Limit to Veterinary Care?

[dsirkle]

I pretty much agree with Dale. I have spent $2000 on two cats once. My senior dog (14) just had surgery, and I did opt out of the pathology report since it wouldn't matter if the growth was benign or not. Not because of expense, but I'm not going to put my dog through chemo at 14 years of age. I will treat her symptoms and quality of life as my priorities. Although I did put off the surgery because I feared she wouldn't make it. To my surprise she is even more spunky now! It was well worth the vet bill for sure.

A year ago my now 8 year old Doberman had a tumor on her gum line that the Vet found when he was cleaning her teeth that the vet thought looked cancerous. I told him to remove it (another appointment) and 3 golf ball size fatty tumors that she had, one on her ankle where it was always getting bumped. He put her under anesthesia and found that her mouth tumor was into the bone and took much more time and work than was expected to remove in it's entirety. It proved to be benign in the lab analysis. When he was removing the fatty tumors he discovered a cancerous tumor in her armpit area (for lack of a better word). That was another big and unexpected procedure. The Vet made a lot of money that day. I had another dog once break a rear leg and had a vet install a titanium rod in her leg. Over the years I have spent a lot of money for veterinary care, but I would never give a Vet carte blanche authority to go wild in my pocket.

[tigerlily]

A year ago my now 8 year old Doberman had a tumor on her gum line that the Vet found when he was cleaning her teeth that the vet thought looked cancerous. I told him to remove it (another appointment) and 3 golf ball size fatty tumors that she had, one on her ankle where it was always getting bumped. He put her under anesthesia and found that her mouth tumor was into the bone and took much more time and work than was expected to remove in it's entirety. It proved to be benign in the lab analysis. When he was removing the fatty tumors he discovered a cancerous tumor in her armpit area (for lack of a better word). That was another big and unexpected procedure. The Vet made a lot of money that day. I had another dog once break a rear leg and had a vet install a titanium rod in her leg. Over the years I have spent a lot of money for veterinary care, but I would never give a Vet carte blanche authority to go wild in my pocket.

This was a tumor in her mouth as well, but luckily strickly in the cheek area although she did end up with several teeth being pulled and the few remaining cleaned as well. It ended up being a teeny bit more than the upper end of his estimate, but all in all I was pleased.

I do feel some vets do tests and procedures simply for the knowledge and the ability to charge you some money, which is why it's so important to have a bit of basic medical knowledge, budget and a good vet.

[Hyper Joe]

One of the things that some people look at when going to the vet is how much is the animal worth and how much will the bill cost. If the animal is a $10 garter snake and the vet bill will be $100 for a check up then most people would look at that person as crazy for bringing that garter in.

Me, I spent more $$ for the vet on a $40 normal house snake then my pastel 60% ghost BP which was valued at about $600 at the time I purchased it.

I definitely will spend the money if I have it for a "pet".

[dsirkle]

I was once reading a trade magazine for Veterinarians and there was an article in it that discussed that fact that the average American will routinely have his pet put down rather than spending a significant amount of money on it. This article said that the average pet owner in England paid monthly for a health insurance policy for pets and therefore the average pet in England received better medical treatment than the average pet in the US. Perhaps members in the UK and elsewhere could comment on this.

[Hyper Joe]

I was once reading a trade magazine for Veterinarians and there was an article in it that discussed that fact that the average American will routinely have his pet put down rather than spending a significant amount of money on it. This article said that the average pet owner in England paid monthly for a health insurance policy for pets and therefore the average pet in England received better medical treatment than the average pet in the US. Perhaps members in the UK and elsewhere could comment on this.

I am sure if there was such a feasible pet health insurance policy here U.S. may do the same. But I am not aware of one. Also, there aren't too many good herp vets out there. Even the expeienced one I go to does the "google" in the back office. How sad huh... Then I got charged $50+ for neosporin. Get that!

[LadyOhh]

I am sure if there was such a feasible pet health insurance policy here U.S. may do the same. But I am not aware of one. Also, there aren't too many good herp vets out there. Even the expeienced one I go to does the "google" in the back office. How sad huh... Then I got charged $50+ for neosporin. Get that!

There is.

[JeffJ]

canada has pet insurance too. i have also seen commercials for it in the US.

[kellysballs]

During the months of Feb and March I have spent over $2500 on my dog. She is a 2 year old Red Dobie. She was hit by a car on Feb 5th. The trip to the emergency clinic was 900 that night and the rest has accumulated through the 2 suguries. She was well worth it and she will have a great quality of life and luckily I just happened to get my refund from school 2 days before she was hit.

I am very fortunate to have some vet tech experience and I am able to do alot of the smaller things here at my house. That saves on the normal expenses like worming, bandage changes, splints, post surgury care, injections ect. If I have it I will spend it on my animals if need be.

[anatess]

My brother has a health insurance policy for their lab retriever. I think he got it from PetSmart. I could be wrong.

[nixer]

we have vpi pet insurance on our dog and cat. http://www.petinsurance.com/

they do offer it for exotics including reptiles but they are wierd about some of the reptile coverage.