CERF Fiasco... opinions needed - Page 2 - Golden Retrievers : Golden Retriever Dog Forums

Sally's Mom · #11 (**permalink**) 11-11-2012, 12:48 PM

I have friends who say that their dog's cysts have gone away from one CERF to the next. Your picture clearly show this is not the case! Let's all know how this turns out.. Distichia can come and go with coat shed and persistent pupillary membranes will not be seen if eyes have been dilated too long.

Jersey's Mom · #12 (**permalink**) 11-13-2012, 08:00 AM

Great news! I heard back from the rescue and they offered to shred my check as long as I send back the original forms (which I will do today). First they tried to suggest that perhaps I could have the exam redone by the same doctor in his office without further charge... clearly not an offer I was interested in. First, he's over 2 hours away from me and second, I would never feel confident in the evaluation. Scheduling would have been a nightmare anyway as "He only works one or two half days now since his age is getting way up there."

Yes, that was pretty much the whole problem to begin with.

Still no official word as to whether we can squeeze in to the clinic this weekend. I probably won't know for sure until they get my check... and with the holiday yesterday, it won't be going anywhere until today. Either way, at least I was able to resolve this with the rescue and don't have to pay for these exams. That certainly lightens the burden a bit.

Julie, Jersey and Oz

cubbysan · #13 (**permalink**) 11-13-2012, 10:26 AM

Great job!

Hopefully they will reconsider the vet and the setup they had. Makes one wonder how many other exams were inaccurate.

Sweet Girl · #14 (**permalink**) 11-13-2012, 11:39 AM

That is great news. They are doing the right thing. I must say, I agree with Cubbysan - I'd be worried about the other exams, too. I wouldn't have gone to him for a re-exam either. I hope he didn't see too many dogs that day. I would hope this is the last time the rescue will employ him for this.

Jersey's Mom · #15 (**permalink**) 11-18-2012, 09:33 PM

Our saga continues. I will call this: Strike 2.

Below is my email to the woman who was running this second clinic. I won't go into the entire story of what happened, as it's pretty well contained in the email. This is in response to an email she sent me this morning apologizing for yesterday but with the qualification that "some things are beyond our control." I assume that by this she was referring to the fact that the opthamologist's instrument broke at about 2:50 pm. I had run the boys outside for a quick bathroom break and came back to find the doctor and her assistant booking it out of there and overheard someone telling a person at the front desk that it would be "about a 2 hour wait." When I found out what was going on, I chose to leave and have my money refunded to me. Since I had prepaid (as I was told was necessary... but it wasn't) my check was not on-site and I requested it be sent back to me as I did not trust them to shred it on my behalf. Unfortunately, it was the women helping out (not the one who was running things) that got to hear my complaints yesterday as the organizer was in the breed ring at that moment. Anyway, here's the rest of the details about our second attempt at getting examinations done:

Quote:

Yes, I understand that the fact that the doctor's instrument broke was out of your control. Here's what was within your control: the organization of that clinic. Were you running a clinic that was organized by appointments or first-come-first-served? See, I was under the impression that the eye clinic was being run by appointment. I got that impression first thing in the morning when you told me I had a 3:00 pm appointment, which you moved up to 2:30 pm after my request for an earlier time. So I showed up at 2:10 pm, certain to give enough time for my dogs' eyes to dialate before my appointment time. Sure, nothing's perfect. I didn't fully expect to be seen at the exact moment I was scheduled for... but there's a certain expectation of time frame that goes along with having an appointment. What I did not expect was to find out that things were being run on a first-come-first-served basis and that most of the people I spoke with never even had appointment times. I spent over 2 hours sitting in the stands watching the trial because I was told by you that I should show up at a specific time. Truth of the matter was I could have had you drop my dogs' eyes right after I was done running (before noon) and likely been done with our examinations long before that time. The broken instrument was just the final piece of the puzzle that convinced me not to spend any more time there, as I had been at the trial site since 6:40 am and had yet to eat a thing all day. It may seem miraculous to you that the doctor made it back so quickly, but I still had a good 5 or 6 dogs ahead of me in line which would have made for another good 45 minutes or so to wait. By that time, I would have been waiting there nearly 4 hours (actually, make that 6 hours if we count the 2+ hours I twiddled my thumbs in the stands waiting for my "appointment"). No, the broken instrument did not upset me. I was already irate long before then.

