Are Veterinarian's Scammers?

[GETBOATS]

Got me thinking, our large animal Vet used this phrase: "Tincture of time" More often than not this policy works. Year and a half ago, our 7 year old male GSP hurt himself so much so he could hardly put his left foot down to walk. Gave it a week, not much better, so bit the bullet and visited the local Vet, not Steve, X-rays revealed nothing that would cause him trouble. Could not tell if it was his foot, leg, shoulder. Vet did say however his heart was enlarged and suggested a variety of tests. Shadow maybe I thought. Keeping in mind this dog is the most agile, physically fit animal I've ever owned. It's no wonder he hurt himself. He runs the fence line, does turn backs, spins, jumps. Did nothing except keeping him on a lease when outside, my wife walked with him for a couple of months with constant progress. Today you'd never know. Just waiting for the next injury and it will come. "Tincture of time"

 

[Racedirt]

I go to a privately owned vet with two vets that I absolutely trust in corona. They know I’m an open checkbook when it comes to my dogs and they never abuse it. Toby is 14, and every time he goes in, I fast him the night before and let the vet know he can run bloodwork if they would like. They usually say no. And, they are always cautious when prescribing high cost medicine. Toby has an inhaler for chronic bronchitis and the staff was able to find the inhaler at a reasonable cost for me.

For ERs, I try to go to corona animal emergency hospital which I believe is privately owned. They have been very fair with their prices. One of my dogs had emergency surgery and the bill looked like it would have came from my vet besides the emergency visit fee. The issue is the training and the cost of the equipment. Which is why the corporate ER places have all the equipment. If your dog needs a specialist fast, and there is a long wait to see the specialist, the fastest way is through the ER instead of waiting for an appointment. VCA tends to have all the specialists. Robert thinks I’m absolutely nuts the two times I paid a ridiculous amount of money to save my dogs. I think any ER trip with a dog is going to be a minimum of 2k. Dogs can’t communicate and usually don't show they are sick until they are pretty sick, especially bigger dogs. VCA has been the most expensive and they will run everything, but they always give me an estimate before and have given me two treatment options. I have heard of ER vets saying a torn acl surgery is required, when a dog can be managed on pain meds, limit activity and wait until your local vets office can schedule it. It won’t have all the emergency costs and will be outpatient.

I have insurance and I don’t send in a claim unless it’s a major bill. FIGO has yet to deny a claim or not renew. Also, I have a care credit card that usually has 0% interest incase of these emergencies.

@Socalx09 who are your go-to vets in Corona? We use Animal Medical Center of Corona, Dr Bart. Not as happy with current services, he's good but new Drs are not as good.

 

[Socalx09]

@Socalx09 who are your go-to vets in Corona? We use Animal Medical Center of Corona, Dr Bart. Not as happy with current services, he's good but new Drs are not as good.

Corona Animal Hospital off of Yorba. They are great. They just hired a third vet as well. I haven’t used her yet, but heard great things about her from Dr. Lee.

Both Dr. Lee and Dr. De La Paz have gone out of their way to help me. I had two dogs with speciality issues. I sent an email late one night about my dog on how he was in the ER and it didn’t look good.. He called me from his cell phone after 9pm when he read the email to walk me through it and told me to bring Gibbs in first thing in the morning. He didn’t agree with the diagnosis and he was right about Gibbs. Just good people who love dogs and care about their (human) patients as well.

 

[2Driver]

I guess the days are gone when your Dad took 11 year old King to the vet for an illness and came home with a new puppy in its place.

 

[Racedirt]

Corona Animal Hospital off of Yorba. They are great. They just hired a third vet as well. I haven’t used her yet, but heard great things about her from Dr. Lee.

Both Dr. Lee and Dr. De La Paz have gone out of their way to help me. I had two dogs with speciality issues. I sent an email late one night about my dog on how he was in the ER and it didn’t look good.. He called me from his cell phone after 9pm when he read the email to walk me through it and told me to bring Gibbs in first thing in the morning. He didn’t agree with the diagnosis and he was right about Gibbs. Just good people who love dogs and care about their (human) patients as well.

Much appreciated! When we had dogs we used Animal and Bird Hospital when Dr Stoddard was still practicing. Now we just have cats and our Bengal is a pita, Dr Bart staff wants us to sedate before bringing her in, very annoying.

