My vet is bleeding me dry!!!

[Raen]

Quote:
Okay question on the heartworm stuff... Janie, for instance, weighs in at 15.8lbs... do we give her the 10lb dose, the 20lb dose or go ahead and meet in the middle? Reading the posts on that site just goes by the 10lb mark... figured it wouldn't hurt to double check. This is brilliant btw, THANK YOU for posting it!

Now if only there was a less expensive fix that WORKED for the flipping fleas... even Andy, DH's bud has had to switch what he uses for Rajah because it just up and quit working.

Stupid resistant parasites.

There is a pretty broad safe range for ivermectin. I'd personally just get the 1cc syringes and meet in the middle, but bumping it up would be safe, too.

I'll tell you a fun veterinary horror story to illustrate this point.

My husband and I just got back from 4 years living in Okinawa (he's military). Okinawa has stray dogs and cats EVERYWHERE. We rescued and re-homed a ton of them, often working with a local rescue group. Said rescue group took an 8-week-old litter of nine kittens to the vet on the base for first shots, etc, where the vet techs there proceeded to inject each tiny kitten with 2ccs of ivermectin to "deworm" them. 2ccs is ten times what I give my 20lb dog, and each of these kittens probably weighed under a pound. Three of the kittens died within an hour, but the rest survived and were fine after some time in the hospital (an the base vet still charged for the visit and treatment!) Obviously you should NOT give your 16 lb dog 2ccs of Ivermectin, ever, but 0.2ccs is fine.



Regarding hip displasia certification x-rays, it was something my vet didn't do, so no, I haven't seen that. We did not sedate animals unless they were going in for surgery or were actively trying to kill us (and the murderous ones were not placed under full anesthesia, just a sedative.)

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Didn't read through all the posts, but there is a definitely price differences in vets around here. I found one who was pretty decently priced. Then when we moved, we were a little closer to a vet that my parents and grandparents used. Wowee -- they were even better priced and kind of no nonsense. She was telling me that they do not require a heartworm test every year as long as we have been diligent about giving him the pills (which we are). I, also, don't have to bring my dog in every year for shots -- she said that studies have found that they don't need the booster shots for distemper, etc every year, but every two or three (can't remember right off hand) and he's already on the three year rabies vaccination schedule. She charges me $15.00 for rabies and $15.00 for distemper booster (I think it may have been a combo booster, right?) and the heartworm pills are cheaper through my current vet. My old vet had me come in every year for shots, heartworm test, stool sample, etc. My current vet has an quaint smallish office right off their home, so I understand that it is more affordable for them to do this in comparison to renting/buying a commerical building. I kinda also like knowing that they are right next door if I had to leave my animals overnight. Now the vets that are located right in town are outrageous in price when compared to the two vets that I have used. So it does pay to shop around.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Just a word of caution when you self medicate your dog with the Ivermectin;

1. If they have not been tested and have heart worms, your treatment could kill them

2. Some breeds are highly sensitive to Ivermectin and giving it to them for heartworm treatment could kill them

I understand vet cost have increased, but you are also paying for their knowledge. I like to think I am quite knowledgeable in a lot of aspects of veterenary care, but, I have not had the schooling nor the experience of a veterenarian.

Do your research, get second opinions, then decide if the treatments are what you want or what you can afford.

On a side note...Because we live in such a small rural town, sometimes the tests they perform at the vet gets sent to our Medical Center, this raises our costs somewhat because it is going to a human hospital. But we get the results back much quicker then if the samples where sent out of town, I really do not paying a little extra for that convenience.


The Lisser said:

"I just want to chime in here because this thread is very appropriate for me. Last week I had a local vet put down my 5 year old keeshond mix because he had epilepsy and the seizures were getting more frequent and he was not responding to medication. There were other factors too. I haven't even called my regular vet because I have the feeling they will judge me because there were other treatment options and I *should* have tried more. (I had my DH call and cancel the appointment for bloodwork).

I like my vet and I like the office staff. They are very professional and have done good work with my animals (and I have a lot of animals). I do not make a lot of money and I spend most of it of vet bills and groceries (DH's income covers the other stuff). I have been trying to treat Juno for over 6 months and not only did I max out my credit card, I also overdrew my checking account. I was very careful about giving him his medication every 12 hours . . . we did have a good 5-6 months where the medication worked, then he started having breakthrough cluster seizures every month, and again another month, and then two weeks, even on higher dose . . .

I couldn't afford to keep trying, and I'm not sure I would have done so even if I could afford it. When he was younger we went on long walks several times a week with the other dog(s), but since being on the higher dosages I wasn't supposed to let him get too active. Before and after the seizures, he was confused and I worried that he might hurt my 5 year old daughter (he was a 50lb dog). I feel terrible that I put him down so young, but I felt that it was the right thing to do. "
Just to let you know, I think you did the right thing....I am going through this same thing with my 2.5 year old Australian Shepherd. We have yet to find the correct combination of meds for him and each time he has seizures they get worse. I am of the mind where I will try one more combination, and after that if it does not work, I will put him down.

