Veterinary Care and love for animals?

I just read a post in this section and replied, but felt that was not a place for me to fume away and offload the anger off my chest.

Here is the link to that thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240244/the-vets-refused-my-sick-kitten

What I read actually brought tears to my eyes.

Vets, and even ASPCA turned down a sick kitten!!!  All they want is money upfront!  What about compassion?!

Maybe I'm just so spoiled with what we have here...

I would really like to know more about how is the Veterinary Care in where you live.

Could you share what does it cost you to go to a vet for example?

I live in sanctioned african country where everything for cats is scarce, but at least no-one will turn down a sick animal here.

Our SPCA will treat your animal even if you don't have money at all and don't pay them even a dime.  And donations to SPCA are very low here.

But even our vets:

They will not charge to anyone their time or/and advice, they will inspect your animal free, they only charge for the stuff they spend, and even then it is not expensive.  They don't make large profits on less fortunate.

Money upfront here doesn't exist, in-fact just for example:

My cat had two seriously large operations, and we went to vets every day or every second day for over a month after a gross injury.

If I add all together - I spent not more that $300 all in all, including first operation: $160, second operation: $70 and the rest with all medications and treatments.  In the process they often said that I can pay next time or time after next all together.

Whist I was in the surgery - there was an african man who brought a litter of puppies in a cart in a box.  He wanted his puppies to be vaccinated, but didn't have money.  Guess what - our vets discussed it between each other and did this for free!

So, maybe I'm spoiled here, but don't doctors suppose to care everywhere, not just see this as business?

If you would like to share your experiences - please do.  I would love to know how it is in where you live.

I'm in central U.S. The emergency vet here requires that you give them a credit card before they look at your pet and they will turn you away if you can't do that. They are more expensive than other vets in the area so I only use them after hours.

The vets are all over the board about their rates and payment plans. One clinic does work on a "pay what you can" rate for spays/neuters (they do some of them free) and I'm not sure if they do the same for other services. They were part of No More Homeless Pets but are now part of the SPCA.

The vets that I work with trust me. There are times when I bring in one of mine, don't want to wait to pay and tell them I'll catch up with them on my next visit. Since they know me so well, they know that I'm good on payment. My current vet gives me a discount on everything I do there since I care for so many pets. I negotiate for a discount with every vet I deal with that isn't a specialist or when I go for a second opinion.

My last vet used to charge me a flat rate of $25 for spays and neuters, as I was trapping and fixing any cat that came across my property. There were a lot of feral cats there. He was considered a "country vet" and at one time did farm animals as well as cats and dogs. Because of this, he made house calls and would drive into his clinic after hours if you had an emergency. He wouldn't always write down what he did during after hour visits so didn't charge me for them (only had to call him twice at night in the 13 years I went there). I just made sure that his staff wrote down the particulars next time I was in there.

Some vets are great and are in the business because of their love of animals. Others run their clinics like a business and payment is top priority. I prefer to work with the former.

The first problem here is that vet school is very competitive and expensive. A vet usually graduates with $250,000 or more of debt, very similar to a physician. But an operation that costs $30,000 for a human (say, a stomach cancer removal) goes for less than $2,000 on a pet. Add in the cost of an office, insurance, etc., and a vet can't afford to do much gratis work.

That said, my vet is great. She's the chairman of the local shelter support group. My favorite vet in the office is a former zoo vet with massive big cat experience. She's a Texas A&M graduate; those who know what that means will be impressed. But they do neuters and spays for the shelter for only $30. I have rushed animals in there for the shelter for a last opinion, and they've never asked for payment on them.

The vets here that are "cheap" are also usually backwoods vets without modern technology (I live in the rural southeast USA).  The vet I go to is in the nearby city and she is excellent.  Tomorrow, we will be going down there for neuter surgery for Meowgie and a blood panel for my 15 year old cat, Blue.  The cost tomorrow will likely exceed $400 once all is said and done.

The vets in your country sound very compassionate. Here in the northeastern part of the US, I pay about $250 for an annual exam and vaccinations (that does include bloodwork, which can be expensive). I think that's relatively pricey, even for my area, but the quality of care is very good.

It pained me as well to read the thread you mention, but I used to read a veterinary blog that gave the other side of the story. The number of people who promise to pay later only to disappear after their pet is treated is apparently considerable, at least in this particular vet's area. (I do not at all mean to suggest that the poster here intended to do that.) If I were a vet, it would hurt me to turn someone in need away, but I don't think I'd like to have to act as a collections agency.

