Would You Recommend Petsmart's Vet Services?

[Abhay]

I am going to be acquiring a cat(yay!) quickly and we have a Petsmart right here...we have other vets also but I was questioning if their vet services are very good and trustworthy.

[fiacre68]

Cattriona said: 1 Jacki14, regarding your answer "I would suggest a cats-only practice.": This is a great suggestion, with great reasoning. Be sure and ask if they are board certified in feline medicine(doctors are certified, not clinics) and does the vet own cats themselves. This seems like a small thing, but someone that lives with cats will understand where you're coming from(and know more "tricks") much better than someone who has only had clinical experience with them. 75 months ago

[chandler]

Jacki14, regarding your answer "I would suggest a cats-only practice.": This is a great suggestion, with great reasoning. Be sure and ask if they are board certified in feline medicine(doctors are certified, not clinics) and does the vet own cats themselves. This seems like a small thing, but someone that lives with cats will understand where you're coming from(and know more "tricks") much better than someone who has only had clinical experience with them.

[Cat]

Petsmart, in our personal experiences, provides substandard care when compared to private vets.  Sure, they?re probably fine for vaccinations and other routine things, but if your pet has a medical problem, they may not be able to identify it properly, if at all, or treat it properly.  And that is, of course, the point of regular exams -- to catch things that aren?t normal. We?ve had our own negative experiences with "Vetsmart" and our own animals(we use a private vet now), but more heartbreaking in my mind is a friend and colleague whose 2 puppies began, late last year, to have kidney problems.  At the same time.  The Petsmart vets were at a complete loss, first not taking it seriously, then charging her lots of money for endless tests with no answer. However, when she and I discussed the dogs? problems in a casual conversation, it was instantly clear that they had been eating the recalled dog food, and were likely suffering the effects of that.  Too little, too late.  Unfortunately, the vets? collective incompetence made the diagnosis too late(and only after my friend had pointed it out); the dogs are both in terminal renal failure. If you get a cat from your local shelter, many local vets will do free or low-cost "wellness" exams for newly adopted shelter animals as a public service. (If you?ve taken in a stray, find out from a local shelter which vets service their "adoptees", then call and explain the situation and politely ask if they will give you a reduced fee first exam.)  This will give you a chance to evaluate a vet.  Ask the vet if they are board certified in feline medicine(meaning they?ve had extra training and testing to get well-respected professional certification).  If they aren?t, they may still be a good vet, but board certification is a good plus to look for.  If they give a lot of trash talk about board certification, or aren?t familiar with it, or talk about how they "qualified but never took the test), they?re a terrible vet -- get out of there and find someone else. A good vet should also be willing to let you see behind the scenes(sometimes advanced notice is needed, so you won?t be walking in during the middle of surgery).  Is everything you see clean?  Are the staff polite and professional?  See how the animals who are caged there are kept -- are the cages clean?  Water fresh and available?  Sick animals don?t generally look happy, and may look terrified, but how do the staff treat them?  Do they walk by and yell, "Shut up, Rover" or do they stop and try to coax "Snowball" to eat her kibble?  Is the terrified kitten caged next to the barking, growling pit bull?  These things can tell you a lot about about the vet and their quality of work.  A vet that refuses to show you where animals are kept and cared for should be avoided -- what are they trying to hide? Ask around your friends and neighbors with cats -- who do they like, who do they not like in terms of local vets. The American Veterinary Association has a good brochure on how to choose a vet for your pet.

[Rushkin]

We have 8 dogs and we wouldn't trade our vet for anything. He has seen them regularly since they were pups and knows them each very well and obviously picks up things we don't see, even as far as behavior, particularly with this many.

[Cadwallader]

No, no, no, no, NO. I would not. Petsmart, in our personal experiences, provides substandard care when compared to private vets.  Sure, they?re probably fine for vaccinations and other routine things, but if your pet has a medical problem, they may not be able to identify it properly, if at all, or treat it properly.  And that is, of course, the point of regular exams -- to catch things that aren?t normal. We?ve had our own negative experiences with "Vetsmart" and our own animals(we use a private vet now), but more heartbreaking in my mind is a friend and colleague whose 2 puppies began, late last year, to have kidney problems.  At the same time.  The Petsmart vets were at a complete loss, first not taking it seriously, then charging her lots of money for endless tests with no answer. However, when she and I discussed the dogs? problems in a casual conversation, it was instantly clear that they had been eating the recalled dog food, and were likely suffering the effects of that.  Too little, too late.  Unfortunately, the vets? collective incompetence made the diagnosis too late(and only after my friend had pointed it out); the dogs are both in terminal renal failure. If you get a cat from your local shelter, many local vets will do free or low-cost "wellness" exams for newly adopted shelter animals as a public service. (If you?ve taken in a stray, find out from a local shelter which vets service their "adoptees", then call and explain the situation and politely ask if they will give you a reduced fee first exam.)  This will give you a chance to evaluate a vet.  Ask the vet if they are board certified in feline medicine(meaning they?ve had extra training and testing to get well-respected professional certification).  If they aren?t, they may still be a good vet, but board certification is a good plus to look for.  If they give a lot of trash talk about board certification, or aren?t familiar with it, or talk about how they "qualified but never took the test), they?re a terrible vet -- get out of there and find someone else. A good vet should also be willing to let you see behind the scenes(sometimes advanced notice is needed, so you won?t be walking in during the middle of surgery).  Is everything you see clean?  Are the staff polite and professional?  See how the animals who are caged there are kept -- are the cages clean?  Water fresh and available?  Sick animals don?t generally look happy, and may look terrified, but how do the staff treat them?  Do they walk by and yell, "Shut up, Rover" or do they stop and try to coax "Snowball" to eat her kibble?  Is the terrified kitten caged next to the barking, growling pit bull?  These things can tell you a lot about about the vet and their quality of work.  A vet that refuses to show you where animals are kept and cared for should be avoided -- what are they trying to hide? Ask around your friends and neighbors with cats -- who do they like, who do they not like in terms of local vets. The American Veterinary Association has a good brochure on how to choose a vet for your pet. Sources: biomedical librarian, lots of personal experience with both good and bad vets and cats with serious medical problems   Cattriona's Recommendations The Cornell Book of Cats: The Comprehensive and Authoritative Medical Reference for Every Cat and Kitten Amazon List Price: $35.00 Used from: $14.82 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5(based on 14 reviews) Cornell is one of the top researchers in feline medicine. Cattriona 75 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.