Emergency Vet rant!!!?

R

RipplinRunJackRussells

New member
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I have to vent on this. I have a friend who just adopted a 9 week old puppy from an adoption agency. This puppy came from a kill shelter hundreds of miles away, and my friend paid $300 to adopt this puppy. 3 days later the puppy threw up twice had diarrhea , and was lethargic. She wound up at an emergency vet and the puppy had parvo. This vet told her it would cost her $2000-$4000 to treat this puppy, she didn't have that kind of money so she was pretty much forced to have this little guy put down. This puppy that survived through so much already :(

So my question is... Why do emergency vets rip people off to the point where they can't afford it. And innocent animals die at the sake of their dollar? It only take some nutrients and IV fluids to treat parvo, I had 2 dogs with parvo and my vet bill was well under $1,000 for my 2 puppies that stayed there for a week! It should be illegal to rip people off at the sake of animals!

Any feedback?
This puppy came from a shelter far away, as far as my friend was concerned the pup had an exam, was already neutered, and had his shots... To reply to other people...

MoreBoredCollie- The puppy was given his vaccines when he left the foster home. He only arrived the day prior from his long car trip from whatever shelter he came from.

SifuGreg- Not many vets do the "credit" option anymore :( The past 2 emergency vets's I've been to (horse stepped on dog, and emergency c-section) they said they needed payment in full when I came to pick up my dogs.

JamesDean-All vets were closed so she could not seek another vet... Parvo works fast a puppy can go downhill in a matter of hours. She only had the information from this emergency vet, and most people when told pay 4 grand or this puppy will suffer. She was devastated, and didn't want to play "God" by making such a horrible decision to have the puppy put down. She was not lazy, this puppy was like a child to her. And when a vet tells peopl
 
simple

it COSTS MONEY to operate a veterinary facility. There's utilities, taxes, costs of obtaining medical equipment, the staff needs paid too... You wouldnt work for free.. so why does everyone expect a vet to do the same? They dont get a steady stream of clients thru their operating hours either like regular vets do.. fewer clients means they need to charge higher prices to compensate for the costs of running the building. I imagine some nites they get NO clients.. yet the staff still has to be paid for their time there.

Animals die for the sake of "their" dollar? I think not.. it was for the sake of your friend's dollar.. not the vet's. The vet already has their own costs.. they are not responsible for the costs of keeping your friend's pet healthy.

Parvo isnt so simple as nutrients and IV fluids either.. the puppy would have to be kept under constant supervision while in their care... this means a staff member is taking their time away from other patients, and possibly even coming in during their non-buisiness hours to check on the pup.

A pet is a LUXURY. Keeping your pet healthy is a LUXURY. An ER vet that is open during non-buisiness hours is a LUXURY.. you want those, things.. you pay the costs.

Vets are under no obligation to provide free or cheap services to "save" your pet when you cant afford it. They have the cheaper alternative of humanely euthanizing the puppy.

Your friend had the option of keeping the pup there overnite and then moving to a regular vet the next morning as well... where it would have been cheaper.
 
I'm curious as to why in the first three days the pup wasn't taken to a veterinarian for an initial exam, fecal, etc.

Yes, I agree that emergency veterinarians do charge exorbitant prices, but please remember that it takes a LOT of money to cover their expenses. Vet ERs are staffed overnight when other hospitals aren't, and their staff is usually much more skilled and knowledgeable (it takes more skill to place a chest tube than it does to give a vaccine, after all), and as such they are paid their worth. In addition, most ERs also have diagnostic equipment that most day veterinarians DON'T have, which is also quite expensive.

Still, $2000-$4000 seems like an obnoxious estimate to me, even if they WERE anticipating keeping him for a few days. If she took the puppy at night, she could have asked them to care for him overnight and then transfer him to a day practice, which would have been much less expensive.
 
Uh, so why in the heck wouldn't your friend have sought out a different vet? Emergency vets tend to charge more because they are available 24/7 - as such, if she didn't want to pay their fees, then she should have been smart enough to go elsewhere. Instead, sounds to me like she killed a dog that she didn't need to, simply because she was too lazy to shop around for a better price.
 
