The Wife and I have had some concerns about the state of the vet practice we take the clowder for some time. About a year ago, the vet tech we know very well departed under less than ideal circumstances. I was not willing to switch if it was a labor dispute and we were only getting one side at the time. The agreement was we would not switch unless the service was going down hill.

The service started going down hill. The techs were always good, but instead of our main vet that we liked, we were constantly seeing a parade of unfamiliar vets. Some good, some okay, but no consistency. Okay, it’s time to switch. It also helped there were two new vet practices about ten minutes away from Ward Manor, including one that had an emergency vet practice – who also employed the vet tech who was let go from our current vet. We decided to hold off until after our summer vacation, because we didn’t want to cause any issues with the pet sitter about where to take which cat if there was an emergency.

One of the cats is currently on insulin. The Wife was shopping around to get a price. One of the local pharmacies suggested a switch that would cut our cost to a quarter of the current prescription. The Wife calls the vet and asks if it can be switched. The vet tech said they would ask the doctor, but she sounded a little “cagey”. Um, is there an issue with the vet? Well, Friday was her last day, and the vet tech will have to talk with the vet currently managing the practice. But don’t worry, it’s the one you saw last week and liked.

After that conversation, The Wife and I decided we needed to move quickly because it sounded like original vet may not be a going concern or sold the practice. Neither of which we were willing to weather. When you have a large and complicated clowder, relationships are important. So, we call up the vet practice our friend is now working and explain the situation.

The good news? That practice is taking over our old vet, and the new vet is the “managing vet” that The Wife liked. Better news? They have access to all of our cats’ records so switching will be much easier. The only downside? We still need to get as many of the cats at the new place to get fully established before our summer vacation.

But, with vets, relationships are important.