Dentist are doing the same thing. Vets can't make enough money just euthinizing your dogs anymore, they gotta fix'em up. Heck, on Drudge Report there is an article about doggie anti-depressants.

That's why it's so important to find a trustworthy vet. The one that I use for my cat has been incredible and reasonable, even going so far as to not charge me for minor visits and treatments on a number of occasions and when I do get charged it's rarely as much as I expect.

a good vet is like a good mechanic; you absolutely have to find one you trust.

Huh. I have a good relationship with my vet, and I wouldn't expect him to rip me off. Still, though, other than the fact that he seems like a nice guy, I have no reason to believe him. He's never tried to push any expensive treatments on me, though. For the record, I have a diabetic cat, and I board him at the vet's when I go away for more than a few days.

Vets can just be awful. A friend of my mom's was recommended a $2200 surgical procedure for her cat while being told said cat's life is in grave danger. She took it to another vet who recommended laxatives. The cat is fine now.

Doctor Kevin Fitgerald (of Animal Planet fame) was our family vet for a long time; I knew him before he got famous. I did a lot of freelance photography for him and he did my vet care for free. There is none better!

Unfortunately, I had to move from Colorado and I have yet to find anyone that even comes close.

Took my cat in about a month ago, told he would need a $1000 procedure, I opted to have him gassed; suddenly the price dropped to $300 for an alternate procedure. He is as good as new and doesn't even know how close he came to meeting his maker.

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

My vet has always turned me away from expensive procedures. Once I even had to talk him into do a root canal on my dog's broken tooth... he wanted to just take a wait-and-see approach and do something if it got infected.

I'm going to stay away from Vets that offer "Wellness Plans"

"Our Annual Wellness Plan is only $167 for pets 1-6 years of age. For pets 7 years and older, our Annual Wellness Plan is $197, which includes more extensive blood and urine analysis.
-------------------------------------------------------
For Added value, upgrade your pet's wellness plan:
See the vet more often! Get 3 exam visits for only $65. Three exams would normally cost you $195. This is a great value that will pay for itself the first time you use it!*

----------------
They are banking on the fact you won't use it. I signed up for this, but the next time I had to take Fido to the Vet, the Wellness plan (3 visits) had expired. And then the assistant tried to sign me up for the plan again!

The worse by far is VCA - [www.vcapets.com]

Can anyone recommend one in North Orange County, CA?

Growing up we had a German Shepard for a while and once I accompanied my mom to the vet. Two things from that visit will haunt me forever.

First, the vet stuck his hand (or maybe just a finger or two) up the dog's butt to squeeze some gland; the resulting liquid and especially the smell was something I will never ever ever forget.

But the really gross thing was the vet's heartworm pitch; he shoved a glass jar under my our noses that contained a dog heart (I assume) with hundreds of tiny white threads that protruded from everywhere in and around the heart. If we didn't immediately start a heartworm regimen (which seemed expensive at the time, though I don't remember the price) our dog would surely get infested with these parasites and die a slow, lingering and very painful death. My mother kindly demurred but had very unkind words for him on the way home.

Wow! The second vet wanting to put the dog under to treat it's ears is absolutely full of it. I worked as a vet tech for about eight years. There are very rare occasions when they would anesthetize an animal to clean it's ears. They were usually extremely infected and painful so that they can't even be touched or the animal is completely uncontrollable. The dog looked cooperative and seriously infected ears are pretty obvious, they will be bright red inside and the dog won't let you mess with their ear area.

The tools used to clean out a dogs ears? A peroxide cleaning solution, a rubber bulb syringe like you use to clean snot out of a baby's nose and qtips. Sometimes they will use a small wire loop. It looks like a dental instrument with a closed tiny wire loop at the end.

That vet was describing all sorts of BS about what he needed to do.

I used to work as an unlicensed vet asst. That was probably illegal on the part of the doctor, but hey, I was in high school and did what I was told at my job.

Anyway, he would have line items on his bill: "Surgical Instruments". I asked him one day what this included. He says it included a portion of the costs to buy the re-usable equipment (metal things...the things you think of when you imagine The Tray) as well as charges for one-time use items, like the breathing tubes.

Problem is, he RE-USED those breathing tubes. Even though they clearly say 'Single Use Only' on them, they got a good 50 or so uses before he'd throw them away. Not only that, but he would charge exorbitant amounts for the 'portion' of the purchase price. His "Surgical Instruments" line item was usually well over $200. Even for a simple procedure like a spay.

I've thought many times about turning him in, but I don't know who to turn him in to.

Heartguard and annual vaccinations are the least you can do to keep you pet healthy; if you don't want to take care of a pet, then don't get one.

@boones farmer:

Those are both legitimate things. The gland is something that sometimes gets stopped up and will cause the dog to scoot across the floor. Happened to my dog from time to time. Heartworm is also very real - and preventative meds are not expensive.

