Is a small practice or a large multi vet clinic better?

It depends on what you value. A small practice offers continuity: you almost always see the same person, who knows your animal's story by heart. A large clinic offers longer hours, more specialists under one roof and often an in house emergency service, at the cost of seeing different faces each visit. For a healthy puppy, continuity and proximity matter most, so many families start with a small home practice and use the large clinic only for tests and procedures that need special equipment.

Can I switch vets after the first visit if it does not feel right?

Yes, always, and you owe no one an explanation. The relationship is yours and trust is the basis of care. The one precaution is to take the data with you: ask the first practice for a summary of the history and keep a copy under your own control. With that information the new vet starts without gaps and without making you repeat tests already done.

How much does distance matter compared with quality?

Both matter, but at different moments. For planned checks you can afford to drive a little further to the practice you prefer. In an emergency, minutes on the road become decisive and the far away but excellent clinic is no use if you cannot reach it in time. The common solution is to have a trusted vet for routine care and to know in advance where the nearest out of hours emergency service is.

Should I bring anything to the first visit if the puppy seems well?

Bring every document that came with the animal, even if it looks incomplete or messy, along with the microchip number. If the puppy comes from a breeder or a shelter, it has often already had a first worming or a first vaccine dose: knowing what was done and when avoids repeating or skipping steps. A fresh stool sample, if the practice asks for one, lets them check for intestinal parasites at the first opportunity.

The first months40 minLevel: BeginnerUpdated on August 20, 2026

Choosing the right vet for your new puppy or kitten

How to find, assess and choose your puppy or kitten's first vet: building a shortlist, the questions to ask on the first call, the first visit and the record.

Audience: Pet owners
Species: Dog, Cat
Scope: Valid everywhere, Italy, European Union

What you need before you start

I documenti del cucciolo, cioè libretto o passaporto e certificato di cessione, anche incompleti
Il numero di microchip, che trovi sul documento di cessione o sull'etichetta della cucciolata
Un mezzo per prendere appunti, meglio se un profilo digitale condiviso con chi vive in casa
Un'idea di quanto puoi spostarti in auto o a piedi nel raggio in cui cerchi la clinica

Your puppy's first vet is not just whoever signs the record book: it is the person you will see most often in the first year, the one you will phone on a Saturday night when something feels off, and the one who will end up knowing your animal's history better than anyone. Choosing them calmly, before you need them in a hurry, changes the quality of everything that follows. Most people instead settle for the first practice they find on a map, and only notice the mismatch when it is too late to switch without stress. This guide helps you do it the other way round: start from what you actually need, build a short list of candidates, filter them with one well run phone call, and turn the first visit into the foundation of a tidy medical record. It costs you one evening of work and saves you months of regret.

Why this choice matters more than it looks

In the first twelve months a puppy comes back to the clinic many times: vaccine courses, worming, growth checks, a possible neutering and the small mishaps that happen to an animal exploring the world with its mouth. Every visit is a brick in a relationship, and a good relationship pays off in concrete ways. A vet who knows your animal's story reads a new symptom in the light of everything that came before, instead of starting from scratch each time.

Then there is the emotional side, which weighs on the puppy as much as on you. An animal that learns early that the clinic is a place of treats and gentle handling, and not only injections, reaches the difficult years far more cooperative. Deciding where to build those first experiences is not an administrative detail: it is part of the care itself.

Building a short list of candidates

The first step is not to find the single best practice, which does not exist, but to gather three or four names that meet the criteria that matter for your situation. Distance is one of them, and not out of laziness: in an emergency the minutes on the road count, and a puppy vomiting in the car for half an hour arrives at the visit already worse.

Real proximity, measured at the time of day you would actually use the clinic, not at midnight on empty roads.
Opening hours compatible with yours, and whether they keep slots for urgent cases.
A clear plan for out of hours emergencies, whether that is the same practice or a partner facility.
The skills on hand, for instance whether they also see exotic species should the household grow.
Word of mouth from people who own the same kind of animal, worth more than an anonymous review.

The right questions on the first call

A five minute phone call filters your list better than any online search. You are not calling to book straight away, you are calling to understand how they work and how they treat someone who asks questions. The tone they use with a would be new client tells you a lot about how they will treat you when you are anxious.

