English-speaking vet -- rather urgent

kitty wonka · Post by **kitty wonka** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:12 am

Does anyone have an English-speaking vet? Including their contact information for holidays? We have a kitty that is not feeling well at all. Great timing given the holiday and all.

We are in Helsinki (in Munkkivuori).

Many thanks in advance!

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Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:34 am

Find the nearest one, the chances that he or she does not speak english is about 5 percent, they are well educated you know!Might be a difference in young and old ones but just go there.(and learn Finnish asap

Foreign Finnish: 'Minun kissa on sairas, voisitko katso nopeasti? '

inkku · Post by **inkku** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:09 am

I would also find the nearest one, they most probably speak English. However, (at least for the future) i would check a bit, and look for somebody cat-friendly. Not all the vets like cats so much.

This is in munkkivuori
http://www.mevet.fi/

Btw, there is a clinic specialicing in cats in helsinki.
http://www.felina.fi/

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:20 am

All vets should speak English. (Some of them don't like to do it

)
But it is more important that he/she speaks cat.
And for a city practice, cats are the most common clients.

kitty wonka · Post by **kitty wonka** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:51 am

Thanks for the tips everyone. We ended up going to the University of Helsinki's Veterinary Hospital. The wait was insane (we were there almost 7 hours in total on Friday), and it wasn't exactly cheap. But, everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and extremely comforting.

Most importantly, our kitty is better.

inkku · Post by **inkku** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:04 pm

kitty wonka wrote:Thanks for the tips everyone. We ended up going to the University of Helsinki's Veterinary Hospital. The wait was insane (we were there almost 7 hours in total on Friday), and it wasn't exactly cheap. But, everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and extremely comforting.

Most importantly, our kitty is better.

Good for the kitten:)

But uni clinic is a place i would not have recommended. It is very busy, and because it is a teaching hospital, they give placements for students who are not experienced in eg taking blood exams (my usually very calm cat got completely crazy when they fumbled that and had to be put into anesthesia, which normally is not required). I would take my pets there only if they had something completely unexplainable which ordinary vets would not be able to detect.

kitty wonka · Post by **kitty wonka** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:18 pm

inkku wrote:Good for the kitten:)

But uni clinic is a place i would not have recommended. It is very busy, and because it is a teaching hospital, they give placements for students who are not experienced in eg taking blood exams (my usually very calm cat got completely crazy when they fumbled that and had to be put into anesthesia, which normally is not required). I would take my pets there only if they had something completely unexplainable which ordinary vets would not be able to detect.

We had a really good experience, other than the wait, which we knew would be long (they did tell us this upon arriving). The reason we went there was b/c we couldn't get anyone else on the phone on Friday. We had a friend from my husband's office call around to the place nearest us along with another cat-friendly clinic at Kamppi. There was only a recorded message saying that they were in fact closed. If we would have been able to get through, we obviously would have preferred to go somewhere closer. That wasn't really an option, however.

I've worked in teaching hospitals (granted, the human variety) for most of my professional career, and I've never found the standard of care to be less than acceptable. They have to learn somehow, whether it be treating pets or humans. The uni clinic we found terribly friendly, particularly since we don't speak Finnish and our kitty is our pride and joy. They treated her well, and the only thing that really upset her were the dogs that kept coming and going.

inkku · Post by **inkku** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:35 pm

kitty wonka wrote:
inkku wrote:Good for the kitten:)

But uni clinic is a place i would not have recommended. It is very busy, and because it is a teaching hospital, they give placements for students who are not experienced in eg taking blood exams (my usually very calm cat got completely crazy when they fumbled that and had to be put into anesthesia, which normally is not required). I would take my pets there only if they had something completely unexplainable which ordinary vets would not be able to detect.
We had a really good experience, other than the wait, which we knew would be long (they did tell us this upon arriving). The reason we went there was b/c we couldn't get anyone else on the phone on Friday. We had a friend from my husband's office call around to the place nearest us along with another cat-friendly clinic at Kamppi. There was only a recorded message saying that they were in fact closed. If we would have been able to get through, we obviously would have preferred to go somewhere closer. That wasn't really an option, however.

I've worked in teaching hospitals (granted, the human variety) for most of my professional career, and I've never found the standard of care to be less than acceptable. They have to learn somehow, whether it be treating pets or humans. The uni clinic we found terribly friendly, particularly since we don't speak Finnish and our kitty is our pride and joy. They treated her well, and the only thing that really upset her were the dogs that kept coming and going.

Oh yes, it was juhannusaatto

.... Friday evening, before holidays is usually a good time for cats to get sick. I've seen it...

Indeed, there possibly was not much choice. But do not misunderstand, I do not mean to imply that in the teaching hospital they are not friendly or professional, i just felt for cats it might be a bit stressing place.

kitty wonka · Post by **kitty wonka** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:42 pm

inkku wrote:Oh yes, it was juhannusaatto .... Friday evening, before holidays is usually a good time for cats to get sick. I've seen it...

Indeed...sod's law...

Indeed, there possibly was not much choice. But do not misunderstand, I do not mean to imply that in the teaching hospital they are not friendly or professional, i just felt for cats it might be a bit stressing place.

our kitty is stressed any time she is not within the safety of her own kingdom. she is not at all hip to walks outside or even the hallway! she's a bit of a chicken sh!t...

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