General Question Board certified Surgeon?

Bulldoginsfl

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Oct 10, 2014
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Hello. My male 2 yr/9 month old bulldog is going in for surgery on the 8th of Jan. My regular vet sold part of his business to a company called VCA so it is now called VCA and Simmons animal clinic. Many of his vets left his business and I was concerned as to who there would preform stenoic nare surgery so I wrote Ken Simmons ( the owner) He said we now have a board certified surgeon who comes in and does the surgery"s on certain days of the week. First when they gave me an estimate back around a year and a half ago it was $900.00 Today I got an estimate of $1,600.00 for the same surgery. Personally I do not care that much regarding the cost of it for Trupanion will pay 90% of it. What I am concerned about is Buddy"s welfare and is a board certified surgeon better than a non certified surgeon.?? I know anesthesia is the biggest concern. My neighbor had a young dog that died while being neutered due to anesthesia. ( not a bulldog) I know my vet does have state of the art medical equipment so I feel quit sure Buddy will be in good hands but does anyone know if a board certified surgeon is better than a regular vet? Thanks everyone,
 

cali baker

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You ask a good question. A board certified surgeon is one who has had more specialized training and certification ini an area of medicine, in this case, surgery. So, if my bulldog was going to have stenoic nare surgery and i had the choice between a BCS and a "regular" vet, i would choose the former. I think of it as this: if i was going to get plastic surgery done on my face, I'd want a board certified plastic surgeon to do it, not my family practitioner (who legally can perfrom the surgery but may not do it so well). Also, not sure if the surgeon would be the one in charge of the anesthesia or not...you should ask b/c sometimes they bring in an anesthesiologist also (but not always the case).
 

buffym

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I've worked in both a regular vet clinic and a specialty clinic with board certified surgeons. You are going to pay more but you will also have a better outcome. Board certified surgeons specialize in surgery and have performed these surgeries many many times, regular vets only do them on occasion. The VCA I worked at had a doctor that thought she could do anything when in fact she couldn't. She did the nares on a pug and it ended up looking like a gorilla!! She did my bulldogs entropian surgery not once but twice and screwed it up both times. He has since had it corrected a third time. In my opinion board certified is the best way to go. Good luck!!
 

Manydogs

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Perhaps if he will be at office one day before your boy's scheduled surgery, you could find out, and stop in and talk to him. You would feel better about it.
 
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Bulldoginsfl

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Oct 10, 2014
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Buddy
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Thanks everyone. This clinic where I take Buddy is undergoing a huge change although they want to assure me they are not. It is a well established animal clinic that has many many clients and I think the owner is in the process of starting another similar clinic in Orlando about 3 hours north of me. The only reason I started using this vet./clinic. is that they are open 7 days a week. some nights up till around 9 pm. which is really convenient and also when Buddy needed a PU surgery ( 9 days in the hospital) they worked with Trupanion and I now only have to pay my 10% responsibility at the time of service plus the office visit charge of $45.00. I was hoping a board certified surgeon was better. I know with his PU surgery the owner himself sat in on the surgery and they even filmed it ( why I don't know) I know he is going to check out Buddy's palate when he is anesthetized but I am going to wait and if he needs it- do it another time. Thanks everyone.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Many years ago when our first boy needed palate and nares done, our vet was not comfortable doing all the necessary work and referred us to a board certified surgeon. Our vet is now certified so he does most of our procedures, but when it comes to this procedure BC is way better.

Best of luck... and keep us posted
 

Daphnee

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Experience with Bulldogs is most important, especially with the anesthesia. Then I'd go with a board certified 9/10 times. I went to a very, very, well known animal hospital that had many "specialists" in ophthalmology, orthopedics and so on. NONE, I repeat NONE were actually board certified specialists. The ophthalmology specialist would pluck the distichia as a solution. Sure enough, it'd grow back. She wasn't capable of properly treating it. BCS also are required to do continuing education in their field. This keeps them up to date with the latest info. Like others said, you'd go to a Cardiologist, Pulmonologist, and so on, so you should try for the best for your pup as well..
 

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