Vet bills

[CuriosoJorge]

@Foxglove

he’s had difficulty finding just-out-of-college vets to work with him

Please keep in mind that in the USA, the vast majority of us have a full undergraduate degree plus an additional 4 years of professional school. That’s 8 years of higher education. New graduate vets are doctors, they are NOT “just out of college”.

@Foxglove

Guessing the process is: Intake, weight/temp, aestheticize, (vet or licensed tech, I hope ) label (cats have stickers and cages/carriers have matching sticker), shave, spay/neuter (again, vet does that ), then stitch, vaccinate, chip, check for fleas/ear mites, return to cage.

I hope you mean anesthetize. You now see the difficulty we have in attracting good help.

@Bonnie2

Vets out of school want to work 4 days a week and bring home six figures.

See my first reply. After 8 years of higher education, in many cases putting off finding a partner, having children, having a life outside school/work, etc., HOW on earth do you begrudge us a decent quality of life? Do you feel this way about human physicians? Because I assure you, we have the same training, the same debt load and 1/3 of the salary.

@Bonnie2

40 years ago vets graduated with huge debt

You are clearly unfamiliar with the rate of change of veterinary tuition and therefore graduate debt. I would suggest you educate yourself, as this statement is ludicrous.

@GoodTimes

yikes, normally I defend the costs of veterinary procedures. But $600 for an ultrasound is outrageous.

No, it simply isn’t. A decent small animal ultrasound machine costs $40,000. Amortize that over the number of procedures needed to pay for it within 5 years. You can’t compare human health care with veterinary care. And regarding your “more complicated” claim, I invite you to come try to find some adrenal glands on a Cushingoid 5 pound poodle.

@Dr_Doolittle

It’s quite the nifty little scam.

No. It’s life-saving for the people who need it. Read before you sign.

[GoodTimes]

And I invite you to come assess diastolic function during a bicycle stress echo on a 350 lb smoker who refused contrast. Or maybe come and join me on adult congenital day where we try to assess shunts and baffles on combative developmentally delayed patients (note, we aren’t allowed to sedate our patients).

I’m in Canada. We don’t set the prices that we can charge, the province sets them. All of the clinic income comes from taxpayer money. Our clinic just purchased three new ultrasound machines to the tune of 70k each. We can’t charge more for an ultrasound to pay for those machines.

This thread got me thinking so I reached out to an old classmate of mine who has her own mobile veterinary ultrasound business. She travels to local clinics to do the scan and then sends the images to a team of veterinary radiologists and a veterinary cardiologist to read them. When I asked if $600 was reasonable to an abdominal ultrasound of a ferret she sent me a bunch of laughing emojis. She said she’d never get called back to a clinic if she billed that much. She said prices typically only get that high for very lengthy, complex scans that require extra staff or sedation. She knows of a couple rural clinics who have their own machines, and yes they charge more than average to pay for those machines. In one case they have it because they’re an after hours clinic so the veterinarians felt they needed the machine for emergencies, understandable. In the other case they bought it thinking it was a good investment, but it turns out they don’t use it enough. They would have been better off having the mobile u/s continue coming, or referring their clients somewhere else.

Not trying to get in an argument here. I have the utmost respect for veterinarians. There’s a reason I decided to become a tech in a specialized Monday to Friday field. It’s a tough life for vets. I had already started getting things together for my application to OVC when I made the switch to a different post-graduate program.

[moonlitoaksranch]

The overall effect of vet bill increases for us means less dogs and cats in the future. We’ve had two dogs for a long time. When our older girl passes, we won’t replace her. Same with kitties. Three now, but one or two in the future.

We won’t skimp. We’ll keep everyone vaccinated. We’ll probably still take in a horse or donkey in need, if we have room. And, as you can tell from Abigail’s thread, we’ll use the services of the big hospital for the things beyond the capability of our local vet. We’re thankful for all they do. We’re sad about the external corporate pressures, but that has nothing to do with the dedicated people that care for our pets. Also, I have never complained about a vet bill. In fact, the only conversations I’ve had about expenses also include asking the vet’s opinion if it’s worthwhile, and typically following their recommendations.

[CuriosoJorge]

@GoodTimes

She said she’d never get called back to a clinic if she billed that much.

Of course she doesn’t bill that much. She doesn’t pay the electric bill, or (usually) supply the staff to restrain the animal. She also doesn’t communicate with the owner; the referring vet who booked her services does. I assure you there is a mark up to clients over what your mobile friend charges practices.

[GoodTimes]

Believe whatever you want, but no, the clinics provide the pet owners with an itemized invoice that lists her fee for the ultrasound (which includes having a veterinary radiologist or cardiologist finalize the report), and then a separate exam/clinic fee to cover their overhead. If sedation is used that’s listed on the itemized bill as well.
Similar to how the poster here said she was quoted for her ferret. $600 for the ultrasound PLUS clinic fees.

I don’t know. Maybe that poster lives in an area with very high cost of living. But given her large animal vet seemed surprised by the quote, that seems unlikely.