 

[samsah33]

Had some doggy dental issues a couple months ago that required my girl to get put under and have a broken tooth extracted. Wife will still not tell me how much it cost. Honestly, I don't want to know...

Not to thread jack, but that brings up another part of our conversation - how much is too much, and what is your price? Not that I would let my baby go over a couple hundred, but I certainly wouldn't forego retirement to give her an extra year or so...

 

[81Sprint]

You guys think small animal vets are bad? Just be lucky your wife isn't into horses. One of these things coughs or stubs it's hoof, and holy s*** stop everything and get the vet over here to make sure it's not dying.

Did I mention that they all have different diets and daily supplements, because the vet "suggested it"?

Yeah they're beautiful, and cool most of the time, unless of course a butterfly or leaf floats by then they turn into complete psychopaths.

View attachment 1492349

My Grandparents had multiple show horses along with donkeys and cattle when I was growing up. Still have the donkeys, those damn things live forever. Horses are awesome creatures, until they get spooked. I remember I was around 10 years old and was riding one and for whatever reason it got the desire to head to the barn. At full throttle! Horse stopped short at the fence, I continued over it. Good times, I do miss riding them regardless

 

[Socalx09]

Had some doggy dental issues a couple months ago that required my girl to get put under and have a broken tooth extracted. Wife will still not tell me how much it cost. Honestly, I don't want to know...

Not to thread jack, but that brings up another part of our conversation - how much is too much, and what is your price? Not that I would let my baby go over a couple hundred, but I certainly wouldn't forego retirement to give her an extra year or so...

That’s a hard question. Sometimes it spirals… at a point, I always ask myself if I already spent this much and need more, I can’t stop now… hunter cost us 17k in one week at VCA. Hunter only went to the vet once a year prior to this for a check up. He was a healthy dog. Turns out he had a rare copper disease. He was fine one day and went downhill fast. Unfortunately, after life saving surgery, specialists, he passed away 8 months later due to the disease. He was an extremely special lab.

Gibbs probably cost us 10k plus at the VCA with emergencies over the last 4 months of his life. He was my mom’s “soul dog.” She still can’t get another dog.. We ended up just doing management care at our local vet once he was stabilized. VCA never pinpointed what was wrong, they wanted to do exploratory surgery. I called my vet and she said don’t do it… she said if you can’t find out what’s wrong after all these tests, you just start managing the symptoms and once you can’t manage the symptoms, you let them go.

My family handles dogs a little differently. Gibbs was my mom’s dog, but was bonded with my dog, Toby. Hunter was my dad’s dog, but bonded with Toby as a puppy. All the dogs play together, stay together when we are gone etc. so when something goes wrong, it’s usually a group effort financially. That helps a lot and so does insurance.

I know it’s crazy…my mom always justifies it as it’s a small car payment and a car doesn’t bring her happiness like any dog has.

 

[kimbalee]

Vets are Big Pharma - dogs that have never been vaccinated & are fed real food (not kibble or wet canned food) will live 20-25+ years. There are many groups out there if you look but the biggest hurdle in city living is getting around the mandatory rabies vax which starts their immune system demise.

 

[OldSchoolBoats]

Well this thread definitely makes me not want to get a dog..........

 

[PlanB]

Scammers for sure. Novak in Havasu is one of them. They bring in the vet for the upscale at the end every time. We only go for shots so we can board them when we travel. Complete waste of time. De-wormers, DNA checks the list goes on and on. Check their DNA for possible problems later in life? Gtfo. I’ll deal with it if they get sick.

Havasu has an issue with vets for sure, but Novak saved my dog's eye. He got blasted at the dog park from one from the sprinklers and it damaged his eye. They were able to get me in (additional cost) and treated him perfectly until I could get him back to San Diego for more treatment. The biggest issue out there is no 24-hour emergency vets.

My vet in San Diego owns the practice and we have been with her for 20 years. We just got our dog in last weekend for stomach issues and she got us in immediately. She has been great for us and having pet insurance is also huge. We are about 10K ahead over that same 20-year period.

 

[rivermobster]

Some are good and some are bad. Any good one will have insane pricing. I‘m pretty sure I’ve spent more on medical for my dogs than I ever have on myself…and that’s with their insurance which is now touching $300/mo.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. Why?

