<p>Generally with medical care you don’t know exactly what it will cost until it is finished, unless your insurance specifies that you pay X amount and they pick up the rest.
Part of the responsibilty of owning a pet includes caring for it.
Caring for it goes beyond doing the bare minimum of vet checkups. It means being familiar of the diseases of your breed, with what is needed at each stage,and giving them the exercises and nutrition to maximize their health.
I originally took our puppy and two cats to the same vet, until I felt the vet was mismanaging one of the cats care, then I found a vet that specialized in cats and she lived another 6 years! ( after the other vet wanted us to put her down). I found another vet for our lab at the same time too.</p>
<p>My dog lived till she was 16. She had major surgery that extended her life almost two years. It was a hard decision to have the surgery, because The total care involved would be very expensive (about $10,000) and because she was already a very old dog, and who’s to say what she wanted. But she was a member of our family,and she didn’t seem ready to go. My mother had also just died somewhat unexpectedly and I really wasn’t ready for another death in the family,especially one that I possibly could delay.</p>
<p>Wow. Surely you realized that emergency surgery would cost more, especially when being done in a specialty emergency vet clinic/hospital. It seems like they did you a favor by lowering the cost out of compassion…and this is the thanks you show? Wow. Yes, I’m sure they realized they would have student loans and overhead. It sounds as if you don’t value their expertise or their compassion and perhaps should reconsider your choice in vets or perhaps you will be faced with much harder choices in the future.</p>
<p>Your financial situation is not a part of the equation once you walk in the door…lowering the cost was completely compassion on the part of the vet. I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate the comments about being a racket after treating your pet and your family with such compassion.</p>
<p>One of my children (not a pet) required urgent medical attention. After heading to the urgent care, her pain increased and we headed for the emergency room. It turned out to be a kidney stone and was not as life threatening as the pain seemed to her at the time. The bill was nearly $10,000.00 and all they did was a little blood work and a CAT scan…oh…and lots of pain medicine by IV administered by a very attentive physician and well trained nurse who was also compassionate. Was the bill high?..yes, but at the time all that mattered was making sure my child was well cared for, safe, and her pain level was kept to a minimum…they delivered all of that. It would have cost me a fraction of the cost to go to our regular doctor (four and a half hours away) during a regular appointment on a weekday. It would have cost much less to go to the urgent care also. As it happened it was the weekend and we were four hours from home so we made the choice to go to the ER. I left with a sense of relief and gratitude after a few hours in the ER with a groggy, but otherwise healthy child. I’d never think to be critical of the doctor or hospital for the cost of her treatment. </p>
<p>Goodness’ sake. This is the last time I will be repeating this since I’ve already done it at least twice.</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes, I understand that emergency surgery is more expensive.</li>
<li>Yes, I understand that they did us a favor by lowering the cost or “capping” it.</li>
<li>Yes, I am glad that my dog is now out of surgery, recovering and doing well.</li>
</ol>
<p>I disagreed with the way they handled the situation. I’m sorry that is unacceptable for some of you.</p>
<p>bamagirls–my parents of course would feel the same of you if it was one of their children in this situation (me or one of my siblings). But the dog, while a beloved and valuable member of the family, is just a little bit different.</p>
<p>The fact that these two clinics are run by a national vet chain doesn’t necessarily mean that their prices are standardized between them. The vets may be independent contractors and the expenses and demographics of the two offices may also differ substantially. </p>
<p>Vet training is just as expensive, arduous and time consuming as medical training for physicians. Specialists like veterinary surgeons and anesthesiologists invest even more in their education. Like it or not, just as with physicians, prospective vets would simply no longer go into the field if there were no return on the investment or demand for their services. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are many situations, especially as a pet gets older, where an ideal treatment plan is expensive but could reasonably be expected to result in additional years and quality of life. It is something every pet owner needs to consider carefully from the outset.</p>
<p>It’s actually much more competitive to go to vet school than med school.
They need to read minds!
That might help when looking at the charges.
