FURTHER TO VET BILLS.. - Page 3

furbabylover · ‎08-24-2011

@beach-mom Thank you for a wonderful response to my post. It gives me heart. I have lived in California, Oregon and Florida and in each state have experienced a nightmare scenario with a vet. The case of my baby having his leg amputated was one I will go to my grave suffering over. He was an 8 pound Maltese, and was 15 years old. He broke his leg by taking a step off a stair he had used all of his life, but for some reason, probably age related, his front left leg fractured. I had what I was told the best team of vets in the city. They first said they would operate and fix his leg with a pin. Within 3 days he had a horrible infection inside the wound from surgery. The vets said they would have to go back in and clean it out. They then called me and said they would have to amputate. My husband and I cried but believed these men and women knew what was necessary. They took off his leg, we brought him home, and it almost destroyed us to watch him try to recover. Within one week his back legs were paralyzed. We took him in to the vet and held him while they euthanized him. He was SO brave during all this suffering. I cry as I write this. I ultimately blame myself for not listening to my own heart about him. The many thousands of dollars they charged us was sobering, but we would have done anything to save our baby. And we had two other horrible experiences like this with other pets in California and Oregon over the course of 15 years. In each case we realized too late that we should have not let the vets talk us into expensive procedures that turned out to only prolong suffering. I am sure you can understand my distrust of vets at this point. I am glad to hear that you are married to a true vet, and he is exactly the kind of person people should seek for treatment. I currently have a wonderful vet, a woman in her sixties, who has time and again chosen the least invasive treatment for my current Maltese. I can't praise her integrity enough. Thank you for your thoughts.

Anonymous032819 · ‎03-29-2019

Anybody watch "Dr. Jeff" on Animal Planet?

His practice is in Denver, Co and is called Planned Pethood.

He works with the client, and charges about 1/3 of what other vet's charge.

Plus, he and his team will go to low income places, both here in the States, and abroad, and do spays/neuters for FREE.

We need 100,000 vets like him.

If he can do it, so can others.

He is doing G-d's work, and is an Angel for not charging an arm, leg, kidney and spleen on procedures.

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.

Stormygirl · ‎08-01-2015

Unfortunately the cost of even basic care currently has put me and some others out of adopting a pet. Even my own care for a rare illness has forced me into refusal of any further life extending treatments for myself. Everything is just getting too expensive I guess. Have fond memories of the many pets I had adopted in the past.

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

A vet will only do what you ask them to do. If you want them to run all kinds of test and do everything they can to save your pet, that is what they will do. If you want them to treat the most likely "thing" and see if it works, that is what they do. If you just want them to make your pet as comfortable as possible and let nature take its course, that is what they will do.

I have never had a vet pressure me into doing something I am not comfortable. They are a great source of information and can help you make a good decision based upon you situation.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@Anonymous032819 wrote:
Anybody watch "Dr. Jeff" on Animal Planet?

His practice is in Denver, Co and is called Planned Pethood.

He works with the client, and charges about 1/3 of what other vet's charge.

Plus, he and his team will go to low income places, both here in the States, and abroad, and do spays/neuters for FREE.

We need 100,000 vets like him.

If he can do it, so can others.

He is doing G-d's work, and is an Angel for not charging an arm, leg, kidney and spleen on procedures.

I may be wrong but I had heard he has many benefactors that subsidize the practice.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

Spurt · ‎03-20-2010

@KingstonsMom wrote:
@NickNack

I totally agree, I have never had the experience like the OP is suggesting, with any of my Vets.

Years ago, pets didn't get cancer, etc. like they do now, environment related possibly?

I'm 67 and back in my younger days, we only took our dogs to the vet once a year for rabies and screening blood work, unless in the event of an injury.

And they all lived until or past their expected lifespan, although age brought on some arthritis issues.

@KingstonsMom

I agree, I think some of the health issues are created by all the "junk", fillers, and chemicals added to pet food these days....Look how often pet food is recalled.... I dont remember that happening years ago.....

I had cats that lived to age 23.....and this was with basic cat food....Now with all these high priced speciality foods and prescription food brands I read the average is 13 to 17 years....

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”

Spurt · ‎03-20-2010

I will say our long time vet family/friends use is very caring, he really loves all animals and he does try treatments that our less costly if the animal isn't in pain before he recommends an expensive treatment ot surgery.....However, he's unfortunately partnered with another vet that has dollar signs in her eyes....If our regular vet isn't available for an appointment we use a popular animal hospital instead....

What I dont like is you can tell if a vet prefers certain pets, breeds over others..... Before we found our long time vet there was one that seemed to only like birds, he saw other animals to help his business (we found out because a friend had an inside scoop) and one you could tell wasn't really crazy about cats....In every profession has there are good and bad people

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”

beach-mom · ‎03-09-2010

@furbabylover - I do understand. You've been hurt and you've had some bad experiences. I'm glad you have someone you can trust now!

caroln242 · ‎02-25-2020

I totally understand everyone's view here about ending or not ending a pet's life due to a terminal illness. But twice now I've had to spend thousands on 2 of my Golden Retrievers legs when they were in their prime. The first time my dog (1st Golden) broke his leg and ended up having 2 steel rods put in it. The second time my dog (2nd Golden) totally displaced his ball and socket joint just chasing a rabbit and also had pins, etc. He ended up walking okay, but his knee splayed out kind of weirdly. Two different breeders and both had leg problems. Go figure.

Anyway, my point is, there was no way we would consider putting down a dog for a broken leg, so our savings took a big hit to get them fixed. The vet could charge us anything and we'd have to pay. Both dogs were in pain and needed immediate care...no time to "shop around". Even asking how much it was going to cost seemed pointless. It had to be taken care of. But we were lucky. Even though it was expensive it turned out that it wasn't outrageous after talking with other people about it. I agree with the poster who said: "What should be required is that all practitioners have to submit all charges to a state's rate setting comission: hospitals must do this every year, and believe me you don't want to be the hospital that doesn't pass."

And both died of cancer. The first one we took to the vet to be put down (he quit eating and couldn't stand anymore) and the girl at the vet office acted annoyed because we weren't going to treat him any more. The second one we just let him go in his own time since he didn't seem in any pain. One day he just layed (laid?) down and never got up again. I tend to blame over processed commercial dog food and all the immunizations that shoved god knows what chemials in their bodies.

If I was to do it over again, I'd definitely go the trouble of preparing home made dog food. But I can't handle losing another beloved pet. I'm done.

Man plans. God laughs.

elated · ‎06-09-2010

@Anonymous032819 wrote:
Anybody watch "Dr. Jeff" on Animal Planet?

His practice is in Denver, Co and is called Planned Pethood.

He works with the client, and charges about 1/3 of what other vet's charge.

Plus, he and his team will go to low income places, both here in the States, and abroad, and do spays/neuters for FREE.

We need 100,000 vets like him.

If he can do it, so can others.

He is doing G-d's work, and is an Angel for not charging an arm, leg, kidney and spleen on procedures.

I love Dr. Jeff. He is the best and brightest vet. He has saved many pets and doesn't want thousands of dollars to perform surgeries. He is one of God's chosen for our animals. We need more vets like him. I watch this show all the time.