^^ That is just wrong! :mad:
Bottom line - shop around for veterinary care.
I have owned, fostered, rescued, doctored on and buried more animals in my lifetime than the average Joe. I worked for a small animal vet. I know the drill on “necessary bloodwork”, I knew of course my dog had an infection in her mouth, so I declined the $75 bloodwork which was to look for an infection pre-surgery. That was not a bad or uninformed decision.
Banfield wanted 850 dollars to amputate the last 4" of my Soap Dog’s tail, he’d broken it out playing in the woods.
The local cow vet did it for $49 
My vet charged $450 to take 4 inches off my greyhound’s broken tail. Had I been able to wait and take her to Tuskegee, I bet it would have been more like $100.
Oh, I forgot to include the final nails in the coffin. When the tech brought the dog out she told me that they weren’t going to send any pain meds home because they felt the dog was kind of a whiney dog anyway, and the tech thought it would help keep the dog quiet. So, when I went to check out and there was a charge for pain pills (specifically stated and on a separate line from meds during surgery), I said that they weren’t sending any home with her and the receptionist said it was for meds given to the dog before I picked her up. Ok, I can maybe buy that, maybe, but the quantity they gave the dog shouldn’t match the quantity on the bill unless they drugged the crap out of her.
The other thing the tech told me was that I needed to bring the dog back in 10 days to get her stitches out. Then she turned around and told me that the dog had internal stitches. I thought maybe the tech was confused, so I just made the appointment. Ten days later, I took off of work to take the dog to the appointment since this office is now only open on the days and hours that I also work. We get the vet’s office and the tech “can’t find” any stitches to remove. I told her that the other tech had said that I needed to bring the dog back to get the stitches out, but then said they were internal stitches. The new tech actually looked at the dog’s chart and said, “Oh, yeah, they were internal. Woops. You can go back home.”. I had to schedule time off work for woops? Yes, I probably should have questioned the original tech, but shouldn’t the tech have been educated enough to catch the mistake on her own?
$430 to get two dogs and one cat annual shots (for the dogs), second kitten shots for the cat, and a blood test for Old Skinny Dog (which they had to do twice as apparently it “didn’t run”, whatever that means, so poor old dog had to be hauled back to the back again as for some reason they draw blood for tests in a back room somewhere) which ultimately showed a minor electrolyte imbalance for which the vet recommended not using an “off brand” food (Tractor Supply’s 4Health, which he suggested replacing with Pedigree or Hill’s) and slightly elevated eosinophils (which I could have told him was going to be there as his poop clearly indicated worms, for which I’d already given something.) So basically I paid almost five hundred dollars to get annual vaccines and be told “Feed the dog more” and bring him back in a month for more blood testing. Right. I begin to understand why people like my coworkers left the practice after the new owners came in. I like that I don’t have to drive to the next town over but if they keep jacking up prices (this was more than half what my old cat’s catheter and overnight for crystals cost!) I may just move, too.
[QUOTE=katarine;7391663]
Banfield wanted 850 dollars to amputate the last 4" of my Soap Dog’s tail, he’d broken it out playing in the woods.
The local cow vet did it for $49 ;)[/QUOTE]
I hope your cow vet used surgical instruments and pain meds/anesthetic instead of nail clippers!
We recently had a dog transferred to us frm another clinic who had a similar tail amputation. This vet did it while the dog was awake (YES, severing through nerved between vertebrae!!!) with nail clippers!
Needless to say, tail became infected and it became systemic causing the heart to become infected. Had about $4000 worth of diagnostics and treatments here, including a proper tail amputation and 8 days later he was able to leave the ICU. 
Not saying some cheaper vets don’t do a good job, but we have had a plethora of cheap vet horror stories. I can name 5 this week that would make all your jaws drop.
That was 5-6 years ago. Zero complications. He’s 13 years old now.
Do you really think if things had gone wrong I would have posted?
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7381508]
I have VPI but I understand there are other companies that may have better plans. I have the well care plan as well, so basically my well care visit and vaccinations are prepaid as well as $50 of heartworm or flea meds a year.[/QUOTE]
Will look at that…never have insured a small animal, just horses.
[QUOTE=kmwines01;7382176]
It’s interesting to see this conversation on a horse forum where people routinely discuss buying 1200-5000 saddles like it’s no big deal and within a community that routinely spends 60-200 a month on shoes for their equine partners. Companion animal spending often seems like a lot because it’s often in one shot but our equine friends often are much more expensive without any consideration of vet care.[/QUOTE]
Some saddles can last 30-40 years, still retain usability and still have some resale value. Anyone who owns one of the good old German made Stubbens or the like knows this. Companion animals, not so much. There is something to be said, of course, for the companion factor but talking strictly in terms of finances, I can see where the differential in price consideration can be seen.
