Veterinary Care Has Gone Up!

Remy

Remy

Well-known Member
Location
California, USA
Juniper (tabby) was at the vet yesterday. I couldn't believe what I paid. She had exam, bloodwork, urinalysis and they seem to push flea control though my cats are strictly indoors and I never see a flea on them. So I agreed to one dose.

I had a diabetic kitty who was treated for over 11 years for her diabeties. I know she had bloodwork. I can't remember paying anywhere near this much.

Juniper had no vaccines this visit. And Talia (calico) will be due for a follow up on her inflammatory bowel disease in April. I'm sure they will at least need to do a chemistry panel to check her kidney function due to her being on prednisone. I agree to that. But not a urinalysis or anything. That's over 200 dollars with the needle draw and it's invasive. Unless I see any adverse urinary problems, I'll say no way.
 

vet care has skyrocketed in Northern Nevada. A dental is 1k if my 5lb dog doesn’t need any teeth pulled and the high estimate is 1500 if he needs 3 pulled. Blood work and a yearly visit is 300.

I spent 1500 to diagnose my dog with heart disease to see if she needs medication which she did. They like to repeat the tests yearly and I intend to say no. There’s no point because eventually it progresses to heart failure and she will die.
 

The greed of vets is the worst, preying on your love for your pet. They are all disgusting, especially, ESPECIALLY Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. Buffy was there a few days. $11 Thousand Dollars. That's right. And they threaten to stop care completely until you pay up. The neighborhood dicks are no better.

Truly repulsive when it comes to payment, even with good care. They squeeze it out of us and we pay because we love, love, love our pets.
 
To me it seems that in the U.S. the whole medical industry is greedy. Not only the vets but the doctors for humans and the clinics too. German physicians earn only small parts of their American colleagues. Nevertheless in Germany the fees for the vets' services where doubled some months ago. Does this happen by chance? I don't think so, since our government always wants to reduce the number of pets. Their argument is that pets would produce too much CO2, which is completely nonsense.
 
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Pepper said:
The greed of vets is the worst, preying on your love for your pet. They are all disgusting, especially, ESPECIALLY Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. Buffy was there a few days. $11 Thousand Dollars. That's right. And they threaten to stop care completely until you pay up. The neighborhood dicks are no better.

Truly repulsive when it comes to payment, even with good care. They squeeze it out of us and we pay because we love, love, love our pets.
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I can’t believe the prices you had to pay. Ugh! When I am deciding how much to spend partly it depends on the age of the animal and prognosis.

I spent 4K for heart surgery on a 3 month old puppy that I had for 2 weeks because it was a birth defect and if she survived would have a normal lifespan. This was in 2004. She lived to 15 and didn’t have any other issues her entire life. Normally 5k is my limit.
 
Buffy was 12, @Teacher Terry. We did not know how much her care would have cost when it began. I think my son would have paid anything he could, and she did live 5 more precious years. Rather, it was the way it was done, how it was drawn out; how we had to also pay for a condition the hospital caused due to the procedures they used. It was their attitude "pay up or die" that also was a great problem.
 
Pepper said:
Buffy was 12, @Teacher Terry. We did not know how much her care would have cost when it began. I think my son would have paid anything he could, and she did live 5 more precious years. Rather, it was the way it was done, how it was drawn out; how we had to also pay for a condition the hospital caused due to the procedures they used. It was their attitude "pay up or die" that also was a great problem.
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That sounds like an awful experience Pepper. Getting 5 more years was worth it but vet prices have really gotten insane.
 
New management took over my Vet Clinic and the rates are sky high now. X rays were 310.00. This week we are going to have Lab work done. For the tech to draw blood it's 155.00 total. I have to get things done one at a time now. I can't afford to do it any other way.

The other Vet clinics nearby cost even more.
 
You guys seem to forget inflation. Do any of you remember when Subway was advertising their foot long subs for $5.00
Now I get a 6 inch with a bag of chips and it comes to over $10.

The cost of vet school averages between $200,000–275,000 for four years.
The average student loan debt for veterinary school graduates is $150,000.
Add the fact that he has to pay for nurses, probably rent on the building, insurance, utilities and now many modern machines like Xray, and others I can't even think of.

You all sound like little socialists that think everybody ought to work for free. Do or did you work for free when you were working?
 
Bocco said:
You guys seem to forget inflation. Do any of you remember when Subway was advertising their foot long subs for $5.00
Now I get a 6 inch with a bag of chips and it comes to over $10.

The cost of vet school averages between $200,000–275,000 for four years.
The average student loan debt for veterinary school graduates is $150,000.
Add the fact that he has to pay for nurses, probably rent on the building, insurance, utilities and now many modern machines like Xray, and others I can't even think of.

You all sound like little socialists that think everybody ought to work for free. Do or did you work for free when you were working?
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Not all vets charge these ridiculous prices. They do it in parts of the country where they can get away with it. I have friends in Kansas and Texas in big cities that pay between 300/600 for a dental. My sister in Chicago paid 300 a few years ago.

People are having to put their pets to sleep if they break their leg because it’s 10k to get it fixed. For years I always had 4 rescue dogs but they were small and needed dentals which were reasonable. Now they aren’t.

Vets don’t pay for nurses! They use poorly paid vet assistants. Many don’t have a lot of equipment and send you to a bigger facility for X-rays, etc.

