So who are the best vets in the Bunbury, Eaton, Australind and Gelorup area? The truth is, it depends on who you ask.
As with doctors and many other professions, people want and expect different things from their vets. The variations can be in personality, experience, gender, opening hours, practice policies, cost, consult length, and many other factors.
- Personality – this is a big one. It’s important to find a vet that suits you. For example, we have a vet called Gabby. She is wonderful at bonding with clients and their pets. She is an incredibly caring person, and many people who have experienced her style love her. We get some clients come from over 100km away to see her. Another of our vets, Andrew, is a bit more clinical and a “straight shooter”. He is very straight forward, and while that may not be for everyone, he also has a very dedicated following of clients. This is why we employ vets with different personalities. It’s so we have a vet for everyone.
- Experience – How much experience is ideal? After 5-10 years you have seen most things, but you are ALWAYS learning. Once you have more than a few years experience you need to be working hard to keep up to date with your knowledge. We make sure our vets work hard to continue learning. Experience is a great thing, but a lot of experience without ongoing learning is not ideal. Equally remember that new graduates often have the most up-to-date knowledge, so seeing a new or recent graduate can have its advantages too.
- Gender – I occasionally hear people say “my dog doesn’t like men”. We’re not offended if that is the case. We’ll happily book your pet to see a female vet if requested.
- Opening hours – obviously a vet needs to be open when you need them. You also need to be able to access them or other emergency care if you have an emergency outside of their normal opening hours.
- Practice policies – some practice policies help guide the clinics standards and ensure clients walk away happy. For example, our policies include everyone getting a written estimate before their pet is admitted to our hospital.
- Cost – the cost between clinics is going to vary, and it does so for many reasons. These reasons include location, experience and qualifications of vets, equipment levels, consult length, etc. In fact, there are dozens of reasons.
- Consult length – consult length can vary quite a bit. I have worked in clinics with 5 minute consults and I found it impossible to do a good job every time. By doing short consults we could do more per hour, which kept the cost a bit lower but gave very poor value. We do 20 minute consults, which means we can spend the time we need to with your animal and don’t have to rush. It is always a balancing act between cost, ability to spend enough time with an animal and being able to see all the animals in a day that we may need to see.
The list goes on. It is always worth talking to your friends with pets to see who they recommend. You can also check out clinics websites and Facebook pages to see if you like the way the clinic projects itself.
Finding a vet that you really like can take a bit of work, but it is worth it in the end.