Our Frenchie had the typical breathing issues they all have. It just comes with the breed.

Vet said ...

There is a place in Long Beach that specializes in these matters. They wanted eight THOUSAND dollars to fix the issue for us.

Through a friend of a friend, we ended up at a place right here in San Dimas.

Neutered, throat surgery, nose surgery and the dog is now quiet as a mouse.

1200.00 for everything.

Dude did fantastic job and didn't charge for the follow up visit.

I'll never go anywhere else now.

Veterinarian for Cats and Dogs in San Dimas, CA - PetVets Animal Hospital

At PetVets, your pets are treated like family members. We are a full-service veterinary practice for both dogs and cats.

www.petvetsanimalhospital.com

 

[havasujeeper]

As @rivermobster said, I have followed Dr. Bory for the last 12 years. He is the ONLY vet i will trust on any future dog i get. He cares about dogs more than he cares about money. He moved from Upland to Fontana, and now in San Dimas. He'll be the first to tell you about how horrible the Chinese owned Vet corporations are.

 

[zhandfull]

I swear veterinarians prey on your emotions for your animals...my 11mo GSP is currently sick, diarrhea and very lethargic, this a-hole dog eats everything in sight, so my thought was that he probably ate something that screwed with him and we should just keep an eye on him and he will get better...but the wife was like no, we have to take him to the vet, vet was closed, she insisted on taking him the ER vet....they ran every test and xray they can think of at the tune of around $1750 and pretty much told us that there wasn't anything wrong with him and essentially gave him some dog pepto bismol and said to make sure he drinks water and he should would get better over the next week or so...smh...

Yep, most are.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. Why?

Our Frenchie had the typical breathing issues they all have. It just comes with the breed.

Vet said ...

There is a place in Long Beach that specializes in these matters. They wanted eight THOUSAND dollars to fix the issue for us.

Through a friend of a friend, we ended up at a place right here in San Dimas.

Neutered, throat surgery, nose surgery and the dog is now quiet as a mouse.

1200.00 for everything.

Dude did fantastic job and didn't charge for the follow up visit.

I'll never go anywhere else now.

Veterinarian for Cats and Dogs in San Dimas, CA - PetVets Animal Hospital

At PetVets, your pets are treated like family members. We are a full-service veterinary practice for both dogs and cats.

www.petvetsanimalhospital.com

That’s awesome. I mean $1,200 isn’t “cheap,” but it’s better than $8k. My vet loves my dogs, as did my previous one, they are just expensive. It is what it is. This week our oldest starts some sort of laser therapy….the things we do for our pets these days….

 

[C-2]

You guys think small animal vets are bad? Just be lucky your wife isn't into horses. One of these things coughs or stubs it's hoof, and holy s*** stop everything and get the vet over here to make sure it's not dying.

Did I mention that they all have different diets and daily supplements, because the vet "suggested it"?

Yeah they're beautiful, and cool most of the time, unless of course a butterfly or leaf floats by then they turn into complete psychopaths.

View attachment 1492349

Bwaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaa.

Yup, I was thinking the same. It's like the cost of an auto accident whenever something goes south.

On a positive note, I've become a pretty savvy vet tech.

Here's a tip for everybody : Vetericyn for cuts and wounds. It works wonders on all animals. I've used it to heal gashes that should have been stitched.

 

[stephenkatsea]

When we had to put down our 11 yr old very large male GR, I stayed with him as the Vet did her work. When I finally looked up, I knew I had tears running down my cheeks. And, she (the Vet) did also. She had cared for him his entire life.

 

[pronstar]

Veterinarians are like lawyers. Everyone hates on them, until they need one.

The difference is, you want the biggest asshole lawyer on your side…which isn’t a great quality to look for in a vet LOL

 

[NicPaus]

Bwaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaa.

Yup, I was thinking the same. It's like the cost of an auto accident whenever something goes south.

On a positive note, I've become a pretty savvy vet tech.

Here's a tip for everybody : Vetericyn for cuts and wounds. It works wonders on all animals. I've used it to heal gashes that should have been stitched.

Feed store also sells Fish Mox. 99% amoxicillin. No prescription needed. Have it on hand for my dogs. Occasionally have to take a few myself when I feel it.

