Complain directly to your vet. It probably won’t do any good, but it might. we haven’t had a really good vet since ours retired in 2017. Just as there are no real doctors anymore.

Send a detailed note to your vet. My vet office would say bring in a urine sample and go from there. And that should be perfectly acceptable. If it is a UTI, my vet would give you a Rx without seeing your pet. A uti while not a life or death, is certainly at the top of the list and not a Sunday to Thursday thing. It's hard to get any kind of good office help these days, and notthing wrong with letting your vet know what went on up front.

I can relate!

We've been going to our vet for over 16 years and getting in for routine visit is a 2.5 week wait. But an "urgent" visit is next to impossible.

My doxie has skin allergies. I always book ahead for the apoquel shot that she has to have periodically, but the last time she got the shot, it didn't seem to work. I called to get her looked at and again, they said 2 weeks. In 2 weeks the way she was scratching, she wouldn't have any skin left. And like you, after grovelling, they said they'd "work" me in, but to expect to sit and wait. I said I was more than willing, and completely understood. I got there on time, and patiently waited. For 10 whole minutes. None of the other appointments showed up. The tech told me that's pretty typical.

People don't take vet appointments seriously. They make appointments and don't keep them or their late.

Going to the vet is expensive enough, but the ER Vet? Sheesh. You have to take out a loan! In a "true" emergency, yes, it's worth it, but for a UTI?

I'd mention it to the vet. They don't always know what the front office people are doing.

If you send a note, wouldn't the same people who wanted to make the appointment on Thursday read and deal with your note?

Maybe the person was just having a bad day and didn't think of you bringing in a urine sample right away? I don't know. I'm thankful I have a great vet right now. Chewie has had allergy issues with his eyes over the last six months or so and they let me just pick up another antibiotic ointment months after the first issue. It's getting harder and harder for me and him to get him in my vehicle, so I was so glad I didn't have to bring him back in. I don't think most vets would do that. They'd want the extra office visit payment and to be able to diagnosis in person. Then about a month or so ago one of my daughter's dogs got a respiratory illness. He was put on antibiotics and pain meds. He got better but my dog was staying with them because of my home being torn up. Chewie then got sick and I would've had to drive to Lexington, get him in my vehicle and drive him to my town (25 miles away) to see the vet and then back to Lexington. I called the vet and told them Chewie was now sick, having the same symptoms that Dink had. They let me pick up some antibiotics for him and I just took them to my daughter's house for him. Then there was Emily being euthanized. They didn't charge me for that.

I'm dreading the time when they retire. They just built a new office next door to the old one so I'm hoping that's a sign they aren't planning to go out of business anytime soon. My mechanic just retired and I have no idea where I'll go now. I totally trusted them.

I have two vets I take my cats to for annual shots. Who ever can get me in, less than 6 months out. :0)

Vets here, if they're any good...are packed! And not cheap. I pay around $300 for shots for 2 cats.

My neighbors two little dogs, a Pom and a Coton de Tulear ran out into the street and jumped on a Pitbull being walked on a leash. The Pitbull attacked. He put his hands in the Pit's mouth to pry it's jaws off. My neighbor took BOTH dogs to his vet, middle of the day...said it was an emergency...they said...sorry we can't get you in until Monday....3 days later. He drove home....told ME what happened. I said go to my vet, they'll get you in. He said, That's too far away. I said, "Michael! Take one of those 5 cars sitting in your driveway...and DRIVE to a vet....right now....RIGHT NOW....DO IT! And that's how he got the pooches in. They were shaved, had internal bruising, in shock...no skin was broken. They lived long lives.

This is pretty typical around here. Change vets! and have a spare.

A lot of vets here aren’t even accepting new patients, they just don’t have the bandwidth. I’d imagine there are only so many emergencies they can squeeze in in a day, they’re not going to give those spots away for just anything. UTI? I’d go to a pet store or log into Amazon and get a home kit, then call the vet to say you need a prescription for antibiotics if it comes back positive.

Veterinary practices are drowning in volume. I split time between 2 locations so have vets in 2 cities. Neither practice is currently accepting new patients because they are swamped - which is the same answer is many other practices. My Nextdoor feed in both places is over-run with people complaining about how hard it is in to get into a vet (or to find one accepting new patients if they are new in the area).

I have no insight as to why. I know for awhile I was reading about "pandemic puppies" and since people were working from home, more people got dogs all of a sudden. No clue if that is still playing out.

I am grateful to have decent "urgent care" models in both places. It's something like $150 just to walk in the door in those urgent care clinics, but I'm fortunate that I can pay that and I'm happy to do so when my dogs need to be seen urgently.

Ally, we like our vet in Florida much better. They have a lab right at the facility and you get quick results.

When DD used emergency it was over $700!

My dog is aggressive and not every vet is capable. While I don’t especially like this vet at, least my dog gets the care he needs.

I so understand. The last time I had a sick dog, the urgent care bill was $600 or $700 too, by the time you added in various tests, etc.. The $150 charge is to be seen, and then the tests/medications/etc. are on top of that.

Human medicine, vet medicine, and pretty much any/every other "service" industry seems to be drowning right now. We live in interesting times.

No advice on how to handle the vet situation, but the 'why' I'm guessing, is that there's a huge shortage of medical personnel in general. It can vary from state to state, and area to area. Lots of Dr.s and nurses are retiring, and there aren't an equal number to step in to take their place.

