I got to thinking about something I haven’t seen in any vet offices since we moved from Phoenix: surveillance cameras.
Observations on Vet Offices
I specifically got to thinking about it last Thursday when I took Murph to the specialist for a consult on his paw. I had never been to this particular veterinary practice. I’ve really only been to two other vet offices since we moved to Nashville: Southside Animal Hospital and Banfield in Petsmart when I found Tabby.
This new-to-us office was much like any other vet practice. There was a reception desk and a waiting room, and beyond that the exam rooms.
Comparing Exam Rooms
When I was shown into the exam room, I noticed that unlike our regular vet (Southside), there was no art work in the room. (Our vet has funny animal pictures on the walls in every exam room.) The exam room in the specialist’s office was not without decor, though. It had an animal print border. (I want to say it was dogs and cats, but it may have only been dogs.)
There were other differences too. The exam tables were fixed in height. Our vet in Jacksonville had a moveable up and down table which made it easier for him to examine bigger dogs. (We’d tell Murph, “Hang on. You’re going for a ride!”) I haven’t seen those kinds of tables in any of the vet offices I’ve been to in Nashville.
The specialist’s room was also a little larger than our regular vet’s. There was a sink in the room, too, which our regular vet’s rooms aren’t equipped with. But there was only one chair, whereas there are almost always two at Southside.
But something I always look for now but haven’t seen in a long time was a camera. Of the surveillance variety.
Surveillance Cameras
We used to take Budly to a vet off of 43rd Avenue and Peoria in Phoenix. When we first started taking him there (which would have been about 1993), there were no cameras in the room.
But during one of his annual visits we noticed a new addition: a surveillance camera. When the vet came in, we asked her what was up with that.
“It serves two purposes. One, to protect us in case anyone tries to claim we did something improper. But it also lets us see how people are interacting with their pets and make sure they’re treating them properly, too.”
“What if they weren’t?” Wayne wanted to know.
“We’d step in.”
“Like take the pet away from the owner?”
The vet shook her head.
“It’s not quite as simple as that. But, yes, in some cases our tapes could be used as evidence to remove a pet from an abusive home.”
Big Brother and Our Pets
Not that I’ve ever abused any of my pets, but that incident made me paranoid. Now I always look for cameras.
There wasn’t any in the exam rooms at the specialist’s office, but the way the reception desk is set up, I could see the monitors for surveillance cameras focused on the parking lot and waiting rooms.
This I understand. After hours the other side of the practice becomes an emergency pet clinic. For security reasons it behooves them to have those cameras.
Still, it amazes me that wherever we go these days, Big Brother’s liable to be watching. Even in vet offices.
Question to Readers
Does your vet have surveillance cameras in the exam rooms?
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Photo credit: Photo by Anja Ranneberg. 
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