 

[Cray Paper]

Had some doggy dental issues a couple months ago that required my girl to get put under and have a broken tooth extracted. Wife will still not tell me how much it cost. Honestly, I don't want to know...

Not to thread jack, but that brings up another part of our conversation - how much is too much, and what is your price? Not that I would let my baby go over a couple hundred, but I certainly wouldn't forego retirement to give her an extra year or so...

My response is similar to SocalX609's. Until you experience a health emergency with a beloved pet (family member) it's difficult to say what you would spend to possibly save their life. I have had 2 chocolate labs and when I had to put the first one down it was one of the hardest things in life I experienced at the time. It's one thing when it's completely obvious, like they got hit by a car and totally messed up, but old age and or disease...you wind up trying to decide how much pain your buddy is in, what is the cost verse extending their life and possibly extending agony for your own personnel benefit. Personal benefit would be keeping a beloved, innocent, trusting life partner alive for awhile longer because doing the right thing in this situation is really fucking hard to do on a human level.

I spent 2500.00 on a deaf cat in the late 90's when my wife and I could least afford it. That cat was run over by a car in the mid section several blocks from home. She made it home, walked in the cat door and collapsed on my wife's foot on a Sunday night. The cat was white, but was blue when she came through the cat door.
She wanted to live that bad, she came home and put her life in our hands. We spent the money and she lived another 10 years, and was a great loving influence on our young sons , my first lab and my wife and I. When it was time to put the cat down I learned the hard way to choose a good vet, THAT experience was one of the worst of my life as well, just glad my wife and kids weren't in the room when the vet couldn't perform their job. The vet had to make several attempts at the injection as the cat was crying and trying to get away from her and I had to hold the cat down. The vets response to my question about what is going on was " she just doesn't want to die".

I adopted a couple of cats a little over 3 years ago. One of them is the sweetest and most trusting and personable pet I have ever had. 3 months ago, she quit eating and was so lethargic. She had a swollen section in front of her rear left hip. She was fading quickly, I got an appointment with a really good vet in Monroe WA but it took a couple of days. They couldn't with certainty diagnose the issue with just blood, urine tests and an Xray. The young female vet said it's more than likely cancer of the liver failing, but the urine test results were not that out of line. She recommended an ultra sound. It was another 800.00 on top of the initial vet bill. It took 4 days but they had a mobile ultra sound service check her out. Turns out she had a bad abscess between her internals and musculature of her abdomen. Probably from a cat fight our deep puncture from some foreign object. They lanced, drained and flushed the abscess then prescribed antibiotics for 2 weeks. My cat was back to normal in a week, and even more loving.
Bella the cat is about 4 years old, if she was 15 I wouldn't have spent the money. If she had cancer, liver failure I would not have moved forward with medical care. Lots of variables and each situation is different.

Are vets ripping us off, maybe, but if a good vet can save the life of your little life partner and you can afford it I would say NO. We are fortunate to live in the time we are with the technology and ability to fix things at our disposal, unfortunately their is a steep price to pay for it.

 

[samsah33]

That’s a hard question. Sometimes it spirals… at a point, I always ask myself if I already spent this much and need more, I can’t stop now… hunter cost us 17k in one week at VCA. Hunter only went to the vet once a year prior to this for a check up. He was a healthy dog. Turns out he had a rare copper disease. He was fine one day and went downhill fast. Unfortunately, after life saving surgery, specialists, he passed away 8 months later due to the disease. He was an extremely special lab.
View attachment 1492378 View attachment 1492377

Gibbs probably cost us 10k plus at the VCA with emergencies over the last 4 months of his life. He was my mom’s “soul dog.” She still can’t get another dog.. We ended up just doing management care at our local vet once he was stabilized. VCA never pinpointed what was wrong, they wanted to do exploratory surgery. I called my vet and she said don’t do it… she said if you can’t find out what’s wrong after all these tests, you just start managing the symptoms and once you can’t manage the symptoms, you let them go.

View attachment 1492381

My family handles dogs a little differently. Gibbs was my mom’s dog, but was bonded with my dog, Toby. Hunter was my dad’s dog, but bonded with Toby as a puppy. All the dogs play together, stay together when we are gone etc. so when something goes wrong, it’s usually a group effort financially. That helps a lot and so does insurance.