[S1969]

@GoodTimes

Believe whatever you want, but no, the clinics provide the pet owners with an itemized invoice that lists her fee for the ultrasound (which includes having a veterinary radiologist or cardiologist finalize the report), and then a separate exam/clinic fee to cover their overhead. If sedation is used that’s listed on the itemized bill as well.
Similar to how the poster here said she was quoted for her ferret. $600 for the ultrasound PLUS clinic fees.

But there is likely overhead built into each itemized charge.

[GoodTimes]

@S1969

@GoodTimes

Believe whatever you want, but no, the clinics provide the pet owners with an itemized invoice that lists her fee for the ultrasound (which includes having a veterinary radiologist or cardiologist finalize the report), and then a separate exam/clinic fee to cover their overhead. If sedation is used that’s listed on the itemized bill as well.
Similar to how the poster here said she was quoted for her ferret. $600 for the ultrasound PLUS clinic fees.

But there is likely overhead built into each itemized charge.

The ultrasound fee that shows up on the client bill is identical to the fee that my colleague bills the clinic. Her fee includes her overhead (ultrasound machine, van for transporting the machine, her business expenses, fuel, etc).
The exam/clinic fee on the client bill is there to cover the clinic overhead where the u/s takes place.

I have no issue with the total bills. Of course overhead needs to be built in somewhere. I was simply pointing out in the specific case that the other poster brought up (exploratory u/s of a ferret), that $600usd seemed high. Corroborating what her large animal vet said.

[clanter]

well was just quoted a $1,000 for an ultrasound for Sucha (a Golden Retriever) Nothing was being found using X-Rays in an attempt to find out why she was not her usual happy dog self, so an ultrasound was being considered. She has been much better, still have no idea what her problem was/is might just be age as she is 14 1/2 years old which is about 50% older than any other Golden we have had (or she might be reacting to Ducky who is five months old and runs light a lightening bolt around the yard)

Kind of want to say she is a horse as just last month Fig (two year old Morgan horse) had a nose to tail ultrasound follow up check to make sure he was healing properly from a colic surgery. That full body scan was $250 (he is doing well, just bored being confined, at least now he can be turned out into his paddock which we have reduced in size not giving him running room)

[Bonnie2]

Sympathies on a tough year! A wee bit of Winstrol has helped some of our old ladies near the end.

[WNT]

After knowingly accepting about $11k in vet bills last year (two urinary blockages within six weeks on two separate otherwise healthy, young cats), all three are insured for a cost of about $60 a month. I met the deductible with two visits for one’s grody ears.

One night of monitoring at the emergency vet with a catheter in cost almost as much as the PU surgery itself. Both boys are healthy and happy a year later, I just wish I could claim their prescription diets!

[js]

Our vet clinic got bought out by a corporation, prices went up a lot, a whole lot; however, they are open 7 days a week, and all other vets in town claim to be booked up and can’t accept new clients, so we’ve had to stick with our current clinic. To their credit they are all nice vets and always accommodate us. I’m not sure we can get pet insurance with all the cats we have.

[axl]

I have been ASSuming I cannot get pet insurance once they already have a history. Am I wrong?

[treebeard]

@axl

I have been ASSuming I cannot get pet insurance once they already have a history. Am I wrong?

I wondered about that as well.

[GoodTimes]

You may be able to get it, but anything related to their “history” will likely be excluded. That usually includes bilateral things. If a CCL tear happens on the left side and they cover it, they won’t cover surgery for the right one when it blows a year later. Same goes for eyes.

Read every policy carefully.

[treebeard]

@GoodTimes

You may be able to get it, but anything related to their “history” will likely be excluded. That usually includes bilateral things. If a CCL tear happens on the left side and they cover it, they won’t cover surgery for the right one when it blows a year later. Same goes for eyes.

Read every policy carefully.

That makes sense. Thanks!

My two adopted pugs have too many medical conditions things already in place and I think an insurance company would say, “No thanks!” Ha.

[SonnysMom]

Disclaimer: I used to work for the insurance company the owns Healthy Paws pet insurance. It was overseen by my unit. Really quick payment turn-around, like less than 5 days for 95% of claims, the least restrictions on bilateral pre-existing, breed restrictions, no routine vaccine coverage. However if a vet recommends massage, chiro, PT, aquatread, Reiki etc… it was covered. They are probably not cheap.
One dog was having his bladder expressed by an at home vet twice a day for like 6 months. I would not put my pet through that but…
I have not been with that company for 4 years so things may have changed.
Pretty much they questioned very little, and paid promptly.

[bingbingbing]

My regular vet wanted my up to date on everything dog to come in for a pre neuter appt (he was two) before giving me a ballpark quote. I can’t even imagine what it would have cost me. I took him to a vet a little further out in the country and she neutered my 110 pound dog for $140 dollars last year. She has no receptionist; you text a number. She allowed me to hold him to drop him, I helped get him on the table and watched the surgery. He was prepped by a tech and the vet was so very good and quick. They knew I had worked in a spay neuter clinic and I was impressed with the care and the surgeon.
This vet is such a huge gift to the community. She does regular vet care and emergencies. There are no appts, spay/neuters are certain days. You show up when they tell you and wait or drop off.
She is amazing and I am going to send her something to thank her for her service to the animals/community.