Opinions – shall we move to a closer vet?

[Tessie]

So as you may know, the bunnies and I have moved home to my parents house, which is just outside of London.
I am so happy to be home, I’m much happier here, but I’ve been pondering this for a while and I’d like some extra opinions – should we change to a vet that is closer?

Our current vet is absolutely WONDERFUL, but obviously, in London, which is about an hour’s drive away. It’s really not far for us, but for the bunnies (who seem to travel okay) it would be a long time. Our vet is probably the best one in England in my opinion, they’re the vet of the Royal Veterinary College, who set the standards for all the vets in the UK.
They have a separate waiting area for bunnies, they have THREE exotic vets and an exotics nurse, the care there is subsidised by the college so it’s not too expensive, and they even do free check ups during rabbit awareness week. They also have an animal hospital on site so if they need to be hospitalised, they can look after them right there. Also, they know us, they know who we are when we go in, they all ADORE Theodore in particular. I completely trust them and I know the bunnies have the best care possible there. I can’t stress enough, it really is the most fantastic vet.

There are plenty of vets around here, but I’ve had a google, and there’s none that would come close to the standards and knowledge we are used to. I’m sure there are some who know what they’re doing with bunnies, but they’re all basically small vets who mostly handle cats and dogs. However, they are closer. They’re probably all about a 20 minute or half hour journey.

Our London vet’s 24hour emergency service is actually quite close to where we now live, about 20 minutes away. So if if was an emergency or late at night, we could actually get there quickly, which makes it seem not so bad I guess.

So, the question is: would you rather travel to a vet that is possibly the most fantastic and knowledgeable vet your bunnies could ever have, or not have to travel far to a vet which is less competent and not as good all round?

[manic_muncher]

If this were my situation, I’d keep my current vet. Just the extra mile they go for rabbits would keep me. I’d love for my vet to be only an hour away! Mine is 2 hrs away, if we speed.

[Sarita]

Well….if it’s an hour away and you are able to get them there and you are happy with them then I would say keep them…it does sound like you have an option for emergency and that’s really important too. You could ask the college if they have a recommendation in your are that is closer as well for those emergencies….they might.

[Stickerbunny]

I would keep the normal one. My vet is almost an hour away by car and my buns do fine going to him, there isn’t a closer rabbit vet and many pets in the U.S. have to travel that far (or further) due to how spread out we can be. They’re fine traveling a bit. 

[Tessie]

I was hoping you gust would say that!
I just love our vet (as I’m sure you can tell, haha)

Thanks for the advice guys

[Beka27]

Definitely stay with your regular vet! And that is awesome that you still have options closer in case of emergency! (Your vet sounds fantastic! It would be a bit of a “swim” for us though… Being in the US! Lol!)

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