vets no help.....

[Darlene]

some of you know I was off-line recently for a bit while we moved. every move has probs. my worst was that my baby chinchilla got too hot & took heat stroke. momma chinchilla was & is fine. i called the local vets in my new locale. they said they had never dealt with a chinchilla before & suggested a place in the city. the place in the city said my chinchilla needed overnight care & they don't keep staff on overnight. they sent me to an emergency after-hours clinic run by all the local vets. guess who was there that night.....the two vets i went to see in the first place who had never dealt with a chinchilla !! once again they said they couldn't help me. by this time it was after hours & no other place was open. i went home intending to try again in the morning. my precious little lisa didn't make it til then. my 5 year old daughter & i had a very teary-eyed backyard burial that should never have happened. it really upsets me when responsible pet owners can't find responsible veterinarians.
sorry to be long winded. just had to get it out. tks for listening.

[Lisa]

That sucks. sorry to hear about your little one. you did what you could.

[Reptscue]

Darlene,
I am so sorry for you loss. It bothers me to here about such neglect from veterinarians. (coming from someone who works in vet. care)
Even a good cat/dog vet knows with any heat stroke animal to get an IV started and anti-shock medication. Veins run the same way in alot of animals.
Sorry, had to vent with you I understand completely.
You did what you could.

[MAN OF STEEL]

darlene, i hate to hear f@*%ing $hit like that. im sorry for your loss. how would those f#$*ing vets feel if their animals were in bad condition and they tried everything they could to get treatment,
but everybody turned them down from ignorance.
if its their job they need to seek to soak up the most information about every and any animal kept in captivity. i dont know?
that really pisses me off!!!! that is really, some bs.
again, im sorry for your loss. like everybody else said...
you did what you could.

[Linds]

So sorry to hear for your loss. Incidents like this happen too often with exotics, too many vets only pay attention to dogs, cats, and large animals... when emergencies come up, nobody is there :(

[theroom101]

Originally posted by Reptscue
Even a good cat/dog vet knows with any heat stroke animal to get an IV started and anti-shock medication. Veins run the same way in alot of animals.


Veins may "run the same way", but hitting them is another issue. Chincilla veins are tiny, not to mention baby chincilla veins. On top of that, those vets wouldn't have known how to dose the poor thing with medication because their system is completely different. On top of that, a baby chincilla probably would be permanently altered by the majority of steriods used to treat heat stroke. As someone that has worked in the emergency vet field, it's not that simple to treat an exotic animal, along with the fact that the majority of heat stroke cases, even in dogs and cats, simply don't survive.

I am very sorry for your loss, it is very tragic. However, I have to play devil's advocate and defend the vets. You wouldn't go to a General Health Practicioner and expect him/her to treat an exotic disease - humans have specialists for that. Well, since exotics are rare pets most vets don't know how to treat them because even with the extensive schooling behind it, they wouldn't see enough cases to have adequate experience. That's why there are limited numbers of exotic vets. Granted, those vets could have at least offered to try, but honestly, they might have killed the poor thing in their effort. Where I used to work, we were lucky enough to have an exotic vet on call at almost all times, but honestly his help was rarely needed because by the time an exotic pet was brought to us it was too late.

Once again I am sorry for your loss, and I'm sure you and your daughter will see the baby again at the Rainbow Bridge.

[gonesnakee]

I think it was a CYA move on behalf of the vets & their lack of knowledge of the animal. You think people in the Vet profession would at least make an effort anyhow rather than turning you away based on their lack of knowledge. I disagree with the fact that they said they could not help you. With the knowledge & experience they had between them they should have offered to do something for your animal based on that. Don't Vets take some kind of vows/oath like doctors about doing everything within their power to preserve life, rather than just say "we don't know, sorry". I question their credibility & don't blame anyone else for doing the same. I guess there are Vets that are just in it for the money & not for the animals (or only select ones). Sorry to hear about your loss & the lack of help you recv. Mark I. :mad:

[Darlene]

Thanks everyone for your support & for those of you who sent me vet recommendations via a p.m. Unfortunately one of the exotic vets that was recommended by you all was the place that I was sent to by the dog/cat vet. They were the ones who 'didn't staff overnight'. ironic, eh ? We are now searching for a full-time vet for our exotics. We have found a dog/cat vet at our new place & a horse vet , too. Will look into all your suggestions. We are also looking for a mate for Momma chinchilla (we got her already pregnant). She is doing fine but doesn't seem quite her usual playful self. Wish us luck & thanks again !!
Dar.

[SCReptiles]

I often hear these same dispersions cast on medical doctors who are unable to effetely treat a human envenomation. I don’t think we can hold these vets/doctors accountable for this. A few hours are spent covering envenomations in medical school and then most MD’s will never treat one in their career. How can we expect them to know exactly what to do? As venomous keepers, we fully accept the responsibility. We seek out physicians in our area who have the experience we need and we carry care sheets with us to provide the medical staff in an emergency. Along those same lines, we can not expect vets to know everything about every animal. I doubt that chinchillas are even covered in vet school and most vets will never treat one. As exotic keepers, it is our responsibility to seek out vets experienced in the animals we keep. One can imagine the trouble we had finding a vet will to treat rattlesnakes. =) In this case, where the keeper recently moved, she probably had not has occasion to locate such a vet. Was just a case of bad timing. Very sorry for your loose, but we can’t really blame the vet.