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Good vets and bad vets! Warning - upsetting content

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furryfriends (TEAS)

furryfriends (TEAS)

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There has been so much talk of good vets and vets to be avoided, recently on posts, that I thought I would post these pics to show, in my opinion, the difference between a good vet and a bad vet.

I don't wish to name either vet who performed these ops, but Badger (first pic) was done by a well known, highly recommended vet, and Patch (second pic) by my current vet! Both these piggies have had lumps removed!

I know who I prefer to carry out operations on my pets!


Badgerafteroperation.jpg


Badger after his operation


P1010045-2.jpg


Patch is on the right of the picture


 
Oh my giddy god Badger looks like a shark attack victim :( grrrr I am gobsmacked that he survived the op and lived as long as he did.
Patch's op is so neat & hardly noticable & i too know who i'd be going to with my fur-kids (piggies or other).
 
That is really shocking! I know it could be upsetting but I think you did a good thing Debbie by making people aware of such things.
 
How awful for badger. :(

There are wonderful vets out there. I'm so thrilled with the vets I go to now. The best thing to do with any operation or medication given is research it and ask vets about it before op or medication is given.
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
How awful for badger. :(

There are wonderful vets out there. I'm so thrilled with the vets I go to now. The best thing to do with any operation or medication given is research it and ask vets about it before op or medication is given.
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My big concern though is, if you did your research you would probably choose the vet who did Badger's op.

Edited to add... I would also say, If you have a vet you feel happy with and trust, don't be too taken in by comments suggesting you could get better treatment elsewhere. Another important point is, you need to consider the sense of having treatment by a vet a long way from home, as this can have dire consequences if things go wrong and you need to get back to the vet quickly.

I trust my vet completely with my animals and would never, ever consider having treatment elsewhere for them again.
 
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I wish I lived closed to the vets you now use Deb as I've heard nothing but good about them.... as for the others, well I know who they are and wouldn't entertain them ever either!

I have access to 2 very good vets thankfully, I've had major ops on just 3 of my pigs in the years I've had pigs and couldn't fault either - one is just further afield.
 
Whilst I am very quick to criticise the vet profession I do try to take a balanced view. Without knowing what Badger's lump was, the size of the incision does not, in itself, mean that the operation was carried out incompetently. Could you post further details, please?
 
alcesterpigs said:
Whilst I am very quick to criticise the vet profession I do try to take a balanced view. Without knowing what Badger's lump was, the size of the incision does not, in itself, mean that the operation was carried out incompetently. Could you post further details, please?
Click to expand...

It wasn't really the size of the incisions to be honest, it was the poor stitching, the infection that set in and the fact the wound opened about a week after that pic was taken, that upset me so much The one lump was golf ball sized and the other smaller. I asked if we should get histology done and was told the lumps were harmless. The vet I now use removed a larger lump, which he said looked very nasty and he also removed tissue from around the lump. The wound was neatly stitched and healed very quickly. Histology was done on this lump which was found to be harmless. A further lump appeared which again was removed plus surrounding tissue, very neatly by my current vet, but histology shown this lump to be cancerous! Sadly Badger died just before his second birthday almost two years ago.
 
In my opinion, the suturing of a wound as important as the op itself
I personally have had good & bad sutures & definitely know the difference, had no problems with the good ones but did with the bad. The "ops" themselves were carried out competently yet the difference in the different docs' "needlework skills" was apparant :)
 
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I have had bladder surgery carried out on three different pigs at the same surgery, but by two different vets. My usual vet has done two bladder stone removals for me, she uses internal self disolving stitches and glue - leaves a beautiful neat, trouble free scar. Same surgery, second vet used staples for a bladder op - much larger scar area and very painful to remove the staples 10 days post op! Both vets are of similar age, so presumably trained around the same time, but had very different views on putting a piggy tummy back together again!
 
Furryfriends
Thanks for the reply.
It is difficult to tell the suturing quality from the photo. Post op.infection is, to a large extent, the luck of the draw and it is not necessarily dependent on the quality of the suturing. It is surprising that post op. infections do not happen more frequently than they do.
You would expect the wound to open after a week because the tissue at the wound edge becomes friable following infection which causes the sutures to become detached.
 
Isnt it terrible when you cant find a good vet. I am trying to locate a good vet as I have no confidence in my surgery and their limited knowledge in small animals. Poor Badger!
 
Oh my....

Bertie had a burst lump removed, it was the size of a golf ball and because the skin had ruptured, they had to pull a lot of skin from the rest of the rump, so he was half shaven. However, the suturing was fab. the vet explained that he'd done double suturing underneath the scar to avoid Bertie pulling at the threads. The hair's grown back and Bertie, despite his other ailments has made a full recovery from that op.

Really sorry to hear about Badger, he looked a handsome boy despite the hairdo demise.
 
Badger was such a beautiful piggie x)x) he went thru so dam much it was not fair, but thank god for his new vet (no i'll not name names) he had as much time unfortunately that his previous ops let him.... he was a battler :)
I so remember all this as it was not too longer after i joined the forum a few months in fact and it's when i met Debbie x) and became friends with her.
The fact is Debbie you did your research and i'm so glad you found your new vet, he's saved many of your piggies and will keep on doing this, he also extended another of our loved friends Mr. S xxxxxxxxxxxx bless him
I wish we out here in OZ had somebody like this, he has studied and done his hands on time but he's also tried a few things to help piggies and had wonderful results.......this is something i hope gets passed on eventually to our vets here and world wide as well x)

Thanks love for your post xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

mmmmmmmmmmm my fav piccie of Badger x)x) i loved his twirly whiskers and that sweet face x)
 
Blimey that looks bad Debbie.. Poor piggy...:( goes to show what they can actually get through to a certain extent though...

I am having a problem at the moment because my old vets has closed down and someone reccommended my now vet to me because they were really good with their greyhound.

I'm not so sure about this vet and small animals though. He is a bit gung ho...

I went in to get the rabbits bums clipped and he almost shaved off their whole back side!
 
I'm glad I don't know that vet (knowing that I'm far away). But I know I can trust my vet for sure. :) Shes really good at what she does!
 
RIP Badger..

I know what you mean by saying the aftercare is as important as the operation. :( I had to have my knee rebuilt when I was 14, the stitching was so bad that my scar is all bobberly and an inch wide in places, they put my leg in a cast from hip to ankle. They also accidentally left the drainage tube in over 8weeks (they only noticed when i had the cast removed), my knee was badly infected and the dissolvable stitches were still there! I was told at the time if they'd left it another day I may of had to have another operation as it looked as though gangrene was about to set in and I may of lost my leg! One of my friends who I met a few years later had a similar operation, her scar is hardly noticeable! She only had to wear a tubigrip after, no cast. My experience sounds like a horror film compared, but it's all true.
 
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