I know it’s crazy…my mom always justifies it as it’s a small car payment and a car doesn’t bring her happiness like any dog has.

Yes, definitely a hard question, I don't envy you for having to make those decisions... I hadn't thought about an incremental spend, that does add a whole other dimension to the equation. Hoping my Q brought back some good memories for you.

 

[samsah33]

My response is similar to SocalX609's. Until you experience a health emergency with a beloved pet (family member) it's difficult to say what you would spend to possibly save their life. I have had 2 chocolate labs and when I had to put the first one down it was one of the hardest things in life I experienced at the time. It's one thing when it's completely obvious, like they got hit by a car and totally messed up, but old age and or disease...you wind up trying to decide how much pain your buddy is in, what is the cost verse extending their life and possibly extending agony for your own personnel benefit. Personal benefit would be keeping a beloved, innocent, trusting life partner alive for awhile longer because doing the right thing in this situation is really fucking hard to do on a human level.

I spent 2500.00 on a deaf cat in the late 90's when my wife and I could least afford it. That cat was run over by a car in the mid section several blocks from home. She made it home, walked in the cat door and collapsed on my wife's foot on a Sunday night. The cat was white, but was blue when she came through the cat door. She wanted to live that bad, she came home and put her life in our hands. We spent the money and she lived another 10 years, and was a great family to our 2 sons and us.

I adopted a couple of cats a little over 3 years ago. One of them is the sweetest and most trusting and personable pet I have ever had. 3 months ago, she quit eating and was so lethargic. She had a swollen section in front of her rear lerft hip. She was fading quickly, got an appointment with a really good vet in Monroe WA but it took a couple of days. They couldn't with certainty diagnose the issue with just blood tests and Xray. The young female vet said it's more than likely cancer of the liver failing, but the urine test wasn't that out of line. She recommended an ultra sound. It was about 800.00 on top of the initial vet bill. It took 4 days but they had a mobile ultra sound service check her out. Turns out she had a bad abscess between her internals and musculature of her abdomen. Probably from a cat fight our deep puncture from some foreign object. They lanced, drained and flushed the abscess then prescribed antibiotics for 2 weeks. My cat was back to normal in a week, and even more loving.

Agree, it's easy to speculate on hypotheticals. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. Not being sarcastic, but instead recognizing that there's a lot of variables involved in those decisions. My lifestyle had no room for pets, but then my daughters go to the age when they were starting to pine for an Xbox, so I got my avatar instead (...and that kept them quiet for a couple years...!). She's in good health except for the tooth, but I know there's a solid chance I'll have to make a hard decision at some point...

 

[stephenkatsea]

When we had to put down our 11 yr old very large male GR, I stayed with him as the Vet did her work. When I finally looked up, I knew I had tears running down my cheeks. And, she (the Vet) did also. She had cared for him his entire life. View attachment 1492435

While I was at sea, my wife and daughters found this guy at the Ventura County Humane Society. But, others also wanted him. They actually came out to look at our yard and talk about prior pets. For us, it was a rescued pure breed Bassett Hound. We had him for over 10 years. So, my wife and daughters won the Human Society’s selection. I came home from sea and met this outstanding big guy. He was immediately my buddy. His size was like no other GR we’d ever seen. Around other dogs, he was definitely the Alpha male. Around people and kids, he was just a very big puppy. Except for the gardeners . . . . and kites and the Goodyear Blimp.

 

[boatnam2]

Just had our puppy spade, think it was $1100 OTD!

 

[Kenboat]

My wife is a Horse vet and is ready to retire after 40 years of being a solo vet in rural setting. As she retires her replacement will be a corporate owned mixed animal practice.
They typically charge double for the same service, you as why this has happened.
15 years ago most states changed the laws to allow a non licensed veterinary individual or cooperation to own and operate a vet clinic, can you say lobbyist!

The standard of care has completely changed in small animal, to be approved by the American Animal Hospital Association, the vet has to offer the same level of care as a human hospital.

To build a new clinic it runs around $450 dollars per square foot! borrow money at 7.5% and you need to be billing out enough to cover 60-8-K per month in payments.

And to prescribe opiates the regulations and cost are crazy

Drug companies are charging crazy for meds.

