Comments on Are You a Victim of Veterinary Abuse?

Trying to find a good vet who actually cares about your animal and practices holistically isn't easy. Although I have located a holistic vet some distance from where I live, I have asked the "alternative" minded folks around my town for referrals to like-minded vets, in case I need someone quickly who is close by.
One vet's name kept popping up who sounded promising. Although he wasn't advertising himself as "holistic" per se, clients love him and were saying he respects owners wishes regarding limiting or no vaccines, and was an all-around caring vet. This sounded promising to me.
Then recently I met a dog owner who mentioned going to this same vet, yet also mentioned how he prescribed Apoquel for the "terrible itch" her dog has, and that "luckily he also does liver testing and so far everything is ok......."
So now this vet doesn't look so good to me.
I just can't understand how intelligent, supposedly caring vets can continue to prescribe something like Apoquel (or the multitude of other harmful drugs) when their clients are clearly suffering from their effects?
My search continues.

I went to a vet years ago who had a very intimidating bedside manner. She brought up the fact that my cat needed to be up to date on his vaccines, and I said, no thanks. Then the bully in her came out and she sneered, "it's the LAW!". I didn't know then how to fight back, and my cat was given the rabies vaccine. It drove me to seek out a vet with a holistic approach. It's shameful how these doctors treat their customers!

Well as a reputable breeder of champion dogs, I can wholeheartedly sympathize with each veterinary complaint, because I've heard them all.
I now send my puppies home with a letter from the veterinarian, signed by my veterinarian with the dates and space that I want vaccines and procedures done. I supply mom and dad's hip and elbow clearances etc. I don't want my puppies spayed/neutered before their first season or before their 18 month birthday for males. I provide proof of the reasons that I do not remove dewclaws, I give papers for why its preferable to wait for vaccines to be given separately etc. I always have my puppy people sign documents stating that they understand these things.
And yet, in every litter, 2-3 of my puppy people fall to the push of their veterinarian to vaccinate vaccinate vaccinate (even at the one week well puppy check!!! Re-administering vaccines that were given one week prior! There's always a puppy spayed or neutered at 6 months old. There's always a puppy who gets unnecessary medications (Metacam for a 10 week old puppy who had a reaction to a fly bite???) Hip surgeries recommended for 11 week old puppies due to dysplasia etc. etc etc etc I could go on and on.
I'm so sick of the a) the veterinarians who are performing 'medicine' this way and b) my trusted puppy buyers falling victim to the 'science' presented by these veterinarians.
There are great veterinarians out there. But sadly, many don't care. And if they do, its their pocketbooks they care about more than the patients.

WOW, I cant help but feel a feeling of despair here! The people we have come to trust are lying to us over and over again and all for the almighty buck!
More or less!
I will never vaccinate again! I have found someone, a vet with the help of Dr. Falconer that is a couple hours away, but I would rather drive that distance than have to face exactly what Mrs. Z felt at her vet visit. Having just moved to a new area I went to a veterinarian who is a family friend, someone that I thought I could trust....but when I expressed my strong views on shots and vaccinations she could not understand why I don't given them and tried to force reasoning on me that I should. She was adamant about giving heartworm medications as well. This I find funny having lived in South Florida for 20 years, I lived and worked in an area that was riddled with mosquitos YEAR ROUND I even bred dogs for 15 years and.....guess what......I never had heartworm and I didn't treat for them either!!!! I feed a species appropriate diet and I pay attention the health of my dogs. We need to stand our ground here, for the health of our dogs. We all need to be closet homeopaths and teach ourselves about the art of homeopathy. Thank goodness for people like Dr. Falconer and others like him! I for one am sitting here next to a copy of Materia Medica by Sammual Hahnemann and will take it upon my self to learn from homeo vets and hope that someday, somehow homeopathy will become more strongly believed and used. Thank you Dr. Falconer!!!!!

yeah, Dr, Will, I think you are being too naïve or out of touch with what is happening. I still see it as 'money making' not healing.
Glad you are around. It has gone way overboard.
I will blast a vet and sue if I have to.

