Exactly. If you know this, then Blackberry’s vet and my vet should also know this, and just *tell *us. What possible benefit is there to keeping this secret? Not only does it piss us off, but it’s contributing to the problem they’re trying to prevent when people order it off the internet because they haven’t been told there are good reasons not to.
That would be a good reason though to complain to the vet about the staff. As mentioned above, the veterinarian him/herself may not know of what goes on the front part when he/she is attending the back part of the clinic. Similar, they may not know that that’s how the attendant handles the calls. If the veterinarian/business owner is not made aware of the situation, there can be no opportunity for improvement in customer service.
You’re gonna take a lot a flack for that mix up!
I know that many human meds are now manufactured out of the country and there have been shortages on critical things like antibiotics since 2006 (my pharmacist showed me an article and I googled further later. hurricanes and weather issues (lots of this stuff made in india and pakistan and they cant get it to formulate right in the rainy season.
I thought it WTF enough that we’d had shortagee since 06, why aren’t we making meds here then had EPIC WTF when it occured to me how easily we could be wiped out just by replacing all the stuff made elsewhere with anthrax or something.
why is supposed homeland security not all over that shit insisting meds must be made here?
my guess is because politicians get their meds right from the labs who lobby them to allow this and screw the rest of us.
Huh. And here I thought it would be nearly impossible for me to downgrade my estimate of your intelligence. Live and learn, huh?
FWIW, treating most animals with the systemic form of the antibiotic that is in terramycin achieves the same outcome. Wouldn’t want to do that in a reptile, perhaps, but it might be a reason why it’s not used that much for topical treatment.
Even without the animal at the office for the exam, it might have been helpful to talk to the veterinarian. It’s very likely that the specific bug you are trying to kill off with the terramycin can be treated by another, more available antibiotic.
If there’s a problem when dealing with office staff at a veterinary clinic, it’s always a good idea to let the vet. know. More often than not, the folks in the back have no idea.
Having said that - it’s a lot easier to be the nicest vet. in the world if you’ve got horrible gatekeeper staff to keep irate clients away from you.
I have no idea what Bob’s your uncle means, but I’m going to start using it on a daily basis. Please don’t explain it, that would ruin the fun! ( I promise to stop if it reaches the annoyance level of Going to the Quarry…)
Kelevra
Well, so far our little gecko doesn’t seem to be getting worse, I don’t think. He’s still moving around a lot and eating, but not acting completely normal. The ointment will arrive on Saturday, I think, and I really REALLY hope it will cure him. The infection was probably caused by my daughter not scrubbing his water bowl with soap, but instead just adding more water as necessary (I THOUGHT she was cleaning it because she keeps the cage clean and the water bowl looked clean) and if he does die I will so so so regret that I told her about how he got the infection in the first place 
Why? She needs to learn the lesson - do X and your beloved pet lives. Neglect to do X and your beloved pet dies.
Depending on how old your daughter is, wouldn’t it be better for her to know that cleaning the water bowl is absolutely critical? Better than insulating her from the truth and having it happen again.
Well of course she needs to know that cleaning the bowl with soap is necessary, but having him die would be too harsh of a lesson.
I’d say that during the healing time, you should tell her that when there’s an infection involved, cleanliness is absolutely imperative to a healthy recovery. Instruct her to clean it with soap and water. If the gecko makes it through, then you might want to tell her that a dirty water bowl can cause these sort of infections too, and that she needs to continue using the soap. If he doesn’t, well don’t mention it again unless she gets a new lizard.
Our bulldog had something wrong with her eye two weeks ago. She was squinting and looked really uncomfortable about it. So we took her to the vet where he pay about $30 a month (per pet) for unlimited free office visits. The vet couldn’t readily discern if it was an infection or a scratch on the cornea and wanted to put in a green dye fluid to narrow it down. $180 later we leave with some steroids and the next day, the bulldog was back to normal.
We’re not vets. We could have looked online and guessed at what the solution might be. But, we’re not vets and the health of the animals we care about is more important than saving money. It sucks, but it’s part and parcel about adopting an animal.
That’s how I should have handled it, but I did already tell her that he probably got the infection from the dirty water 
I was so mad when I got home from the vet that I said it without thinking it through like I should have I feel so bad.
I don’t think anything like that is offered for pets other than cats and dogs. We have the lizard and a guinea pig and I think you’re just on your own for them, and that sucks. But yeah, I wish I could just take them to the vet any time I have any concern, but I can’t afford that. It’s not realistic that people not get pets unless they can do that.
But I just shouldn’t have pets at all because I can’t handle having them die, and I definitely can’t handle them dying when there was conceivably something that could have been done to maybe prevent it. I’m still sad about every pet I’ve ever had that died.
Well don’t beat yourself up over it. If the gecko does die, you should make sure she knows it’s not her fault. That, if anything, it was your fault for not teaching her how to properly take care of her pet. Sucks to take on that blame but better you than her. Tell her that you know she took great care of him and reassure her the gecko had a very loving and happy life because of how well she took care of him.
Well actually…sorry to disagree but if you can’t afford to the vet bills associated with a pet, you really shouldn’t be having one. I’m not talking about being able to afford thousand dollar surgeries, but just basic vet care and a bit extra for unforeseen emergencies. I worked in the veterinary business for years and it I became pretty jaded at seeing people bring in pets that had no health care at all until it became dire because they didn’t have the money. I know times are tough and sometimes financial situations change after you have a pet already, but if you know beforehand that you won’t be able to spare anything for vet care, don’t get the pet. This applies even to small animals. Just because they’re cheap to buy doesn’t mean they don’t deserve any vet care at all. Especially animals like guinea pigs and rats who can live 5-8 years easily. A lot of vets can and will look at these guys if the need arises.
I agree, I’d rather take the blame than have her take it. But she will still feel guilty.
Oh, I agree. As I said, I just took the gecko to the emergency vet recently for $135. It turned out not to be necessary, but I don’t regret doing what I thought needed to be done. I love my pets and will do what I can for them. But for myself even, I won’t go to the doctor the minute I think anything might be wrong, and I do have insurance (I think I killed my knee the other day somehow, and I’m hoping it just fixes itself). With a small pet, you don’t have insurance AND small problems can quickly escalate into big problems, so it’s hard to know where to draw a line.
The person at fault here is the one who gave an animal as a gift. If anyone ever tried to gift me an animal, I would have a serious talk with them, explaining how they will agree to pay for that animal’s care for as long as I have it, because you don’t give a financial burden as a gift. If they don’t agree, then they’ve got themselves a really cute whatever, but it’s not living in my house.
I owned Leopard Geckos for years. The last one I had died when it was over 10 years old. They were always healthy and happy with normal eyes.
I never once washed their water bowl out with soap.(I’d be worried about residues). Every other month or so the bowl went through the dishwasher. Normal eyes in normal animals are quite resistant to infection. Are you sure you’re treating what you think you’re treating?
There are quite a few small animal practitioners that like exotics and “pocket pets”. Unless you live in an extremely rural area, it shouldn’t be difficult at all to find a practice that has a large number of reptiles and guinea pigs as clients.