Its like that around here as well. Very hard to get a "sick" visit booked since all appointments are scheduled ahead of time. The result is that a new Urgent Care Center is going to open in Feb!! They will be open 8to 8Pm every day of the week with no appointment necessary! I am excited that there will be a place to go other than the Emergency Pet hospital. They will do everything there except for surgery that requires anesthesia. Its been long overdue!

What would I do? Not much I could do actually, given the dearth of medical professionals available.

Next time I wouldn’t call on Sunday, except in case of emergencies. They probably have a skeleton staff on Sundays and were deferring all non-emergency calls till later in the week.

• My DHs dad was a veterinarian. Large animal. He HATED dealing with pet owners which he did once in awhile. Reading this thread tells me why.

Eld I hope you found someone to see your doggie and that he is doing better.

I'm sorry about your vet: I would ask to leave a message for the vet and explain that you were told you'd have to wait, and you don't think it's reasonable to wait so long. I bet someone fits you in sooner.

Important note: I am not a vet or anything, but my 11 y.o. female herding breed dog started having "accidents" in the house, including when she would get up from a laying down position.

It turned out to be that older dogs (females) can lose the ability to hold their urine as well. But there was great news: there's a medication for it. It isn't too expensive and even on a 1/2 dose, it works like a charm for her, with no side effects that I can see. So, depending on the age/gender of your dog, maybe it's something like that, if not a UTI.

I hope your dog will return to more normal ways.

Remember that with all people in all occupations and endeavors - there's a bell curve for this subset of our communities as regards bedside manner, compassion, concern of patients/customers trumping concern for self, ability to organize and run a business, hire the right kind of people, etc etc. Far too many variables exist among vets, police, contractors, window washers, bank tellers etc., to suggest that having a fixed set of expectations will always be met. Often they won't be. Keep trying new ones until you're satisfied. Good luck.

trying to find a vet who was experienced in the care of giant breeds was a daunting task. the average general practice veterinarian around here just isn't, the reason being there just aren't a lot of owners of giant breeds.

after many instances of ME trying to explain to a vet what the problem was with my dog and making suggestions as to treatment options that, more often than not, fell on deaf ears, i finally found a vet who will actually listen to my concerns and even ASK ME the treatment i would prefer for the best outcome.

when it came time to have my current 2 young danes neutered/spayed, she flat out told me that she was not comfortable doing the gastropexy (commonly called "stomach tacking") procedure as she did not have a lot of experience with it plus she was not equipped to do any procedure via laser and or laparoscope. i had the opportunity to have both dogs spayed/neutered by an experienced vet who was 4 hours away and that is the one i chose to go to (he was/is the vet my breeders have used for years). i did take them to my regular vet for post surgical checkups and suture removal and even though she didn't do the actual procedures, she did not even charge me for this. thankfully, she is young and won't be retiring any time soon!

i've had several instances when urgent problems came up and this vet has always been able to squeeze us in.

Ownership of pets exploded over the past 3 years and for a lot of those pet owners those pets became their everything and remain so. The number of vets and technicians cannot keep up to those numbers - just not enough graduates and not all graduates become small animal vets. At the same time in a lot of places their rents/leases have increased, drug costs are up and you have a perfect storm for burnout. If vets are close to retirement they are retiring. Some go part time on contract working with other clinics or with shelters.

Don't write a nasty note. They don't need it and you may find yourself without a vet.

I think you should speak directly with the veterinarian. From your initial post I'm not sure if the problem is with your vet or with the person answering the telephone. It is a shame that the tech didn't mention earlier in the conversation that you could bring in a sample. That would have made a huge difference. At least you could let your vet know how it was handled and it would be interesting to hear the vet's response.

I hope you post back with good news about your dog.

A volunteer at my job, who works in development with the nyc ASPCA for his full-time job, recently told me that there is a serious shortage of vets right now. When I asked him why, he cited depression/mental health issues as one of the reasons people are leaving or not entering the field. This, coupled with the pandemic pet explosion, explains the difficulty in getting in quickly. I'd have been upset as well though.

I've mentioned before that I have a family member who's a specialist vet. I've heard many stories over the years of their former classmates, former resident-mates, and former work colleagues who have left clinical practice because they do not like the emotional demands of being a practicing vet.

There has long been a shortage of vets. While a few new schools have come along, and several foreign schools are US accredited, the number is quite small (about 30 in the US) and it's clearly not enough. Admission is difficult and very competitive. Also, interestingly, while the vast majority of practicing vets are generalists (no residencies or additional training beyond 4 years of vet school is required for a license), the number of available training slots for specialty residencies is limited and has not grown much over the years. So, as limited as are the number of generalists, the ranks of specialists are much smaller and even more inadequate.

I wanted to be a veterinarian when I started undergrad. What I learned is that it is even harder to get into a DVM program than it is to become an MD, largely due to what Elmer just shared above.

There are ~150 schools accredited to grant an MD (in the US), whereas as shared above there are only roughly 30 for DVM/VMD. Frankly I'm amazed the veterinary profession hasn't imploded before now.

The numbers aren't directly comparable because most medical schools have many more students in each class year than vet schools do. Across the total, the per vet school average class size is maybe 120 new students per year, and so about that many grads too. Some are under 100. Many medical schools are larger than than that and some, considerably so.

When my daughter moved home with her dog she called the local vet snd offered a 1000.00 donation to help provide vet care for some family who couldnt afford it she never had a problem gwtting an appt after that Tacky but true

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