KNBC went undercover and found a bunch of vets are more sales people than pet doctors, using fear to sell more treatment than is necessary. They took pets with minor ailments, checked out by a vet, to several different vets. Instead of getting the minor fixes they should have been recommended, these vets advised expensive extra tests, procedures, and medicines geared more towards lining their pockets than healing the pets. One dog had an upset stomach but was recommended a $300 “eyelid scraping,” despite his eyes being perfect. When confronted, the vet said she had done nothing wrong, and “eyelid scraping is not done in the states, but she used to do it in Austria.” She also admitted there was nothing the matter with the dog’s eyes. The report says that if you get recommended an expensive procedure, get a second opinion.
Vet Investigation [KNBC]
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Heartworm is a serious issue for dogs, but it is NOT a nationwide problem. Obviously if you’re in an affected area (see map) you really should be treating your dog for it.
What kind of software did they install on the dog to detect porn downloading? Er wait different story same result. These pieces are getting old. Don’t trust anyone with anything and if it seems fishy get a 2nd opinion. From car care to pet care.
phew I live in southern calif about 30 min from hollywood so heartworm isnt a big problem out here.
One of the best ways to trip up the vets that purely want to sell you paw rotations and eyeball waxing treatments is to ask questions.
If they plop down a huge list of tests they want to run ask them what each test is looking for. There are certain problems where running a ton of bloodwork is necessary. With older animals some will want to run lots of bloodwork before putting them under to make sure they don’t have something already wrong in the kidneys and liver since that can have complications like they can’t metabolize the anesthesia back out of their system and die. Sometimes lots of tests are called for sometimes it is simply a money ploy.
A good vet will give you options if there are options such as a conservative treatment vs. aggressive treatment options.
Another good option for a second opinion is a veterinary program at a big university. Most have more capability than a local vet, specialists and don’t have the agenda to fleece people for as much as possible.
@MercuryPDX: What bothers me is certain entities involving Betty White shilling that you must have your pet on heartworm medication all year long.
Unless something has changed drastically in the last decade that would not be so in the frozen north. Since heartworm is transmitted by mosquitos that are dead in the winter.
So if anyone live in the North San Diego County area, we take our three dogs to Melrose Vet, and they are awesome! One of our dog has arthritis and needed some meds, so the vet ordered blood tests to make sure Rimadyl would be ok (very slight chance of causing liver problems). Then gave us the large bottle for cheaper than I could find anywhere on the Internet! Also she said he needs to lose at least 10 pounds so to bring him back in a few weeks and she will check him for free.
I know a lot of people that go there and many have left other vets, because of getting ripped off. One prime example is a young dog I know at the dog park that always had a limp. The people took them to their vet several times with no solution, one trip to Melrose vet and they point to a problem in its shoulder clearly visible in the x-ray (they just used the old x-rays from the other vet did not force them to pay for new ones). Then instead of insisting expensive surgery, the vet says to try some meds firts, and viola the dog can now run without pain!
@barty: Tell me about it! Last year my Welsh Terrier got bitten by a much larger dog at the dog park. Since my regular vet’s office was closed for the evening, I took him to the emergency vet about 20 minutes away. They sewed him up and put drains in and sent him home with an E-collar and medications. Total cost, about $800. When I took him to his regular vet to remove the drains a couple days later, she found that his wounds had gotten infected. He ended up staying there for almost a week and had to have his leg re-sewn and new drains put in. Total cost, including staying there: around $200. And he came through with flying colors. : )
I really like my vet practice. It’s nowhere near the closest to my house, but the vets are really good and all the staff members know my dog by name. : )
I took my sick cat to the emergency vet, and after a bunch a tests and x-rays and biopsies, we decided to get a very expensive procedure done to remove a tumor.
The tumor turned out to be non-cancerous, and we were happy, but the cat got sick again a few months later. Still hurting in the pocketbook, we took him to a regular vet that had Sunday hours that came recommended. He spent about five minutes carefully examining the cat, then ran a simple blood test.
That vet said the cat had FIP, maybe a month left to live, and the only sensible options were palliative. He also seemed to think we got fleeced by the emergency docs, as he believed the FIP, and therefore the cat’s limited life expectancy, should’ve been diagnosed by the emergency vets.
