Veterinarian Recommendation

Looking for a good vet for a 10 year old ex-racing Greyhound. I live in St. Matthews, near Target. I have recently had a bit of disenchantment with my current vet and think it may be time to find a new one. Any recommendations you have would be most appreciated.

[Robin Garr]

Looking for a good vet for a 10 year old ex-racing Greyhound. I live in St. Matthews, near Target. I have recently had a bit of disenchantment with my current vet and think it may be time to find a new one. Any recommendations you have would be most appreciated.

Ellen, we were a little disenchanted with our former vet, too, but there are a lot of really good vets around St. Matthews. We've been taking our cats to Fenwick Animal Clinic, 3816 Wilmington, 896-0331, and have been very happy with them. Good service, reasonable prices, and they seem very caring about our animal friends.

Ellen, I'm taking a poll of our GPA/Louisville members to come up with a recommendation for you. I live in Jeffersonville but we take all of our dogs out to Shively. I know SAC is not for everyone so I'll see if I can get suggestions from our folks and will pass those on later today.

Lois

Looking for a good vet for a 10 year old ex-racing Greyhound. I live in St. Matthews, near Target. I have recently had a bit of disenchantment with my current vet and think it may be time to find a new one. Any recommendations you have would be most appreciated.

Ellen, we were a little disenchanted with our former vet, too, but there are a lot of really good vets around St. Matthews. We've been taking our cats to Fenwick Animal Clinic, 3816 Wilmington, 896-0331, and have been very happy with them. Good service, reasonable prices, and they seem very caring about our animal friends.

Robin, I saw an old post about Doerr Animal Clinic. So, you no longer recommend them?

Ellen, I'm taking a poll of our GPA/Louisville members to come up with a recommendation for you. I live in Jeffersonville but we take all of our dogs out to Shively. I know SAC is not for everyone so I'll see if I can get suggestions from our folks and will pass those on later today.

Lois

Thanks, Lois, I appreciate that.

Also, if anyone has anything, good or bad, to say about these vets that are close to my house:

Chenoweth Animal Hospital at Frankfort & Bauer
East Louisville Animal Hospital near St. Matthews Imports on Westport Road
Lyndon Animal Clinic at Westport Village
Fenwick Animal Clinic

Dear Ellen:

I've already gotten a few responses to the inquiry I posted to our email group this morning about "Greyhound savvy vets". So far, they've reported:

We really like Stony Brook Animal Hospital. It is located on Taylorsville Rd in between Breckenridge and Hurstbourne, so it's pretty close to St. Matthews. The vets are Todd Yates and Laura Fulkerson. The phone number is 491-9096. You can get in right away and they spend tons of time with you. I've known Todd since we were kids and they are both really great.

I really like Lyndon Animal Clinic. Dr. Oliver did a lot of work with greyhounds when he was at veterinary school at Auburn and is very knowledgeable.

Greyhounds don't require "special" vets but they do have certain unique qualities that require a somewhat different approach than most dogs. For instance, their low level of body fat means their systems process certain meds differently. This is especially true with anesthesia. Also, as a breed, they have different ideal blood levels (thyroid comes to mind). And, as you now know, they get certain conditions such as corns on their feet that appear to be peculiar to the breed.

I'll post more recommendations as they come in later today.

Lois

Thanks, Lois. You are greyt! (omg, I can't believe I just typed that!).

Yes, it's true!

[Robin Garr]

Robin, I saw an old post about Doerr Animal Clinic. So, you no longer recommend them?

I want to choose my words carefully, Ellen, because we have gone to Doerr since the 1980s, and I do think a lot of them. The easy answer is to say that we lived out near there before we moved to NYC in 1990, and they were just a block from our house on Wesboro Road. We really admire Dr. Doerr and have loved some of his assistants over the years. But now that we live in Crescent Hill, it's not as convenient, and we hate to subject our furballs to a longer drive in the Awful Loud Noise Making Machine than necessary. Then I have to add that Doerr seems to be relying on assistants more in recent years, and while none have been bad, we've liked some more than others. And we felt their charges have gone up more than the competition. Add it all together, and we started looking around, but in fairness, it was mostly because of distance.

Fenwick is much closer to our house, a shorter ride for the cats, and as I said, at this point we've been really happy with their service and costs and the cordial way they've treated us humans and our feline friends.

[Robin Garr]

Also, if anyone has anything, good or bad, to say about these vets that are close to my house:

Chenoweth Animal Hospital at Frankfort & Bauer
East Louisville Animal Hospital near St. Matthews Imports on Westport Road
Lyndon Animal Clinic at Westport Village
Fenwick Animal Clinic

Fenwick, I've mentioned as my personal choice. Some friends of ours who had cats and a Lab love Chenoweth. Mary tried them once or twice but just didn't get the right vibe for her. Nothing bad about them, just didn't feel like a good fit. She thought they may actually be more dog-oriented, which could be a plus for you and your greyhound.

Robin, it is really hard trying to make this decision. We have gone to our current vet all my life. My mother took our dogs there and when I got my own dogs I starting taking them there.
I'm really torn. As far as routine things, they seem fine, although I don't really know, of course. It is hard putting your trust in someone to take the best care of your dog, and having something happen that shakes your confidence. It may really be that I feel so bad about myself for not taking it into my own hands and checking things out on my own.

[Robin Garr]

Ellen, don't feel bad about yourself. Our pets are our families, and we should pay as much attention to their quality of care as we try to do for our own! Maybe more, because they're defenseless. Looking for the best care, even if it means changing from a vet you've known for a long time, may be what you need, even if it's hard. Trust your instincts.

When we lived in Lyndon, we took our Cocker to East Louisville Animal Hospital for any and all treatment. Dr Brockman and his staff always provided a level of highly personalized care that made us feel confident our "Molly" was getting the best treatment. We live in Oldham County, now, but I would recommend ELAH to anyone.

We have 2 cats - no greyhounds, but I really like Dr. Edlin at East Louisville Animal Hospital. I was referred there from our previous vet when we had a cat with a loose tooth. We have been going there since then.

I will say that my boss has had greyhounds for years, and the only place he will take them is to Dr. Goranflo at Auburndale Animal Hospital - which is out on Southside Drive by National Turnpike.