I want everything and I want it now...

10's across the board...

of course I only use web vet's to compare answers to what I either already know or have asked already...kind of like a 2nd or 3rd, or sometimes 4th opinion...

still want 10's..... and I think #3 is very important as well as #2....#1...it sort of  matters what the question is...some questions are really generic and don't require individual answers..like diet, fleas, when to s/n..undescended testicles...umbilical hernias...while others like peeing blood, pale gums, coughing cats..certainly #1 is where triage is the key.

LorriM November 28th, 2009 02:01:04 PM

#1 is a 3

#2 is a 5

#3 is a 10+

Get an assistant who can make the first pass, ID the "GO TO VET NOW" cases and respond with a canned answer to that effect.  I have a feeling you'll get a lot of those AND I'm not sure the people who send them in will head that or any other advice so it seems like those are "post and move on" items.

PJB http://pjboosinger.viviti.com/ November 28th, 2009 05:37:23 PM

Mind you I am answering this question as a vet who is trying to imagine herself as 'J.Q Public' but who is not having a whole lof of success doing that. 

I just think that writing to a total stranger with an emergency type question is ridiculous.  How could you possibly expect to address a dog or cat or any animal in respiratory distress.  These people should be calling their vet....and if they don't have one; well it is absurb to think that you will be on call in a moments notice for that type of thing. 

I think this type of forum is fine for general, non emergency type questions; food, flea, heartworm, spay/neuter and maybe even behavior stuff for example. 

So I think that while every question is important, they are not all practical so #1 depends entirely on what question is asked.  I think #2 is probably a 10 keeping in mind that you can be detailed and still address a wide audience.  #3....I think this is important but in reality who is really going to know you.  I am sure you have people from your clinic who read your blog, maybe even call in and you know them but for most people that is not the case.  If I were looking for a specific answer then it would be important but then again I probably wouldn't be seeking information this way. 

I realize that there are people who can't afford veterinary care and this economy has hit hard in places....but I would argue that there are a lot of irresponsible pet owners just looking for a free PE over the phone -- we get them daily in our clinic.  I mean what about a valid Vet-Patient-Client Relationship.....can you really be giving advice pertaining to treatment this way and still honor that???? 

I say don't stress yourself out trying to answer everything - your sanity probably depends on it...I don't know how you keep up with everything you do now.  I am tired just thinking about what you do.  You provide a great site for information and maybe someone can be steered towards treatment but I think that is ulimately best served by a human being in flesh and blood. 

Sorry didn't mean to go so long....guess I had stronger feelings about that than I thought!!!

J.C. November 28th, 2009 06:40:46 PM

"in reality who is really going to know you"  I hope that means "know you" as in "meet you in person" because, otherwise, wow, that's harsh - even to me and I have leather for skin.

PJB November 28th, 2009 07:38:59 PM

#1   Nine

#2  Ten

#3  1 or 10 (all I want to know is that a licensed and practicing vet in the usa is answering the question, not an unlicensed person who just happens to like animals)

catlady = cl November 28th, 2009 08:53:16 PM

#1 On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it that your individual question get answered (10 being extremely important).

3 or 4.  I've never had a question so unique that no one had answered it before.  And once things got really specific, I'm usually already at the vet.  But I would like a good mix of species.  If it's all dog questions then, obviously, I don't care.  I want to see cat questions but it's not a problem if my specific question doesn't get answered

#2 On the same scale, how important is it that the answer be very detailed and specific?

7.  I like data.  I also like links.  The more specific the better, but it's ok if you just answer the question briefly and link to more info.

#3 And, finally... how important is it that you know who the person answering your question is?

10.  This is the most important thing.  It's why I'd trust the sites you linked to (see Q2).  If I don't think that the person answering has the proper credentials (veterinary, experience with pets, etc.) then I'm closing the window and moving on.