 

[dribble]

You guys think small animal vets are bad? Just be lucky your wife isn't into horses. One of these things coughs or stubs it's hoof, and holy s*** stop everything and get the vet over here to make sure it's not dying.

Did I mention that they all have different diets and daily supplements, because the vet "suggested it"?

Yeah they're beautiful, and cool most of the time, unless of course a butterfly or leaf floats by then they turn into complete psychopaths.

View attachment 1492349

I learned very early on that just because a horse takes a lame step you don’t call the vet. I put my Arab down at 29. It was the second time in the 27 years I had him, that he saw the vet for something other than annual shots. Our 83 year old Vet got out of bed once at 1:00 AM on a 33 degree December morning and came and put my wife’s 26 year old Arab down. He charged less than when we took my GF’s 22 year old cat in to be put down and sent the bill two weeks later. I can honestly say that over the years, I spent less on vet bills for my horses than I did for dogs and cats.

 

[C-2]

The problem we have down here in the IE area with mobile equine vets is they have all left the business. I've watched 2 horses die in front of me waiting on vets.

I can't blame them for leaving, it's a hard profession and I don't know how they make any money.

Our Hispanic farrier is pretty good with our current crew. Between our knowledge, his experience/knowledge, and friends, we have been lucky enough not to make any recent calls. And then there's the whole unlicensed black market associated with the huge Hispanic horse culture/scene in the Norco area....it's good to know somebody in that group.

Dogs and cats - Dr Butchko in Rubidoux. They specialize in flat face dogs, and while waiting in the lobby, we've talked to people from AZ and CO who brought their dogs there. No appointments, walk-in only and it could be hours long wait times. And it's straight up in the barrio. But they are the only honest small animal vet we have come across in the IE over the past 50-years of keeping animals.

We took my neighbor kid and his Bull Mastiff over there last year. The dog was in a stalled labor. They kept her overnight, and pulled out 4 more puppies, and they charged him $850.

 

[Dan Lorenze]

Most Vet's tug on your heart strings.... "You don't want Tiger to get the Heartworm Vax?" What kind of owner are you? lol

 

[Ducksquasher]

The problem we have down here in the IE area with mobile equine vets is they have all left the business. I've watched 2 horses die in front of me waiting on vets.

I can't blame them for leaving, it's a hard profession and I don't know how they make any money.

Our Hispanic farrier is pretty good with our current crew. Between our knowledge, his experience/knowledge, and friends, we have been lucky enough not to make any recent calls. And then there's the whole unlicensed black market associated with the huge Hispanic horse culture/scene in the Norco area....it's good to know somebody in that group.

Dogs and cats - Dr Butchko in Rubidoux. They specialize in flat face dogs, and while waiting in the lobby, we've talked to people from AZ and CO who brought their dogs there. No appointments, walk-in only and it could be hours long wait times. And it's straight up in the barrio. But they are the only honest small animal vet we have come across in the IE over the past 50-years of keeping animals.

We took my neighbor kid and his Bull Mastiff over there last year. The dog was in a stalled labor. They kept her overnight, and pulled out 4 more puppies, and they charged him $850.

Dr. Butchko is very good...and that place is a trip!

 

[Ducksquasher]

Most Vet's tug on your heart strings.... "You don't want Tiger to get the Heartworm Vax?" What kind of owner are you? lol

One of my labs actually had heart worms...what pisses me off is the stupid yearly heartworm test that the Vets make you do to get the prescription again for the combined flea/tick/heartworm monthly pill. If they are on the monthly pill they doing have heart worms so why do I need to take another test to check? Scam!

 

[MonkeyButt70]

Any business/service that can profit from emotional interests will be extremely profitable. This is why the corporate companies have entered the space of Veterinarians. Easy to charge outrageous prices when emotions are involved for Fido

 

[Badchoices03]

Feed the puppy ground turkey and rice for a few days. If it doesn't eat that its sick but the turkey and rice will calm there stomach

Yeah we have been feeding him boiled chicken and rice, his appetite has not failed at all...

