Heads up on animal meds from the Vet.

[sred98]

What gets me, is you spend the major bucks for an injury, surgery, etc. Then they need a follow-up everyday for a week, and they charge you a $50 office visit each time! Way back when DH and I were vet techs, follow-ups were free! OR...even better...when the animal is HOSPITALIZED and they charge you hospitalization, critical care fees AND an exam every day that they're hospitalized! Shouldn't the exam be part of the hospitalization??

Sorry, vent over!

We've had some "vet" issues lately! LOL!

Shelly

 

[KellyHM]

Quote:
I wasn't trying to hurt feelings, just open eyes to the way other people feel and to the facts of life. 1-800-PET-MEDS and all those other companies have really hurt the veterinary industry as a whole, and as prefessionals we have no other choice but to make our money back somewhere else.

Quote:
In most (maybe all) states, there are laws saying that there has to be a valid doctor-client-patient relationship in order to prescribe meds and in most places this is outlined as a once-a-year health exam. Your vet isn't doing it just to make your life miserable. There are other conditions and meds that require monthly bloodwork to make sure the liver, kidneys, etc are not shutting down...if the vet were to skip these and someone's animal died from kidney failure due to the meds, then they would have a lawsuit against the vet!

Again, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, just bring another perspective. Maybe I'm extra touchy today since I'm taking the biggest test of my life tomorrow (yes, my National Veterinary Boards), have been working my butt off for 8 years to get to this point, and am $140,000 in debt (just in student loans) to pay for my education....and people are complaining about paying for an exam fee! Just try to see it from where I'm sitting...

 

[sred98]

Quote:
I wasn't trying to hurt feelings, just open eyes to the way other people feel and to the facts of life. 1-800-PET-MEDS and all those other companies have really hurt the veterinary industry as a whole, and as prefessionals we have no other choice but to make our money back somewhere else.

Quote:
In most (maybe all) states, there are laws saying that there has to be a valid doctor-client-patient relationship in order to prescribe meds and in most places this is outlined as a once-a-year health exam. Your vet isn't doing it just to make your life miserable. There are other conditions and meds that require monthly bloodwork to make sure the liver, kidneys, etc are not shutting down...if the vet were to skip these and someone's animal died from kidney failure due to the meds, then they would have a lawsuit against the vet!

Again, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, just bring another perspective. Maybe I'm extra touchy today since I'm taking the biggest test of my life tomorrow (yes, my National Veterinary Boards), have been working my butt off for 8 years to get to this point, and am $140,000 in debt (just in student loans) to pay for my education....and people are complaining about paying for an exam fee! Just try to see it from where I'm sitting...

Good luck on your exams tomorrow!!! Being a vet was a dream of mine but kids put a damper on that.

I think that people are just feeling taken advantage of. I had a cat with borderline megacolon...diagnosed by the vet. I took her home, kept her on a liquid diet, did enemas

, and fed her mineral oil. After a week, I took her back in, they kept her a week and refused to give her an enema or surgery and the bill was over $1000. The cat was returned to me in worse condition than I sent it in, and nothing was resolved.

They didn't "want" to give the cat an enema. SO?? Do you think I did?? LOL! Three weeks the cat suffered with this. I finally gave up. She wasn't in a whole lot of discomfort, and she ended up getting killed this summer

so we ended up not having to deal with it again. It's just very frustrating to deal with.

None of us are bashing vets. We're just venting too.

Again...best of luck tomorrow!

Shelly

 

[KellyHM]

sred - Sorry to hear about all the trouble with your kitty. I know things aren't always handled the way they should be, which is too bad. I hope you have better luck the next time! Thanks for the luck...I'm sure I can use it!

 

[Msbear]

Im sorry if you all have had bad experiences with a vet and best of luck on your exam. You absolutely deserve it after 8 long years of education and a huge bill like that. All I am saying is that other resources give consumers more options than a 300% mark up like I was expected to pay for medication. I deserve to have the best price available for me and my family. If it were a few dollars more, no biggy but $8 instead of $49!!!! That is a no-brainer if I had ever heard of one. You can't expect me to bend over with a smile while someone is robbing my family of groceries that week. That is totally ludacris and down right theiving. So 1-800-petmeds, I thank you for giving me another option....mucho gracius amigos. The vets get these meds for the same price as 800petmeds, maybe they should sell them for the same....my guess is they will have to when no one will be dumb enough to pay that price anymore.

 

[ChickenToes]

The last time I went to the vet was to buy heartworm meds. I had talked to one of the front desk ladies at the vet's office earlier that week, she asked if I wanted to buy a flea and tick treatment. She said it was $13. I said sure, I'd buy it.

So she put together my order and when I went to pick it up the total was over $100. She hadn't mentioned that the flea and tick stuff was $13 per tube! They wanted over $60 for it. I said forget it and went to the store and spent less than $10 on the flea and tick meds there.

 

[KellyHM]

You do know that the ones you buy at the store aren't the same and have been shown to cause seizures, etc, right? There's usually a reason why things are cheaper.

 

[Msbear]

You are right. But the doxycycline I got was the exact same manufacturer and same 50mgs

edited to say: for 300% less

 

[KellyHM]

I believe you on the Doxy...just wanted to warn everyone about the flea stuff from the store...I know someone that lost a pet b/c of it.

ETA: The online pharmacies do actually get those things cheaper than vets sometimes b/c they order SOOO much at one time...way more than an individual clinic would ever be able to use at once.

 

[Msbear]

I know the cheap stuff made my frenchie break out something horrible.