If you think about it, Emergency Veterinarians are like 7-11's Somebody has to pay them to be there at 3:00 in the morning so I'ts common to be double in price. That and around-the-clock coverage for days could rack the bill up to $1500 - $2000. $4K does seems way out there though. I assume he was just preparing the owner for the worst. It's very unfortunate. Do make a note that many Veterinarians, (especially emergency) do offer a program similar to what we have called "Care Credit" which is an emergency line of credit for medical needs and can be used for your pets.
 
I agree with you. They know they can play on a persons sympathy. It's sad but they just say you can always buy pet insurance. They seem to think more of the money than they do of the pet. I think they should take into consideration the persons situation when they bring a pet in. Can't she sue the adoption agency?
 
That seems to be the way they operate. I took one of my dogs to one several years ago and had the same sort of thing happen, except that I just told them to do an initial treatment to stabilize my dog, then took him to my regular vet the next day. Cost me a couple of hundred bucks instead of the 2 grand they were talking about. Cost me another couple of hundred at my regular vet to get the full treatment done.

Your friend should have just had them give the dog the initial medicine needed, then go to her vet the next day. I had a dog go through parvo as a puppy about 10 years ago and it cost me about 1200 to get him treated.
 
1st of I hope the dog will b ok :( and yh these ppl are supposed to love animals but all the love is money, you could take this up with someone who knows the law, I defiantly would how many more ppl will they do this to not to mention those poor innocent pups Good luck
 
Basically you're paying them high prices because they're there all day and night long. Although the quote they gave your friend is extremely ridiculous. The one time I used an e-vet, they told me that it was $100 just to be seen. However, I guess the vet felt bad for me (my cat had passed in the car just minutes before we got to the vet's office) so she let me go at "half-price" since there was nothing they could do for my dead cat. Anyway, if I can help it I'll never go back to an e-vet.
 
For $300 why wasn't the pup already UTD on shots - including parvo?
For $300 why wasn't the pup provided with adequate vet care?

E-Vets do it because they can.
E- Vets are trying to run a business and I would assume that they do not get as much service as regular vets do. They are staying open at all hours for the convenience of pet owners.
You are going to an emergency vet in states of "emergency" in such times your head isn't clear, you may be panicking and therefore more impressionable. And the E-vets know this.

Not that I agree with it. A dog's life should be more important in cases such as this.
 
THIS IS THE REASON I LEARNED TO TREAT IT MYSELF!!!
They ARE as bad as human dr's. Charging exorbinant prices.
You can take your dog home and do the same thing the vet does for under $100.
Still, no Guarantee if you pay a vet ....
 
Honestly, I don't understand it either. I don't see why the emergency vets' costs and overhead are any higher than a normal vet's. I realize one is paying extra for the convenience of the "after hours" care, but when it comes down to a situation like this, life threatening, I don't see why some compromise couldn't have been made.
 
Although I've not been at the mercy of this lot, I TOTALLY agree. Given they have their overheads, and are paying staff over the odds to be on duty during out of hours, they still charge horrendous amounts. I have a friend in Winnipeg who has two Min.Schnauzers who got into mushrooms in their back yard and were desperately sick. Not only did they have an evening/night call out because they were so poorly, but their vet had them in during the day on an IV drip, each, and had them moved to the ER people overnight, as they didn't have anybody working nights at the practice. Her eventual bill ran into thousands - I think it was well over $4000 Can - although they did both survive. They were insured, but still .........................

It's so sad that people have no alternative when faced with this sort of bill, although I have to say quite possibly this was the best and only option for this poor wee puppy, to end his suffering. I hope the Shelter was told because to be honest, they should know. I hope they have a better outcome if they decide to try for another puppy. Heartbreaking.
 
This is why I loved my Vet so much...he wasn't into ripping people off.

I agree..it's disgusting....those aren't Vets in my opinion....those are people with a passion for money, not animals.

Don't get me wrong...Vet's do have to make money...but some of those prices are insane & highly unnecessary...but if you have a spending problem...that's what happens, you have to take it out on everyone else.
 
Back
Top