I also take exception to the fact that this was advertised as a CERF clinic (complete with CERF signs in the hallway and on the door to the examination room) despite the fact that there were no actual CERF forms available. OFA and CERF are not the same thing. They are not simply interchangeable. Perhaps next time you should choose to make both forms available or to advertise for OFA eye exams.

I will look for my check in the mail. Thank you for sending it

So now I am on the hunt for yet another health clinic. Really hoping we can get this done and settled soon.

Julie, Jersey and Oz

**mylissyk** · #16 (**permalink**) 11-18-2012, 10:00 PM

Isn't there an individual vet you can make an actual appointment with for the exams?

kfayard · #17 (**permalink**) 11-18-2012, 10:50 PM

Can you ask the specialist to do a house call???

Wouldn't that be fantastic? You sure are having some bad luck!!!

Jersey's Mom · #18 (**permalink**) 11-18-2012, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylissyk

Isn't there an individual vet you can make an actual appointment with for the exams?

Yes, I'm sure there is, though it would probably still be a bit of a drive. But the thing is, you get a "group rate" type of discount by doing the exam at a health clinic. The last two (that unfortunately didn't work out) were $35 and $40. The ones I went to in NJ were in the same range. Going to a specialist's office will likely cost between $100 and $200. Unfortunately, that's money I simply don't have right now. I've incurred probably around $4,000 to $5,000 dollars in vet bills this year... it's been rough and my reserves are empty at the moment. To be honest, I've never had problems like these with health clinics before. The ones I've gone to in the past have always been well run and the doctors have been outstanding. I'm chalking this up to some pretty poor luck (which is kind of par for the course for me lately) and hoping the next one works out better... and soon.

Julie, Jersey and Oz

K9-Design · #19 (**permalink**) 11-27-2012, 09:15 PM

Julie, all that SUCKS and one of the reasons I refuse to do CERFs at a show health clinic.
The picture you took of your dog's eye is really something, I've never seen a picture like that. I had no idea you could see an iris cyst with the naked eye.
I only hope with OFA taking over eye exams that we start getting some consistency across the board with terms, diagnoses, research, data tracking, you name it!
FYI a CERF exam is $50 at the UF Vet School, I can't see why it would be $100+.

Jersey's Mom · #20 (**permalink**) 11-28-2012, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K9-Design

Julie, all that SUCKS and one of the reasons I refuse to do CERFs at a show health clinic.
The picture you took of your dog's eye is really something, I've never seen a picture like that. I had no idea you could see an iris cyst with the naked eye.
I only hope with OFA taking over eye exams that we start getting some consistency across the board with terms, diagnoses, research, data tracking, you name it!
FYI a CERF exam is $50 at the UF Vet School, I can't see why it would be $100+.

I can't see it normally, but when the eye is still fully dialated (and in the right light) I'm able to pick his out (it's like a slightly different translucence than the rest of his eye... can't really explain it). I was pretty shocked at how the photos came out too! It's not what I was expecting, but definitely more than did the trick!

Hmm.... maybe I'm wrong on the price thing then. I know that specialists are usually pretty expensive just to get in the door but I've never actually priced out a CERF exam. The clinics I went to in NJ were just so well run, I never had a reason to. Perhaps I'll look up the doctor that was doing the exams during that second clinic (everyone I've talked to says that she's wonderful) and see what it would cost. Thanks!

(Edited to add: $92 to get it done in the office... yuck. I may try my hand at one more clinic before I bite that bullet!)

Julie, Jersey and Oz

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