AnneT November 28th, 2009 08:56:26 PM

#1 - 2.  I don't think I would submit the question if I had a really urgent need, and if it's a national forum, wouldn't figure I had a chance in hell of it getting answered.

#2 - 8 or 9.  I don't know how detailed or specific you can get, since you don't have much of a case history of the pet, but I do like reading about different options in a question (the dog with the seizures) 

#3 - If I came to the Q&A to submit a question from a websearch, it wouldn't matter who you were as long as you were a licensed vet.  But if I were following the Q&A, and then decided to submit a question, I would probably hope a favorite vet would answer the question.

As you noted, you really can't answer the immediate urgent questions -- these people really need real-time, on-site advice.  But the questions that allowed you to speculate on a couple of different possibilities (like the grass-eating dog or the one with the limp) were ones that I found most interesting and useful.  As AnneT said, I'd also like to see a mix of species.

lin November 28th, 2009 11:11:51 PM

I don't know what the deal is with spammers getting comments on your site here lately, but I can tell you that because of it, I would NEVER buy a product they mentioned because it's just wrong.

cl November 29th, 2009 08:40:41 AM

Here's my suggestion (FWIW):  Make sure that on that Q&A page there is a disclaimer (in CAPS) that emergency questions cannot be answered in a timely manner, and that in that situation, the questioner should contact a local vet.  Or something like that.  Our website says on our email feature for requesting an appointment that the client should call if it is an emergency, not wait for an email reply.  Perhaps you could have a short synopsis of what may constitute an emergency (gasping for breath, large bleeding wounds, etc).

Sassy November 29th, 2009 11:11:43 AM

I enjoy question and answer segments even if it is about a species I don't own.  I think it's unlikely that people would intentionally email about obvious emergencies, such as animal being hit by a vehicle, but they may email about something that they believe is benign, but which you would recognize as being potentially life-threatening...  I think most of the questions would be behavior issues and would be asking for advice about how to address the issues.

For example, I have 7 outside cats.  Some were strays that I fed and that decided to stick around, some are off-spring of strays.  I have had all but one of these cats neutered.  The hold-out is a female, about 4 years old, who is mostly feral.  She actually has lived her whole life here, but would not let us even pet her for years.  She co-existed with the other outside cats most of the time, but lately has taken to attacking viciously each of the other cats without provocation.  We have tried to capture her to have her spayed, but she explodes, fighting, biting, scratching, hissing, and aiming for our faces!  What can we do to keep her from attacking the other cats?  Could there be something physically wrong with her to cause this behavior?  Obviously we cannot easily take her to a vet, in fact, we had to plead with our local vet for a couple of years before he would consider spaying a feral cat...  Please help.

Classof65

Classof65 November 29th, 2009 04:11:49 PM

I try really hard to be nice about people who don't know a lot about animals, but I have an immensely hard time thinking that you - or any online vet source - could spend time answering ALL the "questions" sent in.  I used those quotation marks for a reason, because there have got to be a large number of people who are just being goofballs on the interwebs, and aren't asking real questions.  The insane ramblings of those with more time than sense, can only waste time that you could be spending helping real, live people and their pets.  I'm NOT trying to tell you how to spend your time (where DO you find the magic that lets you fit 35 hours of work into a 24 hour day, btw?), but I really, really, really think your editors are silly to not have 1 - 5 people skimming through and sending canned answers to not just the emergency-sounding questions, but the wackos, as well.

Okay, I realize it's sometimes hard to suss out whether someone just plain doesn't know something that most people should, and can't spell even simple words, from the nutballs, but I'd bet that somewhere between 25 and 30% of the "questions" aren't from people who even have the animal they're asking about, if they have any animals at all. 

'Sorry to sound so harsh, but besides the lousy cold (not the flu of any kind!) that's made me cranky, I've got less faith in people being sensible on the Internet than others, I guess.

KateH November 29th, 2009 07:42:20 PM

I'm with Kate and other about screening the questions first and not trying to do emergency veterinary care on the intertubes.

