I was wondering, would it be appropriate to have a sticky listing English speaking vets and reliable tierheimen or other boarding facilities? Maybe two stickies? So I thought I'd just put it out here, and see what people think, and if it's appropriate under forum guidelines.

Excellent idea - and I'd add trainers/Hundeschule to such a list.

I'd find it helpful

Why don't you have one for French, German or Italian teachers, that way you wouldn't need to run around all the time looking for English speaking profesionals and trades people

I'm taking this comment with a , as I'm sure that's how you meant it but...

I certainly believe one should learn the local language, and I certainly live most of my life auf Deutsch - but I draw the line at veterinary care.

Even though my German (especially my Hundisch) is now pretty good, I still prefer to conduct my veterinary appointments in English. There is so much that can be misinterpreted, leading to potentially disastrous consequences. My experience has taught me that one must be precise in order to get the right diagnosis and treatment. Afterall, our animals cannot speak - we must be their advocates.

A story that is sort of funny in hindsight - but could have ended very badly:

Shortly after moving here, when I had only just begun to study German, my collie needed emergency treatment, including an x-ray. Now, he was not the most cooperative patient at the best of times, and I knew that because he was in pain he was likely to act up. So I suggested that he might need light sedation in order to do the x-ray.

Or, at least I thought that was what I had said. But I was attempting to do this in my very beginner German. I couldn't think of the word for sedation or anesthesia - so I tried to describe the concept with my limited vocabulary. All I could think of saying was 'Maybe he should go to sleep.'

But... instead of einschlafen, I said einschläfern.

Which prompted a flurry of German... all I could understand was that the vet didn't think so. I kept insisting... he kept resisting... until finally the penny dropped, and I realized that the word I used to describe sedation was really the word for euthanasia.

Thank doG the vet and I finally understood each other - but it could have gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Since that day, I speak English with my vets. Most vets in the Zürich area do speak English, many have studied or practiced in English-speaking countries and are very comfortable conducting a consultation in English. The conversation often volleys back and forth between English and German, but at least both the vet and I are confident that there is no room for misunderstanding.

When it comes to my mutts' health, I do not take chances.


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ETA:

Not to belabor the point, but I was just looking at the Spezialistenklinik website, at the internship program for recent veterinary grads - and guess what? Interns are required to have a good understanding of German and English. I'd assume this is not necessarily to meet the needs of English-speaking clients, but rather because most research is published in English. Just to further show that asking for an English-speaking vet is not asking for something out of the ordinary here in Switzerland.

I wonder if i lived in the US or UK i could take my pet to a French or German speaking vet ?

Given some recent threads, perhaps a sticky on "re-homing" would be useful. ie. what info. to include, other options, etc.

As an aside--there is a "pet trading post" and this "pet corner", sometimes it is confusing where to post "re-homing". Is pet trading post for adoption or commerical, it might make some sense to merge these two or change the name.

Great idea, Edot.

For Lausanne, I can recommend/volunteer info on a vet:

Jean Pfister, Dr Méd.Vét.
rue Marterey 52
1005 Lausanne
021 312 56 08
Metro Ours
http://www.veterinary.ch/
(English, French, German, Russian spoken)

and kitty boarding:

Chat l'Heureux
Mme Elisa Ryter
CFC de gardienne d'animaux
1059 Peney-le-Jorat
tél. 021 903 46 64 / fax 021 903 29 12
http://www.chatlheureux.ch/
(French only, I think, but experience with international clients)

So one thread of pet resources? Or more than one? Maybe all of the posts in the thread should start with keywords like service (vet, boarding, etc) and canton to make searches easier.

I have to admit that my motives aren't completely altruistic. We'll know for sure in November, but it looks like we might relocate closer to Zurich, and in part, services for the pup and environment for the pup will determine in part where we settle.

My 5 Rappen:

I would prefer separate threads: one for vet care, one for sitters/walkers/boarding, one for trainers/behaviorists/Hundeschule, etc. I would think that would make it easier to search.

Mods - would separate threads be a maintanance problem?

and for each canton maybe ?

I've just used the "contact us" button to ask the administration about this, so we'll see what happens.

Anything further on this, Edot?

Haven't heard a word. Was just thinking I should do something. Maybe we should create the threads and if we can make them sticky ok, or ask a mod to do something. Right now we have vets, training and boarding... So 3 threads?

Actually maybe a 4th for the pet sitting network. Needs to be separate from boarding I think...

Too complicated?

I don't always get replies to questions I ask either.

I suggest you make yourselves some neat lists into separate Threads and then ask a nice Mod to make them Sticky. Try and make the Info as clear as possible and perhaps more links than 'facts' which in a couple of months could be wrong again. Alternatively, give 'facts' and the link and keep an eye on them yourselves. If things change, ask for an update to be put in the same post. That's what I do with the Hiking and Swimming ones. It means that folk don't have to look quite so far to find up-to-date stuff.

I think it a great idea that you are taking this into your own hands. It's usually more work than you think, so good luck with it.

We really need them by Kanton to be useful. Is that going to complicate matters even further?

Making separate posts by canton as well as by subject can make things even more complicated for folk who live near a border (or two).

As long as the canton is given, perhaps at the front of the line, one should be able to 'scan' the list quite quickly.

Vets
ZH - hqwp9tq böhp
AG - aihpq9

That's a great idea. Because otherwise we could have perhaps 100 sticky topics. Thanks for the response longbyt.

OK, so I've 'stuck' the 'Vet' and the 'Boarding' Threads. Let me know if you make another and it needs the same treatment. If, at any time, things change, it is no problem at all to Unstick them.

I think it's not a bad idea to have the general links, the sort of 'vet-look.ch' thing on the Thread too as there is so much info to be found there when all else fails. The emergency numbers are easy to find. However, it is obviously even better if folk put in their own recommendations.

Great that you started the job. Keep up the good work.