On the flip side, our dog was recommended for euthanasia four years ago, due to poor appetite, weight loss and partial paralysis. We took him home since he was still in good spirits, and we weren’t ready to say goodbye. He improved and is still bossing us around today! We think he had West Nile encephalitis.
Long story short, stay away from 24 hour emergency vets. See if your vet actually spends time with your animal, if he does, that’s a good sign. And if the animal isn’t deathly ill, it can’t hurt to take a wait and see approach.
@bohemian: Yup. My 2nd vet gave me a year worth of pills and said it’s actually TWO years worth; give them only from April to October. Normally she would not dispense them, but we lived close enough to a small lake which could potentially cause a problem.
We left the first vet I brought my dog to because he had anger issues, poor “bedside manner”, and responded to most questions I asked about treatment and follow-ups with “That’s a stupid question.”.
@SplitCalyx: Before I boarded my dog for a week, I asked my vet to recommend a 24 hour clinic in case something happened after her office hours. She gave me her personal cell phone number to pass along, mentioning she would not trust either of the two 24 hour clinics with greyhound care. Now THAT is service.
Los Feliz Animal Hospital in Los Feliz, California. Consider yourself warned.
@joeblevins:
Amen to this. I went to a “network” dentist under my plan about 6 years ago, and the woman took 2 x-rays and announced she recommended 6 crowns (2 new, 4 replacement).
The smell of BS was in the air so I went to my wife’s longtime dentist, absorbed the out of network costs, and outside of one obviously needed root canal, have been given a clean bill of health ever since.
How-so-ever did those 6 teeth survive this long?? It’s a miracle!
WOW! just wow! My little Shih Tzu has the same problem as the black French Bulldog. She Vomits once in a while. I took her to her Vet to find out her problem; he took x-rays and blood test, nothing in there, just a heartburn and I paid for a total of $200 bucks. After watching this investigation I feel Ripped off and considering to got a new Vet. I don’t know if I want to cry or I want to get upset…
My sister works with an organization that does spay/neuter for low-income folks. She is a wellspring of information on how to take good care of a pet on a budget, as it’s the mission of that non-profit.
If you have questions about pet care on a budget, you might also ask a local animal rescue agency.
run if your vet recommends the rust proofing treatment.
@MercuryPDX:
I had a horrid time trying to find good vet care for my greyhound. Found a pretty good one but it’s expensive. Having a much harder time finding a place that I trust to board him and my other dog.
My beagle was bitten by a little dog at Penn Treaty Park in Philly. The dog’s chaperon scooped up the little guy, ran off and left me with $300 bill at U of Penn vet.
All for the smallest of bites. I think it was used to subsidize the ivy league tuition.
@jacques: You may want to check out the GPA – [www.greyhoundpets.org]
(bah wasn’t finished.)
Look up your local chapter and see who they recommend.
Barring that, try the forums.: [greyhoundsmakegreatpets.com]
@MercuryPDX:
What state on that map did not have at least a half dozen dots on it? Kinda looks nationwide to me (at least the lower 48 states shown).
Serious problem, yes, but people shouldn’t risk their dog’s health just because they think they might be far enough away from one of those dots on a map.
We like the vet we use, they’re good about reminding us when the dog’s due, take care of issues quickly, and have good service and pricing.
@Oracle989: BTW, Greensboro, NC area, Sedgefield Animal Hospital, good people, had the family dog treated for a tumor a while ago, they spent a while on treatment (in a good, paying attention to the symptoms and the animal’s overall health kind of way) and were very good at giving us updates on his status. Again, good service, good vets.
Sad, but not surprising. A lot of vets are paid on commission, which just seems so… wrong. I know a vet who actually recommends other vets to friends, since the office they work for charges so much.
A good vet, like a good mechanic, is priceless!
@MDSasquatch: Mine gets crystals in his bladder unless he’s on a special diet. It’s not a problem that would in any possible universe be a cause in and of itself to put an animal down right away.
