Can You call your VET after hours?

[briesberrypatch]

Yes.

Our vet is also a farm vet, and his voice mail message has his cell phone number for an emergency contact, just in case you have a problem after hours or while he is out on farm calls. We did use it once for an emergency, and we waited about 15 minutes for a call-back before heading to a different vet. Our regular vet did call back and left a message on our machine a short time later, we just didn't want to wait for the call since we weren't sure how long it would take him.

Our previous vet was a large pet-only center (no farm animals), and they had no after-hours service.

It seems that farm vets are willing to do after-hours and emergency care since they deal with that kind of stuff on the farm. It's a way of life.

 

[chickinlickin]

Quote:
We do live in a very small, rural, farm community and it is a way of life....Our vet works out of an office with 2 other vets and one of them is on call every weekend.. On this particular weekend Dr. Sally wasn't on call, the other vet called her.

 

[ranchhand]

I have a great vet, after many years of "shopping". But.... it took 5 years of my 3 cats and 3 dogs before he trusted me with his private email and his wife's cell phone number. I used to work in vet clinics, and so I know what a nightmare it is for the vet. Many forget, in a panicky moment, that vets do have lives, too.

He knows I won't call him unless it life or death, that I can take care of most problems at home. I keep sub-cu fluids, antibiotics and steroids on hand. I also do rescue, so that's all here, and he has even passed some on to me to raise.

Because of me and my chicken stories, he and his wife now raise chickens.

The fresh eggs I took may have helped a bit.

And the Christmas and Hanaukah cookies........

Gotta tell ya though- one day, when the clinic was open late, I had a dog with skin penetrating 4" gash in his leg- muscle showing. The clinic is an hour away, so he told me to Superglue the edges shut! I said some questioning words that I won't repeat here, and he said that's what the Emergency Clinic does!

He will meet me after hours- because he knows I won't abuse the privilege. When possible, I make an appointment like everyone else. We do a bit of bartering and I am very careful to do my part asap. Our relationship is based upon mutual respect.

 

[michickenwrangler]

We call our vet clinic which forwards the call to the pager which the vets take turn being on call and taking it home. I do have one vet's home phone number but he isn't very close, but the clinic is about halfway between his house and mine so it would be easier to meet him there than for him to come to my house or the barn.

I only used the emergency vet once when my old Great Dane had an ulcerated osteosarcoma that had occurred while I was at work and didn't get off until 6pm.

Our vet clinic now has late days on Tues & Thurs, they are open until 7pm

 

[Sherry]

I moved back home to WV 3 years ago. I'm happy to say I am able to call my vet at home at any hour. I have home, cell and email and a facebook friend.

I had the same with my vet in No. Va where I lived many years. I can and do still call her for advice and second opinions from time to time. I also have her cell, home and email, and we're also friends on facebook.

And I can say the same for my personal physicians.

 

[BlackBart]

For small animals you have to go to the Veterinary Emergency Hospital, it is open 24 hrs, 365 days.
For large animals, there is a Vet on call for farm visits but you have to wait your turn.

The Emergency Hospital is 1/3 more expensive than regular Vets, but what are you going to do when it is a emergency and off hours?

Our old family/country type doctor would happily set a broken cat or dog leg. But the new generation, no way!

My friend's cat got hit by a car last Sunday, she took him in to emergency and it cost her $2800, he had a broken pelvis.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I can and have called my current vet AND both previous vets after hours. It helps that I have a zillion animals, stay current on my bills (which are huge!) and don't abuse the priviledge. I am a great client and pretty much feel that helping me out in times of urgent need are part of the package. The closest emergency vet is an hour away. I think in 18 years of pet ownership I have called the vet twice after hours. In those 18 years I have pretty much paid for a small third world country.