;)</p>
<p>The average veterinarian salary in the U.S. is around $90k (about what my wife makes as a two-year RN.) Vet school costs about the same as med school. Vets need to set up practices like docs in private practice. </p>
<p>Consider what this surgery would cost if it were a person.</p>
<p>We have pet insurance for our Welsh terrier. Since he’s a jock, and prone to injury, we figure it’s a good deal (costs us around $28/mo. and pays 80% of everything.)</p>
<p>My dogs have better insurance than I do. A year’s premium for each is about the same as a month’s premium for me. They have a very low deductibles & insurance pays the rest. I have a very high deductible and still have a copay…</p>
<p>My dog had surgery for a ruptured disk a couple of years ago. I don’t regret it, because he is still alive and well today (at 14). I did think the veterinary hospital did everything they possibly could to inflate the bill. I had signed a consent for them to perform additional procedures if necessary during surgery; somehow this was taken as consent to perform multiple additional tests and procedures after surgery, without even notifying me. The dog’s slightly low heartrate after surgery became an excuse for them to run seemingly every test they could think of, including an abdominal ultrasound. At that point, there was no emergency and no reason at all they couldn’t have called me first for authorization. The dog was supposed to be able to go home two days after surgery, but they kept him for days after that, running test after test, until I told them I was coming to get him (against their advice). </p>
<p>They sent him home with two support slings (only one was needed), for which they charged $75 each (I could have bought them at half the price online or even cut up a couple of old sheets for the same purpose). Anyway, the surgery was a success, but the rest of it did seem like a racket. I love my regular vet, but would never take another animal to that veterinary hospital.</p>
<p>D1 is pre-vet. EK is correct that getting into Vet school is more difficult than Med School. You typically need a minimum 3.5 GPA and 1000+ hours of hands-on animal care to be admitted (plus high score on GRE). There are <3000 spots/year for Vet school in North America, with close to 50% of those spots reserved for residents of the state or consortium. It’s a four year program that costs on par with med schools. Afterwards you typically have a internship or residency that pays very little. </p>
<p>Our pet rabbit was bleeding from its mouth a Sunday morning last June, so we took it to the emergency vet, who took xrays to rule out pneumonia, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him ($500+). The next day he went to the regular vet who suggested she put him under general anesthesia to figure out what was wrong. Turned out he bit his tongue - she described it as a ‘divot’. So $1000 later that was the diagnosis for what was originally a $35 pet. (i’m not mentioning his other issues - weekly penicillin shot for chronic ear/sinus infections [luckily D1 can give this], oral meds daily for sinuses and arthritis in his shoulder). He turned 10 in May - typical life span is 6-10 years!</p>
<p>That’s amazing NJ2011mom. We took home a rabbit for the summer once when the girls were 2 & 10, and it died! I hadn’t noticed anything unusual (but since she had been a classroom rabbit, I wasn’t that familiar with her habits) Youngest D talked about her for years. When I called the teacher, she told me the rabbit ( dwarf lop) had been 6 years old which was the life expectancy, but I suspect she was saying that to make me feel better.</p>
<p>We told each of our pets they could have one major health problem. Oldest kitty had laser surgery for a nasal sarcoma. ( but she also had daily sub-q fluids for almost 6 years) “baby” kitty, ( what younger D called her- not actually related to “mamma kitty”.), didn’t have health issues she just died suddenly at almost 20. ( older cat was 21 )
What happened with our lab was she was bleeding internally. ( I noticed when her stool looked odd). She had been on Deramaxx for arthritic pain, and while I suspected that was causing the bleeding, the vet saw that her spleen was enlarged on the ultrasound and said that the liver was involved as well. ( our pup actually had several trips to the emergency room, once when she dug a whole chicken out of the trash as a precaution, and once when she got into the cupboards and ate a bottle of Hershey syrup- talk about being motivated by their stomach!)
She was a typical old style lab with a barrel chest, and lots of lipomas ( fatty tumors), which they are prone to. The lipomas had been palpated or aspirated to check for cancer, & the ones that were checked seemed to be non cancerous. But she had one that must have weighed a couple lbs, next to a nipple and it interfered with her walking, so I asked the surgeon if we could have it removed while she was under anesthesia for her exploratory surgery. Unfortunately, she said due to our dogs age and health, she wanted to get in & out as quickly as possible.
