In praise of old-fashioned vets

‘You’re very easy to deal with, I must say,’ said the tall, handsome vet who was examining the spaniel.

I laughed. ‘That’s not what the last vet said.’ The last vet sacked me after I asked to see my dog’s notes.

After a long and arduous battle with corporate vetdom, I made my way down south to a proper country practice and a chap recommended by my horse vet. He was old-fashioned, I was assured.

An old-fashioned vet simply means a vet who will make a diagnosis by using his expertise and experience, causing minimal distress to the animal, and not charging you many, many thousands for high-tech invasive testing that will get you no further forward.

I could pay a specialist to scan, biopsy and aspirate every lump and bump in my dog until she gave up the will to live. Or I could allow a man who has seen it all to examine her, take a history, do blood tests, X-ray her, weigh up the possibilities and give me his best guess.