I also found out the hard way. My second Westie was euthanized a year ago by the same vet who caused his liver failure. Yes, the vet killed my dog and that's what I tell anyone who asks. We had moved to Florida from the Northeast. Florida's fleas are horrific. Vet "gave" me one NexGard to "try" saying it was the best thing ever! For his wallet I'm sure of now. As they say about drugs and pushers....first one is free.
I had gone in the vet's office with a healthy, happy, raw fed 12 year old and after that one dose he started to stagger, swerve, acted like he was drunk and it was all downhill from there. Another vet told me she wouldn't prescribe NexGard as it had not been out there that long. What? You're in the same practice but speaking and delivering different modalities. Yup, at two months he had no quality of life left and we were heartbroken and felt so very guilty for having listened to that nit wit. And wouldn't you know, it was the same drug pusher who was on duty when we brought our little boy in for the final shot and all he said was, "I'm so sorry for your loss." I wanted to stab him!!
Wasn't sure I could go through the heartbreak again, but in the end love won out and we now have another Westie from the same bloodline. But, this time I searched and googled and read everything I could and that is how I found Will Falconer, bless you, and read and adhere to all his advice. This pup was given one round of puppy shots, the 3 in 1, thankfully not the other, by the breeder when he was 10 weeks and had a "mild" reaction. We brought him home when he was 12 weeks and worked diligently to overcome some vaccinosis issues. He has never had another vaccine and will not ever!! As for the rabies vaccine? Westie No.2's gift....his 3 year tag works like a charm plus I've read from Will's followers the other ways to by-pass. Thanks so much to all of you and especially Dr. Falconer!!

Can I just say that it can be extraordinarily difficult to find wholistic vets in many places? I live under the shadow of Cornell ("the best veterinary school in the world" ;^p), where they dwell in the dark ages of Big Pharma, etc. There are very few local vets who do not bow to Cornell's party line, and for several years there were absolutely none. I didn't take my animals for any care other than emergency in that time period.
I know there must be a demand to create more vets such as yourself, Dr. Falconer. But I believe many would avail themselves of such services if they were more readily available. How do we let young, upcoming vets know that we want these services? (I have a young niece who just graduated from Tufts. She suggested I give my cat Prozac for inappropriate urination and that he "would just feel happier." Um. No.)

Dr.Falconer,
I am just glad that people are questioning things and that you are there to answer those questions.
We all need to wake up, not only for the sake of our animals but for our own. These days we need to question everything and get 5 different opinions.
I have been treating my animals with homeopathy and natural remedies for a few years now, that has given me the opportunity to learn and treat the humans as well but it still amazes me how many people don't know or try natural alternatives and rather live with pain for the rest of their lives.

Many years ago I took my dog, George, to the vet. We had just moved into that city and I had asked my neighbors what vet they went to. At the appointment, I discovered that this particular vet preferred to take his patients to the treatment area while the owner was to remain in the waiting room. I wasn't comfortable with this situation. We left. And I interviewed for a new vet.
Never be afraid to fire your vet. If something about the way they are treating your beloved fur friend makes you uncomfortable it is time to find another. Go for a visit when the animal is not sick or injured. Have ready a series of questions about care for your pet. Observe how they respond to your questions. Observe how the handle your fur friend and how your fur friend responds to them.
I'm happy to say that I have a wonderful vet. I can ask questions and get thoughtful answers. It is all about the welfare of my animals.
I foster for the local SPCA shelter. My most recent foster was a dog with EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) who had been through numerous tests at the SPCA hospital as they tried to discover his problem. Going to his appointments at that hospital reduced this pup to a quivering mass of nerves. I had to weigh him weekly. My vet to the rescue! He offered that I bring my foster to his clinic and weigh him there. He and his staff all made a big fuss over my foster pup at each weigh-in. The foster lost his fear of going to the vet. (He even transferred that confidence to the hospital.) My vet didn't have to make that kind offer. He wasn't going to make any money from helping me with my foster dog. He's just a good man.

I had a lady come into my store in tears one day because her vet had lit into her for feeding raw. I mean really lit into her. Even though the lab results showed a marked improvement in her dog's liver function. And her dog's kidney function. Once she'd calmed down a bit, I said "And you then paid him for that abuse, right?". Silence. She now has a great holistic vet who is working WITH her, not fighting with her. SMH.

we were abused by several including homeopathic vets plus many health shops & homeopathic chemists.the dog has been sick with swellings for over 6 yrs -has healed 50% with over 90 herbs & prayers .but all these vets abuse |& torture at death.
my dogs & i were cyberstalked & preyed on telepathically for several yrs by more than 1 vet . the puppy was orally raped by receptionist who told me she wanted to make the dog sick to get me to but the control muzzles . another vet used mind control . & so on . the dog was set up in a few dog fights by unseen instigators vets . the health shops are using me . am using prayers . no-one confessed or healed the dog . he got massive lymph swellings - the new set-up . i had given too much wormwood for the coprophagia - & the tick bites could have caused the swellings. but it was mainly controlled by more than 1 vet . have spent lot of money . nothing will heal fully . am vegetarian myself .obviously sometimes some govrnments also watch & force illness on animals , especially when the pets have been overly super healthy . & some vets actually torture & harm the animals during their death to ensure future illnesses & deformaties in puppies for exploitation . there is a huge huge war on with some vets plus the herbs natural vs the other . but i am worried about death time - we need lot of help here.