I found a very good vet for my rabbit. It's difficult to find a vet that specializes in 'exotic' animals because the anatomy is very different. Just like you wouldn't trust someone specializing in podiatry to treat a neurological condition. They're friendly, attentive, pretty reasonable in their prices, and they're open on saturdays.

@bohemian: I had a vet that wanted to put a cat under to clean her ears too. I ended up not going back to that vet. It seemed completely unnecessary, and now, three years later - the cat is still fine.

As for the guy that was going to put his cat to sleep to get out of paying $1000, wtf? Get a second opinion! I've gladly shelled out over $2000 trying to save a pet's life before. :P

@MDSasquatch: Did you get a second opinion? I don't know your story, but just because your cat's treatment would've been $1,000 you were just going to get rid of him? $1,000 is really steep, so I understand if there didn't seem to be anything that could be done.

@gruffydd: So you're pissed because you paid for a plan but didn't use it?

@boones farmer: I actually agree with the vet regarding the heart worm treatment. My family had a german shepard that they had to pay a good $700 on to save his life because of a heartworm infestation. :/

The anal gland thing is pretty common in dogs, too.

I have a cool vet he gets to the point and only perscribes what is needed, my vet bills are usually very cheap. I adopted a 14 month old Beagle named Copper from beaglesandbuddies.com and he got bordatello and kennel cough, talk about terrible sick puppy.
the vet vist was 30 bucks and the medicine(antibiotics and cough suppressant pills) was $40 something so my cost was about $75, I had to get the antibiotics refilled twice because my pup was very sick he must have had the worst case of bordatello and kennel cough a dog could have so that cost me another $100 bucks. But he got better. I took him in the other day to have his stitches from his neutering taken out and nails clipped $22 bucks they didnt charge me for an office visit. So this vet is awesome and doesnt try to stick you with extra fees.

to clarify: the cat had crystals in his bladder, was "spotting" everywhere and looked near death.

Took him to the vet on an emergency basis (no appointment)

Vet said he needed to keep him for two days, set up a catheter, flush the bladder, administer antibiotics, etc... cost $1000

I don't have $1000 laying around, especially when he told us that there was no guarantee it would work.

For $300, they flushed his bladder for 2 hours, gave him antibiotics to take home and a bag of medicated cat food.

Bottom line, he is just fine.

There is always a shining example of sleeziness in every profession. Shame on the bad vets!

I want a good "my produce stand salesguy ripped me off" undercover story next.

Not a good subject for me. Mr great dane had a limp early in the summer and I took her to animal care associates in colonial heights. They were more interested in 'heart worm regimines' for an indoor dog that was already on heartworm meds and told me she was infested. (Said meds you buy online are not real like what they sell) Then when I pressed the issue the vet said she had bone cancer and I needed 1000$ or so in xrays.

Needless to say I got another opinion. I was told she had limes disease from a tick on her butt. I gave her the meds for that and some pills for arthritis. She did not get better and was losing the use of her right rear leg. I scheduled another appointment later in the fall and then before christmas she was set up for x-rays. I was told not to feed her the day before or that day. She wasnt seen until 4pm not 9am and was home at 7pm. My dog was dead at 10:30pm right after I arrived home from my job. 4 hours after 'xrays' I lost and animal that just had leg issues. NO breathing heart or stomach problems. She barely had a bite of food and we really dont know what happened. It just traumatized my wife and I. We expected her to get older and slower but she just dropped and was gone.

I am in search of a good vet in the colonial heights-chester area BEFORE I get another dog. She was only 7 years old.

V

@NameGoesHere: my sister has to have her dog "expressed" I dont know much about it but that if she isnt she drags her butt on the floor. It has something to do with oil build up. I saw that some dog groomers squeeze those glands when they wash and groom your dog.
So if your pooch is dragging its butt on the ground take it to a vet to get expressed as its very painful for the dogs as far as I can tell and know.

I took my cat to the vet a few days ago for her yearly check up. The vet (after sort of touching the cat's neck for five seconds) says it seems she has developed a heart murmur. He recommends I take her to a animal cardiologist (no idea there were such people) to have some tests/scans/$400+ worth of work done.

Turns out - his wife is a cardiologist! And he highly recommends her (and told me two others in the area weren't good)!

We're going to another vet next weekend for a 2nd opinion...

$750 to give my cat and enema, and the upselling at the front desk when I tried to escape was appalling-special treats, special food, special toys.............

Luckily I found a new vet-

@vdragonmpc: That is so sad, I am sorry for your loss. I had a dog from child hood(5th grade) and she lived for 17 years till she got tumors and started having seizures and I had to have her put to sleep. It has taken me 11-12 years to get over that and I recently adopted a dog 4 months ago and I love him to bits. I couldnt imagine losing him. When you get another dog adopt one they are the best and will bond with you super fast. My Copper is like my shadow. He is a Beagle so he has lots of love to give, he has so much that he even kisses the air with his tongue heh heh.

