Letters to the Editor
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Reilly,
Bravo!
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Shop around
The amount of letters here are just overwhelming, and I've given up (300 plus!) on reading all of 'em. So if I am repeating something others have said, I appologize.
Vet care IS expensive, and some of the obvious reasons stated are quite correct: the high cost of a medical education, the increased expectations of customers, the high tech treatments for things like cancer or joint replacement that were unthinkable a couple decades ago. It's certainly true that many of the medications, supplies, equipment, used for pets are the same as those used for humans, so how could the cost be significantly less?
On the other hand, if you live in a nice suburb or a trendy city area, you have seen the growth of "luxury vet clinics". Not many years back, vet clinics were mostly all the same -- butt plain cinderblock little offices, tiny waiting rooms, simple stainless steel equipment -- and the vets often crusty older guys without any "sales technique" and without "the soft touch". These were the vets who would put your sick pet down for $25 and no long talk about how you were a bad person for not spending $3k on risky surgery.
Those guys are nearly all gone, or retired, and they didn't retire rich. The clinics like that are mostly gone too -- if you live in the nice suburb or the trendy city neighborhood. Some younger vet bought the practice and remodeled (or torn down) the simple clinic, and now there is some huge pet paradise, that looks like a spa, and offers all kinds of stuff besides medical care (boarding, fancy foods, grooming). It is sadly very true that young vets have been schooled in how to upmarket their practices and gain income from selling you on fancy treatments, special foods and anything really that will bring in money.
There are certainly many analogies to human medical care here -- how it is at once better and more technologically sophisticated, at the same time the costs have escalated totally out of control, and the practioners seem to have developed a disturbing sense of financial entitlement that it often at odds with really humane standards of care.
I wouldn't -- and haven't -- hestitated to spend serious money on care for a beloved pet, but even I have had to drawn the line at some of the ridiculous things I have seen suggested to me. I once saved an abandoned bunny rabbit I saw at the park, and took it to the vet when it seemed listless and wouldn't eat - the vet being told that I had just rescued it a few hours ago, and that it was not my pet -- and was harangued for hours about paying $700 for EXPLORATORY SURGERY on (what turned out) to be a dying animal who expired in my car on the drive home (and would surely have done so on the operating table as well).
Last year, I had a frail elderly cat, about 18 years old, who took a turn for the worse suddenly, and when I called around vets to ask about euthanasia, I was REFUSED upfront on the phone by most -- told they would not euthanize ANY animal, even an obviously sick or injured one, until the vet had seen the pet, evaluated it (for around $125), and did whatever treatments, and only THEN if the vet thought euthanasia was the ONLY option, would it be done -- for another $175 (not including cremation or return of ashes). The end result was that I decided to let my cat die at home, rather than subject her to this last indignity at the end of her life. However, it was frightening and depressing to realize that if you do require euthansia for a hopelessly ill pet, it might well be denied to you, or almost as expensive as having lifesaving treatment.
I suggest to other pet owners struggling with some of these issues, that if it is at all possible, look for an older type pet clinic in a working class neighborhood, even if you have to drive or take the bus there. The costs will probably be lower, and the standards more common sense. I'd also look for an older vet if possible -- at least 50 -- because the looniest vets I encountered were the younger ones...and I am sorry to have to say this, I think the problems were often worse with younger female vets, who seemed to have the most issues with euthansia and the most overly sentimental judgement about treatments.
A lot of times, people just go to the nearest vet or the cutest looking facility, and they don't shop around at all. You need to shop around on price, and look for a vet sympathetic to your views NOW while your pets are young and healthy. It isn't going to be possible to do this when you have a crisis! A vet that charges hundreds just for a standard checkup and shots is going to be a nighmare to deal with if you have a medical emergency, and your costs will be through the roof.
Ms. Calhoun: no you didn't waste money saving your cat's life. He's a young, otherwise healthy animal and you have probably given him another 7 years of life -- that's a bargain, for a loving companion to yourself and your kids. But the advice about wet food is a good one -- urinary problems reoccur with male cats, so you need to stay on top of this to avoid future problems. Good luck.
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My cat's worth
When my Burmese cat Mandy was 12, I spent $1000 for radioactive iodine to cure her hyperactive thyroid condition. She lived for another 7 years, so for me it was worth the cost. Had she been 15 or older, I probably would have opted for euthanasia, as I did during her final kidney failure. But, I could afford it. Obviously, people with limited resources cannot, and should not be made to feel guilty over it. During my childhood, my family could not afford even the cost of euthanasia, so our pets had to just die.