Fight for Guinea Pigs Rights

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CTWC

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This may be anger talking but does anyone know how to get petitions started? To make vets make life saving changes to their system?
I am in tears here reading again about a poor innocent guinea pig who is no longer here because of the incompetence of a vet. Vets who we take our beloved ones to to help us and instead they let them down and literally poison them. I'm livid and my heart breaks for anyone who has gone through or is going hrough this.
😥
 
It seems very difficult to raise complaints with the VCMS or RCVS where a proper resolution is actually achieved. An apology and refund seems the best most people get, real change would probably require the backing of multiple vets behind the complaint.

I've always believed vets need to be more open if they do not know how to treat specific animals. Personally I think practices should have to have "permissions" to treat certain species, with a certain threshold of knowledge by staff being met before they can advertise they treat a species. This would certainly lessen animals being given incorrect medications with fatal consequences. And while I appreciate that rabbits and rodents are considered exotics, they are very common pets, I believe all small animal practices should know the bare basics to treat common ailments in those species. If someone can walk into pets at home and buy something, you should be able to find GOOD vet care just as easily. Otherwise make these pets as difficult to acquire as other exotics. There shouldn't be such inequality between acquiring an animal and being able to properly care for them.

And to be fair to vets, it's not necessarily their fault, you don't know what you don't know. But there needs to be change somewhere. If cats or dogs were being fatally misprescribed at the same rate as guinea pigs are, there would be uproar.
 
I know individual vets are all trying their best but the system needs to have more safeguards I agree.

I feel like technology could play a role here too, to try to minimise human error. I know in some human electronic prescribing systems, it flags an immediate alert if someone tries to print a prescription that would be toxic or an unsafe combi/level of drugs. Some systems won't allow you to go any further if it looks wrong. Maybe vets don't have that yet but you'd think it would be possible. Or something on their e-notes page, could there not be a pop up that at least lists the 'never give' medication for certain species? A poster on the wall of the consulting room? We don't expect general vets to know the ins and outs of exotic care and every single medication, but these 'never ever give medications' really need to be made more prominent so they can quickly check, surely. Or just tell exotics to refer to guinea lynx lists or something similar?
 
LucyP said:
I know individual vets are all trying their best but the system needs to have more safeguards I agree.

I feel like technology could play a role here too, to try to minimise human error. I know in some human electronic prescribing systems, it flags an immediate alert if someone tries to print a prescription that would be toxic or an unsafe combi/level of drugs. Some systems won't allow you to go any further if it looks wrong. Maybe vets don't have that yet but you'd think it would be possible. Or something on their e-notes page, could there not be a pop up that at least lists the 'never give' medication for certain species? A poster on the wall of the consulting room? We don't expect general vets to know the ins and outs of exotic care and every single medication, but these 'never ever give medications' really need to be made more prominent so they can quickly check, surely. Or just tell exotics to refer to guinea lynx lists or something similar?
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Yes, a warning on vet records for that pet, "I am a guinea pig, no Synulox, penicillin... certain other medications... please" just like allergy alerts.
 
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