Our youngest canine (10 months old) broke into D’s room, climbed onto her desk, and ate a roll of lifesavers and almost half a package of bobby pins.
D came in and caught her in the act. We brought her to the vet for an ER visit and they gave her an x-ray. Almost $300 for the ER visit and x-ray! She vomited / coughed up two of them in the car.
They found she had not only had 7 bobby pins in her stomach, there was a small unidentified mass/lump in her stomach. They recommended knocking her out for surgery. After anesthesia and surgery, they removed all the items - including a rather swollen earplug she swallowed.
The anesthesia and surgery cost another $1400. So our unexpected bill was $1700, plus whatever they charge to keep her overnight for observation.
My brother’s dog had 9 stitches yesterday. $500. At the people doctor (urgent care) it is $150 if you don’t need stitches and $300 if you do. From a cut opening dog food can. Can I blame that on the dog too?
Because American veterinarians are some of the smartest people on earth! I recently spent 6 weeks in southeast Asia and I saw more dog markets than veterinarians. In fact, I saw no veterinarians and multiple dog markets. Americans have an almost delusional willingness to buy healthcare for their pets. We have more sub specialist vets than many countries have sub specialist doctors. People will spend almost anything to save their pets. Compare that to their elderly parents! I read somewhere (awhile back and with no reference that I can find) that Americans spend more on dog food than prescription drugs. I wonder if that is true, but the sad thing is that I don’t doubt it. And we have a reported crisis in drug costs.
After two visits for my new puppy that cost $160, I have chosen to get the rest of her shots at Petco, where the entire series is about $70. My town offers free rabies shots once a year (actually, my taxes help subsidize it) and I will get her that when she is old enough. I plan to chip her and think Petco/Vetco is the cheapest.
Our other dog died last year at age 16. Her one and only visit to the vet (we got her after she had her initial shots, unlike this new one) was to be put to sleep. We got her chipped at a free clinic, spayed at a low cost clinic and got her rabies shots at the town clinic. The vet, who had known our first dog, was shocked to see we had another.
The vet we use charges about $500 to spay in his office but the local animal clinic charges about $100 and he operates there.
Yup, just took our dog for her yearly checkup and shots today and cost was $500.00. My maddie is 10 years old so they said we should do senior blood work for $88.00 more. I was no thanks skip the senior blood work, regular bloodwork will just be fine.
Glad your puppy is doing better after eating all that stuff.
In our experience our dog vet visits are far more costly than our equine vet visits. I’m not sure why but maybe it’s due to the horse vet working out of their vehicle versus having a clinic and staff.
My rabbit has had some health problems (he’s old) and requires $200 worth of medication monthly, plus $150-$200 visits every now and then. Not quite a dog expenses and we turned down the $1,500 cat scan (+surgery) but still…it’s a rabbit.
My sister is a vet and says many vets push more onto pet owners than is really needed. Like the $2000 bladder surgery for one cat to remove stones that were taken care of with a diet change. Or a $500 test to rule out a viral infection that has no treatment (said cat was cured with a $40 course of antibiotic).
If your child had the same treatment, imagine what it would have cost. You should be asking “why are vets so cheap?” Or better yet “how can I get a vet to replace my acl?”
We got our latest dog just two years ago. At age 11 weeks, she got a bad intestinal infection and we took her to the emergency vet at 11:30 PM. Her diagnosis and overnight stay was $1,800. We then picked her up and took her to our regular vet, where she stayed for three more days – another $800. (And the vet is DH’s cousin, so we get the friends and family discount.)
Another week later and she ate the mouth guard that I wear at night. Replacement cost: $850.
She also chewed my prescription eyeglasses. Cost for replacing lenses: $170. (Luckily the frames were more or less OK.)
Then there was the close encounter with a woodchuck a few months ago. Bill for stitching her up: $660. (And that was discounted by another $350 thanks to the family relationship.)
Her nickname is Little Missy Bad Girl. Yes, vets are expensive. You need to have means to afford pets.
@gardenstategal, Visits to the vet aren’t cheap when they push more tests and treatments than are necessary and try to guilt owners into doing them. If you haven’t encountered an office like that, you’re lucky.
Back when I was a girl scout leader, my troop visited a vet clinic run by a member of our community – several of my troop members thought they wanted to become vets. Anyway, along with a tour of the facilities and a visit with the puppies and kittens, the girls had an eye-opening discussion with this vet about college loans and the cost of vet school. He told the girls that if he had it to do over again, he would not have become a vet because of the debt he incurred.
Vet school is expensive, and pets do stupid things… a combination that can be costly.
A couple of weeks ago my younger lab had been vomiting for a day and a half, then I noticed some (red) blood in her stool. Took her to vet to get checked out…a couple x rays (read remotely by a radiologist), iv fluids, medications, blood tests, parasite tests, some special food…etc… Everything came back perfectly fine and a few days later she was back to her normal self. Still don’t know what THAT was all about.
Boom. $1600.
But, I love love love my vet. We’ve been using him for almost 30 years.
Professional liability insurance
Business license renewal
Veterinarian license renewal
X-Ray license renewal
Professional association dues
Continuing education to maintain licensure
State business taxes
OSHA compliance training
Employee wages
Employee health insurance
Employee dental benefits
Employee SSI/Medicare
Lease/Mortgage for clinic space
Insurance on clinic space
Utilities for clinic
Veterinary business software and upgrades
Hazardous waste disposal
Cleaning service
Equipment and supplies
Marketing and advertising
And after all of those things (plus anything I’ve forgotten) have been paid, if there’s money left over, the veterinarian can take a paycheck.
I think you just have to figure out when to say and no and what level of investment you are willing to make during your pet’s life. Lots and lots more recommendations these days that never came up 3 dogs and 2 cats over 40 years. Just lost my 18 year old kitty and he hadn’t been to a vet in 15 years. He didn’t have any reason to go. The dog goes once a year for heart worm and great tick meds but that is about it. I have been fortunate no serious mishaps except porcupine quills with one dog and my H pulled those out.
