How much vet for your pet?

[SuriTkd]

susan,

i was just joking the other week that i feel like i work to pay my vet bill. i have a 19 year old who has kidney and thyroid problems (alice), and a six year old huge tuxedo (felix, aka bubba) who has crystals and all that goes with it. we have tried it all with him. he refuses to eat anything but his hard food. he actually didnt eat for 6 days when trying to get him on other food.

i have a wonderful vet, and so far felix has not had his teeth cleaned. she checks and says that he is ok for now. alice has had them done twice in her life. no more, as she cant be sedated at her age. not taking any chances. anyway, i have blood and urine checks going on every few months. that, the meds and the special food all add up. would i trade it? nope. however, i wont make the mistake i made with norton. i spent over $2,000 on surgery for his liver problem and he had to be put down anyway. not the money issue, but what he went through was the pits. alice will have her dignity. right now, i will do what i have to for both of them.

you must be comfortable with the vet and trust them completely.

thank all of you for some excellent information.

suri

 

[eminenz2]

Bill -

Haha! I'd have to give you an additional $325 just to pay for the bandaids and antibiotic oinment for the wounds you would certainly get!

Just as a side note - All my animals - dog and three cats - get especially high end good quality food. So, no worries there.

Interestng post about the cancer as my oldest cat did have cancer that required the removal of one toe off of a front paw. Hmmmm...

The estimate for a dental cleaning on my 6 year old cat is as follows:

Dentistry (cleaning) $247.00 (more if a tooth needs to be extracted)
CBC - NO CHARGE
IV Cath - NO CHARGE
Pre Anesthetic Panel $48.00

They also want me to puchase Clavamox Drops ($25.80)- an antibiotic. I told the tech I didn't want it as there is no way on God's earth that this cat would hold still for that kind of treatment. And then she suggested I wrap the cat in a towel to give her the drops. I replied, "How in the world am I suppose to wrap a cat in a freakin' towel when she barely lets me pet her? I am not paying for something I'm not going to use."

Yeesh!

So I am at a loose end here.

Thanks again!

 

[Beavs]

Kathryn--Please do let us know how this product works. I'm tempted to try it on my doggy.

 

[martijean1]

My cats are also on a strictly "hard food" diet...I don't get them cleaned and don't feel a need to...

They're indoor cats, too...I get them FD and Luekemia...PERIOD...Anything else would come from another cat (or wild critter) which they aren't exposed to (including rabies)...

Now, on the other hand, I DID spend over $1000 on my FREE housecat a year and a half ago (crystals in his urine)...They're now both on SD special diet and haven't had as much as a hiccop since...I DO believe in feeding them as well as my family...

MJ in MN

 

[carrie123]

I had the same problem, so now after looking around, we go to a vet for shots, (they give a family discount if you bring all pets in at the same time). If there is anything wrong, that's needs treatment, we go to another vet who is equipped to handle it. If there is an emergency we go to the local animal hospital. I think because each vet is aware of the other vets we see they don't bother us with unnecessary treatments anymore. Whereas, they used to...


Carrie

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http://www.picturetrail.com/uid6743693"

 

[carrie123]

I don't think I actually answered the question. I have 2 big dogs, and three cats. When I take them in for routine annual check-ups and shots, it comes to $120.00 for everything, including the office visits. I only have to pay for one office visit if I bring them all at once. (Family discount, meaning if you have more than one pet). It's really a nice, family orientated practice, but they are not equipped to handle anything surgical, such as teeth cleanings or spay/neuters. A teeth cleaning at the animal hospital is $225 per animal, it doesn't matter if it's a dog or cat.

Carrie

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar072/slider-but5/lb/209/145/188.0/.png[/image][/link]

http://www.picturetrail.com/uid6743693"

 

[eminenz2]

I just purchased a small bottle of the PetzLife Salmon Oil Teeth Cleaner at their website. I will let you know how it works if anyone is still interested.

The 4 oz bottle, BTW, was $26.95 ($24.95 + $2.00 S&H). Not cheap, so I have some high expectation - heehee!

The website had some pretty interesting things to say about hard foor - that isn't really allthat helpful in keeping a cat's teeth clean, and some very harsh opinions about anethesia for cats.

Interesting discussion, as usual!

Susan L.G.

 

[amybajamy]

Kathryn-

Let us know how the petzlife oral care works.

 

[maggiethecat]

Carola, Is there info on how to feed cats the regular food diet you talk about feeding your cats in the Dr. Pitcairns book? Do you know of any other resources I could check out that would explain what kinds of foods to feed my cats?
Also: anyone who feeds their cats all dry food - one of my cats has diabetes and now my vet tells me there are links between dry food and diabetes. Many insulin dependent cats become non-insulin dependent when put on canned food, and she said that cats my become insulin dependent because of the dry food in the first place.
Of course I never know whom to believe, as the only reason my cat was on an all dry diet was because my last vet told me I was killing him with canned food.
This new vet may have had dollar signs in her eyes as well as I can only get the diabetes canned food through her (or another vet) as it's perscription. I finally checked labels at the science diet website and the diabetes food, which is more expensive and perscription only, is almost identical to the adult light food. The whole thing is starting to look like a scam, so if I can feed my cats actual real food and actually know what they are ingesting that would be pretty liberating...

 

[eminenz2]

Some people advocate raw food for cats - bones and all, but I am not comfortable with that.

My cats get a high end dry food, whose name I can never remember, in the AM and then a wet food for their PM meal.

My dog gets an organic dry food called Prairie, which is also top of the line ($$$) and also raw beef bones, which she will spend hours chewing. I get the bones very cheap from the grocery store deli. They are about as big as my forearm and last a long time.

The lady at the pet food store said she does rotational feeding with her dog - one meal dry, one meal wet, and one meal raw. And she did say raw does mean just that - no cooking, bones and all. I'm kind of skeptical about the feeding chicken bones to my dog but she said when the bones are raw, they are soft and digestible. it's when you cook them they are brittle and dangerous.

I've only fed the beef bones raw.

I'd be very interested to hear the experiences of other posters regarding a raw diet, which, by the way, is also pretty expensive.

Like the precious poster, my oldest cat also has a medical condition - a tumor on her thyroid for which I give Tapazole. I'm wondering if a holistic approach would be better.

I find no reason to buy food from the vet. They insisted I give my oldest kitty some kind of pouched food and I insisted she won't eat it, she won't eat it. Oh no, try it! Just try it they insisted right back. Two days later I returned asking for my money back because - yep, she wouldn't eat it.