interviewing vets ... :)

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Iguana Forum ]

Posted by iZ's mom on July 02, 2002 at 14:52:20:

In Reply to: HEY PE(and anyone else too) ! Gotta question for ya! posted by Heather on July 01, 2002 at 13:59:42:

besides asking a vet's opinion on husbandry issues (diet, housing, etc, etc) ...

ask *How Many* igs s/he has had as patients ...
+ what the age/size of them is/was ...
i once walked into a vet's office with a 4' ig and the vet exclaimed "OH MY! i've never seen such a HUGE iguana!!!" ... now, in *MY* book, if you've never seen a 4' ig, you do NOT know enough to take care of *MY* baby ...

my point is ~ ASK "how many?", "what size?", "what age?" and "oooooh, quite a few ..." is NOT an answer, it's an evasion of the question ...

ask if the vet does ig surgery! (and also how many, size of ig, nature of surgery, survival rate, etc!!!) ...
trust me, the LAST thing you want to do is to have to find a competent surgeon on an EMERGENCY basis ... hopefully you will never *need* someone with those surgical skills ~ BUT ~

also pay attention to how the vet interacts with the ig ... is either one of them "nervous"??? a vet who is afraid of your iguana is NOT going to be able to take good care of it! and i do NOT care how "wild" or whatever the ig is in the doctor's office, a *good* ig-doctor KNOWS how to work with a scared animal ...

pay attention to how your IG reacts to the doc ~ this is harder to do if you + the ig don't know each other very well yet, but try to notice signs of stress that are not "just" stress from being in a medical office ...

*stepping off the soapbox now*

good luck!
Bon.

Follow Ups:

Great questions to pose there. Luckily my vet is all that and more. Linda 07/03/02 (0)
I would be VERY HAPPY if I find a VET who speaks ENGLISH!!! Flavia Guimaraes 07/03/02 (0)

Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:
: besides asking a vet's opinion on husbandry issues (diet, housing, etc, etc) ... : ask *How Many* igs s/he has had as patients ... : + what the age/size of them is/was ... : i once walked into a vet's office with a 4' ig and the vet exclaimed <i>"OH MY! i've never seen such a HUGE iguana!!!"</i> ... now, in *MY* book, if you've never seen a 4' ig, you do NOT know enough to take care of *MY* baby ... : my point is ~ ASK "how many?", "what size?", "what age?" and <i>"oooooh, quite a few ..."</i> is NOT an answer, it's an evasion of the question ... : ask if the vet does ig surgery! (and also how many, size of ig, nature of surgery, survival rate, etc!!!) ... : trust me, the LAST thing you want to do is to have to find a competent surgeon on an EMERGENCY basis ... hopefully you will never *need* someone with those surgical skills ~ BUT ~ : also pay attention to how the vet interacts with the ig ... is either one of them "nervous"??? a vet who is afraid of your iguana is NOT going to be able to take good care of it! and i do NOT care how "wild" or whatever the ig is in the doctor's office, a *good* ig-doctor KNOWS how to work with a scared animal ... : pay attention to how your IG reacts to the doc ~ this is harder to do if you + the ig don't know each other very well yet, but try to notice signs of stress that are not "just" stress from being in a medical office ... : *stepping off the soapbox now* : good luck! : Bon.

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Iguana Forum ]