Choose the right vet for you and your pet

I used to be that the typical veterinary clinic was a modest small business with one or two veterinarians.

Times have changed. There are still small veterinary hospitals, staffed by one or two veterinarians, but there are now many other options, including large practices with a half dozen or more veterinarians. At the other end of the scale, there are veterinarians who come to your home. Some of them work with what they can carry in a small “doctor's bag” and some work out of a modified van or small motor home. There are advantages and disadvantages, from the standpoint of you, the client, to each of these practice styles.

The large multi-doctor hospitals are more likely to have all the latest equipment. To justify the cost of buying and maintaining sophisticated things like MRIs and CT scanners, a practice has to have a lot of clients. It takes a big practice to bring in enough broken bones to keep an orthopedic surgeon busy or enough dogs and cats with cancer to justify a full time oncologist with capability of providing radiation and chemotherapy.

A large hospital may also be able to provide more continuing education for their veterinarians and technicians and standardized approaches to diagnosing and treating diseases. There can considerable value in veterinarians being able to consult with each other about difficult cases. They may offer higher pay which may attract better doctors.

On the other hand, in a large hospital, particularly one that is part of a corporate chain, there may be more pressure on veterinarians to be “productive”. At its best, this can mean doing a thorough job of diagnosing and treating your pet. At its worst, it can mean the veterinarian you get may have a monthly production goal to meet and may be tempted to recommend lab tests, X-rays and other procedures and treatments that may not be very important in managing your pet's disease or injury.

Smaller practices, even those with just one veterinarian/owner, are not immune to this pressure, but in small practices the veterinarian who comes to know you and your pet and has to look you in the eye on each visit, is more likely to be the one who decides how much of your money you should spend.

You may get more personalized service in a smaller practice and the veterinarian you come to know and trust may be more likely to be there for the long term. Employed veterinarians these days are less likely to want to own their own practices and tend to be more inclined to change jobs and locations more often.

Small veterinary practices, even those with just one veterinarian, also have ready access to specialists. By Internet and email, telephones, fax machines and services like UPS and FedEX, an expert consultation, lab services and referrals to specialists are readily available anywhere in the world.

House-call veterinarians have these same resources available. They are more limited in procedures and surgeries they can do in your home or in a mobile clinic, but it is surprising what some of them can do and it may be convenient for you. Some pets, in familiar surroundings, are easier to work with. Some are less likely to be intimidated and may be much harder to work with.

As in choosing a veterinarian, the best advice on choosing the type of practice you patronize may come from talking to other pet owners about their experiences, good and bad. Talk to people you trust, who feel as you do about their pets and talk to several of them.

Dr. Roen is a Clarkston veterinarian and a weekly Tribune columnist. He may be contacted at jazzzvet@cableone.net