The cost of vet care

[gritsar]

Quote:
I agree. Our vet is almost an hour away, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. We can take all three critters - the pup and two cats - to her for their yearlys and not worry that we won't be able to afford groceries that week.

 

[aussieheelr]

cheep fix

at our Murdoch's Farm and Supply. Yearly shots DIY (parvo, lepto...everything but rabies) and its only $14. The rabies has to be done by the vet in Colorado and it's less than $10.
If you can do it yourself or know someone who could do it for you you save about half!
We do almost every medical need for our animals ourself. We vaccinate all our livestock including castration and de-horning ourselves. We'd go bankrupt on the cows if we didn't! But I do understand not everyone can do these things.

 

[hearthnsoul]

Boy isn't this thread timely. I lived through a nightmare these last two weeks. My youngest goat was sick. He was screaming, bloated looking and peeing blood. Called around couldn't find a vet who did goats. Called the breeder and her vet thought he was too young for urinary calculi, must be bloat give him milk of magnesia and mineral oil. So we did for days,..it was up and down,..in the end he didn't seem to be getting better at all,..worse and worse.
Then I felt under him and felt like salts on his belly,..no brainer he is not peeing, neither urine nor blood,..,..it's urinary calculi. So I called around again,..feed store had nothing to treat UC with,..didn't even know what it was,..none of them,...but luckily someone there knew someone with goats. She called me..recommended a vet,..whom I then talked with,..who said she thought he was too young for UC too,..and if it was she didn't have the meds to treat, she suggests water and she could come out and give him a shot with some pain reliever/relaxer...and I thought about her suggestion for water in a completely blocked goat,,...guess what?? what goes in must come out,..this many days in and more water, well water will burst the bladder,...duh. I found another vet who does goats,..same deal doesn't have meds,..now at this point I am waiting on the meds through the mail. But I started giving him lemon juice with mineral oil and milk of magnesia,..and we got pee dribbles. Anyhow second vet who does goats,..says bring him to a tufts university,..he doesn't do sick goats,...so to me you don't do goats at all,..wellness checkups do not a wellrounded vet make.
Anyhow,...after calling every grain mill in massachusetts and not finding the ammonium chloride I needed to save my goat, and the clock was ticking to make the possibility further and further out of reach. I even started to call the plumbing supply as apparently they use AC in their flux mix,..couldn't get it that way either. It arrived finally in the mail,..and the next day my baby is peeing like a race horse and now on the mend. Now because of these vets, who say they do goats, but I see really don't know goats nor keep emergency supplies available,..my goat almost died. Of course it is my fault as well. As I should have made sure I ordered AC, blood stop, bloat eaze, pennicilin and well you get the idea.
I guess the other challenge I have is that my goats are nigerians and a pygmy so even with goat knowledge it is a little esque for the minis. I did learn this through the ordeal, I need to be my own vet. I need to recognize what can and does go wrong and be ready to treat it asap. I think I am miffed though with vets who charge when they can't really treat an animal and odds are pretty good that they are out there doing hit or miss treatments and googling even.
Oh a side note,..my basset hound went in the be fixed when we first got her,..the owner said she had not been. They charged me for a physical prior to the surgery,...then I get a call telling me we have a problem,..they put my dog under and she had already been fixed,..so what was the physical I paid for??? you missed the scar until you had her under anesthesia???? I was so mad that they put her life in jeapordy, being knocked out because they were too incompetenet to really do the physical they charged me for. They actually tried to charge me as much as if she had been spayed after it all,...and I stood up for myself and refused and got the bill knocked down to her immunizations. Now will I go to them again,..funny you should ask,..I frankly haven't found one any more competent as yet, UGH!

 

[key west chick]

My 17 year old cat had what we think was a stroke last year, on a Sunday. Towards the evening, we knew he wasn't gonna get better and called our local E-vet. DH explained what was going on and that we felt best to have him put to sleep instead of waiting till Monday morning. They were gonna charge us nearly $200! They said they would have to examine him before they put him to sleep. Duh, what for? He's 17, I want him to be put to sleep. Luckly, he died at home a few hours later. It really ticked me off.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

All of a sudden I'm very grateful for my vet.

He gives advice over the phone, home remedies that I can try, only does the absolute "have to" thing on my animals. I only go in when there's a problem...otherwise I give all shots myself except for when they do the "Rabies Clinic" at the feed mill.

He doesn't charge a "walk-in" fee, but if he has to examine the animal to find out what's wrong, then you get the fee. But if you can tell him exactly what's wrong without him having to take blood, etc. then you don't have to pay the fee.

I guess it could be because he refers the poultry cases to me...but I'm sure he does it for all of his clients.

 

[teach1rusl]

SarahBeth...try phoning your local animal shelter or humane society. Many help sponsor low cost spays and neutors once a month or so. I know I paid around $200 for a dog spay recently, and the animal shelter affiliate did them for $40.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
So sorry about your loss. Our pets are part of our family and it is hard when they get ill, and devastating when we lose them.

For the original post:
My veterinarians are expensive but are one of the most technologically advanced clinics in my area and have all the necessary equipment to do anything I might want for my pets. It is a choice we consciously make as we have no children. Not everyone wants to do the same but I want to feel comfortable making the decision necessary for the best interest of my pet. Sometimes choosing not to do some procedures or tests is actually in their best interest. I want the choice and hope there are low cost clinics to offer basic care with less overhead costs so they can offer lower prices for those who wish to use their services. We are not rich--we are middle class with priorities that may not be the same as yours. We do have pet insurance to help us and it has. In October one of dogs is having knee surgery costing thousands of dollars. Our terrier is being treated with a holistic approach for lymphoma. Chemotherapy was NOT in her best interest as she is nearing 15. Amazingly she has improved greatly and is super active and normal again!

These were carefully made choices.

That's it in a nutshell--you get to make the choice. What we really need is to have different clinics that can offer the different choices.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Check and see if you have any neuter scooter or ucan clinics in your area. They are very low cost. You can contact your local shelter and see if they know of any vaccine clinics or would have vouchers to offer towards neuter/spays. Most set some money aside to go towards just that.

 

[luvmyturkens]

My cat is at the vet right now being treated for a urinary tract infection. When I took him on Monday, I explained to them that I just could not afford to put a lot of money into him. I love him dearly but money is tight. The girl who took him back said that probably worst case scenario was around 100. I'm expecting a little more now because he had to stay for 3 days but I'm hoping not a lot more

I have to say, I am very impressed with our vet. She has called me herself all three days to give me updates on him and let me know what was going on.

I too realize that they need to pay their bills, but some of them are getting crazy with their prices. Ours charges 30 for the office visit plus whatever else. It sounds like that isn't too bad compared to some

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I'm sorry your kitty is sick, but I'm curious as to why they have to keep him at the vets?
I recently had to take KiKi to the vet for a probable kidney stone and resulting UTI. They didn't keep her. I gave her the antibiotics at home that the vet had prescribed, as well increased her water intake as the vet suggested.
Total bill was $40 and that included a comfortis tablet for our puppy that I went ahead and picked up while I was there.
When we had to have Charlie Girl put to sleep in June, it was $30. The vet gave us the choice of doing it in the office or in our vehicle; she and her daughter (her vet tech.) stayed with us afterwards and helped us wrap Charlie's body up. Two days later I received a sympathy card from the vet, signed by the entire staff, the vet and her husband and the vet included a personal note.