[catsmom21]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Any prescription meds I've needed for my pets have been compound and/or liquids that need to be mixed on site and refrigerated immediately, and dosed specifically for pets.

My vet has set rates for certain services, including vaccinations, yearly checkups, and prescription medicines. I accept the fees, because I value my veterinarian as much (if not more) than she values her business in the community. I could get the same stuff cheaper somewhere else, but I can't get -her- somewhere else. And so I'm happy to pay the premium for what I consider superior service.

This is a good attitude to have, if you can afford it. You are fortunate that you have a vet you love and trust, and can afford not to need to look elsewhere for savings. I, too do not begrudge my vet the fees I am charged for any procedure or appointment. I trust her, and know she will not recommend unnecessary tests or procedures, just to pad the bill. She is a staff vet, does not work on commission, and the owners of the practice are not in the business of conning the community they work and live in.


Regarding medications though:

For some people, and their pets, the difference in cost might just make the difference between the pet getting the medication s/he needs, or having to do without.

I am poor (relatively speaking). At the time my CKD kitty was alive, one bag of fluids at the vet was $22. I used one bag a week. One CASE (12 bags), a three month supply for me, at the pharmacy was $22. Needles were 25 cents each at the vet. At the pharmacy, they were $8 for a box of 100. This saved me $259 every three months.

This Angel Kitty also took cisapride for megacolon. At the vet, one month's supply of liquid cisapride was $100. I found a human pharmacy who also did compounding, and he made the cisapride tablets for me (much easier to give) for $55 for 3 months, including shipping. This saved me $245 every three months.

Without those savings, ($171 a month on average, for three years) I would not have been able to afford to keep my girl with me for another three years.

I too love my vet, and though she is a staff vet, I like to support the clinic, as much as I can. The clinic I use no longer carries certain drugs. Controlled substances, such as phenobarbital for instance. Norvasc, which they dispense so rarely it is not cost effective to keep it in stock. My vet tells me it was my request to have a prescription for cisapride (to be compounded elsewhere, they do not do compounding) that first gave the clinic, as a whole, the idea to write prescriptions for certain medications instead of carrying them in clinic.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

As far as I know, my doctor can't write up a prescription for my pet, give it to me, and me bring it to Rite-Aid to get filled.

If my vet could do this, and I could get it cheaper at Rite-Aid, then I'd get it at Rite-Aid. And I wouldn't whine about the price of prescription medicine for my cat at the vet's office.

On the other hand, I don't mind forking over a few extra bucks to the vet, who is -not- a pharmacist, for providing pharmacy services that she doesn't have to provide at all. She gives excellent care to my pets and everyone else's pets, and if my extra $10 for a prescription will cover the cost of her latte and scone, then I'm more than happy to dole it out.

Your vet could write out a prescription, as noted. Maybe if it's a large practice they do not do this as a policy, at least for commonly prescribed items. But if I were happy with the care and attention as you mentioned, I wouldn't think much about changing either. (Although I would also not whine about the price. )

Some of the meds given to pets are human meds anyway. And in other cases the pharmacies carry the pet meds. It is possible even to have compounding done at a non-vet pharmacy, although it may be that your typical box store or grocery pharmacy can't do this. By the time you get into compounding something, you may not be saving much at another pharmacy anyway.

My cat takes methimazole for hyperthyroid. This is a generic human med. I get a 90-pill supply at the local grocery chain's pharmacy for 10 bucks. (They have to compete with Walmart, who started these kind of $4/$10 prescription programs.) They don't even limit me to 90 pills every 90 days. 90 pills only lasts 60 days right now, but I can go back when running low and still get another 90 pills for $10. It's with generics like this where you might find more savings by sourcing it somewhere other than the vet.

This was not a special request for a prescription though, except to have him write it for 90 pills at a time. My vet has a strangely pure practice where he sees only cats and apparently doesn't sell any prescriptions or foods. Just one vet, small office, I don't really know how he's doing it but he's not going out of business clearly as I've been taking my cat there for a few years now and he's been open in that site for 10 years. I would guess he's chosen a different path than most.

[zxas6699]

Doctors are really expensive, OK, not only vets.

[greensurfer]

I feel your grief in this close pet of yours passing on. I don't know if I could take the memories of this pet passing away in my hands, I would be hurting for a long time. I have a 9 year old chihuahua that was diagnosed with a stage 4 heart murmur last year and now it is stage 5. I watch her laboured breathing and coughing and this dog is so close to me it is going to be hard for me when she does pass on. I cry alot throuout the day and I only hope between the herbs and meds she is on God will let her live at least 5-6 more years, I will be a lost soul at that time because she is so sweet and inocent. Regards, Bobby

[greensurfer]

I feel your grief in this close pet of yours passing on. I don't know if I could take the memories of this pet passing away in my hands, I would be hurting for a long time. I have a 9 year old chihuahua that was diagnosed with a stage 4 heart murmur last year and now it is stage 5. I watch her laboured breathing and coughing and this dog is so close to me it is going to be hard for me when she does pass on. I cry alot throuout the day and I only hope between the herbs and meds she is on God will let her live at least 5-6 more years, I will be a lost soul at that time because she is so sweet and inocent. Regards, Bobby

[catsmom21]

Originally Posted by greensurfer

I feel your grief in this close pet of yours passing on. I don't know if I could take the memories of this pet passing away in my hands, I would be hurting for a long time. I have a 9 year old chihuahua that was diagnosed with a stage 4 heart murmur last year and now it is stage 5. I watch her laboured breathing and coughing and this dog is so close to me it is going to be hard for me when she does pass on. I cry alot throuout the day and I only hope between the herbs and meds she is on God will let her live at least 5-6 more years, I will be a lost soul at that time because she is so sweet and inocent. Regards, Bobby

I'm sorry to hear about what your beloved little dog is going through. I know how hard it is to care for a special needs pet, having done so many times myself. I hope you do your crying in private, away from her, and don't lay your burden of grief on her. Animals are very sensitive to their human's emotions, it would not be fair to her to have to live in such a gloomy atmosphere all the time.

