Trip to the Vet - How long do you wait?

[Jarpur]

My main small animal veterinarian is absolutely wonderful; he doesn’t really take appointments - he prefers drop-offs. The office understands that it’s a 55 mile trip for me to get there (about 75 minutes in good driving conditions, can be much longer during typical commuting times), so I arrive after the morning drop-off rush and my dog will be ready to go before the afternoon traffic jam, which I greatly appreciate.

Normally, I email the office an itemized list of any issues that would, ideally, be addressed during the visit, along with all current medications, food and routine, any needed refills, a etc. - a bullet list, not a novel, sent the day before. I don’t want to forget something, especially since I’m coming a relatively long way.

On the day of, I hand a hard copy to the intake person and have an additional one for myself; my veterinarian has expressed to me how happy he is that I do this and how much he wishes other clients would, as well.

Since my dog will be there at least a few hours, I go get something to eat, do some shopping, or take in a movie; the doctor calls me after he’s seen my dog, goes over his findings with me, then I go back to the clinic, wait until I’m seen in person (could be 10 to 30 minutes or so), then have a brief meeting with the veterinarian as we’ve already discussed any major findings during the call - this visit is a fairly quick recap of the list and the resultant disposal of the items it contains. I never feel rushed. He follows up at night with a call to check on my dog, report any lab work results, etc.

My veterinarian makes my long trip very worthwhile, my animals have loved him, and this system works well. In a true emergency, as with my previous elderly dog, I was seen asap.

I know how this practice works, so I’m prepared to spend several hours and think that it’s worth it. But, if my dog needs a quick visit for one minor issue, I have a nearby local clinic I use which schedules appointments; they are good about ushering us into an exam room pretty close to our appointment time, although we might sit there for a while. I’m okay with it, although if the clinic knows a major emergency will require a substantial delay, I would certainly appreciate being informed so that I could either re-schedule or use the waiting time wisely.

[toady123]

We go to a fairly large clinic that regularly deals with emergencies and regular appointments. Generally we go in, get a weight and go straight into an exam room. Tech sees them first for history. They are usually in within 5 minutes. Then vet is in 5-10 minutes after that (often less). With emergencies in the longest we’ve waited is 20 minutes and we were informed when we got there to expect the delay. As an owner who has been the one with the emergency I appreciate their prompt attention. I never begrudge a bit of a wait as I know what the other owner is likely going through.

Our clinic generally has multiple bets on so I think that makes it easier to stay on time. In a single vet practice one emergency will have an inevitable ripple effect. No avoiding that.

[TriplePlay]

My vet’s practice runs more or less on time, most of the time. There have been times when there has been a significant delay due to an emergency. I’ve been on the other end of that - causing a delay so my emergency can be dealt with, so I understand when it happens. I have also offered to leave and reschedule when I could see that they’ve been swamped - I used to live quite close to the office, so it was easy enough to do.

It doesn’t take much to throw a day off kilter. One emergency that takes the vet just 15 minutes, and another appointment that gets more complex than anticipated can throw the whole schedule off by a half hour.

[Canaqua]

Depends on the time of day. Never more than 5 minutes if it’s in the morning on a weekday. 15 to 30 or more minutes if it’s late afternoon/early evening. Just like human doctors, there is accumulated variance that builds up during the day. More than one patient needs just a few minutes extra and everything gets behind.

I’ve waited a very long time in the past, when an emergency came in, but a regional 24/7 emergency vet opened up next door a few years ago and my regular vet and the ER vet work together, trauma cases go next door, even during regular business hours, as they always have sufficient staff on hand and more than one operating room.

[shakeytails]

Not small animal, but one time waiting for a non-urgent appointment with my horse vet I fell sound asleep on the hay bales in the barn aisle! (He had an emergency- it was calving/foaling season)

My small animal vet is walk in only except for scheduled surgeries. Sometimes I wait a half hour, sometimes half a morning. I try to guess which times will be slow- I’m guessing about 11am this morning for a pup with minor eye boogers I want checked out…