What I'd like to see is a prominent button leading to a list of symptoms, signs, and portents that indicate a visit to the vet immediately, with some good pictures of normal vs. abnormal conditions if possible.  As an example, I wouldn't have much trouble spotting blood on the floor or a limp but exactly how pale is "pale" when it comes to a cat's gums?

Will November 29th, 2009 08:21:39 PM

Hello Dr. K,

This is a growing trend and many websites are wanting to add this feature. I believe it is a good educational tool. However, without the client-patient relationship, it is impossible to give a detailed answer (even if the pet owner gives a lot of information). Even though pet owners have the best intentions, they will most likely leave out crucial details unintentionally (after all, they are not veterinarians therefore they don't know what veterinarians look for).

Overall, I agree with J.C.'s comments. After managing an ask-a-vet section on our website for a couple of years, I can honestly say that we do receive emergency related questions often. We are currently revamping our site (and our ask-a-vet section) and my coworkers can't believe how many people are crazy (or desparate) enough to submit life or death emergency questions online. 

We are adding "qualifying" questions to help weed out emergency questions. If one of the questions qualify as possible emergency, the pet owner will receive an automatic response to contact their veterinarian. We are also adding a disclaimer that we may not be able to answer all questions, it could take 5-7 business days (we are using volunteer veterinarians), and that answers are for educational purposes only (they really need to have and see a real-life veterinarian).

Sorry for the long winded comment. :)   

Jason November 30th, 2009 09:27:03 AM

I agree with Sassy's disclaimer suggestion about emergencies.  Owners may still ignore it, but at least you put it out there.

As for your three questions...

#1 - 5 if there is another Q&A on the topic.  I doubt my questions are original; so, if I can get information from other, similar questions in an archive for the site, then I'm happy.  If it hasn't been answered, then 10 (very important).

#2 - 10 

#3 - 8  The important part for me is to understand why the responder is qualified to answer the question.  If I haven't heard of the person before that's fine, but I'd like to understand their qualifications.

Posey November 30th, 2009 12:14:16 PM

#1 - 3 . While it's always nice to have your question answered, I'd prefer a well-edited list of interesting or truly common questions to a hodge-podge of whoever asked first.

#2 - 10 . Though more emphasis on the 'detailed' than the 'specific'. If I'm going to an 'ask a vet' thing, it's probably because I haven't been able to find sufficient information elsewhere, so a simple answer would be frustrating. On the other hand, I would have no problem with additional 'off topic' information designed to educate others as long as the case in the question was addressed as well.

#3 - 5 . this is half & half. I do definetely care about knowing where an answer is coming from, but I don't care at all if I know in advance. (so I wouldn't have a problem with a team thing as long as you all had similar credentials and signed your answers). If I cared deeply about a particular person's opinion, I would be asking in a more intimate forum than an internet faq.

I hate to say it, but, this seems like a bit of a lose-lose proposition. I would think those who would be most attracted to such a system would be those with the 'worst' questions in terms of being able to give a good answer that would be interesting to others. I wish you luck, and hope you are successful in finding a balance!

puppynerd November 30th, 2009 12:43:50 PM

#1- a 10.  I wouldn't ask it if i personally didn't feel like it was important and worth an answer :-)

#2 a 5.  i get that this isn't a 1:1 visit with my own vet. 

#3- an 8.  I'm assuming that i know from the web who will be answering my question (in like a 'meet the vet' section).  But in case i have a specific question for a specific vet (say one who has experience with my breed of dog) it would be nice to know who's answering.  Of course, if there's only one person answering questions, then this drops considerably

Anne December 1st, 2009 03:40:24 PM

Classof65: That's horrible! I take it she's not trap-able. You should still keep trying with different kinds of bait for the trap or hiding it in her favorite spots...keeping her from eating while the others do so she stays hungry enough to end up eating trap food, etc...

She's probably not physically ill, just deranged in a normal feral cat kind of way. 

