Are your vets good with medication?

[RB Will]

I know I have brought up some of this in a previous post but after last weekend I am wondering if veterinary medicine is taken anywhere near as seriously as human.

I know one of the vets on here said you have to do a chunk of your degree on it. Its just I have had cock ups from every vet in my town regarding medication.

The place we used to use prescribed a huge (though not very dangerous overdose) that I only knew about as I read the info leaflet. Gave us tablets that had specific instructions on when and how they should be taken, none of which were explained to me by the vet and we only got it right as my Mrs is a pharmacist and told me to do it right.

The practice that the inlaws use gave their dog a double overdose of painkillers which had him near unconscious for a weekend.

This weekend I popped in to get something to firm up my dogs poop, not sure what she ate but seems fine now. The nurse who got the medication has to sign a label on the box and get another nurse/ vet to check it to make sure it says the correct dose and is the correct stuff etc. The nurse just shouted across to the other one "Is it OK if I sign your name on this" "Yeah" and that was that.
I was quite surprised by this (I have checked everything is in order before I gave the dog any) I should have demanded someone come and check it really.

Is this considered really bad practice in vet circles as my Mrs would be in a whole word of trouble if she was caught doing any of the above.

Does anyone have any recommendations of any competent vets in the Swindon (Wilts) area?

[R1gtr]

That sounds shocking, we were unhappy with our original vet for a number of reasons so I contacted a vet further afield that had a great reputation and explained I was unhappy with our current vet, they registered us immediately and we have had nothing but the best help/treatment from them, we always see the same vet every visit and she recently won 'Vet of the Year'
Unfortunately we are a bit too far away for you but do not be afraid to try a different vet, remember that in every practice their will be good vets and some who you feel dont really care about your pets, thankfully we have been lucky but ask about, even ask in a local pet store if they can recommend a good local vet, not just a good practise, but a good vet and register with them and explain you have had bad experiences and would like to deal with that vet in particular.
As i mentioned a pet store is a good place to ask, the staff there will have heard all the customers stories etc.
Good luck.

[Simpo Two]

RB Will said:

Gave us tablets that had specific instructions on when and how they should be taken

So if he'd read them out loud that would have been OK?

Reading the instructions seems to be a fairly logical solution to me. The hard part of course is administering the stuff!

[RB Will]

Simpo Two said:

RB Will said:

Gave us tablets that had specific instructions on when and how they should be taken

So if he'd read them out loud that would have been OK?

Reading the instructions seems to be a fairly logical solution to me. The hard part of course is administering the stuff!

Yes that or at lease make the owner aware that these MUST be given in a certain way. It is because of the administering that this was important. It is a lot easier to get tablets into my dog if I break them into a couple of bits and wedge them into a bit of meat or cheese but if I had broken these tablets up they would have been useless as they are designed with an enteric coating so they reach a specific point in the digestive system before they work.
If my Mrs gives someone tablets in the pharmacy she has to tell them when and how to take them even though they come with a leaflet.

[Simpo Two]

Pharmacists are of course trained to higher standards because if they mess up there could be a manslaughter case (my mother was pharmacist, and said that to pass you had to get 100% - 99% wasn't good enough). If Tiddles cops it then it's upsetting but not as bad as a human.

Of course they used to be called 'dispensing chemists' in those days!

[RB Will]

Simpo Two said:

Pharmacists are of course trained to higher standards because if they mess up there could be a manslaughter case (my mother was pharmacist, and said that to pass you had to get 100% - 99% wasn't good enough).

I dont think you need to get that to pass the uni exams but in her placement year she had to demonstrate that she could do 200prescriptions in a row without making a single error. If you failed at 199 you had to start again. I think she has only made 4 errors (none critical) in 4 years and that is dispensing or checking 10,000s of prescriptions.

[Thevet]

It is disappointing to read how many times vets and their staff assume clients know how to give medication or even worse don't care. If you hear such things as "is it ok if I sign your name" you really should ask if you heard that right, if they get snotty, then you should assume that is their practice policy in general. We always try to give simple concise advice with medication, but no doubt still make mistakes, I'd like to think that we take errors very seriously, at least two people have been sacked in the last few years from prescribing errors. Occasionally such errors can be serious, although I can't think what painkiller could make a pet nearly comatose at just a double dose. It is important, and I wish more vets would bother to read forums where their public post their views, I think a few would be humbled. As ever, internet forums do contain some crap, my practice was named in a motoring forum as having been involved in some very poor treatment of a dog, checking our computer records it was obvious that we had never seen the animal, so posted the info and asked for an explanation, "oh sorry mate, my mistake it was your neighbouring practice" with little remorse for the angst caused to me and my staff over what we thought we had done wrong.
Anyway, if you get the feeling that your vet doesn't take prescibing seriously, then report failures to the owners or if no joy there, then the RCVS, and ask for updates. Alternatively, the VMD are far more scary to vets!!

[RB Will]

Thanks vet, a good reply as ever

Thevet said:

Occasionally such errors can be serious, although I can't think what painkiller could make a pet nearly comatose at just a double dose.

Just on this bit, I should maybe have written it differently. They gave him 1 set of painkillers (I can't remember the name of the drugs but I think it was you who replied when I said about it before who said they were for people and not animals) and then another set of pills with a different name to give him at the same time. The dog ended up sleeping for 22hours a day over the weekend.

[Thevet]

you may be right, can't remember, but human drugs may be better or worse for side-effects on our 4legged friends. Doesn't change the requirement for sensible and accurate advice for prescriptions.