Vet (Dolla) Bill Bottom Lines?

[Badgemash]

First of all, I'm impressed and pleased with the calm and well-thought-out replies.

For me there are certain key points:
1) It depends upon the malady in question, I would have no issues with spending $200-500 treating an RI (or other "straightforward" illness) in any of my snakes.
2) The value of the animal in question. I hate to say this, but it is a factor. If we're looking at something complicated or unknown (something involving perhaps lots of invasive testing or an exploratory surgery) I'm more likely to opt for a more aggressive/expensive approach on a very pricey animal than I would with say a male normal.
3) All of my "at home" animals get the same consideration regardless of species, meaning my Scotties get the same level of financial consideration for vet needs that any of my snakes do. Horse stuff is a bit different since I have medical/colic insurance on mine, so they get treated very aggressively (although like bcr229 said, age and performance level is a factor).

[bcr229]

Horse stuff is a bit different since I have medical/colic insurance on mine, so they get treated very aggressively (although like bcr229 said, age and performance level is a factor).

LOL good luck finding any company willing to cover medical on a 26 year old horse.

That brings up another point when taking a snake to the vet when it has an RI - how many vets won't bother with a culture because it can double the total bill? While many folks here probably have a few hundred to put into a sick morph even if it meant living on Ramen for a while, the vet also sees cheap snakes with advanced RI's whose owners tried at-home treatments while the animal got progressively worse. So, rather than sock the owner with a $350-400 bill - and pretty much ensure the next time the snake gets sick the owner will most likely just let it die - they charge $100-175 for the visit + antibiotics, and save the expensive cultures and treatments for the very few cases where pushing Baytril + Fortaz isn't enough.

[Badgemash]

LOL good luck finding any company willing to cover medical on a 26 year old horse.

LOL too true, I can't find any that go over 18. And I totally agree with you on the colic thing, I doubt a 26 year old would make it out of anesthesia let alone recovery (although I truly hope you're never confronted with that). I just meant that if god forbid a tendon bows or something like that we'll be doing stem cells, blocks, and every other therapy I can throw on that leg, because I'd be paying the deductable only and not the full cost. So while I'd technically be racking up $15,000 or more in bills I wouldn't actually be paying that amount, which unfortunately is not the case for my dogs or snakes. If one of them needed intervention at that level I doubt we'd be able to do it. I just meant it to say that the horses get a different level of financial consideration than the dogs or snakes do because of the insurance, but the dogs and snakes are equal in my eyes.