Our Vet is an Idiot
If ever you are in Radford, VA and need to take your pet to a vet?
DO NOT go to Riverside Veterinary.
So mum took our French Bulldog Maizie out to the local park while some potential buyers looked at our house (they didn't like it- the master bedroom was too small and not a "suite"- no, I have no idea either). It was here that poor Maizie picked up a stomach bug. She had some pretty bad intestinal distress, but it didn't seem to slow her down any. Still, we were concerned and so took her to the vet. He prescribed an antibiotic and a probiotic to help rebuild her happy bacteria. The probiotic worked well, but the antibiotic seemed to be undoing everything the probiotic did. Soooo we consulted our "Owning a Frenchie 101" book, which said that it would be better to just start feeding her rice and lean meat like chicken or hamburger and let her system heal itself. So we did that and dropped the antibiotic. Slowly yet surely, she did improve.
A couple days later, Maizie was scheduled for some vaccinations. Among other things she was supposed to get a bordetella (Kennel Cough) vaccination. Maizie has never been to a kennel and probably never will be (she'd have a nervous breakdown). She's never had this vaccine before that we know of, but apparently it's standard for that vet office to hand it out. Okay, fine, whatever.
BUT.
The vet (THE VET!!!!) administered the vaccination in the form of LIVE VIRUS NASAL DROPS.
OMGWTFBBQ YOU NEVER EVER EVER _EVAR_ GIVE A SHORT-NOSED DOG NON-THERAPUTIC NOSE DROPS ARE YOU INSANE??????**
He said himself that there was a 1 in 5 chance that a long-nosed dog would have a negative reaction to the drops. On a flat-faced dog the odds went up to 50-50. Dude. 50-50 more or less means you are guaranteed to get sick because NO ONE'S luck is that good. :P
So it was perhaps unsurprising that the next day Maizie came down with an impressive cold. She had boogers the like of which you only find on tissue-phobic preschoolers. Seriously. This was industrial snot. Later that night, she started coughing up gigantic wads of...I don't even know what. It looked like an oyster or a raw egg. Poor dog was up ALL NIGHT puking up this crud. Mom basically held her and petted her since that was the only thing that seemed to help. She couldn't keep down any medicine or food that we gave her. Around 7AM, mum asked me to take her to the vet's as soon as it opened since she had to work.
The vet was unconcerned and was all "Oh it's Kennel Cough. Probably from the nose drops."
This led to a great deal of elpisises on my part. If I'd had my game face on I think I would have let him have it right there and then. Instead he proceeded to scold me for feeding my sick dog "table food" and not giving her a medication that was only exacerbating her condition. And then he charged me $70 for doggie cold medicine and a cough suppressant. As stated, if I hadn't been so busy being boggled, I would have demanded the visit and the meds for free since HE MADE MY DOG SICK AND ADMITTED IT.
So yeah.
We won't be going THERE again.
I reiterate: This would not have happened in PA.
I hate Virginia.
That is all. Good night.
**Flat-nosed dogs such as French/English Bulldogs, Pugs, Boston Terriers, Pekinese, Shi-Tzus, Lasa-Apsos, etc. run a high risk of breathing issues. It is recommended that these dogs NOT be administered nasal vaccinations because of the potential for their little airways to get inflamed and therefore blocked. Therapeutic nose-drops are okay, but squirting a LIVE VIRUS up the nose of a dog who has nasal passages less than 1in long? Yeah, no.
Tl;dr: My dog is okay. The vet is a moron.
DO NOT go to Riverside Veterinary.
So mum took our French Bulldog Maizie out to the local park while some potential buyers looked at our house (they didn't like it- the master bedroom was too small and not a "suite"- no, I have no idea either). It was here that poor Maizie picked up a stomach bug. She had some pretty bad intestinal distress, but it didn't seem to slow her down any. Still, we were concerned and so took her to the vet. He prescribed an antibiotic and a probiotic to help rebuild her happy bacteria. The probiotic worked well, but the antibiotic seemed to be undoing everything the probiotic did. Soooo we consulted our "Owning a Frenchie 101" book, which said that it would be better to just start feeding her rice and lean meat like chicken or hamburger and let her system heal itself. So we did that and dropped the antibiotic. Slowly yet surely, she did improve.
A couple days later, Maizie was scheduled for some vaccinations. Among other things she was supposed to get a bordetella (Kennel Cough) vaccination. Maizie has never been to a kennel and probably never will be (she'd have a nervous breakdown). She's never had this vaccine before that we know of, but apparently it's standard for that vet office to hand it out. Okay, fine, whatever.
BUT.
The vet (THE VET!!!!) administered the vaccination in the form of LIVE VIRUS NASAL DROPS.
OMGWTFBBQ YOU NEVER EVER EVER _EVAR_ GIVE A SHORT-NOSED DOG NON-THERAPUTIC NOSE DROPS ARE YOU INSANE??????**
He said himself that there was a 1 in 5 chance that a long-nosed dog would have a negative reaction to the drops. On a flat-faced dog the odds went up to 50-50. Dude. 50-50 more or less means you are guaranteed to get sick because NO ONE'S luck is that good. :P
So it was perhaps unsurprising that the next day Maizie came down with an impressive cold. She had boogers the like of which you only find on tissue-phobic preschoolers. Seriously. This was industrial snot. Later that night, she started coughing up gigantic wads of...I don't even know what. It looked like an oyster or a raw egg. Poor dog was up ALL NIGHT puking up this crud. Mom basically held her and petted her since that was the only thing that seemed to help. She couldn't keep down any medicine or food that we gave her. Around 7AM, mum asked me to take her to the vet's as soon as it opened since she had to work.
The vet was unconcerned and was all "Oh it's Kennel Cough. Probably from the nose drops."
This led to a great deal of elpisises on my part. If I'd had my game face on I think I would have let him have it right there and then. Instead he proceeded to scold me for feeding my sick dog "table food" and not giving her a medication that was only exacerbating her condition. And then he charged me $70 for doggie cold medicine and a cough suppressant. As stated, if I hadn't been so busy being boggled, I would have demanded the visit and the meds for free since HE MADE MY DOG SICK AND ADMITTED IT.
So yeah.
We won't be going THERE again.
I reiterate: This would not have happened in PA.
I hate Virginia.
That is all. Good night.
**Flat-nosed dogs such as French/English Bulldogs, Pugs, Boston Terriers, Pekinese, Shi-Tzus, Lasa-Apsos, etc. run a high risk of breathing issues. It is recommended that these dogs NOT be administered nasal vaccinations because of the potential for their little airways to get inflamed and therefore blocked. Therapeutic nose-drops are okay, but squirting a LIVE VIRUS up the nose of a dog who has nasal passages less than 1in long? Yeah, no.
Tl;dr: My dog is okay. The vet is a moron.