My vets put in a catheter and let me take him home on antibiotics for about three days to flush out the crystals. Then the cath was removed and he stayed on antibiotics for a little more time and then he was put on the diet. If diets don’t work, there is a common operation to stretch out the urinary tract of male cats to the size of the female ones’, to try to prevent blockages. I can imagine it would be expensive in the States (my cat’s has surgery in the States and treatments in Eastern Europe and the price difference is unimaginable while the quality is comparable) but a little shopping around before the animal gets sick could save its life and thousands of dollars.
Also, I’ve had a lot of dogs in my reasonably short life and German Shepherds (and many big breeds) often get blockages in that anal gland which have to be manually squeezed out. Just be thankful you haven’t had to do it yourself. Or haven’t had the vet shave over your dog’s tumor, cut it open and have you squeeze it out in front of the clinic while explaining about tumors to his interns. When you were 11. Finding a good vet is an art.
My two cents . . .
Got a cat from a friend who was moving. The cat had had several bouts of rashes (Eosinophilic plaque) on his inner thighs. The vet would give him steroids — which made the cat hyper — until the rash would clear up; once the cat was off steroids, the rash would come back.
So the vet tells me the only way to get rid of the rash completely is to permanently keep the cat on steroid treatments. Unfortunately, he adds, this will probably kill the cat within four years — in other words, his little feline life would be over by the time he was seven years old. Nice choices — steroids (angry cat, early death), or a permanent itchy rash (angry & uncomfortable cat, lesions, constant licking, etc.).
What did I do? Did a little research, found out these rashes are often caused by food allergies, changed his diet, and VOILA! The rash disappeared. Permanently.
We also found a new vet, who had a reputation in the community for being reliable. Unfortunately, he built an expensive new clinic a few years ago & is now more interested in selling you expensive services than actually caring for your pet. The last time we were there, they actually TOOK THE CAT INTO A BACK ROOM to give him his annual shots (apparently a new policy, according to the sign on the exam room wall). When I got the cat home he was so traumatised he was hyperventilating.
Time to find yet another new vet . . . .
*Sighs* I’m not surprised. My own vet ripped me off once with a product that costs 70 bucks. After some research, using that Revolution thing for earmites was just overkill.
And he didn’t even speak about the cheaper alternative. Now I’m more careful with him.
I feel my vet is trustworthy, however I know they’re expensive to begin with. They do quality work and I’m leary to take my cats elsewhere. If anyone needs a vet recommendation in the PA – Beaver County area let me know!
My girlfriend and I have our first dog. We went to the vet for his 2nd or 3rd round of shots and the vet spent well over an hour of our time (when we had plans that we were almost late to) to sell various ‘preventative’ medicines to us for our dog. After that, we decided to finish up his shots, get the little guy neutered, and be on our merry way.
On the next visit, the vet choked our dog to the point that he pissed all over the table by sticking his finger down his throat because our dog didn’t like him looking in his mouth. Our dog was 6mo. old at the time, and just had his temperature checked rectally. You tell me if you would let someone look in your mouth after that. That was the last time we went to that vet. After to speaking with various other dog owners in our family, none of their dogs had their temperatures checked unless they were sick.
@MDSasquatch: “In their defense, vets do a great service, and need to make money too; too bad the unkempt docs pollute the pool of quality animal docs”
Yeah, part of the problem, according to my vet-aunt, is that profit margins have gotten thinner while training has gotten more expensive and malpractice premiums have SOARED. Used to be that owners who sued could only get the “replacement value” of the pet (i.e., treated as property), but now many states are allowing damages for emotional pain and loss and treating pets like family members.
(I do think there are upsides to this, but it has made insurance suddenly ridiculous.)
Since people pay for vet care out of pocket, there’s a much less-flexible ceiling to what they’re willing to pay (whereas with people health care, insurance masks costs quite effectively and keeps the ceiling very elastic), which limits how much rates can go up to cover increasing costs. This, combined with Americans’ ever-increasing spending on pets and regard for them as family members, inevitably leads bad apples to jack up prices for higher profits and to prey on people’s family-like concern for their pets.
@nardo218: “Have you heard of replacing fillings?”