If she is alive and not suffering there is much to to happy about, without anticipating the end that comes to all, sooner or later. If she is suffering, look deep into your heart and make sure you are not just keeping her alive for yourself.

Be cheerful with her and make each day with her count.

[cynwldkat]

I can only share my personal experience--and bad on me because I did not read the other posts--just don't have the time right now as works is waiting but I lived in CA for 55 years and my best friend was a vet. He was from a different era--when an elderly person brought in their pet and he knew they only had tons of love for their pet and how important those pets are for many elderly lonely people but so often they did not have the money enough to pay a vet bill so he would let them pay him with a loaf of bread or some fresh veggies from their garden, or even a little when they got the money but never chared more then it cost him--well, you get the picture. Now for those who could afford the needed medical treatment he charged them but his prices were about half of what the other vets in the area were charging--needless to say the other vets hated him! His office was always extremely busy and he worked his rear off for the money he made. No, he never did get rich but he was beyond rich in so many ways. He told me about the prices vets charge and showed me how much they so often over-charged for a simple procedure such as neutering a dog or cat and for medications. Yes, vets do over charge. Yes, they do require a lot of school. Yes their equipment does cost a lot of money, yes their employees cost money. But I am saddened by the fact that it appears many vets become a vet not so much for their love of the critters but for the money. So, if a person wants to make a nice living there is nothing wrong with becoming a Dr, Dentist or a vet but for me personally I would prefer a vet that actually loves his/her job and the animals they are working on even if I must pay more it is worth it. And for me to spot that kind of vet is really pretty easy---after all--I knew one personally for over 30 years until he passed away at 77 years old and was still practicing! I miss him but I "know" he is in Heaven!

[cynwldkat]

The vet in the article admits that this is infact a business--it is--so sad it isn't an obsession for animals but I suppose there aren't to many medical Dr's that are obsessed with caring about people either nowdays.....It's just a sign of the times.....

[ParallelJJCat]

Originally Posted by cynwldkat

The vet in the article admits that this is infact a business--it is--so sad it isn't an obsession for animals but I suppose there aren't to many medical Dr's that are obsessed with caring about people either nowdays.....It's just a sign of the times.....

I worked for a vet and I'm very familiar with the inner workings of a veterinary hospital. In fact our boss once sat us all down and went step by step through our overhead so that we understood our prices and why we needed to charge what we did..

Yes, a veterinary hospital is a business. That should be obvious. Otherwise the doors would be shut within a year, which wouldn't be very helpful to the animals.

The largest overhead is of course your building. That includes rent or mortgage, insurance costs, heating, cooling, electric, permits, etc. Then your staff, which includes insurance, training costs (don't forget the vet's student loans!), and of course salaries. Then all of your equipment, including repairs, replacements and upgrades. Every single needle or swab you use costs money. Even the oxygen you use during surgery costs money.

Running a hospital ain't cheap.

We were proud of our hospital. We were proud to offer an ultrasound, an expensive piece of equipment that allowed us better diagnostics. We were proud to offer a laser, which meant quicker healing after surgery. We were proud to offer an endoscope, which meant new ways to do surgery that weren't as invasive. None of those things were cheap, but we offered them because they were genuinely better for our patients.

And we did struggle with owners who could not afford medical care and our role in that decision. For a very long time we allowed post dated checks so that people could split their bills. We eventually had to stop because the hospital was losing so much money that we were in danger of closing. Almost all of those checks bounced.

Instead we would try to work with people by giving them resources, like cancer funds that help pay for veterinary care. We also starting accepting Carecredit. Eventually a policy developed that employees could ask clients to sign the animal over the hospital (if the owner truly could not afford care and the animal was in danger of being euthanized.) The owner would lose rights to the animal and the employee would pay for all care and be responsible for rehoming the animal.

Yes, even then it was the employee and not the hospital who was responsible for costs because the hospital couldn't afford to be. And we did it...many, many times. I personally took on the care of at least two dozen animals that I can remember, including my own cat JJ who would have been euthanized that night because he was a feral. JJ was in the hospital for so long that my wages were garnished for six months just due to the hospitalization fees alone.

We were a business. We also loved the animals in our care. And there were times when animals were put down that maybe could have survived due to finances, but that wasn't our fault. It wasn't the owner's fault either (assuming that they truly could not afford as opposed to simply choosing not to.)

I still use the same hospital, which is one of the most expensive in the area because we have the best equipment and a new building. If I were in a situation where I could not afford medical care, I wouldn't blame them. First I'd be doing everything possible to avoid that circumstance, including selling off every nonessential thing I owned. Then I'd be blaming myself for not saving money. And if it were a situation that truly couldn't be avoided (and it does absolutely happen no matter how prepared you are because life just isn't fair), I would do the best thing for JJ or Robin even if that meant putting them to sleep so they didn't suffer. But I wouldn't expect or blame anyone else for not stepping in to handle my responsibilities.

[cynwldkat]

I used the wrong Word when I said "obsession" when I ment passion. Like I said my friend vet was never a rich person as far as money goes, he had a huge volume of clients and worked very hard so he made enough to have a great practice for 40 years. He did not have all the latest equipment so I can see your point there. He was just a vet that was born in the wrong era.....But he didn't have a client that didn't love him and trust him--the animals and their owners. He was a dieing breed and I really doubt if there are many if any like him around in todays world. It would be very hard to make it as you said.