However, it turned out that the tumor was in the way, so it had to be removed. Her liver was fine, but the spleen was enlarged so it was removed. When our dog recovered from surgery and could move around again, you should have seen her when she realized that big mass that had been hanging underneath her was gone. She did a double take & practically skipped down the street! To see our 14 yr old friend do that was worth it. :)</p>
<p>I’m not the only one who has paid out big bucks for their pets, a friend of mine has an English Mastiff, who has had hip replacement surgery. ( as I had to almost carry our dog up and down the stairs at the end, I am grateful that she was not quite that big!)</p>
<p>I am really bothered by some of the responses on this thread. </p>
<p>I understand that some people put an animal to sleep, because they want to end the suffering and feel that the animal is done fighting. It’s not the choice I would make, but I respect it. </p>
<p>However, putting an animal to sleep or not getting treatment, just because an animal is older and the operation is too expensive seems really irresponsible and not at all in the animal’s best interest. If you know you aren’t willing or can’t afford to spend the money (or get insurance, they are getting better and cover more), you shouldn’t get an animal. They rely on you to make them better when they get sick, not run the numbers and decide that $10,000 is just too much, so they can die (and yes, with the vet costs rising, it is more likely than not an animal may develop a problem that will end up costing in the thousands).</p>
<p>OP, I am sorry that your poor dog is ill. I hope she makes a full recovery. </p>
<p>Vet care is expensive and animal illness can surface very, very suddenly. We’re on lab #3 right now. Our first lived to the age of 14 with very few major expenses (other than ingesting too many chewie treats when young). Our second lab, aka “best dog ever”, spent a holiday weekend in an emergency clinic run by our local vets when he ate an athletic sock. It cost over $1000 for observation, but they were ready to act if necessary. Would I have been able to save him? No. So the price paid for someone to “watch him” (essentially what the clinic would be doing post-surgery for your dog) was well worth it to us. He developed lymphoma very suddenly at the age of 9. Our vet was wonderful. She called a specialty oncology clinic, she faxed his results to the clinic, she discussed all the options with us, and a few short days later when we realized it was futile and unfair to prolong his life, her associate handled his euthanasia. She didn’t charge us additional fees for a consult, the oncology clinic didn’t send us a bill. </p>
<p>We’re on lab #3 right now. He is less than a year old, and we have already spent in excess of $1k on treatment and preventative care for him. I would really encourage your family to develop a relationship with a vet, not a chain, so that future care for your geriatric dog can be planned for. Please let us know how she’s doing.</p>
<p>Acollegestudent, anecdotal experience says that ofttimes insurance doesn’t cover what you really need it to cover for your animals health, so I wouldn’t fault anyone for not getting it.
I also wouldn’t fault someone who decided that No, they couldn’t afford the Investment of getting their dog a hip transplant.
Being a pet owner, you also have to learn to read minds and barring that you have to err on the side of what is best for your pet. That isn’t always keeping them alive if they are in pain.</p>
<p>acollegestudent, I think you are young and have not had to deal with some of the things we oldsters have had to deal with. I would never keep one of my animals suffering when I could let them die in peace. I wish I had that choice. We have euthanized three dogs when they were at the end stages of their lives. I guess we could have let them linger on and die in pain but why would we?</p>
<p>I also strongly disagree that someone should have $10,000 socked away for emergencies or not own a dog. We do our best for our dogs but unfortunately there will always be limits and practical considerations. My animals live very nicely with us.</p>
<p>God forbid that the expectation that life be prolonged indefinitely at any cost, regardless of the quality of that life, be extended from humans to pets.</p>
<p>Sim, not all of us believe that human life should be prolonged regardless of quality of life.</p>
<p>My 10 year old rott/shep mix was put down when she could no longer stand and refused to eat. We went to the vet who told us that we could spend a few grand to get her surgery and it MIGHT fix the problems for a few more months. She told us that she was done fighting. She had already lived a few years longer than expected. We weren’t going to do a surgery she may or may not have survived just for maybe another few months. </p>
<p>And no, I’m sorry, but not all of us can drop $10k on our pets. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t adopt an animal. What’s better- a long, happy life even if it means possibly dying a few months earlier or death as a young dog? Those were the options my last two rescues faced.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you have to be willing to open your wallet to anything, but I do agree that people should realize that there are unexpected expenses to pet ownership. A vet friend had someone bring a young dog into the office a few years back that had a foxtail burr down its ear canal. It was incredibly painful for the animal, and wouldn’t come out on its own. Anesthesia and extraction was going to be $700. The owner said that was too expensive…and requested that the animal be euthenized, instead. My friend refused. </p>
<p>$700 is no cakewalk if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, or if you’ve just lost your job. My friend gets that, and talks to owners about money issues. For an elderly dog and financially struggling owners, my friend would probably tell them that it was entirely understandable to keep the animal pain-free and not pursue the big bucks option. But opting for euthenasia instead of a (relatively) low-cost procedure to help an otherwise healthy dog wasn’t–isn’t–in that ballpark.</p>