Why is it that when people say that the vet is closed that no one believes them?

Question

Not everyone has access to an emergency vet or emergency hospital. Why do you not believe this when it is added in with a question?

Exactly 2Westies!!

Answer 1

Because the people who give these answers live in residential areas, have access to vets and emergency clinics and haven't a clue what it's like in a rural area on a Sunday where you pass the John Deere dealership and one motel going into town and it's a one hour drive to get to a place where the population is over 3,000.

Answer 2

Question back at you, Why do people who say they can't get their animal to a vet think that they can get a diagnosis by posting the question on YA?

Not even a vet can diagnose and offer a remedy without examining your pet or getting much more information.

So if I lived in a community where there was no emergency clinic and my vet didn't offer 24 hour emergency care, I would drive to a community that did have the care available. What's better? Driving an hour and getting proper care for your pet or waiting 24 hours and risking your pet's life?

I've worked for a vet for 25 years and 90% of the afterhour emergencies he sees start out like this - "Well, she hasn't been acting right for 4 or 5 days". So instead of getting help Wednesday afternoon, they wait until Sunday morning and all of a sudden it's an emergency.

Answer 3

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I grew up in a rural community (the nearest walmart was 75 miles away, the nears gas station was 20 miles away, we were literally in the middle of nowhere). We played 6 and 8 man football in high school because we didn't have enough people to play an 11 man team (and middle of the field was the 40 yard line, we didn't have a 50 yard line). Very tiny, country community. You would see people riding their horses in town for recreation every weekend.

There were times we had animal emergencies and our vet would take care of it regardless if it was "normal hours" or not. There was a time at 2am we called her and and took an animal in. She showed up at the clinic (which was right beside her house) in her pajamas, but she fixed our animal right up!

If our normal vet wasn't available, there were other local vets we knew of. And if we would have ever not been able to find one we had worked with before, we would get out the yellow pages and start dialing numbers. If it's an emergency, you do whatever you can.

Another thing, people have said "oh, but it's an hour away!" ***AN HOUR IS NOTHING when you live in a rural area!*** You don't blink an eye to drive an hour to get somewhere, it's just part of living out in the middle of nowhere.
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Answer 4

Let us look at what you are asking about the vet or emergency being closed this way. Say for instance they hospital issues a memo, that on the 1st and 3rd Fridays the office will be closed. What they are in essence saying that no animals get sick or injured on these two date of the month. The problem with that is your pet has no special time , day, week, or hour that they get sick, or injured on. Sometimes it is good to challenge somethings, because a person just could be not telling the truth.

Answer 5

we live in a rural area. If you call the local vets during after hours, you get a message that tells you where the 2 nearest ER vets are at.. both are about an hour away.

If there is no ER vet locally, many rural vets do have an emergency number, or leave a message to direct you to another local vet who does take emergencies.



I have seen people on here tho during normal buisiness hours claiming that the vet is not open too.

Answer 6

I'm originally from a small enough town that we didnt have an emergency vet. But i've never had a vet that doesnt have an answering service that you can call and they WILL call you back. I've never had a vet in a town without an e-vet that wont go up to the office for an emergency. If you cant afford to take your dog... you shouldn't have a dog in the first place. Loving a pet isn't going to save them if somethings wrong, you have to be able to support them financially as well... And there's NOBODY that will take you to the vet, or a cab company you can call? riiight. Things you should think about before taking on the RESPONSIBILITY of a pet.

Answer 7

Because for the most part.. there ARE emergency vets available.. I do not agree with the idea that EVERY city has an emergency vet.. I know mine doesn't.. but, at the vets office they give you a paper to keep with your dog's file.. it gives the number and address of the closest emergency vet.. (in my case it's over an hour away). It may not be THEIR vet, but for most people in the US it is possible to find one open..

If my dog was showing signs of parvo or poisoning.. or hit by a car.. I would drive (or beg for rides from friends/family) the hour or more.. One of my mother's dogs is only ALIVE today because we did this.. (someone threw rat poison over our fence and he ate it) Not every problem can be treated at home.. and in quite a few cases, the dog may not live until the vet's office opens in the morning.

As a responsible pet owner, I KNOW where I can go in an emergency.. it did not take an emergency for me to find out. It may be inconvenient to drive out of the way, but I couldn't watch a dog dying in front of me and know I didn't even try.

Answer 8

I don't think it's a matter that others don't believe them I think it's more than most vet's offices will have either a voice mail/answering service that can direct patients to an emergency number and some people either don't call or their vet doesn't offer that service. Mine will answer his calls 24 hours a day and also has a voice mail message stating to either call his home number or poision control in case of a suspected poisioning.

Answer 9

I don't accept that answer because a vet is a DOCTOR and doctors (vets included) have someone on-call at night and on weekends and when they go on vacation to take care of emergency care.

In some areas, it might be hard to find a vet on-call, but that's got to be at least one who takes on-call duty. It's required in the profession when you provide medical care, you have office hours, and you work an arrangement with other professionals so someone is on-call for emergencies.

Answer 10

In every place I've ever lived, I can call my vet and get either an answering service or a message telling who to contact and what to do in an emergency. I live in a very small community - there are three small animal vets in the surrounding area - and on any given night, one of them is on-call. If they can't help, there is an emergency vet 45 minutes away. In most cases, a neighbor or friend will drive you if you can't drive yourself. My vet would come to me if it came to that.

A good friend of mine is an equine vet and he is on emergency call every third night. He has missed his kids birthdays, anniversaries, special nights out and been awakened at all hours countless times.

People just don't try hard enough most of the time. People don't plan ahead or ask their vet what to do if there is an emergency - BEFORE it happens. Many of the these same people wouldn't hesitate to take their kid to an emergency room.