Your vet is only human

TAKING your dog (or any pet at all) to the vet can be difficult sometimes, especially if your dog remembers pain or discomfort or both from his last visit. Often a vet and a dog just do not have the chemistry – I had many pleasant visits to one vet with my male Chihuahua - this guy could do anything with my wee boy - he was putty in the hands of this vet. But on another visit a new vet could not hold the dog, was being nipped and snapped at, had to use a muzzle and then asked me to “please hold the dog still”. Yet this was the same dog! If the chemistry is not there, then it never will be.

We often take our vet for granted and expect him or her to know everything, to be able to do everything, and to never make a mistake. But that is not the view of reality. In truth they often make mistakes and many diagnoses are simply guesswork. If the first diagnosis proves wrong then the second possibility will be tried. It would be unrealistic to expect that every vet knew the symptoms and best treatment for every disease or injury on the planet – or even half of them. And keeping up with the claims and purpose of every new drug on the market would take up every spare moment of the vet’s time and then some.

Many illnesses or conditions have the same symptoms as one, two, three or more other conditions and because of that there is no option but to try treatments in sequence, the most likely option first, down to the least likely. Recently a friend’s Labrador was taken to the vet with a cloudy patch over the centre of one eye. After examining the eye and finding no sign of cataracts the vet said it was probably just an injury, the dog may have hit it on furniture or a plant outside or perhaps been playing roughly with its kennel mates.

Four weeks on and the cloudiness had not improved. In fact, the other eye had developed a slight cloudiness around the outside areas. This time the vet examined the dog further, found that she had some swelling in the eye vessels and probably some infection. PRA was the diagnosis this time. My friend asked if she should take the dog to the PRA specialist and was told by the vet “Why bother, you know what it is now and it will cost you heaps to be told the same again”.

Although the dog was not a show dog it did come from show dog stock – and stock that had been certified clear of PRA, so the breeder and the owner of the stud dog naturally insisted that the dog did go to the specialist as they “could need to recall their puppies if the certificates were in error”.

The specialist later confirmed that the dog did NOT have PRA – its retinas were in perfect shape – but still no certain diagnosis. The diagnosis has not been finalised yet but will hopefully come on the next visit to the specialist. Because the dog’s pupils were dilated for the first examination, further tests could not be done at the time.

All this demonstrates is that often there will be many tests or many trial medications before the actual problem is diagnosed. Your vet is not a superbrain that knows and can remember everything, but rather a person qualified to test and treat your pet with the least possible harmful effects; someone who can best judge what your pet’s immediate and long term requirements are and deliver those requirements in as safe a form as possible.

So don’t expect miracles from your vet. They are only human and they have made mistakes before and will inevitably make more in the future. If you feel you need a second opinion make sure you go and get one! Don’t share previous diagnoses with the new vet – you owe it to your dog just to see if the diagnosis is the same. If the first vet’s diagnosis is confirmed then you will obviously feel more comfortable accepting his or her diagnoses in the future, and if you receive two different diagnoses then it is time to discuss these with both vets, perhaps even have more tests done, and come to the best conclusion – not for the vets or for yourself, but for the patient - your dog. – Liz Peters