Critical Considerations In Selecting Your Pug’s Vet
The vet will always have an important part in your pug’s life regardless of the overall state of their health. Your pug will go through annual checkup, where your vet will take his temperature, listen to his heartbeat, check the presence of lumps and signs of problems in his skin. Your vet will also check your pug’s teeth and ear for any problems. Clinical tests will also be done, which include blood test to check for heartworm and fecalysis for worms.
All these tasks are indicative of the importance of having a competent and reliable vet to oversee and help you maintain the overall health and well-being of your pug. You must select a vet that you can trust when it comes to the health of your pug. How can you find the right vet for your pet pug? If you are living in a rural area, then you may have some difficulty finding your ideal vet, as there may not be many of them from which to choose from or that most of them may specialize in large animals. On the other hand, if you live in the city, you may have better options, though it can still be difficult to find your ideal choice.
Where to Begin Search
There are several ways you can start your vet search. Of course, you can go the traditional way, and look for your potential candidates in your local phone directory. Check your choices under “veterinarian” or “veterinary practices.” Check for ads posted in local newspapers and magazines. There will also be special adverts that provide information for special services in addition to basic information such as clinic hours and services offered. Look for your vet options online. In most instances, you can find your ideal candidates in your area and the information provided will include their names, address, phone number and the location map of their clinic. Finally, you can ask relatives and close friends for some lead information on potential candidates. They are a good source of information as they will provide you information from the client’s point of view.
Check Out the Place
As soon as you are able to come up with your shortlist of potential vets, your next task is to pay each of them a visit. You don’t necessarily have to make an appointment with them; you just stop by their offices to get your initial impression of the vet’s office and meet the staff. Is the place busy? How does the staff behave and handle their clients and pets? Consider how your pug will react if you bring them to such a place.
While you are doing the rounds of the offices of the vets included in your shortlist, find out their clinic hours and days they are open. Different vet offices follow different clinic hours, and some may be closed on Saturdays while others are closed on a particular day of the week.
Try to assess how the vet and his staff manage emergencies. Do you have to bring your pug to a separate emergency clinic? Or does the vet maintain personnel who will care for your pug overnight and during weekends in cases of emergencies?
Meet with them
The next thing that you must do is to ask for the prices of each of your candidates. Gather information on the rates charged on routine visits by each of the offices. These can vary significantly from one vet to another. Don’t forget to ask your vet how much he charges for heartworm preventives. Try to determine or identify those vets who can match the prices listed on the Internet. Ask your vet if he will be writing you prescriptions in case you want to buy products elsewhere.
There are just some of the more important things that you have to consider when choosing the ideal vet for your pug. If the staff seems unfriendly or too detached in their dealings with their clients, then you may have to look somewhere else. On the hand, if the rates of the vet are a bit too high, then that can be just one of the major sources of conflict and tension between you and your vet. If you can’t develop a good relationship with your vet, then there is a good chance that you and your pug will not relish your visit to his office.
Author Bio: Bruno is a happy mops owner and contributor at the Norwegian dog community Hundefeber.no. He owns several dogs and beyond them a lovely Mops and is participating in the Mops Forum on weekly basis.
Category: Pets
Keywords: pets,animals,dogs,dog care,mops,pug,pug dog,pug dog care