Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Poor Ripple, I really hope he gets some relief and you get some answers very soon.
Joint Pain
- Thread starter SteffiS
- Start date
If he's in the bed and its strong lift the bed and him in it if he can't move. Use it as a stretcher. If you have fleece roll him in to a large piece and use it as a stretcher. If he's too heavy to lift like this you can slide him across to you car. If he will move use towels slid under his body as support. It depends how cooperative he is you could carry him by taking a end each. It very difficult but you know Ripple best and you will find away.
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
Oh goodness what a worry. I hope there is some improvement and good news soon xx
- Location
- Isle of Man
Poor Ripple, hope you get some good advice from the vets today
So far the vet has proved impossible to get hold of, the original emergency number is just a recorded message listing the areas they cover, the costs for emergency treatment, and some more details of what might constitute an emergency. It then gives another number to ring and hangs up, the other number seems to be permanently engaged.
I’m already disillusioned with the local vet (part of a chain that is owned by some consortium) , I tried to change vets last year but it’s difficult to find anyone independent who will take on additional clients.
On the plus side Ripple is currently looking much more settled in his bed, I assume the paracetamol is working, but still won’t go out for a wee. He is lifting his head and looking interested in things going on which is better than earlier.
I’m already disillusioned with the local vet (part of a chain that is owned by some consortium) , I tried to change vets last year but it’s difficult to find anyone independent who will take on additional clients.
On the plus side Ripple is currently looking much more settled in his bed, I assume the paracetamol is working, but still won’t go out for a wee. He is lifting his head and looking interested in things going on which is better than earlier.
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
I'm appalled that you are unable to speak to a vet.
It's good he's feeling better, but you need to know what is causing the pain. Surely they can't just leave clients without any veterinary cover for 4 days.
Do you have insurance for Ripple @SteffiS? With the one I have for Cassie I have 24 hr phone access to a vet.
It's good he's feeling better, but you need to know what is causing the pain. Surely they can't just leave clients without any veterinary cover for 4 days.
Do you have insurance for Ripple @SteffiS? With the one I have for Cassie I have 24 hr phone access to a vet.
Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Yes, worth checking your insurance. I phoned ours yesterday and they were reassuring, saying it would be OK to wait for tomorrow so long as she isn’t bothering her paw.
Hugs
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
I was about to suggest your insurance helpline too Steph.
No comfort, but our vets are open as normal. Just been in to collect a prescription.
No comfort, but our vets are open as normal. Just been in to collect a prescription.
We are both appalled too, OH keeps saying what if it had been an accident on the road. Vet care seems to be dreadful in this area of Norfolk. As far as I can understand there is emergency care but you have to register on the second phone number, but it’s covering such a big area that I imagine they are just constantly busy. I must say I hadn’t thought of looking at the insurance, so I will do that, ours was initially with the kennel club but it’s provided by someone else.
Ripple is tolerating frozen, wet flannels on the area, he has also just this minute been out for a wee, so there is further improvement.
Bank holiday rules always seemed a bit different in Scotland @Jacqui-S , another thing I miss about living there.
Checked the insurance and yes there is an advice line but it’s covered by a vet nurse not a vet, she did try and find a vet that was open but the nearest is in Colchester, over 70 miles away and a 2 hour drive from here. She recommended that I persevere with the second emergency number.
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
It's so wrong on many levels, but my ranting won't help you I know.
Hope you can get somewhere xx
Hope you can get somewhere xx
Finally spoken to a vet! Got through on the second number, left a message and a vet rang me back. She said everything we have done so far is correct (thank you forum 
) , as Ripple is making small improvements she advised we can wait until tomorrow when we should get an emergency appointment at our normal vet in the morning.
This is just all so difficult compared to our vet in Scotland, I know some of it is due to shortage of vets and also Covid but surely accessing healthcare for your pet shouldn’t be so hard.
) , as Ripple is making small improvements she advised we can wait until tomorrow when we should get an emergency appointment at our normal vet in the morning.This is just all so difficult compared to our vet in Scotland, I know some of it is due to shortage of vets and also Covid but surely accessing healthcare for your pet shouldn’t be so hard.
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
So sorry to hear about poor Ripple
- Location
- Vlaardingen, the Netherlands
How is ripple this morning? Are you going to see the vet today?
- Location
- East Sussex
Just catching up - how awful not to be able to get to see a vet in a situation like that. I hope you can get an appointment today. x
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Veterinary care, evenings and weekends is now a severe concern and worry. If you can access an emergency vet they will not visit. Most vets are now taken over by a large company and they have the monopoly drugs, tests etc. Veterinary surgeons are like gold dust. I never thought the veterinary world would come to this.
Another post which won't go. Will try later.
Another post which won't go. Will try later.
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
@Jelinga, this is exactly what’s happening here. Most of our veterinarian practices have been bought up by big corporations. You can’t get local emergency Vet care evenings and weekends anymore. God forbid if something were to happen to Ariel after hours, we have a 3 hour drive to get her help. Some further north than us who are assigned to the same emergency clinic have a 5 hour drive. Totally unacceptable.
A friend down the road had a major internal medical issue with his 12 year old lab Thor a few weeks back. He loaded him up to drive the three hours to get him vet assistance. Poor Thor died 20 minutes in to the ride. Now what do you do with your deceased dog on a Friday night when nothing opens til Monday? You drive the 3 hours on Saturday morning to take his body to the emergency vet to have him cremated. It absolutely sickens me that corporations have such little regard for our beloved pets.
This is also the reason we couldn’t get Ariel seen right away when she had her abscessed anal sac. I was too pissed off to explain why in that post…
Sorry for hijacking @SteffiS. Is Ripple still coming along?
Exactly this with our local vet, run by CVS who own over 500 vets worldwide. And when my daughter was working as a locum vet nurse in London there were some vets she wouldn’t work for because she disliked the way the big companies ran them.
Ripple woke up this morning having made a miraculous recovery and was very put out when we wouldn’t take him for a walk.
I can see his leg still isn’t right so I rang the emergency vets and after a long chat we decided not to take up the emergency appointment but he is now booked in with the senior vet on Monday morning.
I can continue with the paracetamol and cold compress as I think necessary, he’s not to have any walks, and I can ring the emergency vet if I need to. It appears things are a bit easier once you are in the system.
I'm still very concerned about the difficulty in accessing a vet at weekends and holiday times, if I hadn’t had the support of the forum I would have really struggled. I think for me this is the biggest downside of our move to Norfolk, in Scotland our vet was independent and ran their own out-of-hours cover.
I can see his leg still isn’t right so I rang the emergency vets and after a long chat we decided not to take up the emergency appointment but he is now booked in with the senior vet on Monday morning.
I can continue with the paracetamol and cold compress as I think necessary, he’s not to have any walks, and I can ring the emergency vet if I need to. It appears things are a bit easier once you are in the system.
I'm still very concerned about the difficulty in accessing a vet at weekends and holiday times, if I hadn’t had the support of the forum I would have really struggled. I think for me this is the biggest downside of our move to Norfolk, in Scotland our vet was independent and ran their own out-of-hours cover.
- Location
- Isle of Man
So glad to hear Ripple is a lot better today x