Cost of Veterinary Care - a Vent

[shayaalliard]

I should have mentioned that the other emergency clinic, which has, I admit, been here longer, charges no such fee on top, and will do all possible to save pet within the original estimate.

In my case the bill was 500.00 to watch the cat in the cage for 4 hours. They gave no treatment, did no diagnostics. Cat was asthmatic and was mouth breathing. Took him in hoping they could give him inhaler- they wanted 300+ to shoot a chest xray, and would not let me take him home. Finally they agreed to let me take him to the regular vet at 6 am when they opened.

Regular vet shot xrays, found lung abcess, gave antibiotics. Told us cat needed to stay hospitalized, was going to die, etc. I said- there is no more money (spent it on nothing at emergency clinic.) Took cat and antibiotics home. Regular vet cost 200.00.

Cat was eating 3 hours later. Recovered fully.

The older e-vet in town has been wonderful- we had to take beagle for seizures once and for ruptured capillaries in ear once. (swelled up like a water balloon). Both of those visits included diagnostics, treatment, and in the case of the ear, surgery to drain it. Cost under 300 each time. Should have gone there with cat, but I had heard about this fancy new place…

[grayarabpony]

Anne – a PM too? :lol: I didn’t bother to read it btw.

[HappyTalk]

[QUOTE=danceronice;7399925]
I never ask for them and will frequently not take them, but MDs and LNPs give to me all the time. (Prednisone, which I DO need to have on hand? I have to practically beg.) No, they never culture anything. They just throw Amoxicillin or last time, Cipro, at the problem. (I will never take Cipro again unless I have anthrax.)[/QUOTE]

Really? Last year I went to my LNP with a bad respiratory “infection”. She sent me off to xray to make sure I didn’t have pneumonia. Diagnosis after rads was I had a virus and I had to 'tough" it out. No antibiotics for me. You need to go to different care providers.

[Horsegal984]

[QUOTE=Anne;7398604]
When your pet codes (stops breathing/heart stops beating) in the ER, we start CPCR if you have indicated that you want that. Your pet is intubated, meaning a tube is placed in the airway by means of a special light source, and your pet is ventilated (by a human, who knows how often, how fast, and with how much pressure to squeeze the bag). IV access is established if it hadn’t been already. ECG leads are attached to observe the heart rhythm (or lack thereof). Chest compressions are started, and are often performed by multiple team members because if you’re doing them correctly, you begin to fatigue after 2-3 minutes. Finally emergency drugs (epinephrine, atropine, vasopressin, naloxone, flumazenil, etc.) are given and your pet’s response is assessed. Running a code properly requires at least 3 people ( don’t forget the person who writes down what is being given/done and when) but it’s smoother if I have 4 people. This is an “all hands on deck” situation.

Yet you think that these extraordinary efforts require “little to no equipment and minutes of work”. The ER you don’t like is actually probably the better one: they are smart enough to ask what you want your pet’s resuscitation status to be, and to let you know what the charges associated with that decision will be, ahead of time. EVERYONE thinks they want CPR, but in my hands it will cost $300-$600 and the odds of your pet leaving the hospital are less than 5%. CPCR is one of the hardest things we do, for many reasons, so of course we have to charge appropriately for it!!![/QUOTE]

This ten times over.

While you might not feel that it requires a lot of equipment, supplies or staff appropriate CPCR actually requires at least a hour of “financial worth” because it will require 3-4 staff members to completly drop what they’re doing and put every bit of physical, mental and emotional energy into trying to save your pet. It also puts the rest of the patients care that far behind because what those three people could get done in 20 min will take the one remaining staff member (assuming they’re not ALL tied up with CPCR) an hour to complete.