Choosing a Vet

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Not all animal doctors are alike.

Most communities these days offer a number of veterinarians within easy hailing distance. Given this abundance, you can pretty much pick and choose the vet who'll best meet your pet care needs. Here are some tips to help.

Communication: Medicine has a highly specialized language all its own. Technical terminology has its place too, but there is absolutely no process in disease or health that cannot be described in everyday language that anyone can understand. Insist on this. If your veterinarian is unwilling to answer your questions so that you understand perfectly what he or she is saying, find a new vet.

Health vs. disease: Nearly all health care professionals today, including vets, are highly trained disease specialists; most of their efforts are directed toward recognizing and treating disease. For some this focus is all-consuming, but others have learned that health is also a part of life's continuum.

Health-oriented veterinarians will take the time to discuss the hows and whys of keeping your pet healthy. If your vet asks questions about your pet's nutrition, the amount of exercise it gets each day and the kind of home environment you provide, you can assume that person is health-oriented.

One of the best ways to tell if a doctor is health-oriented is to observe his or her personal lifestyle. An obese, pasty-faced veterinarian reeking of tobacco smoke, for example, probably isn't particularly concerned about health. (What's more, you can probably expect to lose this vet at an early age.)

You and pet: You hear a lot of prattle about how a good veterinarian must love animals. Well, anyone who puts himself or herself through eight years of college in order to spend the rest of a lifetime caring for animals simply has to have at least some affection for critters. The question to ask yourself is not, Does my vet love animals? It is. Does my vet love his/her job?

Animals are only part of a veterinarian's job. You, as an owner, are the other—and perhaps more important—part. You're the one who must provide food, shelter and an environment that'll keep your pet healthy.

If your vet cuddles and coos over Spot but ignores you entirely, you know that he or she loves pets but doesn't understand that you're part of the relationship too. Does this vet care one whit for your concerns—for your interest in holistic health, for example, or for the amount you can afford to budget for pet care? Does he or she take the time to get to know you better?