Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
again, topic of things vets dont want you to know...
if you know the mark up and are ok with that and are paying for the SERVICE, thats fine, again i worked for a vet, i understand how their offices work (and yes the nromal person can actually buy all but the rabies vac and do it themselves...)
but thats not what the topic is about...
same as vets arnt trained animal nutritionalists (unless they took additional schooling)
and some vets arnt comfortable working with certain animals
many vaccinations have life long immunity...
vacinations like lepto and bordetella are ineffective against most strains and the bordetella only lasts 6 months against the strains it is effecitve for...
and vets sell perscription food because they get bennies from it NOT nessicarily becuas etheyd feed it to thier own pets (or in many cases they dont know any better) ect..
another one is when you have your pet cremated unless you pay specifically for a single burning, your pet and as many others as they put in to make up the space/weight are crmeated together and the ashes you bring home are usually anything from 5-15 other animals ashes as well!
When I had more money, I went to the fancy veternarian's office, with a separate entrance for dogs and cats, with the ambiance of a Montana fishing lodge. I paid for that extra TLC for me, and my pets, I had a dog, and two cats. They knew me there, it was like a "Cheers" bar, where everyone knows your name...and you pets names...I think every time I went there it was at least a couple of hundred.
Then, the money changed...and the last time I took a pet to the vet, I went to the local pet shelter for some shots. I went into a room that looked like a creepy mauselum, cold, grey cement, no chairs. The table looked like a cadaver examine table, the tech put the cat on the table, put a couple of shots in the cat, we left, it was $20. No one knew my name.
I wish I could still go to the "Montana Lodge" veternarian...nope...
It really does factor into the cost, as do things like good diagnostics equipment... the bigger the staff, the more equipment they have, the more Dr.s working there, the higher everything will be. One of the reasons why my vet's prices are so reasonable is because he only has to pay 5 people (3 techs and 2 receptionists) per hour instead of having 10 or 15 workers to compensate. At the E-vet center, the fee just to have your animal looked at is $100...you basically pay $100 just to walk through the door of the examination room. Treatment is also more expensive there, because they have a huge overhead and a large staff...it's just the way it is.
This may sound horrible...but I always went to the vet more with my dog...he always needed more treatment than the cats. That is why I went to the expensive vet. The cats seem to be pretty good to go...horrible as that sounds. But I have shelled out money for vets for cats..just not quite as much as it costs for dogs. I don't know why that is...
again, topic of things vets dont want you to know...
if you know the mark up and are ok with that and are paying for the SERVICE, thats fine, again i worked for a vet, i understand how their offices work (and yes the nromal person can actually buy all but the rabies vac and do it themselves...)
but thats not what the topic is about...
same as vets arnt trained animal nutritionalists (unless they took additional schooling)
and some vets arnt comfortable working with certain animals
many vaccinations have life long immunity...
vacinations like lepto and bordetella are ineffective against most strains and the bordetella only lasts 6 months against the strains it is effecitve for...
and vets sell perscription food because they get bennies from it NOT nessicarily becuas etheyd feed it to thier own pets (or in many cases they dont know any better) ect..
another one is when you have your pet cremated unless you pay specifically for a single burning, your pet and as many others as they put in to make up the space/weight are crmeated together and the ashes you bring home are usually anything from 5-15 other animals ashes as well!
If you don't want to pay $35 for a rabies vaccine and think it's outrageous, try this instead:
Go to college for 4 years. Go for another 4 years to get your doctorate, which will qualify you to apply for a license to prescribe and dispense medicine. Then, diagnose your own cat, and give it the vaccination yourself, for only a few pennies.
Of course you'll have to spend around $100,000 for the school and the licensing, but hey - what's a few bucks compared to saving money on a vaccine!
If you don't want to pay $35 for a rabies vaccine and think it's outrageous, try this instead:
Go to college for 4 years. Go for another 4 years to get your doctorate, which will qualify you to apply for a license to prescribe and dispense medicine. Then, diagnose your own cat, and give it the vaccination yourself, for only a few pennies.
Of course you'll have to spend around $100,000 for the school and the licensing, but hey - what's a few bucks compared to saving money on a vaccine!
Or become a vet tech. and get (usually) 50% off on treatment for your furfaces...I did this for awhile, learned a ton, and had the security of knowing that if anything extremely serious/expensive came up I could work off my bill...LOL !
wow, still not getting the point of "things your vet doesnt tell you" theme...
so im done beating the dead horse on that point...
im not arguing mark up, if your ok paying that much, go for it...
me i took the time to do my reserch shop around and find a good vet who i love who works with me, isnt price gouging on vaccines and actually TALKS to me...
another "things vets dont tell you"
the flea and tick control they sell in their office may NOT be effective in your area!
for example, most vets around here sell frontline plus because the company gives more kick backs, benefits and the retail mark up is higher...
but, in this area frontline plus is not effectve and fleas and ticks still bite (and live) right through it...due to it being the primairly used pesticide its lost effectiveness...
so always find out what brand is popular in your area but only get a small supply untill you know it works well, many areas are seeing the same problems with insects becomming resistant to the "popular" products.
Things your vet doesn't tell you is somewhat less sinister than "things veterinarians don't want you to know" which is the title of the thread.
I get that you apparently have mainly dealt with sinister, sales-oriented vets, but your experience doesn't imply that this is the norm. I managed to find two different ones at least that don't operate that way, and that was by chance. I just picked out the ones who saw only cats.
Your implication is that the vast majority of vets are of the sinister, looking to keep things from you and take all your money variety. My main point is that while I know such vets are out there, and I've even experienced them (particularly at specialty/emergency vets), I have no reason to believe that this is the norm among vets. You, on the other hand, appear to have a grudge to hold against a former employer.
I think the whole premise of the thread is misguided and thus I posted what I did originally, links to things that great vets do without you even knowing, and a comprehensive guide on how to work with a vet, including when to stop using one. When they try to gouge you for unnecessary stuff, that's a good time to stop using them.
It's not just the insane mark-up of the vaccinations...it is the fact that these vaccinations are unnecessary and harmful as "routine", since most of them provide immunity for so much longer than was previously believed, many studies have pointed to them providing LIFETIME immunity...the jury is still out on that, but it is my belief that only the initial sets of vaccinations administered around the 6 month mark are necessary.
Unfortunately,most people will believe whatever their vets say and whatever popular opinion dictates without really thinking about it much for themselves. Many, many vets out there will try to make you feel like a terrible pet parent if you tell them you don't want to do their routine vaccinations, they will try to scare you into having them done, it is fear-mongering at its best, and I'm not falling for it.
I thank my lucky starts that I found a holistic/traditional vet who feels strongly that routine vaccinations are NOT necessary and ARE potentially harmful to animals...he doesn't charge an arm and a leg for anything he does, and he has a very busy practice...good vets are out there, but you have to do some digging until you find them, and some areas are more difficult than others. I think if you stay away from large, highly-staffed establishments with several doctors and huge overheads, you'll have much more reasonable rates, and if you find a practice that incorporates both holistic and traditional methodologies, your vet will tend to know a lot more about nutrition and will be much less apt to encourage chemical intervention in situations where it isn't necessary.
Last edited by luvmycat; 06-10-2011 at 02:37 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thanks for your contribution to the topic.
!