This has already been done by CBC's Marketplace =/

Seriously, I blame this partly on greed, but partly on CYA Medicine.

I'm not sure if malpractice is a risk for vets, but doctors for humans do this all the time--prescribing tests not because they think they'll find something, but because they want to be in a position to say (God forbid), that they tested for everything.

Love the new vet we found. Anybody who says,
Your cat is old, don't put him through any more tests, let him eat what he wants and leave him alone- I know they are not trying to push pricey treatments just to make a buck.

Are you sure? I asked. Every other vet we've had around the US over the past 18 years wanted to do ALL the shots,
tooth scaling, pre-tooth scaling lab work, etc etc plus a special diet.

I worked for a vet, I do understand that very sick animals require special diets but just like with human dentists- I want to run like hell when crap gets peddled in a medical office.

@boones farmer: What you describe with the fingers is a procedure known as expressing the anal glands. On some dogs, they get inflamed, and need to be expressed. Typically you'll see the pooch dragging their rump around on the carpet or yard, but the vet may have seen some other sign. This is a procedure best not seen, it can be pretty gross.

As for the heartworm, I think the graphic display of the heart was a bit over the top, but heartworms can be a real issue in many parts of the country. Mostly what I've seen in vet's offices are pictures or drawing of affected hearts, not the real thing. Sounds like what you got was a major shot of "too much information".

I tend to agree with the assemssments here on vets. Our family volunteers with a national breed rescue organization, and one of our dogs we currently care for had bladder stones, diabetes, and very bad teeth. Bills add up quickly. I think our vet is pretty good overall, but some just are in it for the money.

Most major cities may have an ASPCA hospital or clinic or two. Not that they are any less expensive, but often you can work out payment plans if a pet is really sick and needs urgent care.

In Boston we have the greatest pet doc's I've ever met at Angell Memorial MSPCA Hospital. (Shameless plug for Angell) Heck, I should go there and try to get treated when I am sick, nevermind the cats! Near miracle-workers, imho.

@MDSasquatch:

Actually current research shows that annual vaccines may do more harm than good. Progressive vets are going to a 2 or 3 year schedule for the basics, rabies is already 3 year in many areas and is now being researched for a 5 to 7 year schedule (even life). Titers can be taken for the basic vaccines to show immunity instead of forcing more jabs.

Think about it - do humans need yearly shots? It seems like the yearly schedule was a way to get people to bring their pets in for checkups. Now the heartworm test does that. Don't skip the heartworm if you're in an infected area (or travel to one).

I know they are out there, but I work with a bunch of Vet's, and both my parents are Vets (in an academic setting). 95% of Vet's I know are in it for the animals, most of the Vet students are there out of a desire to help (some might say, too much flipper). I know bad ones are out there, but this is generally a profession that is out to help.

My old vet insisted on testing my (healthy) cat for a bunch of crazy diseases and billing me for hundreds and hundreds of dollars for the tests and the "treatments"

Now I'm out about $1200 and I took him to another vet for an annual check-up and was told my cat was perfectly healthy but they do know that a lot of their new customers came to them complaining of inflated bills at the other place.

Vets can be a lot like normal doctors. Some are good some are in it for the money.

On the dog butt squeezing: My vet did it to my former cat, too. And man was I glad that wasn't my job. It did stink to high heaven, because it was impacted poop stuff. That's the point where you remember they aren't all nice fluffy moments.

The vet my friend went to was good, too. The cat was old, and suddenly started having problems. They diagnosed diabetes and the cat improved remarkably for a month or so, then suddenly went down. The vet did some tests, and said that the cat's body was hurting it's own good blood cells. She admitted that she didn't know why and that while there were things that could be done, the cost would rise and there was no guarantee that it would work. (That is, it might...it might now, and it was like flipping a coin.)
Sometimes, someone admitting that they didn't have a clue (and she did consult with some of her colleagues) is better than someone trying things that may or may not work without any real idea.
(It helps to realize that much of pet medicine is still vague guesswork, because you can't ask the animal things like "Does it hurt after you eat? Was the vomiting occurring before, or after, you groomed your butt?")

They took pets with minor ailments, checked out by a vet, to several different vets.

Isn't any other pet owner besides me a little upset that this TV station trotted sick animals around from vet to vet in order to get this story for the 11 PM report?

It's not quite the same as disabling a hard drive in a laptop BIOS then taking it to Geek Squad to see if they figure out what's wrong.

Maybe they uncovered some important information, but this in the end was all about TV ratings.

@vdragonmpc: Great Danes are usually on their way out at 7.@llcooljabe: It depends on the state. In some states, you can only recover the cost to adopt the dog.