My vet’s parking lot used to be full and now when I go it’s mostly empty. Now I never have more than 2 dogs and some people used to have pets and now can’t afford to have any. I’m sure you don’t have pets so have no clue what you’re talking about!!
 
Bocco said:
You all sound like little socialists that think everybody ought to work for free. Do or did you work for free when you were working?
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From a different thread you said: "There sure are a lot of paranoid people on here that love to charge people as being "conspiracy thumpers." "

You just got here. I guess you never read "How to Win Friends & Influence People" Whatever, Bocco my man, it doesn't appear you are here for that. ;)
 
When the vet biz started calling our pets "companion animals" is when the prices really skyrocketed. Now that you own a "companion animal" you pay more than you would for
a human "companion". Wondering if anyone here has pet health insurance - what the costs are and what they actually cover.
 
I have taken our dog Ace to the vet maybe 3 times in 11 years. When he was a pup I went to the farm store and got the shots he needed and administered myself. Twice he went to the vet for rabies shots as we needed the document to proof that. I skip all the stuff they push at the vet.
 

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I have pet insurance for the first time with my dogs. It starts low when they are younger but raises occur as they age. It’s healthy Paws and they do pay. They don’t cover anything routine such as dental.

They don’t subtract the deductible and pay out like insurance for people does. So if you have a 1k bill with a 500 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate instead of subtracting the 500 from 1k they first multiply by 80% so really the deductible ends up being larger.

If you had a serious illness or accident it would be worthwhile but it hasn’t been for me. I have finally used it this year because Amy had 2k tests for her heart problem. When her deductible starts again in April I am dropping hers.

I’m keeping Max’s because I have paid in for 7 years and he’s approaching the age where I could need it. I’m just going to save the amount I would spend on the premiums.
 
Pepper said:
Seems vet bills have gone way up since they started pushing "insurance." Makes me wonder.......
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I hadn’t thought about that Pepper! I actually don’t know anyone else that has it. I have paid way more in premiums than I collected. I’m dropping it for Amy because with her heart condition I wouldn’t have surgery if she developed another problem.

Also when my last dog had the same problem they listened to her heart and prescribed medication. With Amy they wouldn’t until I had the tests. Some vets want to repeat all the tests yearly which is stupid because the disease is progressive and always leads to heart failure. The vet can hear advanced murmurs on the stethoscope.
 
I have a little girl going on 16, she is burning through her nine lives now for many reasons the main ones are I can't afford it, she hates people other than me hisses and spits at everyone, I physically can't take her, she won't get in the carrier even for me.

The main thing is even with the cut-rate vet clinic here she's going on 16 and I can't afford to take her, if she was a younger cat I would find a way to get her the care she needs as it is I'm doing the best I can for her myself.

Edit: Here she is Clawdia with a w
 

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Teacher Terry said:
vet care has skyrocketed in Northern Nevada. A dental is 1k if my 5lb dog doesn’t need any teeth pulled and the high estimate is 1500 if he needs 3 pulled. Blood work and a yearly visit is 300.

I spent 1500 to diagnose my dog with heart disease to see if she needs medication which she did. They like to repeat the tests yearly and I intend to say no. There’s no point because eventually it progresses to heart failure and she will die.
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I agree we have to advocate for what is done to our pets. Juniper has had up to an abdominal ultrasound for blood in her urine, which is off and on. The results were negative. There may always be blood in her urine I can't see. I will not allow further treatment which would be going to UC Davis which has a veterinary school. It's not just the money. I won't do that to my cat. I agreed to blood work, CBC, chem panel and urinalysis. I wonder if she could be a little anemic. I should get results tomorrow.
 
TheOtherRick said:
I have a little girl going on 16, she is burning through her nine lives now for many reasons the main ones are I can't afford it, she hates people other than me hisses and spits at everyone, I physically can't take her, she won't get in the carrier even for me.

The main thing is even with the cut-rate vet clinic here she's going on 16 and I can't afford to take her, if she was a younger cat I would find a way to get her the care she needs as it is I'm doing the best I can for her myself.

Edit: Here she is Clawdia with a w
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She's a cutie and I love her name. You are doing the right thing. She is in her home, with you and safe and comfortable. All you can hope for is she passes at home. My last two girls did. It's hard to watch but I'm grateful they went that way.
 
jlhog said:
I have taken our dog Ace to the vet maybe 3 times in 11 years. When he was a pup I went to the farm store and got the shots he needed and administered myself. Twice he went to the vet for rabies shots as we needed the document to proof that. I skip all the stuff they push at the vet.
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Yes, you want the veg proof for rabies. Just in case. But I too wonder about all the stuff they want done. Especially since my cats are STRICTLY indoors.
 
Pepper said:
The greed of vets is the worst, preying on your love for your pet. They are all disgusting, especially, ESPECIALLY Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. Buffy was there a few days. $11 Thousand Dollars. That's right. And they threaten to stop care completely until you pay up. The neighborhood dicks are no better.

Truly repulsive when it comes to payment, even with good care. They squeeze it out of us and we pay because we love, love, love our pets.
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I'm so sorry Pepper! I wonder what happens. Do people go to vet school for the love and care of animals and it all changes in the real world? I just don't know. Running a business costs money. But is it a good living or does it become greed? I wonder.

I can't think all vets are that way. I'm not sure if the blood work and other lab testing is also going up. Supplies? Prices just up and up.
 


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