Community Forums

cats_aplenty · 03-26-2016, 07:58 AM

Trying to figure out what the needs will be when I go fulltime. I know that where I consider "home" is where I will have my doctor and the animals vet - which will work for planned annual visits. But since I figure to spend most of my time on the BLM and NP land, I won't be near cities a lot. How do you deal with finding a vet clinic when something urgent comes up out in the boonies? Just dog and cat type animals will be with me. Appreciate your time on this.

MartySQ · 03-26-2016, 03:32 PM

HI Diana. Make sure you get some sort of program or chip that is embedded in your animals that a reader will be able to pick up. Try to get something with your animals records attached, so when they read the chip, they can get the records... there are some tags like that I believe... a smart phone would be able to read the code, take to a website with their info ( and yours) on it. Emergencies are hard. suggest taking an pet CPR and First aid course. Red cross no longer provides this service for pet owners/caregivers, but a company called Pet Tech does. Pet First Aid & CPR Training Pet Tech™, cat, dog, pets, first aid class
It would be hard to do CPR and drive... I hope you won't be solo. You will need to drive to the closest Vet/Emergency pet hospitals around. Best to look up that info before each planned move so you know the fastest closest route to that place... just in case, time can be life to them. Probably your worse scenarios are heat stroke, snake bite, scorpion stings and coyotes in BLM land. If your pets are older, I might would not go quite so far out into the boonies. Good luck getting this figured out. You are thinking ahead, and that is a great start!

brobox · 03-26-2016, 03:47 PM

Do carry current shot records. We have had Vets while traveling that will not take us unless we have current shot records.

A good Vet medical web site on how to treat animal illnesses may come in very handy. Find one you like and be familiar on how to get around it so you are not trying to figure it out should an emergency arise. I have a people app, iTriage on my phone that we have used many times while traveling and even the GPS portion to the nearest ER covered 100% by our insurance.

I see there are a few veterinary apps in the Play Store as well.

Old-Biscuit · 03-26-2016, 03:56 PM

Micro chip.....essential

Copies of ALL Vet records.......get them from you current VET and maintain those records

We used Banfield Clinics------inside alot of PetSmart Stores. THey are computerized records and have ALL your info regardless of which clinic/which state

When unable to find a Banfield we then used 'local recommendations' either via CG Office Staff/local grocery store clerks/pharmacists etc.

Bigd9 · 03-26-2016, 04:21 PM

Our 2 year old puppy had kidney failure and required special foods and lab work on a regular basis. We found independent veterinarian easier to deal with than Petsmart (Banfield). Independent Vets we used while on the road looked over our paperwork for Nilla and made a phone call back to our hometown vet and then said OK, let's get this done. Petsmart (Banfield) on the other hand told me unless we transferred her total care to them, they couldn't help us.

We asked at the campground front office for recommendations, or looked them up online. Normally in the small towns we like to camp close to, there was only one vet close by. We never had a bad experience.

I have also had to use a eye specialist once while I was working 1000 miles from home. Again, a check with the front desk and several eye specialist were mentioned. Checking with my health insurance narrowed that choice down to one.

cats_aplenty · 03-27-2016, 09:16 AM

Thanks for the feed back.

Afraid I will be solo. Many hurdles to think about on that front. But I am no spring chicken and figure I just need to do this even though it adds to the risk for me and my "kids".

Thanks for the info on chips that can lead to vet records. I have micro chips but not with the extra information.

I will see what I can find for good Vet web sites or apps. Hoping I will figure out how to phone/internet coverage in most of the places I stay.

Appreciate you folks taking time to offer information.

Bigd9 · 03-27-2016, 09:36 AM

One thing I forgot to mention. We get our vet to give us traveling papers for the pets. He certifies the pets are healthy and meet minimum vaccinations standards in the states we are traveling in. Never had to use it yet.

But, we ran into one eastern coast state campground that required not only signed vaccination paperwork for our dog and two cats, but current registration and proof of insurance for our coach and the toad! I couldn't believe it. First time for that! Once before out west somewhere, we were asked to bring in the collar with the rabies tag for the dog only.