[Dashdog]

Yes vets are expensive, Having just got a diagnosis of Osteosarcoma ( bone cancer) on Dazzle, I am well aware of the costs of just diagnosis. Treatments are very expensive and usually only buy months or maybe a year.


I hate the fact it is so expensive but in defense of vets I will say it is that way because equipment is very expensive and when you do not have the equipment people will go to other vets . Even things like pulse Oximetry to monitor oxygen levels while doing surgery people find out you are not doing that they will go to someplace that is. There is so much equipment now and people want their vet to have it. People want the best and to them that is all the equipment . I think that is why there are so many specialty vets now as most vets can not afford all the equipment for every issue out there.

You also have staff and unless you pay your staff well they will go else where if it pays better so my guess is retaining a good reliable staff costs vets a lot of money. These people need to be making a living wage as they are not flipping burgers at McDonalds.

Vet school is very expensive so a new vet has school loans to pay off too.

I think years ago people did not expect a vet to do so many procedures on their pets but now it has become like human medicine and often people can not accept the fact they animal is going to die so do everything possible even when it means all they are doing is prolonging death.

I have spent my life working in a human hospital back when I first started Grandma and Grandpa got sick they died at home. Now way too often they die in an ICU hooked to life support for weeks and even months before they finally pass.All we have done is prolong death and made it very ugly at that.

My vet and I were talking about this a few years ago as I told him I can not wait to retire as I am tired of seeing death prolonged and people suffer. The patient is often either totally sedated or totally miserable. When they are awake they get uncooperative and are mean to staff as they think it is us doing this to them.Wrong it is their loved ones doing it to them. My vet very sadly said he understood as they are now seeing it in pets too as people want it all done even when they are told the outcome will be death. I think loved ones need to know when to fight but also when to back off and accept that death is the outcome as not one of us will get out of this life alive.

As I make decisions for Dazzle this drives me to put his comfort and happiness above all else and to accept that when the time comes putting him down is the right thing.

[Coldjensens]

No one is blaming veterinarians, We are just saying they are priced out of practicality. We had this same discussion in some other context. (Auto Mechanics I think). It is hard for some people to grasp this concept. It does not matter whether the prices are fair, justified or even "worth it" It does not matter whose fault it is. If you have 1500 and the treatment costs $3000, you cannot but the treatment. It is as simple as that. You can justify the $3,000 price tag all day long. You can demonstrate the $3,000 services are really worth $10,000. that will not turn the $1,500 someone has into $3000. Personally, I find $1,500 too much to keep a pet alive for another few months or even a year or two beyond their expiration date. However it does not matter how much you want to spend the money, if you do not have it, you do not have it.

What was crazy for us is we spent $3000 or more in less than three days to keep Teddy alive and for a bunch of tests that yielded no results that explained his problem. The next step was to spend another $1,000 to transport him to another hospital, and then another $1000 to $2000 for further diagnostics, then another unknown amount for treatment if they find that some treatment were possible, plus he would need to be on insulin for $500 a month for as long as he lived. There was a likelihood that they would not be able to treat whatever it was if they ever found it. There was also a likelihood that he would die during the process. Of course on top of the $3K we spent, we had to pay whatever they charged to put him to sleep and have him cremated.

[Dashdog]

Coldjensens , I hear you as I see it all the time at work in human health care especially in seniors on limited incomes. Some of them are on multiple expensive medicines and even with insurance they can not afford all of it. The decision becomes have a safe place to live, have food to eat or have all your medicines but not one or maybe even both of the other so of course they do not get some of the medicines. Then the doctors label them as non compliant!

I will hear doctors lecturing the patients and I am thinking they would be compliant if they could afford to be but if you do not have the money no one is going to give you the meds so how you going to take them if you do not have them? To me that is very different then the non compliant person that either says I am not buying that medicine or buys it then decides not to take it but some of the doctors do not seem to get it.

It is very sad that life and death can come down to how much money one has to spend on health care.

[griffon652]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

How is cancer preventable?


Kidney Failure?

Prolapsed rectum?

How about egg binding?

it gets especially ridiculous when a cat or dog is at or past their normal lifespan. You are not doing you or them a favor by spending thousands to prolong their lives for a few more weeks or months. In fact it is kind of selfish IMO. the same is true if a cat or dog (or bird) has cancer. At best you are going to string them along for another painful year or two. We need to accept when it is their time and let them go. They do so much for us, there is no justification to torment them in their final days.

Your right, nothing is completely preventable. However, just like in humans doing certain things can vastly reduce your pets chances of coming down with a serious disease. I will use your example of kidney failure. Kidney failure is very common in cats because of their inherent nature of not wanting to drink water.

We have three cats at home. From when they were kittens I have actively done many things to make sure they drink copious amounts of water. Without getting into too many details, their morning feeding alone takes me 30 minutes to complete because of the steps I have to go through to ensure they are getting enough water. I'm so detailed with it that I literally know their daily water intake down to the decimal point (in oz). So the chances of my cats ever getting kidney disease is low. We do things like this to try to minimize the chances of our cats getting all types of serious illnesses.

In regards to your comment about prolonging their life; I completely agree that its better to put them down if their existence will be in pain. But many serious illnesses have treatments that will allow a pet to have a good quality of life. In those cases it shouldn't matter if their life is extended by 1 week or 2 years. If they are enjoying life then its worth the treatment. In fact, there is even a website that has a quiz to score your pets quality of life to determine if they should be treated or put down.

[BECLAZONE]

A quick note, and proof, about overpricing, but this is in the UK.

A dog with diabetes, my wife's dog, had been going to the vets for numerous ailments, and eventually the vet said we needed a barrage of tests done, which would cost £1500. Well, my wife said we couldn't afford it, and the dog would have to be put down, then suddenly she only need one test, and that would cost £150. So, she got diagnosed, for one tenth of the price.