7 Things Pet Owners Do That Drive Vets Crazy

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7 Things Pet Owners Do That Drive Vets Crazy

• Vetsreet.com
• September 28, 2014
• 3:32 pm
• 83 comments

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It’s a tough subject to tackle. After all, veterinarians do plenty of annoying things, too. But this particular post is all about you — well, not you, but the annoying yous among you. Not that most of you deserve this, but some of you just might! So without any further hedging, let me launch into the most annoying things pet owners do.
1. Answer Their Cells

Need I say more? Is there anything more annoying and disrespectful than answering a phone call while your vet is delivering her state-of-your-pet’s-health address? OK, it might be worse if you dug out your phone to initiate a call midexam, but only by a smidge. They’re both just plain rude.

Related Stories: Two Little Words Your Vet Wants to Hear, 10 Things to NOT Say to Your Veterinarian, 10 Questions Veterinarians Really Want You to Ask

2. Bring Their Kids
I dearly love children (mine mostly, but yours can also be cool), but very young or badly behaved children are an unnecessary liability in a veterinary environment. It’s hard enough to keep pets safe — much less kids. So unless your children are old enough and/or chill enough to hang out in a vet setting, they should probably stay home.
One exception: If your pet has an emergency and you have no one to care for your kids, you are most definitely excused. We’ll understand. Call ahead and we may even assign an employee to keep tabs on them so you can concentrate on what’s wrong with your pet.


3. Let Their Dogs Run Amok
This is not the dog park. And, for the record, retractable leashes should remain in the shortest, locked position for the duration of your visit. After watching an innocent human get taken down in the lobby by an overlong retractable line, I decided there should be a law against these in vet hospitals.


4. Carry Their Cat
I’ve never been able to fathom why some owners insist upon bringing their cats to the vet hospital without carriers. Some will use harnesses, which won’t help them when faced with a truly motivated dog. And, honestly, I’d never blame a dog for attacking a cat in a veterinary hospital environment. After all, these cats are probably giving off cornered prey vibes that some dogs can’t ignore.
Remember my post on cats in carriers? Cats are more comfortable in uncertain environments when they’re enclosed.


5. Deny, Deny, Deny

It drives us crazy. These clients effectively employ us to be their experts, then they put up roadblock after roadblock: No, my pet is not fat. No, my pet’s teeth are not rotting. No, he’s too old for surgery. No, her claws are not too long. It’s exasperating!
I can understand why you might (and should!) question your veterinarian about health care issues that are important to you, but why come to the vet if you’re unwilling to have an open dialogue about what your pet needs and doesn’t need?


6. Refuse to Pay
It happens more often than you’d think. Pet owners agree to hospitalization and procedures — and later refuse to pay. Sometimes they say that they forgot their checkbooks. Other times they claim to have misunderstood the payment policy, even though there’s a sign in almost every veterinary hospital in the United States that explains payment is expected when services are rendered. I even had a client cancel her Amex payment after we saved her anemic cat’s life with a blood transfusion.


7. Don’t Follow Through
There’s no shame in admitting that you can’t medicate your difficult cat or trim your unruly dog’s toenails. Veterinarians are pet owners, too. We absolutely understand why you might not be able to manage these not-so-simple tasks.
But you’ve got to let us know if you can’t, don’t or won’t do what we say. After all, we have plenty of alternatives to offer. And there are few things more frustrating to a veterinarian than failing to treat a patient who could have been helped if only the vet were able to employ some ingenuity.


Want to give your veterinarian the best holiday gift ever? Resolve to be a more honest, open, conscientious, cat box-carrying, child care-finding, cell phone-shirking client. For my part, I promise to offer you a New Year’s post on my personal mea culpa. It’s a fair trade, don’t you think? That is, as long as I do as I say and follow through.

By Dr. Patty Khuly | vetstreet.com

This should really be titled "Things that drive the vets AND support staff at the vet clinic crazy".

1. YES!!! Not only is it extremely rude, it's completely disrespectful. We had to put signs up in our exam rooms and owners STILL insist on doing this. If this happens to me, or if I walk into a room and a client is on the phone with no indication of hanging up upon my entrance, I will turn around or just walk out of the room.

