Maximizing Pet Care: Communicating with Your Veterinarian
We believe our veterinary team and your family should partner together to make sure that your pet’s care is optimal. Taking some steps to be sure that you are communicating with your vet well is sure to help keep your pet healthier!
The Importance of Communication
As your pet’s care team, we need to be able to understand one another. We don’t get to see your pet at home in their day to day environment, and you as the pet owner aren’t expected to know every nuance of the medical knowledge that we have.
If there aren’t open lines of communication, our veterinary team may not fully understand what is going on with your pet. Likewise, if we can’t communicate our diagnosis or treatment plan with you, your pet may not get the care they deserve.
Poor communication can result in:
- Missed diagnoses
- Unnecessary illness
- Lack of resolution of problems
- Spending of unnecessary funds
- Frustration on both sides
We owe your pet better than that!
Maximizing Veterinarian Communication
Mobile Vet M.D. wants to help you to help us to help your pet better, so we put together some tips to maximize veterinarian communication.
Our top advice:
- Be prepared for your visit by having someone knowledgeable about your pet’s day-to-day habits available
- Take a few notes during your appointment if needed
- Give yourself time—we will do our best to be on time. Making sure you are ready with a few minutes to spare ensures we get to use your full appointment time
- Make a list of important questions so that we don’t forget anything
- Have any records from previous or other veterinarians available (or even better, get them to us ahead of time)
- Ask if you think that your pet might benefit from anti-anxiety medications for their appointment
- Make sure to follow up with us—if you aren’t able to administer a prescribed medication, your pet doesn’t tolerate it well, or they are not improving, we don’t know unless you tell us
- Let us know if there is a way that you prefer to have us communicate important details about your pet
The most important thing to remember about communicating with your vet is that it is a two-way street. Making sure that your questions and concerns are heard and addressed is important to us. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you need something from u