Dr. Patty Khuly December 1st, 2009 04:12:57 PM

I just came across the AVMA press release about offering & sponsoring a web site for Q & A from pet-owners.

My question is will the questions really be answered 100% truthfully without a lot of fluff all around the simple answer (if the question calls for one)?

Who will monitor the answers?

The skepticism in me leaked out--

Good frontpage article with 200+ comments (wheww, you should read a few) in the UK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232217/Why-Im-ashamed-vet-shocking-expose-profession-puts-pets-painful-unnecessary-treatments-fleece-trusting-owners.html

Barb A/NH December 1st, 2009 10:06:18 PM

Barb, I'm disgusted by the article, but more because of the way the vet 'explained' the big picture evil of having a dog in a cage for weeks or months getting chemo.  If that's how it's being done there, then yes, that's an egregious wrong, but that is NOT how it gets done here.  Treatments are same day for a few hours at most and the dog goes home with the owner.  And he didn't tell us what the owner did (at least not in what I read, yet), and whether the owner was asking for the dog's life to be extended however long it could be, in whatever way it could be.  There are many clients who will go to ends much further than I would go to.  That doesn't make them wrong.  It also doesn't make the vet offering those treatments wrong either. 

I admit I gave up reading the rest of the article because of his fear- and scandalmongering, so there may be true examples of the fleecing of clients - hell, I know it happens here, but really, his tone and choice of lead-in was so awful, I just... I'll have to wait a bit to try to finish it. 

KateH December 2nd, 2009 01:48:49 PM

Okay, Barb, I went back and finished reading the screed from the disaffected former vet. It did not improve my opinion of what he was claiming. Insisting that it's theveterinarian's fault that there are dogs with genetic problems (bulldogs needing AI and caesarians) - or the increase in numbers of 'tiny' dogs - and not blaming the breeders and public who continue to demand these dogs is ridiculous.

His comment about dachshunds with elongated spines - which they had a lot longer ago than the increase in vets and their increasing prices for services - is odd at best. To say that surgeries for slipped disks shouldn't be done because they cause pain, and usually don't work, and are therefore fleecing clients, who should just put all dogs with such injuries down instead, is difficult to understand. It sounds as if he thinks veterinary medicine should go back to those 'simpler times of yore' when minimal care was given, surgery was confined to stitching wounds, and "Ah, well, dogs don't live forever" was heard from the vet as he pulled out the syringe.

He says, straight out, "Small animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits should be put to sleep if they present with an illness that can't be easily rectified with a dose of antibiotics."   I would never keep an animal alive just because it would hurt me to loose them, but, geez, if it took 3 or 4 courses of antibiotics, or steroids, or somethings else, I'd give an animal a chance far more than this vet - who'm I'm glad has left the profession. 

KateH December 2nd, 2009 03:29:26 PM

KateH: Did you read the comments? That almost says more than the article! And he does qualify it with "some", and can we honestly say he's wrong?

I have gotten some nightmares both in the US and UK about IVDD surgery, and also some good reports too. A lot depends on who's wielding the scalpel.

But just from reading others experiences, some chemo/radiations are done daily & "monitered", so yes, a pet would be spending most of the time in a cage, not at home.

I also think about what he is saying about the AI & C-sections , is that perhaps breeders would work to change things, if they did not have access so easily to the above methods.

I, for one, do know that some breeders do NOT even attempt natural delivery for Scotties, but automatically schedule a C-section prior to first due date.

Ask around how many dams have rejected their pups, not even in milk yet, and no hormonal change in the body to prepare for motherhood.

Ooops, was that a secret? If more vets "insisted" on attempting natural birth, instead of compliance for the C-section, how many whelpings/pups would you think would be the result?

Hey, we have discussed many a bad scene on this blog with vet-med care. He is just one guy ready to spill the beans on what he has seen. 

If we saw a little of that here, maybe the baddies would shape up or ship out.