You as a pet owner need to educate yourself about your pet. Nutrition being a key thing to learn about with vaccines next!
I have 6 kitties and 2 big dogs! The great things I have seen happen simply with a diet that they were meant to eat! So much of "that" itch can be mitigated by diet in cats and dogs. Cats need to eat meat with some supplement tweaking and dogs are a little easier but neither should have to try to exist on a diet of highly processed cereal!
All of these heartbreaking stories about bad vets and what the animals suffer because of hubris just tears me up. How can this go on? The sad thing is that the "modern" medical system is exactly the same thing.
Do not be afraid to fire your vet/doctor and find one whom will actually help you!
I do not vet routinely and work with a homeopathic vet by phone/email when something comes up. I do have a local vet who is willing to work with me when I need something quickly and there is another vet who has great lab abilities and will tackle things no other vet will touch so I guess I am counting my blessings.
I have gotten to the point where I realize I am my critters voice and if I fail to speak, they can suffer. Please don't let vets/drs intimidate you into causing harm. There are options out there. It simply means you have to do some leg work but it IS worth it.
I can proudly say with a heart full of love that I have vital animals and it is worth every ounce of time I put into it! You have to pay attention to your animals so you can communicate their needs to a homeopathic vet. I have seen really amazing things happen thru homeopathy! Use the resources on this site that Dr Will has taken the time to put together. There is a lot of info here even if Dr Will isn't the vet taking care of your animals directly this site will help you. Having vital pets takes commitment but it is so worth it when folks comment on how healthy your critters look and you know why that is!

There are a lot of 'bad' vets out there, just like human Drs. But the stupidity of the dog owner is to blame. She knows it's not right but she continues to do that to her pet?

1.3 lb chi mix, 10 weeks old. I begged them not to give him more than one shot at his first puppy well visit. Hours later he was throwing up, shaking, and had diarrhea. I rushed him back to the vet and they said they would open a case with the pharma who produced the shot. It was probably the vax (a bad batch?) He almost died. He didn't eat or move for days. I'm lucky he lived. He was so close to death. The vet would never admit it was her fault. Same vet who put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot and said, "I'm the vet not you!" Same vet who told me my 13 year old cat was allergic to dust mites all of a sudden! Same vet who left a snarky message on my answering machine about my dying cat. Same vet who returned my tiny ferret to me bruised, head to toe after removing adrenal glands. Needless to say, no longer our vet.

Thank you for your great advice Will!
I have had a horrible experience with both of two vets after getting my first puppy after my last GSD died of cancer (which I am positive was caused by ethoxyquin in dog food, I just cannot prove it).
My new pup, who is now 10 months old, is a Yorkie/MinPin mix. The breeder insisted I take her for all three puppy vaccinations else she wouldn't give me the pup... which seemed fair to me at the time, since I did not have to pay anything for the pup.
I took Sasha to the breeder's vet for her first vaccination and deworming when she was 9 weeks old. She had no reaction to any of the two, but what made me think twice about going back to the vet was the fact that she tried to bulldoze me into buying Bravecto (of which I knew nothing at the time). For a pup that was only 9 weeks old and only weighed 1kg at the time, it sounded absurd to give her a poisonous substance to eat that would stay in her system for 3 months or longer, so I refused... and then I did not return to that vet at all.
When Sasha was 13 weeks old, I took her to a different vet. She did not try to sell me Bravecto, but when she vaccinated Sasha she gave her a tablet (ramming it down my pup's throat would be a better description) without my consent. When I asked her what it was she said it was a deworming tablet. That kind of set my mind at ease, because I thought it was Drontal. Back in the 1990s when I previously owned dogs no vet ever gave anything for deworming besides Drontal, and Nemex which was a liquid.
I took my pup home, and an hour later she started screaming with pain whenever I touched her. She seemed scared to death about something. When I phoned the vet she was very sarcastic, telling me that the pup was "totally fine" when she handled her, but "if I was really concerned I was welcome to take her back at 5pm when she opens again". I checked Sasha's vaccination card and saw that the dewormer was called "Milbemax". The two weeks following that was horrible! At times I thought I was losing her! I took her to yet another vet, who gave her supportive treatment until she was mostly over everything.
I began doing research, and found out that Milbemax is a heartworm drug similar to Trifexis. But why a heartworm drug in South Africa where heartworm does not exist? It made no sense!
I began doing research and found out about all the adverse reactions that dogs have to all of these pesticides. And the irony is that NO VET acknowledges the fact that these reactions are caused, or even can be caused, by these drugs.
Sasha got her 3rd vaccination when she was 17 weeks old, with (thankfully) no reaction to it. Rabies vaccination was included. It was done by the vet that treated her for the reaction against Milbemax. By then I knew a bit more about dangerous drugs, and his shelves were full of them, so I never returned to him either.
I am now in the process of looking for a holistic vet, but the ONLY one that I could find in South Africa is in Cape Town, which is almost 2000 km from where I live. And that one seems to be just as corrupt as the conventional vets that I have had these experiences with. The only question that I have asked her was whether she could direct me to a holistic practitioner in my area, and after 3 emails she still hasn't answered that question. All she tried to do was sell me the products that she stocks.
So now I am following advice from people like you on the internet, who are not scared to say their say about "Dr Whitecoat" and their greedy methods of conduct.
Thanks for reading my comment.
Antoinette LeRoux

