Vet bills - Why? $$$$$$$$

eminenz2

eminenz2

Cathlete
I went to the vet tonight for my older cat and I really am tired of feeling like I'm getting shaken down every time I go there.

I know these people work hard, and I know pet insurance is useless (and expensive), but sometimes I feel like someday I'm going to have to uselessly put my animal down because I can't afford to pay for a simple medicine or procedure (which by the way, costs $55 for the shot and $79 to dispose of the body).

Our vet does not allow checks, only credit cards, debit cards, and cash. And oh yeah, everything must be paid up front, no term payments.

Just ranting - thanks!

-Susan L.G.
 
I know it sucks and so sorry to hear about your cat but I do have Pet Insurance and glad that I did have it because my bill came close to a $1000 when my other dog got sick and we had to put him down. For me it was worth the $35 a month because my insurance paid 80%. Now I have a new dog and took new insurance just because you never know what can happen.
 
I have pet insurance also- VPI. It's for bigger just-in-case problems. The regular vet bills are expensive. There's really no way around it :(
 
I hear ya as well! We really should look into the pet insurance too....we have 3 doggie children whose medication alone is getting into the scary numbers....one is on one for the rest of her life(at 100.00 dollars a month)and I just paid 140.00 for my cutie in the picture, who they finally figured out does have valley fever. I don't even want to tell you what that whole thing cost us!! The chest xray alone was 250.00-and he's had two of them.....It is funny, they cost more to take to the doctors than my kids. Love them bunches....all the them.

Take care,
Donna
 
My hubby and I were recently discussing this. We had our dog in for an ear infection and walked out over $100 less in the pocket book! Our vets payments are similar except he does take checks. It can be frustrating. Our old dog had severe hip dysplasia and we were told to fix her would cost us $3,000.00! Well, we opted not to but helped her have as happy a life as she could have ( 8 years). I am amazed when I watch those pet vet shows were people have to fork over so much to fix their pets... It's really hard. You love your pet and want the best for them but the cost can be too much at times. SUsan
 
Yep, I guess we're all in the same boat. I had to buy some medicine and some of that Frontline stuff for ticks today. $70-something! I think prices have gone up so much because we pet owners expect more from the vets - so many people now treat their pets as family members instead of just dogs who sleep under the front porch, so to speak, and we want medical care as good as we humans get. Well, we pay the price.
 
Vet bills are ridiculous, but you can buy frontline and Heartworm medication online and it is much cheaper. I just bought Frontline Plus from That Pet Place and it was $38 for the 3 pack for a 50+ lb dog. The heartworm is also much cheaper, but I can't remember where I bought it. A year of Interceptor for a 50+ lb dog was about $58.

Tracy
 
Let me preface this by saying that I come into this discussion with a bias. My DH is a Vet.

I think it's amazing that people think Vet bills are out of line when Veterinarians are one of the most underpaid professions out there. They attend at least 8 years of school, plus externships, and then make 1/10th of what their human doctor colleagues make.

My Father was recently in the hospital for a week with pneumonia. His Hospital bill alone was $33,000. Now THAT's a ridiculous medical bill.

People expect Vets to be on call day and night, treat their beloved animals with care and compassion, and do it for a bargain? I don't get it. This is medical care for your animals who most of you consider members of the family. Granted, there are bad Vets, just like there are bad members of any profession, but the VAST majority of Veterinarians are hard working, caring, talented doctors. They deserve MORE money than most of them charge.
 
I have two pups and get all their meds from 1800 pet meds ( you can always find online coupons too) and dog.com. it really helps cut down on those costs!
 
Watch what you get online and from pet stores - some are fraudulent/shipped from overseas and are counterfeit and NOT the same as you can get from your vet. Also, if you purchase HW prevention online and your pet by chance contracts heartworm (it *can* happen), the parent company will not pay for treatment as it would if purchased from your vet. JSYK!

I totally agree with the above poster - vets are hardworking and underpaid for the most part yet we are expected to be caring,compassionate, and have more bedside manner than most human doctors.

Heidi, DVM
 
The bottom line is...if you can't afford proper health care for your pet, then you shouldn't own the pet. This is why so many cats and dogs end up in animal shelter's and dumped out on country roads...because people take home that oh-so-cute kitten or puppy but then when it comes time for immunization's, spaying or neutering, heartworm preventative...the pet owner decides they can't afford the medical bills and they dump the pet.

Everything in this world is expensive. That is why when we make decision's, such as adding a pet to the family, we need to FIRST take into consideration what the medical costs are going to be to keep that pet healthy. And...should the pet need a surgery due to an unforeseen problem, can you afford to pay for it.

You must consider that the Vet needs to make a living too and they have expenses and overhead just like any other business.

When you have your car repaired, the auto shop marks up their cost of the parts and charges you for labor so they can make a profit. Your Veterinarian has to do the same...as does your family medical doctor.