I’ve worked as a vet tech for both general medicine and specialty referal clinics. I have no issue paying $$$ for specialty services and paying $ money for general services. I take exception when the general med guys charge $$$ for their $ service.
I know what their products cost I used to order them everything from pill caps to surgical hardware.
A 50 indivudual doses of Rab Vac can be picked up from Jeffers for 110$ When a clinic orders thousands of similar they are getting them at a much better price.
We used to get BAGS of 3cc syringes and 25 gauge needles for free with every vaccine order.
The over head is minimal but you still find clinics charging 20 /30 bucks a pop for a vaccine that cost them maybe a dollar maybe.
Offer affordable general medicine services and you will retain loyal clients that are willing to spend their money with you when the bigger issues come up. Gouge them right out of the gate and you will not get return clients.
They’re not sending syringes for free anymore. Rabies vaccine is still relatively inexpensive but way more than $2 a dose and the vaccines with the full three year label on them for DA2PV and FVRCP are well over $10 a dose and Lyme costs close to $16. So the notion that these vaccines are only costing the clinic a couple of bucks is unfortunatlye quite outdated
[QUOTE=Marshfield;7394686]
They’re not sending syringes for free anymore. Rabies vaccine is still relatively inexpensive but way more than $2 a dose and the vaccines with the full three year label on them for DA2PV and FVRCP are well over $10 a dose and Lyme costs close to $16. So the notion that these vaccines are only costing the clinic a couple of bucks is unfortunatlye quite outdated[/QUOTE]
This is with only one search for the Rabvac 3:
[QUOTE=Marshfield;7394686]
They’re not sending syringes for free anymore. Rabies vaccine is still relatively inexpensive but way more than $2 a dose and the vaccines with the full three year label on them for DA2PV and FVRCP are well over $10 a dose and Lyme costs close to $16. So the notion that these vaccines are only costing the clinic a couple of bucks is unfortunatlye quite outdated[/QUOTE]
You can order a 50 dose box of Rabvac from Jeffers/ or Fosters and Smith this very moment for 110 dollars. That’s 2.20 cents a dose. Clinics ordering thousands of doses get a break. Like I said I used to be the one placing the orders.
Lyme Vaccines and 3 year DA2ppv’s AND FVRCP’S are still not regular use vaccines they are specialty and of course more expensive. The plain old one years are still inexpensive.
Im surprised that so many clinics are still charging for vaccines. When I worked in general practice there was one fee for “annual” exam, including whatever vaccine was required at the time. We rotated rabies one year, dapp another year and the third year off. The annual check up fee was always the same and quite reasonable even for those who chose not to vaccinate.
[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;7394736]
Im surprised that so many clinics are still charging for vaccines. When I worked in general practice there was one fee for “annual” exam, including whatever vaccine was required at the time. We rotated rabies one year, dapp another year and the third year off. The annual check up fee was always the same and quite reasonable even for those who chose not to vaccinate.[/QUOTE]
The current Gen med clinic I use does a vaccine for life program. Its a one time fee of like 45 dollars to sign up and as long as you make it back in yearly for your exam etc. All vaccines are free for the life of the pet. The exam fee is 35 plus lab tests fecals/HW test etc.
.
[QUOTE=katarine;7394559]
That was 5-6 years ago. Zero complications. He’s 13 years old now.
Do you really think if things had gone wrong I would have posted?[/QUOTE]
Huh? Why would you assume I thought your dog had complications? I was merely sharing about a horrid experience with a similar situation to yours (tail amputation). No where did I imply you subjected your dog to an awake surgery or that your vet did it with nail clippers.
Some vets who are well established and can afford to lose money on a procedure for good clients will offer it. Sounds like this was your case (assuming you didn’t let him do it with your dog awake!!). However, not all vets can offer services at a loss.
[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;7394736]
Im surprised that so many clinics are still charging for vaccines. When I worked in general practice there was one fee for “annual” exam, including whatever vaccine was required at the time. We rotated rabies one year, dapp another year and the third year off. The annual check up fee was always the same and quite reasonable even for those who chose not to vaccinate.[/QUOTE]
That’s what my vet does as well. It’s a very thorough exam. If you get the HW testing and a fecal, they throw in a free nail trim. The whole shebang is $119.
My local large animal vet who I used for years sold his practice to a new grad. All of a sudden they had a ton of fancy new equipment that was needed and a visit for a minor lameness went from $250 to some $800 thing- for my retired horse. I stopped using the vet after years and years of really liking him. It seemed like wait and see was no longer a reasonable approach when there was fancy equipment that needed to be paid off.