Barbara A./NH December 2nd, 2009 04:49:15 PM

Barb, I did go back and read the comments - about 200 of them - tiring my eyes and getting a lot of stories of overcharging.  Frankly, I don't believe the most outrageous claims, like the 80 pounds - about $130 - for a bath, to be done 5x each on 2 dogs, or the 1200 pound -$1930 - for a dental.  Do some vets charge more than would cover their costs and give them a decent profit - I'm sure there are a lot of them.  But didn't we just read a week or two ago (and several times before) about the insane amount of debt that vets have? 

Everything medical, for humans and other animals, costs more than it 'should' in a better, let alone perfect, world.  It is up to owners to 1) know their budget and 2) know if and how much they can go over that budget if 3) something is wrong that costs more than they have.  Then, it is also the owner's responsibility to insist on communication with the vet about which options are available and why one might be better than another.  If they can't get that info from the vet, they need to seek it elsewhere. 

I think that the lack of importance of science education and literacy in this country, as well as critical thinking no longer being taught in schools, has lead to a lot of the problem of people not understanding medical issues for themselves, let alone their pets.  Yes, there are veterinarians, as well as human doctors, and dentists, who take advantage of this.  I've met a bunch of them (as many on the human as the non-human side), who didn't deserve my time, tears, or money.  At least with the vets I feel I can work to find the best care at prices I can afford and trust I've done the best for my pet, and get treated with respect because I tried to educate myself for my pet's benefit.  Human doctors almost never believe you just might know what you're talking about, and they treat you with contempt when you try. 

K December 2nd, 2009 06:46:05 PM

Kate: I disagree with that last statement. There are more & more human doctors really listening and trusting their patients intuition and ready to engage in above "par" conversation, eagerly in fact (maybe a novelty to them).

Although many quoted the money aspect (and the exchange is nearly 2:1), they also focused on the 'need and urging for pet insurance', and a few cited how they were quoted treatment when possibly little to none was needed.

I'm not arguing debt load of a professional, many 4yr. grads have astronomical debt load too. It has nothing to do with "fleecing", does it?

I see changes on the horizon, the average US citizen may not often speak up , but that doesn't mean they are all stupid or unaware, either. My opinion is that when a client/patient or whatever smiles and nods at the professionals bs, that certainly doesn't mean that they don't walk out the door muttering & unhappy with the information they have received, knowing it was a load of BS.

Where's PJB when you need her?

Barb A./NH December 2nd, 2009 08:19:07 PM

K.: As a human doctor, I take exception to your comment about us. Good doctors know to listen to the patient because he/she is the one who best knows what is happening. We are taught in medical school that you can get the diagnosis from just history in 90% of cases and I have always found this to be true. Unfortunately today's payment schemes do not reward listening to the patient. You get paid more for doing procedures. With an internist or pediatrician expected to complete a patient visit in 5 minutes, it's no wonder they have no time or patience to pay attention to what you have to say. The solution is to change the way physician time is reimbursed.

Dr. Khuly: I agree, you should not waste your time answering emergency questions on a website. Those pets have long ago gone to the vet or to their eternal reward. A statement for the clueless about contacting a vet for emergencies is probably a must and I agree that a link to a descriptions of some emergency conditions is a good idea.

I think that trying to answer questions of the most general interest is the best strategy for apportioning your time and effort wisely.

Who's answering the question is not important; what their qualifications are is.

silkenpaw December 10th, 2009 06:40:44 PM

tine's Day gift,there are many new style product for new year,the most time select new year gifts unavoidable to choosep90x.com, designer clothe,cheap clothes online,wholesale clothes online,buy cheap clothes,mac cosmetics,cheap mac cosmetics,cheap gucci shoes,p90x,discount mac cosmetics,cheap replica handbags,cheap designer handbags,cheap coach handbags,replica handbags , etc,welcome order here and enjoy yourself.

p90x workout February 8th, 2010 09:46:24 AM