VET-CLIENT INTERACTIONS – FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

As we continue this relevant and important discussion, which is aimed at developing and sustaining good relations – built on respect and trust between the client and the veterinarian – there are some simple guidelines that, if heeded, would serve to enhance your overall experience on your visits to the clinic.
Pet caregivers, please therefore take note of the following:
1) Be on time for your booked appointments. The clinic has made great preparations for the planned intervention, and has allocated a specific time slot for it to be carried out. Arriving late, not showing up, or canceling an appointment shortly before it is due is unacceptable and quite disrespectful.
2) Respect the clinic’s opening and closing hours.
3) Always bring your pet’s health certificates, which include the animal’s vaccination status and the record of its anti-parasitic treatment schedule.
4) Respond thoroughly, truthfully, and comprehensively to the questions asked by the Vet, including even what you may consider as trivial. The animal cannot speak for itself. Your answers are of great importance, and the questions are not posed to harass you, especially in your anxiety over your ailing pet. Sometimes the by-the-way remarks are the ones that crucially assist in diagnoses and saving your animal’s life. Please do not tell the Vet what you think he/she wants to hear.
5) Be patient and wait your turn. If it is a true and visible emergency, most animal lovers seated in the waiting area would give you a chance to see the Vet before they do. The converse is also true. If the Vet invites another animal before yours, even though it is your turn, please respect his/her decision. The Vet would have reasons for seeing a patient ahead of yours.
6) Be polite and courteous. Vets do not necessarily expect great praise, especially after a difficult but successful intervention. A simple “Thank you” would help raise his/her spirits. We are humans too, and we grow to love your animal almost as much as you do.
7) Do not be aggressive and hostile to the Vet, Assistants/Technicians and general staff. No Vet would hire/keep staff members who do not exhibit a general emotional attachment to patients. They must be treated with some modicum of courtesy and respect.
Overtly insulting a Vet or Tech/Assistant could lead to an expulsion from the clinic – and that is not helpful to anyone, surely not to the patient.
8) Trust in your chosen Vet’s ability to effect competent treatment to your pet. Of course, this does not mean that you must not pose pertinent questions. You are paying him/her the fees associated with medication or surgery, etc. Matters like opting for surgery or euthanasia (putting the animal to sleep permanently) are not one-person decisions, and are not to be taken lightly. They entail discussion, even at the familial level. The Vet can suggest and advise on paths to take, but, in the end, the final decision is yours.
I personally enjoy a discussion with obviously bright and knowledgeable young persons. It is sometimes difficult, however, to tolerate a precocious, know-it-all, flippant child who is not only rude, but whose interjections are irrelevant and are aided and abetted by the proud parent(s), who are convinced that they are rearing a budding genius. I have in my clinic a pen holder cup which reads: “Please DO Not Confuse Your Google Search With My Veterinary Degree”. The message here is: do not trust what you think you understand from the internet and the “advice” given by lay persons. Definitely not over your vet’s knowledge and experience.
You may also wish to consider whether your young and impressionable children should accompany you and your companion animals into the Treatment Room. I can tell you that if the dog cries out, or howls for a long period, or reacts violently to, say, a palpation of the abdomen (however gentle) or to an injection, that reaction would be indelibly etched into that child’s developing brain.
9) Avoid bringing multiple pets to the clinic “just for the ride”. There is usually limited space in clinics, and it is a challenge to control the cacophony that develops when dogs begin to interact. I can guarantee that if you allow your pets and your children to enter the Waiting Room, they would want to play with one of the other cuddly pooches present. That may not turn out well, even if the waiting owner permits the children to pet his/her animal(s).
10) Do not malign your previous Veterinarian. This does not mean that you should be reluctant to tell your current Vet what had previously been prescribed, and whether you had followed that Vet’s advice. Also, please do not “bad talk” the previous Vet to other clients who are also visiting.
A NOTE ON THE REMOVAL OF COVID RESTRICTIONS IN GUYANA
As our country begins to ease the restrictions that were introduced to combat the spread of COVID-19, allow me to commend the clients and companion animal caregivers who respected and willingly complied with the protocols at the veterinary clinics in Guyana. You made us proud!