 

[Badchoices03]

Got me thinking, our large animal Vet used this phrase: "Tincture of time" More often than not this policy works. Year and a half ago, our 7 year old male GSP hurt himself so much so he could hardly put his left foot down to walk. Gave it a week, not much better, so bit the bullet and visited the local Vet, not Steve, X-rays revealed nothing that would cause him trouble. Could not tell if it was his foot, leg, shoulder. Vet did say however his heart was enlarged and suggested a variety of tests. Shadow maybe I thought. Keeping in mind this dog is the most agile, physically fit animal I've ever owned. It's no wonder he hurt himself. He runs the fence line, does turn backs, spins, jumps. Did nothing except keeping him on a lease when outside, my wife walked with him for a couple of months with constant progress. Today you'd never know. Just waiting for the next injury and it will come. "Tincture of time"

To add to my story....when we took my GSP in, part of the issue was that he couldnt walk, mind you I thought it was more from being lethargic from being sick...when we took him in, I literally carried him into the vet and the vet tech carried him to the back....I explained to them that he couldnt stand....when we go to pick him up, the vet tech comes out and is like, I just noticed that he is having a hard time walking and is limping on his back leg do you want us to diagnose that? I was confused, because we literally carried him in, how did they now just realize he couldnt walk well? I asked if it was cost us an additional fee, and yessss of course it is because they have to do complete new xrays, etc etc....I opt'd not to do it....dog is still limping around but seems to be getting better each day...

 

[Badchoices03]

Agree, it's easy to speculate on hypotheticals. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. Not being sarcastic, but instead recognizing that there's a lot of variables involved in those decisions. My lifestyle had no room for pets, but then my daughters go to the age when they were starting to pine for an Xbox, so I got my avatar instead (...and that kept them quiet for a couple years...!). She's in good health except for the tooth, but I know there's a solid chance I'll have to make a hard decision at some point...

This vet bill was way past my limit...lol...if it was up to me, I would have waited it out, my thought was this fkn dog ate something he shouldnt have...and for the most part, thats exactly what we did, but it took paying the vet $1700 for him to tell us to wait it out....lol...

 

[Bajastu]

My wife has worked at two vets, about 8-10 years total. Yes, most veterinarians are all money hungry assholes. They do not care about your pet, and they just want to upcharge the shit out of you. Preying upon emotion is part of the game. On the other side, 50% of pet owners are the biggest assholes on planet earth. They treat their animals better than humans and they treat the animal hospital staff worse than when someone is sick or dying in a human hospital. The average pet owner is usually nice. But a vast majority are lying, complaining, feet stomping little bitches. The hate goes both ways when it comes to dealing with pet owners vs the Doctors.

The sad part is that most people try and prolong an animal’s life to the max to the detriment of the animal. This is a course accompanied by large sums of money. Comparative, if you provide the same service to a human, its in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, not thousands.

Quality of life is usually brought up when the Dr thinks that the animal needs to be put down. But there is always some idiot that wants to spend ungodly amount of cash to keep their 18-year-old dog that is blind, walks with two legs dragging, and shits on itself, and now has cancer alive. Like come on people, just because you have some emotional bond with your animal, don’t prolong its miserable life for your own satisfaction. Put the bitch down. Even after you spend mass amounts of money to keep the dog alive, it lives for a few months more and then dies. The client will complain and threaten to sue because the dog passed. Typical behavior from this type of individual.

The stories are endless with the Dr's and the client issues. The sad part is that most of the good stories are shadowed by the bad stories.

 

[Socalx09]

Yes, definitely a hard question, I don't envy you for having to make those decisions... I hadn't thought about an incremental spend, that does add a whole other dimension to the equation. Hoping my Q brought back some good memories for you.

Yeah the incremental spending is what will get you. It’s like you are already this far, what’s another 2k… and it keeps going. He was there two days before surgery and two days post. They didn’t know what was wrong with him until the biopsy came back. They just repaired what they saw wrong and it was a waiting game.

It did bring back good memories! I went through all their pictures! Toby is still with us and he is 14 and is in good health. I joke to Robert that I would take out a 2nd for him.

 

[C-2]

Dr Stoddard was still practicing.

I remember that guy. We took our pocket parrots to him and he told us they were depressed and needed counseling. I'm not kidding. I grabbed my birds and split.

