Vet Eliminating Farm Calls

[Bluey]

@skydy

Yikes. I’ve never experienced a choke.
I’ve witnessed a horrible colic though. Not possible to transport.

A horse choking tends to stand there, neck extended, eyes bulging, then try to walk and wobble, try to back off and almost fall over, then stand there again, very dramatic and it may kill a horse if he gets pneumonia from some food slipping into it’s lungs.
Is a real, clear emergency.

Our old Cushing’s horse started those last winter and we had the vet on speed dial.
Thankfully we could resolve those by, best we could reach him without stressing him more or being fallen onto, gently massaging his neck.
Then we changed his food to a wet mash and that helped.

[skydy]

I’m glad I’ve never had to deal with that.

[lenapesadie]

@Bluey

almost fall over

The second time, my boy did fall down. Multiple times. It was horrific. The vet on call that Sunday, not my preferred vet but one of his associates, pulled up and witnessed him going down and later said she was afraid he wouldn’t make it. Absolutely no way he was safe to transport. Fortunately he pulled through without complications. Timely medical treatment saved him without a doubt.

The first time he choked, was less dramatic but equally horrifying. He just stood there with his nose to the ground trying his best to breathe. But more complications. He was on stall rest and abx for a week and required a couple of follow up vet visits.

He’s been eating mash and never in a group setting since choke #2. Knock on wood, no choking since.

[RhythmNCruise]

I’m so grateful that the vet practice I use has the word “Mobile” in it and has three vets. There is always someone on call for emergencies. I’ve used this practice forever, so when I call, they respond. I had one horse that had to be euthanized on Christmas Eve and another on Labor Day. The horse that had to be put down on Labor Day was the equine love of my life who I’d seen born and owned his entire 22 years. I found him in the pasture with multiple fractures to his right hind. He was standing, but he couldn’t walk at all. My vet was an hour away, and it did cross my mind to call my neighbor who has horses and also hunts and has guns and ask him to do the unthinkable. But since my horse was astoundingly not showing much outward sign of pain (how stoic they can be!), I just called the vet and my parents and we fed him his last meal, loved on him, and the vet came and put him down. My neighbor did come bury him, and I told him that I’d thought about asking him to come with his gun. He said he would have done it if I’d asked, but he was so glad that I didn’t. (He loved this particular horse too.)

Anyway, all that to say…there was NO WAY I could have hauled that horse anywhere. There are NO other equine vets in our area. If it weren’t for my mobile equine vet service, my only other option would have been for my neighbor to have to shoot my beloved best buddy. I’m so, so, so grateful it didn’t come to that.

[lenapesadie]

@skydy

Not possible to transport.

Yes. It’s just not feasible to transport sometimes.

[lenapesadie]

@RhythmNCruise

Anyway, all that to say…there was NO WAY I could have hauled that horse anywhere

What a heartbreaking situation.

So glad the vet made it out to ease his suffering peacefully

[Bluey]

We have a nasogastric tube, a stomach pump and know how to use them, but if we can get our vet here asap, is better to wait and he can handle the situation best it needs and with medications to help comfort the horse, not stress it further.

We have a three vet clinic and there is someone on call always and our vet lives 15 miles from us also, but their clinic is a good hour away.
We haul to the clinic if we possibly can, but there are times the horse is not stable, needs a vet to handle the situation on the spot, not a good idea to try to haul then.

[MsM]

One other aspect of a vet not doing farm calls is the need to then have a suitable clinic. A large percentage of the general equine vets I know do not have this. Some own or rent an office for support staff, supplies, prescription pickup, etc. Not a good place to treat horses and may or may not have potential.
To go to a clinic model they would either have to build, buy or rent a suitable property, or use their home farm with the resulting privacy and boundary issues.

[B_and_B]

This is often an overlooked bit of the financial picture. My mobile horse vets share office space with the small animal side of the practice. There would be no way to have a safe, suitably sized equine facility there. So, yes you wouldn’t need the expensive trucks (and the time sink) but you have traded that for an expensive facility upgrade.

[Djones]

Yes, I have. It’s awful. And the mobile vet could not get to the barn, she was across the county at another critical case. Not my horse, but the owner loaded with with every drug she had at vets directive and we bodily got the horse on a stock trailer. He was in surgery within 90 minutes. A week later he died.

Here me clearly: I am 100% pro mobile vets. Of course I am; it’s easier on me and my horses. My current vet is mobile and prints receipts from her backseat and payment is required on the spot. It’s perfect.

I was speaking to the question of “having” to own a truck and trailer in order to have a horse. My point was simple: why don’t you have either a network of folks to potentially help you in an emergency situation?

You can have the most amazing mobile vets around and if they are all neck deep in other emergency cases… then what?

[skydy]

I understand and agree. If you don’t have a trailer, if at all possible, it is important that you have an arrangement with someone who does.

It is also important to make sure your horse loads. An emergency situation should not be the first time your horse sees the inside of a trailer.

[Texarkana]

@Djones

I was speaking to the question of “having” to own a truck and trailer in order to have a horse. My point was simple: why don’t you have either a network of folks to potentially help you in an emergency situation?

I think most people do have that. I know I had what I thought was a solid network and it failed on multiple levels about 5 years ago when I had a weekday colic. It was the embodiment of Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And it was all because the only equine vet took a day off on a weekday (which vets completely deserve to be able to do).

In my most recent major medical emergency this past April, I was so grateful for my trailer as there would have been no time to call around for help. It was also fortuitous the emergency vet made it to my farm as quickly as she did because the horse couldn’t have made it to the hospital in the state in which I found her.