@scoosdad:
Nope! Just you and the wingnuts at PETA. Well, anyway, I'm going back to my hamburger (taste the delicious suffering!)

@scoosdad: Well, I don't know the context. Many owners wait months to take care of minor issues, because of time or they don't see it right away, so it depends on whether these animals were taken in a span of a week or a few months. Sure, vet visits can be stressful on animals, but not generally if they're spread out.

I've heard some of your consumerists say this, but I hven't had a problem w/ our small town vet. She won't even lance the revolting cyst on my Furball's (cat) shoulder, no matter how crusty he gets it; she won't sell us anything to cure his dander either. (At least he controls his bladder?)

My dentist, otoh, wants to replace my 15 year old fillings. Have you heard of replacing fillings? My older relatives have theirs still from the dark ages (50s).

Interesting... we don't have vets up here, heck we don't even have doctors. If your animal gets sick you take it out to the woodshed old yeller style. Seriously.

@ooby: I have never seen a dog go from playing with me on Monday to dropping dead on tuesday. She was playful and fun she just didnt walk well. The xrays showed her spine was fusing and her leg joints also were fusing. I expected a long drawn out ordeal. Kind of like we already were doing by useing a beach towel to get her upstairs. I hold no animosity at all at the final vet except that its not a good idea to not feed a dog for 24 hours that has never been starved ever. I have a feeling she ate something she wasnt supposed to (she was FAST and you couldnt get it back before it was down the hatch)
I dont know what happened BUT I do know I miss my dog and the BUSINESS called Animal Care Associates in Colonial Heights was completely uninterested in treating my dog for her health or anything other than money. I always left there several hundred dollars lighter. Im glad I got a second opinion and honestly what happened was for the best. The vet (not animal care) was heartbroken and sorry and even called to check up on me later as I couldnt talk at the vets office that morning.

My vet told me my kitten needs new batteries in order to become an adult cat (she's 9 months old). He said you can't access the battery compartment without a license and that our particular model cat requires three K-cell batteries that you have to be a vet to order.

$500 per battery is expensive, but I love my cat! You should see the happy, glassed-over look she gets every time we hook the 36-volt charger up to her tail.

I'd been taking my dogs to Banfield (PetSmart), and it was good, but high priced. Not to mention the "health plans" they try to sell. Then a month ago, a new local vet opened and they cost less than half of what Banfield does. I got my dog's teeth cleaned for $100, compaed to Banfield's $250!

@scoosdad: I couldn't watch the video (VERY slow web connection), but thank you for at least thinking of this. The cause is a good one (to test vets' integrity), but not at the expense of letting an animal suffer, even if it's a little stress.

A neighbor once brought me an injured dog he'd found. The dog had a 2-inch hole in one of his front legs. You could see the leg bones clearly. It was Saturday, & my regular vet was closed & the emergency clinic was too expensive ($150 just for the visit). So I went to a Banfield clinic in a local Petsmart because they have extended hours. I just wanted to get him looked at and treated for anything that needed immediate attention. Then I would take the dog to my regular vet on Monday. Banfield said he would need a leg amputation & gave me a written, detailed quote of about $1100. I didn't doubt the need for amputation, but the price...whew!

On Monday, I showed my regular vet the amputation quote, & he just couldn't believe it. He went through it & explained some of the charges. Some were unnecessary, some were very overpriced, & some were for the equivalent of walking across the room. This was in 2002, so while I still have the quote, I can't remember the details of my vet's explanation. But he said that the vets employed by Banfield (a national chain, I believe) get high salaries & expensive perks, & this is how they pay for them.

Anyway, my vet charged $300 to do it. He might have given me a small discount because I rescue & bring many animals to him, but it wasn't much. Certainly not an $800 discount!

Emergency vets are the worst. They can cough up a $2000 bill faster than you can blink an eye. I had to take my cat to one once after some neighborhood punk decided it would be a good idea to break his jaw. I wasn't there 10 minutes before they came out with a $1200 bill for all these tests and procedures most of which had nothing to with what was wrong with the cat!

In short, I asked them if he was going to be OK until I could get to my regular vet and I was only going to pay for the basic examination and cleaning up the wounds. So I walked out of there with about a $80 bill. When I went to the vet the next day, they were able to fix his jaw for about $200...a far cry from the $1200 the other place wanted just for tests and observation.

Why didn't Consumerist use that sleazy car dealer pic?

We had a vet milk us for lots of cash while we propped up a cat who we later found out was a terminal condition. The poor cat was in misery for a year. Bitter? You betcha. Worse was that this vet misdiagnosed the condition when it would have been actually treatable.

The practice had a number of vets. When we first started going there, our vet was great...but they got bought by some large company, she left and within a few years it seemed like it was more about $$ than the animals.