Changing vets(I have a dog, a cat, and two hamsters changing vets), but do not want to lose medical

I've never been happy with the vet that I have now (she's cold-hearted towards all animals, and she incompetent in her work!). I have one dog (retriever-shepherd mix, spayed female, 9 years old), one cat (domestic short-hair, neutered male, 1 year old), two hamsters (one black syrian, about 11 months; one siberian dwarf, about 7 months) all of which are under her care. It seems that this woman wants to over-medicate my kitten, ignore all age related problems with my dog until they become crisis, and the hamsters she admits she is clueless about!

She has been my vet for 8 months, she was referred to me by someone who I thought would know better than to take their beloved pet to a buffoon! I need to change vets, however I would like to maintain my pets medial histories:

can I ask my old vet for their medical files?

should I ask her for their medical files?

I keep copies of the all the paperwork she gives me, is that enough to establish medical history for the new vet?

Changing vets(I have a dog, a cat, and two hamsters changing vets), but do not want to lose medical history...

Call the office, tell them you would like a copy of the records and to either fax everything or that you will come to pick everything up later that day. They have to give you the records, make sure everything is there (they should technically have the records from the vet before too since the info would have been transfered so they knew which vaccinations the animals had and when they would be due for more) Make sure you have everything before you leave (at least everything within the past year vaccination wise for all of them, so you can have proof of when they will need them again and what shots they have had, and anything recent that is happening that you have recived care for.) If you don't like the vet, change immediately. If you didn't like your doctor you wouldn't keep going to them, why suffer through the same thing with your pets?

Changing vets(I have a dog, a cat, and two hamsters changing vets), but do not want to lose medical history...

Yeah, she sounds a little crazy. Either way, you are paying her to provide services for you and your pets...if you are unhappy, you have every right to switch Vets! Call your Vet's office and tell them you are switching Vet's, you can even say you are moving (if you don't want them to know why you are really switching) and tell them you need copies of all of your pet's medical records. They may charge you a fee (some do, some don't) Or, once you establish a new Vet, they can call and ask for your pet's records to be faxed to their office. Doing it yourself would be best, that way you can get all of your pet's records at once. Hope that helped!