What you also aren't taking into consideration is, as a small business owner, your Veterinarian has to buy alot of insurance to protect himself/herself from lawsuits. As a small business owner myself...you have no idea how expensive this insurance is and we have to pass some of that cost on to our customer's so we can afford to be in business.

And last but not least...about your particular Vet not accepting personal checks as payment, think about it. It costs your Vet money to have to spend the time hiring a collection agency or their attorney to track down deadbeats who write bad checks. Most small businesses are moving to only accepting credit card payments or cash because the cost of recovering lost income from bad checks is just becoming too great an expense. Speaking for our business...we only accept personal checks from people who present us with a letter of credit from their bank. Period. We don't screw around with checks. Too many people in their world do not pay their bills and it may not be 'fair' to everyone to not accept checks, but we are running a business. We are not everyone's bank.

So, before you bring home that next pet, decide whether you can afford the Vet costs. Also, please make sure that you are having your dog tested for Heartworm every year if you are not buying your preventative from your Vet.
 
I don't have a pet (yet), but I agree with Jeanne Marie. Why shouldn't a vet be paid like any other doctor? I wouldn't adopt a pet unless I knew that I could afford to care for it, which I would assume to include medical expenses.
-Nancy
 
with 3 dogs at one time, i have known the pains of vet bills too, however, i so appreciate my vet and the care he gives to the one dog i still have (the other 2 went to live with their dad/ex-husband). my old boy, gomez the black pug, is 13 now, and things are starting to go wrong. every time i call the vet to make an appointment for boarding or physical checkup, they know his name and sound so excited that he is coming to see them. that means so much to me the way they make over him. i know he is taken well care of when i am not there and that is priceless to me. i would think being a vet is so difficult because you can't ask a dog where it hurts. i admire the love they have for the animals that they help every day so i am ok paying a little bit extra for peace of mind and a happy and pain-free senior dog...

just my chance to give kuddos to all vets out there...
 
I agree with Jeanne Marie. Our pets are our family, and when they get sick we have high expectations that the vet will make them better. Vets go through extensive training - in fact I have heard that some people who started out to be vets switched to being "people doctors" because the schooling was so hard! Plus, vets have the disadvantage of having to figure out what is wrong with an animal when the animal can't tell them anything!

If we love our pets, then no cost is too great to ensure their health and happiness. That is the deal we make with them the day we bring them home - that we will always take care of them and never let them suffer.

It's important to understand priorities when we say we "can't" afford their care - maybe we have to give up something else, like a vacation or new furniture - but this is our FAMILY and an animal that we are responsible for.
 
I completely agree with you and JeanneMarie. I love our labrador and there is no amount of money that I wouldn't try to spend to keep her safe and healthy. She's my 2nd daughter. I guess we take our vets for granted and forget all they do for our pets and all they have to put up with. Since we have good health insurance and we don't tend to see the bills from them,just pay our little co-pay, we don't think about what those doctors cost.

My DH and I look ahead where Ruby is concerned. We know when her shots and other things are due and budget accordingly. If anything tragic ever happened to her, we have something set aside...

My best friends hubby is also a vet and I know all the extensive time and energy he gives to his practice. I also know he doesn't make nearly as much as he's worth! It's a practice I think you go into not necessarily for the money but for the love of it.

Susan
 
Me too. I would sell my house & live out of a cardboard box if it helped one of my dogs.

My sister in law is a vet & she works her tail of (pun intended). IMO vets have to be much more knowledgable than MDs b/c let's face it, you can walk into your dr.'s office & say "hey, I have a bad headache" or "my wrist hurts when I do this," but when you bring your animal to a vet it usually looks at the vet w/this look in its eyes that says "something's wrong w/me but I can't speak so I can't tell you what." Being a vet is almost a guessing game b/c only the pet owner can describe symptoms & could be missing something, so a vet has to work w/very little information to diagnose problems.

My old dog went through some autoimmune thing about 8 years ago & they could not figure out what was wrong w/her. One day I got out of bed & she just wouldn't move. After about $1500 in tests, including bone marrow testing, no one could tell me what was wrong, all they could tell me was she had about 6 weeks to live. They were wrong, but I didn't regret for a second the money I spent.
 
I agree LauraMax. I would do ANYTHING I could to help my cats. They are my family and I would never complain about the cost of keeping them alive and healthy. We've recently had "issues" with one of our cats not using his litter box. After reading a couple of books about it, we realized that the other cat was "guarding" the litter box area. Once we spread the boxes out over the house, the problem has almost gone away.
I bring this up because while the inlaws were visiting they told me that I should just get "rid of" one of our cats because they were just too much trouble. I was SOOO offended. It was like telling me to give away one of my children because they had a learning disabilty or something. I just don't understand why people get pets (and I'm not referring to anyone here), and then don't want to pay for them. I could NEVER imagine considering putting an animal to death because I didn't feel like paying for them. They have a right to live!

CArolyn
 
The office visits get to me. Cost $$ just to walk your pets thru the front door for the office visit. I wish someone would pay me to walk thru a door! LOL!

Charlotte~~
 
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