2. This one really doesn't bother me that much. We printed out several coloring pages and have baggies of crayons that we will give out to kids when they come in. A vast majority of the owners that bring their kids are generally well-behaved, but they are still kids. We do have a few clients with kids who are just rude and have zero manners, but that is the exception and not the norm. So... bring your kids!!!!

3. THIS DRIVES ME NUTS. Had a client just last week who told me when I went to return her dog to her in the lobby "Oh, just set him down, he'll be fine". There are several reasons as to why this is not fine... a) a majority of owners are distracted, won't pay attention to their dog, and next thing we know they're running loose in the back; b) a client with a non-dog-friendly dog comes in and attacks him; c) a client opens the door and the dog runs out; I mean... need I go on? I don't care how well behaved you think your dog is off-leash... put them on a leash AT ALL TIMES while outside of the exam room!

4. This is just dumb for pretty much the same reasons as I stated for #3, except the fact that cats get stressed out and amped up WAY more easily and quickly than dogs do... so you get a cat that is already on the verge of being anxious and then a dog barks in the lobby... that cat is going to launch off your lap, and now the owner is not only likely bleeding from claw marks but we have the ENTIRE STAFF chasing a scared cat around the lobby/building... with the risk of a client walking in and the cat runs outside (this HAS HAPPENED BEFORE), a client walking in with their rambunctious dog who also joins in the chase (who may or may not be friendly with cats), etc. ALWAYS bring cats in a carrier or at the VERY least on a leash/harness if they're ok with it (we do have a few).

5. Not only is this an annoyance, but this goes hand-in-hand with clients who come in to see us for a problem but then want to argue with the dr about everything. I really want to ask these clients... then why are you here?? Trust the doctor. Trust their assessment. Clients seem to think that their pet's health is a direct reflection of the owner (and, in some cases, it might be) but we are not here to judge you!! If you argue with the doctor or are in denial about the dr's assessment, we may form an opinion about you, yes... but if you accept their assessment and at least pretend to be taking our advice, we love that!

6. Never fails... we give out estimates for nearly EVERYTHING and always for new clients. They agree to the estimate, we proceed with treatments/diagnostics, they go to check out and can't pay or claims we're too expensive. OR... even worse... they'll pay their bill, leave, and call us a few days/weeks/sometimes MONTHS later to yell and complain about it. Newsflash: it costs money to treat your pet. Vets do not make a ton of money, and their support staff quite literally works for peanuts. That $100 blood panel we're recommending to run is not because we're gonna put that $100 bill in our pockets and then sit in the treatment area and laugh and laugh and laugh about how rich we are.

7. This is only worse when the owner not only does not follow through, but then comes back later because they can't understand why the problem isn't resolved and why can't we fix it. Um... because we had no idea it was still an issue, considering we've called at least 2-3 times leaving messages asking how Fluffy was doing and never heard back from you. But, you're right, shame on us for not using our crystal ball. On the same note are clients who call us back saying they have a missed call and what were we calling for. Um... check your messages?!

The worst thing that My Vet dislikes is Guardians who wait until their Pet Companion is beyond help until they bring them in, when a more timely visit would have saved their friend.:eek:

I cannot imagine carrying a cat into a vet's office without a carrier! If you can pick the cat up safely, you can certainly manage to get it into a carrier, even if you have to use the pillowcase method or a top-loading carrier!

We got lucky the last time we had to get a kitty into a carrier - Tiger-now-Charlie was curious out what that dark space was, as I had the carrier on a chair with the door open, and I am sure he smelled a few molecule of bunny scent in it, so he first put two paws up, then his nose, and then his head in to sniff, so we just picked up the back end and scooched him in!

I did warn the vet we took him to (to verify he was male and see if he was neutered) that we had no idea how he'd be once he came OUT of the carrier, and sure enough, he wanted no part of exiting it, even though it was really too small for him, and it took two people to extricate him for his exam, as he protested audibly!

I remember when I took my sister, who was six years old at the time, to the vet for an emergency with Snow, she would not sit down! She wanted to know what the vet was doing and have a front row seat. Every time I would ask her to sit in the chair as the vet needed space, she would complain. The vet was extremely patient with her; she explained everything she was doing and also allowed her to watch. God bless her! I was getting angry and I wasn't even the vet! :p