I hate vets!

[DrinkMore]

Not sure what it is about them, but they are terrible.

We adopted two cats a while back (brothers) and we were told we got a free vet visit for doing so for each cat. Well, I noticed something wrong with one of the new cats eyes so we took him in and had him checked out. He is fine. However, while there we found out he had ear mites. The doctor told us he would give us some drops and some flea/mite/tick medicine (evolution I think?) and there would be no problems. So, as we were waiting to pay - they brought over the medicine and I asked them what the total of the bill was. They said nothing, it was all free. I said, really? They again, confirmed no charge. I said one last time - wow, you sure? They said yup! So we left.

A few days after Christmas - we get a bill in the mail for $150.00 dollars. The visit was free, all the medicines were not. I explained to the lady on the phone several times that we were told there was no charge. She apologized for the confusion and told us we still had to pay. I was like ok, it won't be until after the holidays. She said ok.

Anyways - this leads me to my now current story..

One of our dogs has developed a lump on his side. It was no bigger than a nickel a while back and we just let it go. Well, recently it has grown to the size of a grapefruit. It seems to be growing every few days. Actually very scary. Of course all this is happening at the worst time. Right after Christmas and no job and blah blah blah. He is whining and clearly he is uncomfortable. We have been giving him baby aspirin to help him out.

So I called the vet and asked if there was a way they could extend us a 30/45 day grace period to pay the bill that would be incurred by bringing him in there, getting him looked at and having surgery to remove the thing. They said that as of now, we would need the $150 first and the cost of the office visit for bringing him in and that they would go from there. Basically telling me, we can't help you.

Granted, this is all after we spent over $3,000.00 dollars on another surgery for another one of our dogs, that we paid immediately.

We are good people and it's just a timing issue for us. We wanted to get him in there and get this fixed but we will have a to wait a few weeks now. Sucks, but what can you do. I just don't understand why people have to be so hell bent on money these days. I help a lot of people no questions asked. Sometimes it bites me, most times it comes back 10 fold in appreciation.

Anyways, if anyone ever comes to you in need - just think of this story

Thanks for reading!

[STARSCREAM]

Is there any way you can go to another vet? Maybe that way you could avoid paying that other bill for awhile longer. Sorry to hear all this, I know animals are like family members so its tough. Good luck.

[Forrestandjen07]

My gfs chiwawa , a vary tinney one at that, was one the couch one night, she got tangled in the blanket, panicked, fell, broke its leg

$3500 to fix it, while the dog itself costed $1100

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by STARSCREAM

Is there any way you can go to another vet? Maybe that way you could avoid paying that other bill for awhile longer. Sorry to hear all this, I know animals are like family members so its tough. Good luck.

I have tried a couple places. They want money up front. I just figured having paid all that money previously, they would be willing to extend me some time as a courtesy.

[phlydude]

yeah, the fees for a vet and the medicine costs are a racket

I told my wife that I love the dogs but if anything bad happens to them, I don't think I could spend thousands on getting them marginally better. I paid $400 a piece for my 1st two (breeder) and $200 for the last one (pound).

I really have to weigh the pros and cons and determine if it would be worth it...hell, I balked at $300 for my 1st dog because he got nuetered and needed an umbilical hernia fixed.

[katharsis]

Sorry to hear about your problems!

Have you checked to get some insurance for your cats/dogs ?
It's only a few bucks a month, but really does help. Once the animal gets sick and needs medication / surgery etc the insurance pays up to 75% of that!

We have 2 cats, but could only get one of them insured, because the other one has some pre-existing conditions. So I know this won't help at the moment, but definitely worth checking out when they are doing better.

I know that it can get quite expensive. One of them just cost us almost $1000 for a checkup, a tooth removal and some medication.

I hope you can get the dog looked at soon... I hate to see when our "kids" are in pain.

[DrinkMore]

I will do as much as I can for our animals to a certain point. There is a threshold that you can pass in regards to financial vs well being. I would never put an animal to sleep just because I think something costs too much. Only time I would ever do that is if the animal is in pain or injured and there is nothing I can do for it or something along those lines. Period. There is a limit yes. However there are some that will put an animal to sleep just because they exceed a certain amount of money for their "repair". I don't agree with that.

I have checked into pet insurance. It's kinda dodgy and would be expensive for us. 4 dogs and 8 cats. Not really cost effective.

Like I said, it's really not about the money - it's just bad timing. In a month from now, there won't be an issue. It's just he will have to wait and I hate doing that to an animal.

[Marquoz]

Good luck, I hope everything is okay.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by Marquoz

Good luck, I hope everything is okay.

Thanks, it should be. Just needed to vent

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by phlydude

yeah, the fees for a vet and the medicine costs are a racket

Just like health care for us (humans).

[jkwest]

I thought you were talking about retired military personnel....

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by jkwest

I thought you were talking about retired military personnel....

No way.

[Mr. J]

Originally Posted by jkwest

I thought you were talking about retired military personnel....

