Volunteering vet services for rescue

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

SteveOwen — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:25:34 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

The excitement of being a vet will wear off quickly, but you will find duty bound to continue.

I think it's a lovely idea, but maybe better to spend some of your spare time fund-raising for them rather than upsetting the status quo.

[/quote]

Agree with much of the above, but especially the above two statements!!!

Walk some dogs for them when you are down visiting. Will be less stressful for you in your spare time anyway. I'm not saying if a dog breaks its leg when you are there you shouldn't provide first aid, but otherwise, don't get involved!

I am lucky enough not to live and work in the same town. When walking my dog, I know a fair number of less well off dog owners, but I wouldn't dream of telling them I am a vet. Why should I? I like chatting to them and walking my dog - I don't want to be "on call" all the time. Obviously, in an emergency, I would help - but it hasn't come to it yet.

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Niall Taylor — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:05:04 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]It is unlikely they are making much profit from the work [/quote]

On the other hand though a thriving charity can become a very valuable (not to mention lucrative - all those concerned donors) going concern. It's not unheard of for such businesses to be occasionally sold on for respectible sums to new owners. All in the interests of animal welfare of course .

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"] As far as buying vaccines, consumables etc, I would get the rescue centre to buy them direct so that you are not spending any of your own money... Lastly, check with VDS (or whoever insures your practice) to see if you would be covered if the work isn't for your own practice.[/quote]

This is absolutely sound advice - make no financial commitment whatsoever and cover your posterior with professional indemnity insurance. Remember - it is their hobby, it's your career.

Niall

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Niall Taylor — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:55:12 GMT

[quote user="Tanya Fielding"] be careful how involved you get... I now wish I hadn't started as they refuse to bring anything to the surgery, expect me to deliver drugs and take animals into work and delver them back in their cages... I now feel duped and wish I had kept them at arms length. Don't get too heavily involved[/quote]

I would tend to agree. Are you sure you aren't just being taken advantage of here - cui bono - how much does the charity get out of the deal? Surely you are worth more than this - 'that which costs nothing has no value'.

Niall

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Tanya Fielding — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:24:06 GMT

be careful how involved you get I do work for my nextdoor neighbours who are a rescue at low cost. I now wish I hadn't started as they refuse to bring anything to the surgery, expect me to deliver drugs and take animals into work and delver them back in their cages so need to dismantle the car seats. I wouldn,t mind but they hardly rehome any animals get the charity to pay for their accomodation, and have plenty of time to travel to Shetland to collect dogs. I now feel duped and wish I had kept them at arms length. Don't get too heavily involved.

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:29:23 GMT

It sounds good in theory but with different hats on:

As your boss, not sure how happy I'd be about you doing the work FOC for others, certainly wouldn't think you'd be covered by the practice's VDS cover (what if someone re-homes a dog that you checked, but you missed something and now the new owner is coming back at the charity to pay for the undiagnosed medical condition)

As the other practice - imagine you were giving them a discount on their vaccs as would be common in this situation, but you are still making a little money out of them. You want to remove all income from them, but expect them to pick up your pieces if something needs ongoing treatment or OOH care. You can't skim off the cream and leave the crap behind. If we were the 'other' practice we wouldn't go with that and not sure it's a responsible thing to do.

As you - your time off is precious. If you do on call then time off is valuable and you don't want to be doing more vet work in your spare time. The excitement of being a vet will wear off quickly, but you will find duty bound to continue.

I think it's a lovely idea, but maybe better to spend some of your spare time fund-raising for them rather than upsetting the status quo.

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

An On MRCVS — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:18:30 GMT

They do not know (as I am currently not in a gp vet practice so not taking work from them and it is in my free time). Hence the anon! This anon business does get complicated!

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

An On MRCVS — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:11:22 GMT

To the second anon poster - thanks for sharing your experiences. This sounds pretty much what I had in mind, so it's good to know someone else has some previous experience of this!

What did your boss(es) think when you approached them?

(original anon poster)

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

An On MRCVS — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:08:45 GMT

Thank you for your replies so far, they're pretty much in line with what I was thinking. The difficulty is speaking to the rescue's vets as to do this I would need to go via the rescue, as at the moment I'm not 100% sure which practice(s) they are using.

Newgradvet - I wouldn't be charged them travel, I have a friend who lives nearby who I visit on a regular basis, so I would time the two to co-incide wherever possible. If not, the rescue is on my way to (or from!) my parents house so could easily be included in that journey.

Gillian - I am planning to talk to my boss before approaching the rescue, I just wanted to get an idea if there was anything obvious I was missing in my thought process by using the forum as a sounding board before I went to the bosses with my plans. Didn't think about VDS, so that's one thing I'd missed already!

Anyone else have any other thoughts?

Thanks

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

An On MRCVS — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:07:35 GMT

I do this for a friend's very small rescue charity. I provide my time free of charge to do health checks, microchip (they buy the chips), vaccinate, worm and flea treat (I provide prescriptions rather than have my own account as it was simpler at the time of setting up). Any emergency work/surgery/treatment that I can't easily do is carried out by a local veterinary practice, who know what I do and are happy. it does save the charity a lot of money and as it is small it doesn't take up too much of my free time. I do not have separate insurance to do this work outside of my normal work and it does cross my mind occasionally, but I felt (rightly or wrongly) that as friends (I know could go very wrong!) and as I do little treatment as such, more preventative, the cost outweighed the risk.

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Claire McConnell — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:49:21 GMT

I feel that unless you are planning on doing the work completely free of charge (including no charge for your travel expenses) then this may not really be that helpful for them. The cost of petrol these days means unless you are willing to not charge they may only be saving a small amount.

I agree that you would definately want to chat to your boss and the rescue centres main practice first. I am unsure how my boss would feel about me doing veterinary work outside of my (his!) practice but not sure he would be keen. However your boss hopefully will be ok with this.

I do not feel you would be obliged to provide 24hour care to these dogs as long as their primary vet practice was providing it and it was discussed between all parties so this is clear.

Re: Volunteering vet services for rescue

Gillian Mostyn — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:39:37 GMT

In this circumstance I think you would need to sit down with your boss first and run the idea past them If they are not keen on the idea, and you are unable to convince them, then I would be very careful. That is your livelihood and working in an hostile environment is not nice.

If your boss is OK then I'd chat to the centre's own vets next - see what they think. You will need to maintain a very good working relationship with them so be prepared to be honest and open about what you are proposing. It is unlikely they are making much profit from the work so it shouldn't dent their bottom line, and they may well be happy to let someone else take some of the routine work from them. They will continue to do the centre's non-routine work and OOH and will have to take over again when (not if) you stop (your life circumstances are bound to change eventually) - it would do nobody any favours if the centre jeopardised this relationship.

Only when all the vets are on board would I even mention it to the rescue centre. I think it is a generous thing to offer, but beware .... it may become more of a commitment than you want. Set strict limits as to what you will do, what hours you will work FOC etc and what length of time you will be expecting to do this for.

As far as buying vaccines, consumables etc, I would get the rescue centre to buy them direct so that you are not spending any of your own money. They will need a prescription from you but otherwise I can't see any problems with this - get in touch with one of the big vaccine suppliers and see what they can do.

Lastly, check with VDS (or whoever insures your practice) to see if you would be covered if the work isn't for your own practice.

Good luck - as I said, it is very generous but I would beware - your time off work is valuable but may get swallowed up very quickly if you allow it....