[TheJenners]

@walkinthewalk

It’s a low and inconsiderate blow to stop the farm calls -

WRONG

@walkinthewalk

Since when did vets decide “it’s strictly business” when all they have to do is bring on another vet, who works for himself and makes his own schedules.

It IS business. For them. Yes they may love animals but they need to make money to pay bills, and often don’t get paid by dirtbag clients or wind up paying for treatment out of their own pocket. My vet does small time owl rescue on her own for all the stupid owls that get hit by cars. Her BF works with me so when we get the owl calls, he calls her and we do the scoop and she comes up and collects. Word got around and now everyone calls her for owls. Who is paying for the care? She is because she loves animals and owls especially. I’ve donated for owl care but I know it goes into a separate fund for clients down on their luck. And do you KNOW how much it is to to just “bring on another vet”??? She just hired a new vet to her always-been-solo practice, which meant a second rig, a second box, doubles of everything, plus the new vet is a new grad and apparently likes to leave stuff behind at barns. Insurance for more employees because each vet has their own tech and generally also “externs” so I can’t imagine the insurance is cheap. And salary. And she has the vet calling her on each call to run through everything and brain storm (which is awesome) but means that the vet has to stop what she’s doing to switch gears and go over what the new vet has on her plate. They also don’t “make [their] own schedules,” but have a scheduler who does it for both. How much of a waste of time/gas would it be for Vet A to drive to a barn and as he/she is driving away, see Vet B pulling into a barn down the road, when Vet A is now en route to a barn 40 miles away. So no it is NOT simple and this statement is just ignorant.

@LCDR

Timely advance notification should occur, and a smooth referral and transfer of records should take place for clients for whom the new practice model does not work.

It sounds like that is what she did, and I bet if at the appt you said it didn’t work for you, she would have done the transfer to a new practice, maybe even with recommendations.

@vxf111

This is too bad but her new business model doesn’t fit your needs and I think you’re best off finding a new vet whose business model does.

This exactly.

@lenapesadie

People whining about the price of farm calls though is IMO a major source of contention.

That is the ONLY part of a bill I never argue with, ever. She did say she would be price match through her pharmacy, and I felt like a giant asshole asking her about three weeks later if she meant even with the big guys like Valley Vet, because we needed more equioxx and the price diff was significant. She looked into and offered a price that I am certain was undercutting herself, and guess what? We paid the full amount. Now just last night I placed an order through her online pharm for a different drug and she messaged me that she was canceling the order and sending it to me through our “courier” system (her BF ) because it would be cheaper. So yeah I don’t bitch about the farm call, especially since I currently have four horses and two donkeys and only a two horse trailer with a big dressing room.

[yaya]

@Texarkana

@walkinthewalk

To reiterate, Since when did vets decide “it’s strictly business” when all they have to do is bring on another vet, who works for himself and makes his own schedules

I agree with you, but part of the problem is equine vets are becoming as rare as hens teeth.

Fewer graduates are choosing equine practice and those who do rarely last more than a few years.

One equine vet practice in my area has 4 vets. They just stopped doing emergency calls due to overwork and burnout.

They have tried hiring a new vet for over a year, but cannot find anyone interested. New vets are going to small animal, corporate, or other job types where the hours are predictable and the pay is better.

[OTTBs]

I don’t think you meant to reply to me. Obviously I have.

[skydy]

Probably I didn’t… Believe I was replying to Djones. Sorry.

[LCDR]

When I started this thread I asked whether eliminating farm calls was a trend. Based on the number of responses and the details in them, it seems to me that the answer is definitely yes.

Even more worrisome, even for those of us with trucks, trailers, and usually loadable horses, is lack of available emergency care and treatment. Once the sick or injured horse is on a trailer, it helps nothing if you then have nowhere to go.

[SLW]

@LCDR

When I started this thread I asked whether eliminating farm calls was a trend. Based on the number of responses and the details in them, it seems to me that the answer is definitely yes.

Even more worrisome, even for those of us with trucks, trailers, and usually loadable horses, is lack of available emergency care and treatment. Once the sick or injured horse is on a trailer, it helps nothing if you then have nowhere to go.

Does your vet allow you to have at your farm some banamine or bute? My vet does. If I have a problem I phone her and she decides if she wants me to dose and observe or dose and she’s on her way.

[Horse_Rider]

@walkinthewalk

To reiterate, Since when did vets decide “it’s strictly business” when all they have to do is bring on another vet, who works for himself and makes his own schedules.

Uh… Just spotted this. Guys, it is nearly impossible to get new vets into practices right now. The demand is higher than the supply in most areas. This has been going on for years and COVID has made it even worse. I literally got an offer in the mail the other day. They promised me the moon and the stars if I’d at least do an interview.

Please be nice to your vet. I just saw it said very well today: “This pandemic took everything from us except for work.” The number of vets I see on my private vet forum who are talking about leaving the business and doing anything else is terrifying and I don’t blame a single one of them.

[LCDR]

Almost a moot point, as she no longer will be making farm calls, even for things like large boarding barns to vaccinate multiple horses on one trip, nor are there any arrangements for after-hours coverage.

Anyway, another two weeks of worry, and then I’m hooked up with a multi-vet equine practice that does farm calls and has 24/7 emergency coverage.

I do understand that a lifestyle change is best for her, I respect her decision, and I actually am envious of her choice. I spent over 3 decades as an on-call surgeon at a Level 1 trauma center, have been on the edge of professional burnout myself, and was able to afford to choose to retire from practice and buy a farm 10 years early.