As usual, Will "Jeremiah" Falconer, this vet abuse post continues to wake up the flock! At least it should! Twenty-five years ago I adopted the motto: "I can do better than a vet". A few years back I changed it to: "I WILL (meaning Dr. "Will" Falconer) do better than a vet".
You have surpassed the title of a vet by being a very present help in times of learning and in times of need.
Changing the word 'can' to the word 'will' brings to mind your shared knowledge and, when applied, brings about the good, healthy results I have come to expect.
You're a good person, Will... always barking for the right reasons.
Thank you,
ptw

Yeah, exactly the arrangement I have with Pookie's vet...they're willing to do some blood tests, even tho they know I'm going to refuse all drugs and vaccines, so they stopped trying to push them. Their practice seems dead.
The big battle I had with them this year was hyperthyroidism. Pookie's numbers went up to 3.1 so they started hawking medication, and if she couldn't tolerate that, irradiating her thyroid gland at the unreal price of $4000!
I had a bottle of X-2 Nacent Iodine--gave her a drop a day until her last test was nearly perfect, (1.3) and the Iodine was all it took.
Iodine's critical for gut health, immune function and thyroid function.
It blows my mind that they wanted to put her on some crazy, low-iodine diet and irradiate her thyroid gland! Yeesh! Now they want to know what "reversed" her climbing thyroid values. Maybe there's hope they'll embrace a nutritional approach--stop irradiating so many poor cats that just need bioavailable, truly Nacent Iodine, if I tell them what worked. I kinda doubt it. Not profitable.
Having to be vigilant and guard my poor cat from their hack jobs sorta sucks, doc. They still suggest surgery at every visit and want to yank her teeth, but they really just can't believe she's doing so well nearly three years after they insisted I should put her to sleep. How can we NOT lose trust in Dr. Whitecoat, when it appears our money's more important to him than our pet's wellbeing? I get nauseous when I see giant billboards advertising "Low-Cost Vaccines," and wish I could turn back the clock to the day I let that mercenary vet give Pookie the rabies shot that almost killed her, because he said it "was the law." We're making progress...keep up the good work, doc!

This is so very sad to me... And, the exact reason why I've stopped working as Vet Assistant (20yrs). I was tired of only seeing clients & their pets for vaccines... (Along with the ear issues or anal glands.) I didn't sign up for the job to only see pets for vaccines... I signed up to help pets & their pet parents understand what is needed to better care for them... I can do that if I worked at Petsmart & is less likely to get bit!
It seems that even the good Vets are brainwashed in the vaccine dept. I could see a direct correlation between the vaccines, & their illnesses that inevitably came a year or two later that the Vets/staff refused to.
I also rescue dogs & a few cats... I often would seriously chastised & beat up for not vaccinating my personal pets every year (even my 14yr old) & for using natural remedies that they thought were hocus pocus. My rebuttal was that it just doesn't make sense to vaccinate every year for the same thing... We don't do that to humans, why would we do that to our pets? Then I'd get beat up some more saying that I was a disaster waiting to happen... I've had over 150 dogs & cats come through here, all having their scheduled puppy/kitten shots (even if they were an adult) because the shelter required it in our to rescue or adopt, and there's never been illness come through here besides ringworm.

Why would anyone continue seeing such a horrible vet? That vet should be reported to the state review board!
My 'tail' of abuse is quite different. I was babysitting one of my puppies while his owner went out of state to get married. The dog got sick with what was clearly HGE (Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis). I'd seen it before, and knew the treatment was sub Q fluids and something for nausea. The vet I went to refused to give fluids unless I had a myriad of unnecessary tests done, and treated me as the adversary (probably because I knew what I was talking about, I'd worked at an emergency vet's in the past.) She allowed the dog to lay their on the floor bleeding for 2 and a half hours (I was so upset I didn't realize how much time had gone by) before finally agreeing to give an IV, and then instead of giving the pain med she'd told me, decided to give an NSAID that's normally giving for arthritis!
The dog did better for a few hours, but died in my arms in the early hours of the morning. The morning of my friend's wedding!