 

[Beekissed]

I just did the same with my oldest canine friend. I could have put her through more years of meds and watched her decline even more in her natural activity...just for my own sake. But, to be fair and loving, that would have been just for me and not for her.

When I took her to my vet she perked up a bit because she loves to travel. She trotted into that office, moving better than I had seen her move in a long time. The vet asked me why I was putting her down. When I explained how long I had been nursing her along, what dosage of meds we were currently using and that how she looks today is not how she usually acts.

All he had to do was palpate her muscles and bones and see how many teeth she didn't have and he agreed. Time to offer some mercy to my beloved friend and let her go. And so I did. Hard to do, but the right thing.

 

[Slinkytoys]

You can thank all the animal rights activists for these changes in vet medicine. If the new laws go through where a pet is treated as more than being owned or as livestock, the vet bills will be out of sight. Most vets won't be able to pay for malpractice insurance. When a pet is a "child", of course the medical care will be charged as such. When verbage is changed, as in guardian not owner, we are on the slippery slope of only wealthy people able to have pets, if anyone at all.

Slinky

 

[georgialee]

I haven't read the pages and pages of posts, but just in case it hasn't been mentioned - get your heartworm & worming meds from www.petshed.com. They come from Australia. You can get name brand or generic and they're significantly cheaper. No prescription needed.

 

[PineappleMama]

On the spay neuter thing down here it depends on if it is a spay OR a neuter. Most vets around here require sedation, surgery, recovery in their kennel, etc etc for a female... thus the costs are WAY higher than a neuter where they use a local, do the snipping, let rest for a small bit then send home. There are some places who do for less/same price for either but they are few and far between.

And Texas law stipulates that any dog (maybe cat too I don't know) that's been impounded must be seen by a vet/shots within... what is it a week maybe?? and then they must be s/n withing X amount of time from that, for some reason 30 days is coming to mind but can't swear to it.. With Mattie we had to wait because she had worms when we adopted her. Vet wanted to wait until that was all cleared before the spay.

They WILL cite you if you do not get them spayed in the timeframe. May be late, but they'll find you eventually. The city has registration and you have to show proof of sterilization. If you don't do that they'll send you a ticket.

That may play a role in the number of pets in the shelters here... on top of the fees for adopting... HEY WAIT A MINUTE... just googled my town to see what those fees were so I could add them into this post AND IT HAS CHANGED!

Now it says "Dog Adoption Fee (includes adoption, city license, sterilization, microchipping, core vaccines, rabies vaccine, and heartworm testing services)" is $100... that's totally different from how it was when we adopted Mattie. They didn't do squat then. This is good news! Before it was like $50+ and then the $90 it cost to go to the vet and get the shots and then the $300 it cost for her spaying too. I'm guessing this has to do with the new AC center they built... maybe that one has room for a clinic? Overall excellent news... hopefully with all that included more people will think of adoption! YAY!

 

[The Lisser]

Quote:
I'm sorry to hear that you are going through the same thing. It is heartbreaking and nerve-wrecking.

I hope the medication will work for your dog.

 

[Siler]

I'm sorry to hear about your pain with the vet. Unfortunately it happens all too often. I cannot read through all the replies at the moment, but I would highly suggest shopping around. We have a local vet here in town that bleeds everyone dry too. I will drive 15min away to a country vet who also has the closest animal hospital and his prices are amazing. I think the man is an angel from heaven. Really. He's not much of a talker, but he has a gift with animals and he'll just toss out a price depending on what you tell him you make for a living. He doesn't charge kennel prices. He doesn't charge for an office visit if all you want are the annual vaccinations and he doesn't do a heartworm test if you've been giving the pills every single month without stopping. He only gives the 3 year rabies vaccinations. His emergency number is his home phone and he or his wife will answer. He will charge a fee if you wake him up and drag him out of bed, but that's all I've ever come across. Actually when I called him at 4am he was having breakfast anyways and if I waited an hour he wouldn't charge me and would take my visit before his first patient.

I would suggest calling other organizations that would know of vets in your area that they trust to be fair and caring. I always look for the all animal country farm vet myself. Either in Ohio where I used to live or here in Indiana I've always preferred the vet in the country, but only after asking around. I live in the country now and the vet down the street is outrageous, but I asked around to find the best vet for my area.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
I agree that the old timey country vets are best, but they are getting few and far between. It seems like a good portion of the vets coming out of school don't have a farm background at all and are only interested in doing dogs and cats. We have a cow herd and it's gotten harder and harder to find a large animal vet anymore......and we're in a very rural area with plenty of livestock. The one who used to do our cattle stuff doesn't do much anymore and only if it's during office hours and you can bring the animal into his office.....forget about after hours or the week-ends. We did find another good young cattle vet in the area so I'm hoping he sticks around, but neither he or his wife grew up around here and I'm afraid at some point he'll take off for his home state of Minnesota.