Are there any good veterinarians anymore?

[tallyho8]

Ever since they started selling health insurance for pets, veterinarians have started charging as much as the insurance companies will pay making it even harder for people with no pet insurance to be able to afford a vet. In my area I am no longer able to get a vet out for my horses because all the vets gave up on horses and switched to just dogs and cats because they make so much more money on them and much quicker.

We have owned a mutt for 10 years that we rescued from the pound the day before they were going to put her down because she had heartworms. She had been owned by a person who neglected her and was accused of abuse and had the dog taken from them when she was 1 year old. I treated her for heartworms and took great care of her for the next 10 years and she was a great watchdog.

As she aged she slowed down a little and would lope to the barn with me on the golf cart which was 1/4 mile from my house and then she would walk back. Suddenly, within a week, she stopped eating her food and started losing weight and energy fast. I took her to a vet to be checked out. The only thing the vet could find wrong with her was that she had fleas and he thought they might have given her an infection so he gave me some antibiotics to give her.

A week later she had lost another 5 pounds and could barely walk 50 feet. I took her to another vet who examined her and said the only thing he could find wrong was she had hookworms and gave me some wormer to give her and a different antibiotic. She would only eat hamburgers and steak and no kind of dog food at all.

The next week it was evident she was dying and I brought her to a large animal clinic that was referred to me. They gave her lots of tests and could find nothing wrong with her but gave me a different antibiotic to give her. A few days later she was skin and bones and could not even get up and was drooling and would eat nothing. I had to carry her to a vet and have her put down. I had now spent well over $1000 on vet bills just to have them tell me I had a healthy dog that was dying for some unknown reason. I couldn't control my tears as she slipped away.

I have had at least 50 dogs in my lifetime and everyone of them had a reason for dying and I never had to put down a "healthy" dog before. This gave me much more stress than when I had to put down a dog with kidney failure or liver damage. This dog went from healthy to dying in one month due to veterinarian failure and I did everything in my power to save her. I would have liked to have a necropsy done on her just to find out what killed her but that would have been another $1000 and not helped her any. Are there vets out there anymore who do anything other than give dogs shots and worm them?

Thanks for listening to me vent. This seemed to help me find closure.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'm sorry. That's heartbreaking and infuriating.

 

[square1]

Sorry about your experience. To the original question, I don't know, but there's going to be a lot ferrer in the not too distant future. Vets for large farm animals are already in very short supply.

 

[workinonit]

Good Vets are a dying breed. Our good vet around here sold out to a female vet with pink and purple hair and semi-retired. He still helps out when he is needed.

 

[riptides]

So sorry for your loss. You obviously were trying to do the right thing. That's what matters.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Out here in canada we only have 5 schools providing the course and they only take a handful of student a year so you need perfect grade and outstanding pre requisite to get in some people are push to pursue a different career or path like going to Europe and rack up crazy student loan... our current vet is like 60 year old and it doesn't look like there is anybody to replace him at sight... but it is crazy how a 5 minute vet visit is expensive a few vaccine and deworming and you get crazy bill.

 

[masseyrider]

I had a great vet taking care of my critters.
She's semi retired now and only looks after a few long term clients. Mutley and the gang still get their annual checkups and shots from her.
However the vets who bought her practice are just into it for the cash.
They always have reasons for X-rays, blood tests and on and on.
A friend took her cat there for worm pills. The cat choked to death on a pill they tried to force feed it. She still got a bill for $450.
Even if it hadn't choked, $450 for a F...ing worm pill. Disposal of the body was more.
Once my guys move on to the other side I won't be getting anymore. Their doctors costs more than mine.

 

[2manyrocks]

Our family's long standing vet passed away a few years ago. I don't recall him ever charging more than $20 for routine things. He was very accurate at diagnosis without having to run a lot of tests. I miss him terribly.

The vets that came afterwards have assistants and a lot of overhead. They run a lot of tests. The bills are much higher, but the quality of care isn't, but for some reason people in the community think they are great compared to the older vet whose experience dwarfed theirs.

The worst recent vet experience was when my daughter's cat became blocked. She took him to an overnight ER vet who wanted to charge her something like $2,000-$3,000 to treat him in the middle of the night. She called me about 2 am to discuss. Told her to get out of that ER office and bring him to our vet who charged about $80. He was fine afterwards.

We had a GSD mix who was as strong and healthy as can be. He suddenly started not being well. One vet charged me for a bunch of blood work and said he was sick because his dog food bowl obviously wasn't clean. Found another old school vet who looked at the blood work and said it was lukemia. Just a couple of weeks and he was gone.

We've had many pets and used a variety of vets. A select few were good. Most today seem dependent on running tests to make a diagnosis.

I'm sorry this happened. You did your best to give your dog a good life.

 

[ddbackhoe]

took great care of her for the next 10 years and she was a great watchdog.
Are there vets out there anymore who do anything other than give dogs shots and worm them?

Thanks for listening to me vent. This seemed to help me find closure.

Amazing how attached we get to our pets. Your friend gave you alot of good years and good memories. I’m sorry the end had so much heartache attached.
There are some really good vets still out there, finding them is tough. Getting on their schedule may be tougher yet. We are very lucky, the vet office we use does large and small animals, the docs (6) have a broad range of age and experience and they rely on each other when something unusual pops up. They even still do farm calls but are set up so that you can trailer in if you want.

 

[orezok]

I don’t know about other places, but out here VCA is buying up just about every independent vet service. They then double, triple or more raise their rates.

I’ve heard of instances where they demand $1,000 to $2,000 deposits before they will even look at an emergency pet.