That was when he practiced in the the little house on Hamner before he went big time with Avid. So the joke is on me lol

 

[C-2]

Quality of life is usually brought up when the Dr thinks that the animal needs to be put down. But there is always some idiot that wants to spend ungodly amount of cash to keep their 18-year-old dog that is blind, walks with two legs dragging, and shits on itself, and now has cancer alive. Like come on people, just because you have some emotional bond with your animal, don’t prolong its miserable life for your own satisfaction. Put the bitch down. Even after you spend mass amounts of money to keep the dog alive, it lives for a few months more and then dies. The client will complain and threaten to sue because the dog passed. Typical behavior from this type of individual.

Yup

On the flipside, before the pandemic, we took a 21-year old cat that was panting to Dr Butchko. They said your cat is 21-years old, and most likely his heart is failing. We can give you some meds to extend his life, but cats don't like taking meds and you're just prolonging the inevitable that may take place in a week, or months. So we put the cat down.

Then during the pandemic we took our 22-year old cat, same symptoms, to Pedley vet. I said the cat needs to be put down. This female vet comes in and goes off on me, saying she's tired of these "Norco people acting like they can diagnose/treat their own pets" blah blah blah. She said I wasn't doing enough to "extend the quality" of the cat's life. I told her BS, the cat is 22-years old. We agreed the vet would do an exam, and after that exam, she said the cat should be put down. WTF?

 

[petie6464]

I don't believe most veterinarians are predatory, what I do know for fact is people have gone insane over pets. (Animals)

People in the grocery stores with pets in strollers, at restaurants with their a huge dog sitting in a chair and eating off the table.. it's ridiculous and sickening.

With that said your a Vet; A Democrat walks in with a sick pet- You know their willing and wanting to do whatever is necessary to make their beloved animal possibly well. Why not offer them everything that's available? Treat their pet and take their money.

I have a niece that's a Vet. and I believe a good one, the money people spend on extensive treatments is beyond shocking.

She states:

"Many of my clients animals get better health care than most people."

Further: " Clients will spend whatever it takes to treat a sick cat while the client has no teeth."

 

[HTTP404]

The problem we have down here in the IE area with mobile equine vets is they have all left the business. I've watched 2 horses die in front of me waiting on vets.

I can't blame them for leaving, it's a hard profession and I don't know how they make any money.

Our Hispanic farrier is pretty good with our current crew. Between our knowledge, his experience/knowledge, and friends, we have been lucky enough not to make any recent calls. And then there's the whole unlicensed black market associated with the huge Hispanic horse culture/scene in the Norco area....it's good to know somebody in that group.

Dogs and cats - Dr Butchko in Rubidoux. They specialize in flat face dogs, and while waiting in the lobby, we've talked to people from AZ and CO who brought their dogs there. No appointments, walk-in only and it could be hours long wait times. And it's straight up in the barrio. But they are the only honest small animal vet we have come across in the IE over the past 50-years of keeping animals.

We took my neighbor kid and his Bull Mastiff over there last year. The dog was in a stalled labor. They kept her overnight, and pulled out 4 more puppies, and they charged him $850.

We used Dr. Butchko for our Rottweilers. 30 years ago.

 

[C-2]

We used Dr. Butchko for our Rottweilers. 30 years ago.

Also during the pandemic I went to his son's new practice in Riverside, I had to put our heeler Hank down. That was the only time I've been there, but it was a different experience...more mainstream vet, as opposed to the chaotic, but effective, Butchko office in Rubidoux.

Of all the cattle dogs we've had, my dog Hank was the best, I still miss him.

I appreciate vets, I'm sure it's a tough gig.

 

[jet496]

I swear veterinarians prey on your emotions for your animals...my 11mo GSP is currently sick, diarrhea and very lethargic, this a-hole dog eats everything in sight, so my thought was that he probably ate something that screwed with him and we should just keep an eye on him and he will get better...but the wife was like no, we have to take him to the vet, vet was closed, she insisted on taking him the ER vet....they ran every test and xray they can think of at the tune of around $1750 and pretty much told us that there wasn't anything wrong with him and essentially gave him some dog pepto bismol and said to make sure he drinks water and he should would get better over the next week or so...smh...

Yes. They can get you. They wanted about $30k to keep our puppy for 2 weeks & they were running every test unde the sun. After $10k (I know, we're fools) we took him to Tijuana. After 5 days & $150 later that dog was & is good.

We do have an ECLAP by us that treats us good. They just aren't an emergency vet hopsital, only goiod for normal scheduled visits.