Letters to the Editor
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Vets
If you ask me, these vets are rip-off artists who are playing the owners for suckers.
Don't get me wrong, I have had animals, both cats and dogs as pets and I have given them the necessary vaccinations and medical care WITHIN REASON, but once an animal has reached a reasonable life span or has become disabled, then it is on its own and there is no way that I am getting corneal transplants or laser eye surgery, or something equally absurd for a hamster, even one that does tricks, nor am I having lab work done on it for diagnostic purposes.
Wholesale cost of bloodwork tests like a chem 24 or CBC is something like $10 or $20 from LabCorp, (maybe my figures are a bit out of date now, but I am sure someone here has the prices), but the amount they charge to the retail client is quite extortionate and they are probably doing the work in house, so really ordering lab tests is just a kind of salesmanship.
If you really want to get lab work, I would try to negotiate it down to 1/3 of the asking price, because they will still make a good profit on it.
As for confiscating your animal and donating it to a more deserving owner--get real! This is just another hard sell, and you should just take the poor creature to another vet to be put out of its misery, or take it to a vet in Mexico or something.
James Herriot must be turning in his grave.
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I wish all vets were like large animal vets.
I used to have horses. Nice show horses. Horses that cost more than my car now. (A lot more, sigh.) When you have nice horses you make good friends with a good vet.
Our large animal vets were awesome. They were very practical. They realized that horses were valuable animals but also cost a lot to keep, and they always laid it on the line with absolutely no BS or sentimentality.
Oh, and I had the myriad vet problems too, let me tell you. I had the horse with lymphomas on his penis. I had the horse with a sinus infection so entrenched we had to drill a hole in his head so we could flush it with disinfectant. I went through a colic or two, and had a horse with crazy severe melanomas (almost all gray horses get them, but not this bad). I had a horse who got nerve damage so one side of her head so her face drooped. I attempted to breed that mare, and then had to deal with the ensuing uterine infection. And, of course, one horse or another would go lame from time to time. This was besides all the basic shots and tooth maintenance and regular weenie washes for the boys (yeah, you actually have to do that).
In all these situations, my large animal vets would lay out the options and their costs, the odds as best they saw them, and would objectively await a decision. No pressure. Hey, and they made barn calls.
Small animal vets always seem to treat me like an irrational, irresponsible creature who CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO HANDLE THE TRUTH. I've learned to go to the vet in my relatively poor neighborhood. They have much more of that sense of pragmatism I appreciate.
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Hard on vets, but...
Maybe I sound a bit hard on vets, but does anyone really think that when they go out to see a sheep or a goat, or a pig that they are recommending the farmers to have a hysterectomy for the sheep or lab work for the pig, or asking the farmers if they don't love their sheep? This is why it is so obvious that it is a con.
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It was a dog but...
Just this May my dog a 7 year old male had the stomach twist. Fortunately I saw the swelling stomach and took him right to the vet. They told me the surgery would cost 2k and there was only a 50% chance of success. I took the chance. At the time I was very concerned about the money. It was the mortgage payment. He had the surgery and came out of it good as new after a few weeks of intensive care at home, making him chicken soup for dinner etc. and after a few months I caught back up on my mortgage. Now in retrospect, only 8 months later I don't miss the money as much as I would have missed him. Money is only money, and is essentially replaceable, a living creature is not. Why bother at all with a pet if it's just disposable. Of course if you are truly poor then it's understandable but if you can afford Starbuck's then you can probably go for some care. It's all about priorities, If it means your baby won't eat then it's different.
That said not all vet's are created equal, you have to find a good one. There are some who will play you like a violin.
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save those who can be saved
"If someone can't afford or won't pay to save an animal who can be saved, we'll save the animal and then keep it or find it a good home."
That is exactly how my partner and I obtained our current cat. After our unfortunate experience with the local shelters following the death of our beloved 18-year-old CRF cat, (see my letters in response to "Ellen, the Dog Bullies, and Me") I got smart and did what I should have done in the first place; called the hospital where she'd been (very competently, and no frills) cared for, and where "free to good home" cats are often posted on the bulletin board.
They told us of a cat who had been brought in as a six-month-old kitten with a broken hip. The owner could not afford the surgery and asked that he be put down. Instead, the oldest of the three vets did the surgery and kept him. The hospital personnel fell in love with him. Along with another cat, he was their mascot for a year and a half. Because he was painfully shy, he didn't appeal to many prospective adopters.
Not us. We came in just before Halloween weekend, met this big shy black fellow, and were taken with him at once. He's gentle, well-behaved and playful, and we got him for nothing outside of a small fee to have his microchip reprogrammed to our names and address.
I'm inclined to think this should be the answer more often -- why not give an unwanted cat to someone who wants him?