Quote:
Originally Posted by catsmom21
Those things are NOT safe. Please, do not use OTC de-worming medicines on your cat. They are not safe and probably are not very effective, so you waste your money and may end up with a bigger vet bill besides.
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1. You've provided no evidence for your supposition that they're unsafe. Any chance your problem with politics of walmart is clouding your judgment at the expense of animals?
2. You've presumed that ordinary medicines are restricted throughout the country. Farming communities often sell rabies vaccinations, standard vaccinations like 4-1 shots etc, to anyone in need of them not obliging them to have a license for common sense. Contrast that with my state which requires that I hire a vet for the privilege of getting a flea treatment called revolution because it has heart wormer involved. My feed and seed store is prohibited from carrying it and the minimum price for a dose is about $15 on econo packs once you've paid the vet his fee. Unless I shop in canada for pet meds where no prescription is required...
Canadian Pharmacy|Canada Pharmacy|Canadian Drugs|Canadian Pharmacy Online $9 per dose no shipping and handling.
Recently I've had to pay for a full blown office visit to justify getting a refill on gentmicin eye drops because this vet wasn't the originator of a lifelong diagnosis- suspected herpes in the eye bringing on regular bouts of conjunctiva. I've got to twiddle my fingers, wait for symptoms that coincide with office hours, risk contagion to myself and my other immune compromised cat, have the animal suffer without meds scratching at his eye so it appears dramatic enough to satisfy their lame requirement. Insult to injury I was charged a $17 consultation fee for what I already paid for and already knew as fact. All this because it's being considered a controlled substance. Once upon a time some evil kid used ket as a date rape drug so naturally we ought to throw up roadblocks for eye drops and flea treatments. How many people do you know are abusing eye drops for crimminy sake?
This is how ham handed gov't regulations & rapacious capitalism gang up on people and wind up being the worst deterrent for animal wellbeing and amplify the cost 5 fold, if not more. Making it too hard for people to do the right thing, especially when they're of limited means, reduces the likelihood the right thing will happen even when it's what they most want to do. The people in my state have a median income of about 31k. This is the nonsense they're subjected to. It's a good thing I can cross the state line to South Carolina, and I often do, to stock up on underground contraband like wormer paste. Think about it.
As for the other poster encouraging people to dump sick animals onto rescue groups !--
How many healthy animals are euthanized daily for the crime of not getting a home fast enough? How many more will be euthanized if you tack on the nonsense requirement that only wealthy people may have pets? What's most needful is reasonable cost (even for human medicine) but my own rude experience: vet #2 saw nothing wrong with charging me $60 + office visit fee for a requisite bortadella shot prior to day surgery neutering (which FYI costs $80 for 25 doses, the safer intranasal version priced much higher is $5 a dose...
Amazon.com: Protex - Bb - (Intranasal Vaccine) Avirulent - 25 Dose Package: Kitchen & Dining (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00061MVKU/ref=asc_df_B00061MVKU1238174?smid=AV9AW5IE9W42P&ta g=shopzilla_mp_1306-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0006 1MVKU - broken link)). Then- insult to injury yet again- he charged me $80 + office visit fee for some other mysterious injection of steroids to
cure my kitten of kennel cough contracted through the obligatory &^%$#@* vaccine, a gift from a nameless boy wonder who convinced an industry it prevents disease. Any facility (bordering or vet hospital) now requires this as a hoop to jump through to obtain care/ address the chief complaint. Dog bites? He's in shock, we need to keep him overnight, so you
have to give him a bortadella shot as condition of help. Sick animals are sickened more as byproduct of our warped brand of civilization through policy. That's how the <alleged> humane society makes a cosmic joke of itself.
Still wonder why so many don't bother to spay or neuter? There's a great program here called the big fix twice a year that's been utterly ruined by conditional caveat legislation & unmitigated parasitic greed. Neutering is $15, spaying is $25 & cherry on top it provides field training for students. However, when the local policy requires 3 shots and it coincides with elevated price tags (rabies goes from $25 to it's new price of $40, tax tag and destination charges apply) and choose not to believe you gave them flea medicine so meds x's 2 plus premium attached? Screening for feline aids/leukemia is as high as $75, $55 if they're doing you a favor. Compare that to this...
Amazon.com: Assure FeLv Feline Leukemia Virus Antigen Test Kit 25 tests: Kitchen & Dining. How can they in good conscience, when professionals concur epidemic conditions are on the ground among strays, justify $75? There's far too much money to be made with regulations/ policies as they currently are on the books. It's very damaging to vet/ owner relationships. If I didn't find a decent vet soon I was planning on leaning exclusively on homeopathic remedies because my trust in the very profession was that badly damaged. I won't rule out those homeopathic remedies even though I did find a decent vet because I cannot walk into that office without a minimum bill of $75 for the dozen strays I'm trying to help out.
I can assure you both, and any other like minded posters reading this blog- making my life more difficult will yield a decrease in my ability to offer meaningful help to many animals in need of assistance gravitating to my yard who've chronically been ignored. Best you rethink the approach of poorly authored regulations. That's the real culprit amplifying needless suffering, so it's high time you redirect your grievances where it truly belongs.