I thought he was talking about Vets in general (All veterans)! I'm a veteran myself...LOL glad i read what was wrote before i went off

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by jayvo2009

I thought he was talking about Vets in general (All veterans)! I'm a veteran myself...LOL glad i read what was wrote before i went off

Nope, I have the utmost respect for them

[badboi]

Drinkmore, we're not all bad. Some of us are in the profession because we have an absolute love for animals, not the money. Unfortunately I've noticed that there's a trend lately where most of the newer vets seems to be concerned with money first, then the animals.

Sorry about your situation. If you were in the same state as me, I would without any hesitation take care of your animal, even if you have an outstanding balance with my office. It should not matter.

Do me a favor and call the office again, this time ask to speak either with the office manager or the vet himself (or herself). Explain the situation and see if there is anything they can do to help you right now. Even if you have to give them a check for the outstanding balance and have them hold it for a certain amount of time. And don't take what a receptionist says without talking to the office manager or vet. I fired a few receptionists because of their rude attitudes and I don't tolerate that.

If you can't get anywhere with your current vet, call others in your area. I'm sure there are some who will see that your pet is the main concern, not your ability to currently pay. Again, be persistent and ask to speak with the office manager. Not all of them are heartless and void of any compassion.

You might also want to contact your local animal shelter or animal control and see if they know of any resources that might be available.

Good luck. I hope you get this sorted and your pet starts feeling better again.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by badboi

Drinkmore, we're not all bad. Some of us are in the profession because we have an absolute love for animals, not the money. Unfortunately I've noticed that there's a trend lately where most of the newer vets seems to be concerned with money first, then the animals.

Sorry about your situation. If you were in the same state as me, I would without any hesitation take care of your animal, even if you have an outstanding balance with my office. It should not matter.

Do me a favor and call the office again, this time ask to speak either with the office manager or the vet himself (or herself). Explain the situation and see if there is anything they can do to help you right now. Even if you have to give them a check for the outstanding balance and have them hold it for a certain amount of time. And don't take what a receptionist says without talking to the office manager or vet. I fired a few receptionists because of their rude attitudes and I don't tolerate that.

If you can't get anywhere with your current vet, call others in your area. I'm sure there are some who will see that your pet is the main concern, not your ability to currently pay. Again, be persistent and ask to speak with the office manager. Not all of them are heartless and void of any compassion.

You might also want to contact your local animal shelter or animal control and see if they know of any resources that might be available.

Good luck. I hope you get this sorted and your pet starts feeling better again.

I know all of you are not bad

I forgot to post this - but there is an update.

To my surprise, the owner called me back today and told me that it sounds like he needs to be seen and there should not be an issue in working with me. He was just a little concerned with the outstanding balance. I told him that is understandable. He said he knows we are good for it.

Anyways, as luck might have it - we have an appointment for him on Monday at 8:45. We are also going to pay off the balance. Again, we lucked out there too.

He said he will look at him and if necessary, keep him that day and get the surgery started. I am not sure what happened but it seems they did an about face. Kinda like they knew they didn't handle it well.

Please everyone understand that I don't EXPECT any help just because I think I should expect, I was just really hoping with our past history and current emergent situation, that we could be accommodated.

Looks ok so far. I will know more Monday.

[badboi]

Glad to hear your vet is going to see your pet. Let us know the outcome.

[DrinkMore]

Well, I took Buddy in today to have him looked at. The vet said it was more than likely a tumor. He took some blood so he can get a better idea of what is going on and his overall health. I have to agree.

He also said that due to Buddy's new appetite for more water and going to the bathroom more frequently he wants to see if there might be kidney failure or organ failure starting.

On a plus side, his heart, lungs and lymph nodes all sounded and felt fine.

Blood tests should be back sometime tomorrow. I hope everything goes ok. I really do.

[dk3dknight]

One of our cats was sick so we took her to this emergency vet, the vet wanted a very expensive procedure, we didn't have the money for the extensive procedure they wanted to do..

So they ran a credit check we were denied, my mom asked if there was someone else they had a sad look went back and we purchased somewhat expensive medicine from them..

They told us to only give it to our cat once we got home...

So we drove back home, my mom gave the medicine to the cat.. after a bit the cat started to foam at the mouth and then fell over off the bed we rushed her back and the vets called her dead on arrival.

Then they steped in and wanted to talk about burial the 3000 one or she goes in a trash bag...

We said we would think about it, we made a small coffin for the cat and we dug a hole by the creak a deep one placed the cofin in the ground, and replaced the dirt and set a small marker...

We left...

We discovered that the medicine had killed her.. lets just say my mom started to blame herself... anyway that is the last time we ever went to that vet.. ever and we tell everyone to stay clear of it...

[BruceWayne]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Well, I took Buddy in today to have him looked at. The vet said it was more than likely a tumor. He took some blood so he can get a better idea of what is going on and his overall health. I have to agree.

He also said that due to Buddy's new appetite for more water and going to the bathroom more frequently he wants to see if there might be kidney failure or organ failure starting.

On a plus side, his heart, lungs and lymph nodes all sounded and felt fine.

Blood tests should be back sometime tomorrow. I hope everything goes ok. I really do.

Hope everything goes ok for him... this stuff just sucks all around. The worst is when you have to watch them suffer. We just lost 2 of our family dogs within 3 weeks of eachother, so it is all too familiar Good luck man.