I once mentioned to my sister that we should start a charity for people who can't afford veterinary bills (this was after she had to spend quite a bit on some emergency care for one of her cats. She paid it, but it hurt!), and my heart does go out to the OP in the other thread.

As a worker in a Vet's office there is yet another side of the story:

How about the people who repeatedly have to rehome their pets because they can't care for them, or get evicted, or have 15 cats? And then wind up getting more animals.

How about the Vet tech and receptionists who work for little better than retail wages for a job which requires a lot more care and attention?

I'm a Veterinary receptionist, I can't even afford to share an appartment in my local area. At our office ther is a whole shelf of files for people who promised to pay and didn't and who are now in collections.

While I feel bad for those owners with sick pets, we can't work for free and pay for other peoples mistake in acquiring a pet they are unable or unwilling to afford to take care of. We see it every day, multiple times a day

I have no problem with an owner deciding "this is the limit in my ability to care for this animal" and choosing humane euthanasia for a seriously ill animal.

I go to a feline specialist for our cats. When we first started going there everything was very by the book, but as the staff has gotten to know us better (we are there waaaay too much) I've noticed discounts and 'missing' charges several times. Even when brought to their attention they just wave it off. When we had Cleo PTS, they only charged us for the cremation, which they contract out.  When I was in with Riley a couple of weeks ago and he needed an X-ray, when the bill came, they had only charged me $30 for a 'retake'. Our vet knows how much we do for our animals and we have spent a TON of money there so I'm very appreciative when they give us these little gifts. 

But, I do agree that it is a business. If vets gave away all their services, they wouldn't be able to stay in business. 

All the vets here require payment up front, and the emergency vet requires that you pay $150 before they even look at the animal. The emergency vet is only there for money, I had a friend call them when she saw a cat get hit by a car downtown and it couldn't use its back legs, she wanted to euthanize it and end its suffering but the E-Vet only would do it if she payed $200!
One of the vets I use will take care credit but they add a 15% of the bill charge in order to use it. The other vet I use does not even accept it. I have found that there are certain vets who are rescue friendly and when I bring in rescues they don't charge me the $45 office visit fee. I still pay for tests and medications of course. But they have tested several cats I have brought in for FIV/FeLV for free, and given them dewormer and a flea treatment for free. They will see a whole litter of kittens for the same price. Back in October I had a litter of kittens who came down with calaci that progressed to pneumonia. Even though I wasn't paying office visits, the antibiotics, fluids, nebulizer treatments, and liquid supplements all added up and cost me $500 to try and save them even though they didn't make it in the end. Considering I was at the vet almost everyday for like 2 weeks they did actually save me a lot of money and completely supported me in fighting for them. But in the past when it has been my own pets I have felt like they have rang up any little charge. For example I brought my senior dog in for a rash that had appeared on her belly again and she was having incontinence issues. I payed the office visit/ exam fee, the another $50 fee for a "skin exam" where the vet simply looked at her belly for a second and that was it. Not to mention this was when I had first found Lily and she came in at the same time, she was skin and bones. I payed for a well kitten exam and then for the food the vet gave her while she was there because she was so skinny. I only went to another vet here after all the little charges that were on the bill like medical waste disposal for the formula I had brought that they mixed in a bowl, and then I paid a fee for gloves! The whole reason I was there because I had a litter of sick kittens who wouldn't nurse because they were so stuffy from being sick, and the vet wanted to try and see if they could get them to nurse. So I paid the office visit fee and the other strange fees, for them not to be able to succeed and taught me how to tube feed them which is probably the only thing that allowed my baby Zoe to pull through as she is the only survivor from that litter, and she started eating on her own after 4 days of tube feeding. So the supplies to tube feed them which was a few syringes and a catheter was added to the bill as well. I guess it all depends on the vet and if they feel like helping out with that particular animal that day.

Wow guys!  That is an eye opener for me.

I think we are lucky ones in a way of cost in Zimbabwe. (Well, not so lucky in a way of availability of stuff for animals though).

Perhaps all this counts in to your high costs of vets.

Our central vet surgery (the best one) is where we go, but it is not equipped with a lot of things.  We do have an X-ray room though.  We also don't have specialized surgeries for cats only or for dogs only, etc.  And we also don't have call out service.

$50 just to look at a belly!!  We pay $40 for a doctor visit for humans.

My husband had a full knee replacement operation and it costed $15,000.00 all in all, but of course he paid about $9,000 out of that because of medical insurance he is on.

But I'm not bragging.  I guess that our living costs are cheaper as well as our incomes are less?

In America I'd guess it is so difficult to live for people who are very low on income, and what about their poor animal companions?

Thank you for sharing your experiences.