Yes. Some people want them replaced for cosmetic reasons, sometimes with time they “pull away” from the tooth and can allow further decay below, sometimes newer materials are just so much better people want them replaced. And they can certainly wear down over time, just like regular teeth.
I have a couple in the back I’ve discussed with my dentist. He thinks at some point I might want to have them replaced (one in particular is in there a little funny) but advised me to wait until it became an actual problem — and see what advances in technology came before then.
But I’d definitely be suspicious if he were suddenly like, “Let’s replace $1500 worth of fairly recent fillings!”
The vet’s office I go to is actually a hospital center as well and they are open for extended hours, have emergency phone lines, have a staff of rotating doctors, and genuinely caring assistants. While they are a few dollars more than other vets, I’ve never had any of them push anything on me or try to sell me anything. They lay it out straight for me. When my cat was having trouble they tol dme my options were a very expensive surgery that might extend her life 6 months or I could “let her live in peace until she shows signs of pain, then we recommend you have her put down”. I chose option B and when the time came they even sent a card to my house personally signed by the entire staff. When my dad’s dog started showing signs of allergic reactions, they flat out told me it’s easier to test small at home with changing food than to run a $300 allergy panel. Other vets pushed the allergy panel on right away as well as expensive foods and diets.
Every one needs a good vet, a good mechanic, and a good dentist. I’ve been lucky with all 3 and will stay with each one as long as humanly possible.
When one considers what’s going on with people and the medical profession (everything from fad treatments to prescriptions to insurance issues), how can we be surprised by this? Any profession where there is money to be made in the exploitation of those without a voice attracts “professionals” without a conscience who are motivated by greed and devoid of ethics.
Our pets can not inquire or object; they are at our mercy, and the mercy of who WE CHOOSE to care for them. Vets are no different than regular doctors when they recommend painful surgeries, expensive treatments, or provide terrifying diagnoses: WHY NOT GET SECOND AND EVEN THIRD OPINIONS? The way your vet reacts when you suggest getting a second opinion might be a good indication of their true professionalism.
OUR ANIMALS ARE OUR RESPONSIBILITY, and with that responsibility comes an exquisite friendship. We owe it to them to be proactive, assertive and thorough before trusting their well-being to ANYONE.
@Eyebrows McGee: there are actually no states that award damages for pain and suffering for the loss of an animal. Several states have had bills on the issue, but they get killed when the politicians learn that it could cause the price of pet care to skyrocket, along with insurance for kennels etc.
Awards for pain and suffering (also called “non-economic damages”) sound like a good idea at first glance, but turn out to be bad for animals in the long-run. If prices for treatment increase, less people will be able to afford them, and these dogs and cats will either be euthanased, abandoned, or will have illnesses and injuries go untreated.
@joeblevins: Vets don’t make the decision to euthanize, the pet owner does. So it’s not the vet that is driving up profits by deciding to treat.
And to all you ignorants who complain about vet prices, take a second to think about a good vet facility. One with Xrays, and CTs, and specialists, and emergency care and 24 hour supportive care. You think all that is FREE? you think it doesn’t take years of training to learn how to diagnose a patient who CAN’T TALK TO YOU? You know what the tests are for? Because rover can’t say “I tripped in the yard and my ankle hurts”. It’s because owners don’t give a crap and wait wayyyyy too long to go to the vet, after which the animals condition has worsened an complicated.
I get so damned sick of hearing stories about how vets “don’t care about the animals” and “only want to pump up their profits”. The hospital that takes care of my cat (and our now-passed dog) is staffed with incredibly passionate people who love every creature that comes thru the doors. They cry when their patients die, they ache when an owner is faced with the decision to euthanize.
They charge $125 just to walk in (it’s a specialy facility), and it *IS* expensive, but they have to stay in business. The emergency vets, and nurses, and techs, and medication, and supplies, and equipment and neurologists and cardiologists, etc etc etc don’t COME FOR FREE. Yet, even tho a pet gets care comparable to a human, for a fraction of the price, people cry “profitmonger”.
That’s the cry of the truly clueless.
Wait… but I thought Banfield was evil with their monthly payment plans which don’t allow them to pad your bills
/and don’t get me started on their “we actually care about your pets” attitude