince them that there wasn't really a need for anesthesia. Not anything questionable in there.. she got the antibiotics and being that it's in an early stage I think she will prevail soon enough. (Taking her back in a few days for a second round.)

Good ol' craigslist snakes! I saved her from a tank w no heat, no water, and some stuck shed of course. So I knew there was potential for her to have issues when I picked her up.
I am very appreciative of the vet for even seeing the snake as I had trouble finding anyone else that could so quickly. My rant was more so toward me feeling like the vet was being extreme - wasting time, and my money. But in the end I guess all the bases were covered just in case.

[KMG]

Yea they are pretty good at pulling money out of you.

[wolfy-hound]

Sometimes vets will throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. Seems like they'll mention everything that a snake MIGHT have at any point in it's life, before they figure out what's actually wrong.

I once had a vet ask me if seahorses were actually real, then five minutes later tell me i had to bring the sick seahorse in so she could examine it before she would give me meds for it. I asked her what exactly she would be able to tell me since she not only didn't know seahorse specific issues, but didn't even know they actually EXISTED ten minutes ago.

[MissLissa]

I'm not sure about the prescription laws in you area, but in mine it's against the law for a veterinarian to prescribe a medication for an animal they have not examined themselves, or at least gotten a prescription sent from a veterinarian who has examined the animal. There are no species exception to this rule, as far as I aware. There must be a client-patient-doctor relationship before prescription medications can be given out. In fact, if you vet gives out meds without seeing the pet, they are risking their medical license and could be suspended and/or fined and/or officially reprimanded by their governing body.

I'm a veterinary assistant at a clinic that specializes in exotics. It always amazes me when people we've never worked with before phone us up wanting "the dewormer" (or whatever) for their reptiles without us seeing their pet, or even just doing a fecal! Not that I'm saying that's what you did- we just come across it a lot! It's really nice when someone will work with our vet, and do the proper diagnostics (fecals, x-rays, washes, swabs, scrapings, whatever) to make sure that the treatments we send home are ones that are dealing with the true problem.

[wolfy-hound]

The vets I've known have done it repeatedly, depending on that it is and the circumstances. I've seen them hand over a lot of medications without the pet coming in, usually things like antibiotics, ear meds, eye meds, nothing in the restricted section. Plus what I wanted to get is also sold over-the-counter style, just not by anyone nearby. I ended up getting a small supply from them, but immediately ordered a large bottle online instead, to have on hand so I didn't have to deal with them.

At any rate, requiring someone to move a delicate sick FISH to a clinic to be examined by a vet who has just asked if they were even real stretches the imagination as being intelligent. Not just "I'm not certain this vet has worked with reptiles..." but she actually thought there was no such thing as the animal I had.

[SteveySingle]

Misslissa, you've put a different perspective on the situation for sure. If a vet feels like it's necessary I never say no, because I know they know more than I. My cousin works at the vet and usually makes sure that bases are covered but that extremes and unnecessary steps aren't taken the first visit-she want workin that day -__- all good tho!
The rant is over for me, my snakes on it's way to good health now !

[MissLissa]

I'd suspect that those antibiotics, eye meds and ear meds are refills, not initial prescriptions. If they are initial, original prescriptions then that vet is almost guaranteed to be breaking at least one law and/or guideline set out by their governing body and deserves to be reprimanded, at least! Merry-go-Medication is a very dangerous game to play. Our clinic has seen fish- especially elderly koi and saltwater fish. Though, arguably, we generally do a home visit since so much of fish medicine is preventative measures and husbandry issues. Unless they require surgery, then they have to come to our clinic as surgery suites are a little hard to move. I have to admit we've never seen a seahorse, though- usually they die before anyone can call us, poor delicate things.

I'm glad your snake is doing well! It's definitely helpful to have someone "in the know" whether it's a vet clinic or a human clinic.