Ask how they handle out of hours emergencies
This is the single most important question. You want to know who answers at night and at weekends, where they send you if they are closed, and whether your information is passed on to the on call facility in that case.
Check the typical wait for a routine first visit
If a routine check takes weeks, imagine what happens when you need same day help. A good sign is a willingness to fit urgent cases in, even at the cost of making routine appointments wait a little.
Ask how and when you can reach them with a doubt
Some practices answer messages, some call back in set windows, some want phone calls only. No method is wrong, but you need to know which one it is before you need it.
Ask how they deliver reports and estimates
A practice that happily sends a written report and a detailed estimate before proceeding is one that works in the open. Reluctance on this point is a signal worth noting.
Listen to how they talk about your puppy
Someone who immediately asks the age, species and whether it has been seen before is thinking clinically. Someone who brushes the call off with generic answers is telling you what the relationship will feel like.

Booking the first visit and opening the record

Once you have chosen the practice, the first visit does two things: it introduces the puppy and it lays the foundations of the medical record. Bring every document you have, even if it is a mess, and turn what the vet says into data that stays. The record does not belong to the vet, it belongs to you, and it will follow you even if you change practice or city one day.

What to gather at the first visit to open a record that lasts. Log each item the moment you get it, not from memory that evening.
Item	Where to find it	Why it keeps its value
Microchip number	Transfer document, then confirmed by the scanner at the clinic	It is the stable identifier that ties all the data together across clinics
Weight at the visit	The practice scales	It is the first point on the growth curve and it drives drug dosing
Products already given	Stickers in the record book	Prevents duplicates and lets you catch up any missed boosters
Plan for the next appointments	The vet's instructions at the end of the visit	Turns advice into concrete reminders with a date on them

Recognising a relationship that works

The choice does not end at the first visit: the first three or four confirm whether you chose well, and at this stage switching is still easy. Judge the relationship on simple, honest criteria, without chasing perfection but without settling for what makes you uncomfortable either.

They explain their decisions in language you understand, and welcome questions rather than bristling at them.
The puppy, after the first few visits, walks in curious and handleable rather than terrified.
Estimates arrive before procedures, not after, and the line items are readable.
When a second opinion or a specialist is needed, they suggest it themselves instead of standing in your way.
Clinical information is handed to you in writing, so you can keep it and share it.

If one of these points is clearly missing, it is not a disaster and it does not need an argument: changing practice in the first months is normal and legitimate. What is much harder is changing after years, when the clinical history lives only inside that clinic's software. That is why keeping a copy of the data under your own control, from day one, always leaves you free to choose.

Frequently asked questions

Is a small practice or a large multi vet clinic better?: It depends on what you value. A small practice offers continuity: you almost always see the same person, who knows your animal's story by heart. A large clinic offers longer hours, more specialists under one roof and often an in house emergency service, at the cost of seeing different faces each visit. For a healthy puppy, continuity and proximity matter most, so many families start with a small home practice and use the large clinic only for tests and procedures that need special equipment.
Can I switch vets after the first visit if it does not feel right?: Yes, always, and you owe no one an explanation. The relationship is yours and trust is the basis of care. The one precaution is to take the data with you: ask the first practice for a summary of the history and keep a copy under your own control. With that information the new vet starts without gaps and without making you repeat tests already done.
How much does distance matter compared with quality?: Both matter, but at different moments. For planned checks you can afford to drive a little further to the practice you prefer. In an emergency, minutes on the road become decisive and the far away but excellent clinic is no use if you cannot reach it in time. The common solution is to have a trusted vet for routine care and to know in advance where the nearest out of hours emergency service is.
Should I bring anything to the first visit if the puppy seems well?: Bring every document that came with the animal, even if it looks incomplete or messy, along with the microchip number. If the puppy comes from a breeder or a shelter, it has often already had a first worming or a first vaccine dose: knowing what was done and when avoids repeating or skipping steps. A fresh stool sample, if the practice asks for one, lets them check for intestinal parasites at the first opportunity.

What to do next

Choose the vet calmly while the puppy is well: gather three or four nearby candidates, filter them with a call that starts from out of hours emergencies, and use the first visit to open a record of your own with microchip, weight and upcoming due dates. Test the relationship over the first few visits, and remember that switching now is easy, while keeping a copy of the data under your control always leaves you free to do it.