What I would say is that if you want your appointments to be with specific
vets, *ask* for that when you make the appointment.  They may think they're
doing you a favor by offering the first available time or the time closest
to the time you first request, regardless of vet.  Just tell them what's
important to you.
 
On the mites, half-a-dozen or six.  Can't say what he was thinking.  But I
recently aske for an ear cytology on one of my ferrets simply because her
ears get dirty so fast, I began to wonder if I was missing something.
Consider allowing that maybe that's all the vet was thinking too.  After
all, you indicated already that you didn't really have a relationship with
this vet, and any vet or shelter can tell you how often someone that tells
them they take good care of their animal shows them an animal clearly not
in the best of shape from ignorance or neglect.  Maybe this guy didn't know
how much knowledge to actually credit you with and was trying to adjust his
perception in case you weren't as observant as you claimed.  (This is no
statement about you, just saying the vet doesn't know you either and has
to guess how much he can trust your observations.)
 
Well, prices are different everywhere, but if my vet charged me $55 for a
distemper shot (even allowing for the currency differences), I'd either
ask for a copy of his fees as they apply to ferrets (so I can decide
whether to go elsewhere) or go on and decide to find a more cost effective
vet.  I think that the last distemper shot I paid for as a stand-alone
item was $12-15 (US).
 
Best of luck with your vet search,
Debra in Fort Worth
[Posted in FML issue 3508]