2nd Opinions

In other places, I’ve written about healthcare for humans, about having to be an advocate for yourself or your family. I work in healthcare. I have worked with some amazing doctors. That will never stop me from telling people you have to be your own advocate. If the doctor isn’t treating you the way you feel you should be treated, if you feel your concerns aren’t being heard (or that your doctor just isn’t listening to you in general), or if they seem uncertain or confused, or out of their depth with whatever issue you have- SWTICH doctors, or at least go get a second opinion. (Did you know that insurance companies are required to pay for second opinions, even if the doctor you go see is out of network?)

The same must be said for your veterinarian. Your pet can not speak for themselves (aside from biting the vet). You have to be their advocate, and if you feel something isn’t right- get a second opinion.

Junebug has now seen 5 different vets for her swollen saliva glands. Our regular vet knew they were out of their depth early on and suggested we bring her in to see a specialist who came by their offices once a month or so. Then, this summer, when things seemed to be acting up again, we didn’t even go back to our regular vet, because we knew they didn’t know. The third vet didn’t know either and sent us over to more specialists. The first vet there thought he knew and sent us to a second vet. That vet was veterinarian #5 that saw June. And naturally, we still don’t really know what’s going on, because her condition is so rare. (But she’s happy and healthy, so we’re not stressing.)

June’s case is not the norm, though. You have to remember, it’s not about one vet being better than the other, its about the fact that not every vet has seen everything.

In another example, we have friends who just moved to the area. One of their dogs has had a skin condition for 8 or 9 months. They’d seen their previous vet for it and came away with no diagnosis, but give him fish oil type thing. This is a vet they’ve seen for years and have never had an issue with.

But they moved to a new state and their dog’s skin condition was seeming worse, so they called us for our vet’s information. They get in that day, the vet looks at the dog and her first question is- when did your dog last get his rabies vaccine? Turns out, this skin condition is one of the adverse reactions to the new vaccine. It’s not life threatening, like a lot of the others I have heard about, but it’s still uncomfortable for the dog. Our vet was able to quickly diagnose it because she’d seen it before. Plain and simple. And now, they have a treatment plan and know that they can’t get the new vaccine in the future.

Just like with the rest of us, veterinarians can’t know what it is they don’t know. So don’t be afraid to get a second opinion.

We all know we have to be the voice of our dogs when we have shy or scardey dogs. We know we have to step up when we’re facing breed discrimination. We also must step up and be their advocate when it comes to health.

It’s hard. It’s hard for us to be our own advocates or advocates for our kids or elderly parents. Doctors- MDs and DVMs have had so much more education than us about these issues. We often don’t feel right about “second guessing” them. But that’s something we have to get over- for our own sakes and the sakes of our pets.

No doctor knows everything, has seen everything. If you feel you need a second opinion- go get one.