What's the biggest vet bill you've ever had?

[Donella]

God, I really don’t even know. Our vet bills every month on just maintenance for the horses in work, breeding, teeth ect ect are significant. I need to find myself a vet husband.

In the last few months we are at at least 15 k in bills for frozen semen work for three mares and still nobody in foal lol…though not sure if breeding costs count?

We lost our beautiful yearling Han filly two weeks ago to a shattered cannon bone …freak accident in the feild. Just got the bills to have her leg temperariliy casted (about five minits worth of work) , two xrays at surgeons and euthenization. All in about 15 minits. Over 1000 bucks. In all honesty though, we went there prepared to spend whatever it would take to save her, if we could have. She was very special to us.

[ReSomething]

@ljc;4271813

. . . when he stepped on a nail. My goodness - the antibotics and daily vet calls came to quite a pretty penny. Thankfully he made a full recovery.

Hmmm. One visit, one shot, 2x daily soaking in clorox water for two weeks, in 1974. Could be modern vet care or the location of the nail in the foot, very glad he made a full recovery.

[broughton_sporthorse]

In one bill… around $15000 AUD. Big storm and 3 horses went through fences, plus our insemination bill all in one! Was not a great time for us lol.

[Janet]

@ljc;4271813

My now retired TB hunter had various issues/problems over the years (laminitis, torn tendons, etc.) but the single most expensive health issue he ever had was when he stepped on a nail. My goodness - the antibotics and daily vet calls came to quite a pretty penny. Thankfully he made a full recovery.

My most expensive was also probably a “street nail procedure” (though it was a lawn spike Chief stepped on, not a nail) in 2006. The procedure itself was not that expensive but the only antibiotic that was effective was running in the high 3 figures per day, and we ended up in the 5 figures. Luckily major medical paid most of it.

(Muisc had a street nail procedure in 1989. I don’t remember the exact cost, but it was MUCH less. She responded to “normal” antibiotics.)

A close second (also covered by insurance) was Belle’s mystery left front foot lameness in 2007, and there it was all on diagnosics, including MRI . Probably mid 4 figures (again mostly paid by insurance).

Even with all the restrictions and examptions, major medical is well worth it.

[Gayla]

My vet is very expensive and I have complained about the cost of his drugs on the health forum. They came out to investigate a strange smell in my mare’s mouth and 30 minutes later I have a bill for 365 dollars. Just an exam and some blood work and powdered antibiotics. 400 hundred bucks for a lameness exam with 4 xrays. 35$ for a 100ml of Dex, 65$/dose Adequan. 95$ for 1000 Isoxoprine. They agreed to call in the Isoxoprine to Smartpak but don’t really want to call in scripts…but the markup is absurd and makes me angry. :mad:

[huntergirl007]

[QUOTE=Gayla;4272007]
400 hundred bucks for a lameness exam with 4 xrays. [/QUOTE]

This doesn’t seem right to me. Maybe it’s just my area, but I don’t think I ever paid that much for this (and I seem to choose horses with the bad legs. I have had this done numerous times).

My biggest vet bill was just around $1000. Took my seemingly lame horse to a clinic for a neuroscope (sp? my medical terms are about as good as my Greek…). After all was said and done, there is really NOTHING wrong with the horse, other than the usual bits of hock arthritis, which they said could be helped with just some good supplements. So a big vet bill, day off work and LONG ass road trip later…yup pony is fine.

[avezan]

[QUOTE=Technicolor02;4271313]
Psh. I have you all beat easily.

$15,342.50 spent on one horse in the space of one week for a mysterious ailment that caused him to act as though he was a neurological mess. And yes the exact number is burned onto my brain. His purchase price was only $25K and he was not insured. At the time we didn’t insure anything under $50K…now we do :lol:.

Turns out it was an inner ear infection but we literally tried looking for/treating EVERY SINGLE THING we could possibly think of before we found the infection.

He’s a great horse now for his new owner and I don’t regret doing everything we could do before euthing but that one hurt pretty bad.[/QUOTE]

You don’t live in VA, do you? I heard about a vet doing this to someone. Hope it wasn’t you. Aforementioned vet cost me about $10K for a mare I eventually had to put down. Should have cost $25 for a bottle of bute. Other than that, $3500 for a colic stay in the ICU (no surgery), $2K for a knee chip removal, $1K last week for a lameness exam, x-rays and joint injections. I’ve got to look into insurance!!

[asb_own_me]

I LOFF my insurance company. While I would have paid every penny of Puppy’s bill myself, it sure didn’t hurt to have them picking up at least part of the tab.

[glimmerling]

One horse had an 800 dollar eye and that’s including 3 weeks at my vet’s barn for acute care for antibiotic resistant eye infection. Love my vet. The other horse cost me 2k last year for a colic with care at my vets clinic. Worth every penny. I do know someone who had a 35k bill for colic surgery followed closely by hernia surgery.

[Won_For_Fun]

I think I have been lucky after being involved with horses for over 40 years. Two years ago, I was traveling on business and my elderly horse choked. 4 days in the LSU vet school was $2500. Trip down to hospital with my trainer was $300. Of course, my truck was having problems at the same time and that was another $2500. Really bad financial rough spot!

[83Tucks]

What a funny post!

I too had a wopper of 10K but insurance took the foot for that one.

So really the largest vet bill was on a rescue when that was all said and done her visit to AULAC was $3,300.

[drmgncolor]

oh I guess it was somewhere around $1,500 total to drain this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_P96Ox5-g

So far, I’ve been lucky.

[LSM1212]

Let’s see… very timely thread. :lol:

My horse just had colic surgery on 7/10. It was successful (thank god… just a twist… no bowel was removed) and he was released 6 days later. Bill was $6500. And I haven’t gotten the bill from my Vet yet (he saw him first and tried to treat him)… but I’m sure that will be a couple hundred at least and of course the follow up visits, etc… so total will be well over $7000 I’m sure.

The day after my horse was released, I had to take one of my dogs to the Emergency Clinic (108* temp). She was there 3 days. $2500. So I slapped down $9000 in 4 days. That hurt… :sadsmile: But both are fine (dog is back to normal and we never found out why she was so sick… horse is at a rehab facility and is on the mend).

Back in 2006, I had my horse only 3 months and he dropped his hip. He was laid up for a year and I went to R&R multiple times for exams and diagnostic testing. I think that endeavour cost about $10,000 in total for the year. And then we won’t talk about the maintenance for him regarding that (MT, Chiro, Legend, etc.) since then.

So I’ve paid his purchase price… multiple times now! I tell non-horsey people all the time… it’s not the purchase price of the horse that’s expensive… it’s the upkeep.

Thankfully, I was smart and insured my horse when I bought him. He was the most I had paid for a horse and I wanted to protect that investment. Good thing I did. So far I’ve paid 4 yearly premium payments… but the 2 claims I’ve done will be close to $18,000 in total. So definitely have gotten my money’s worth. :lol:

And he’s only 10. I’m sure he’s going to do something else to himself at some point. He always does… but most things are minor (swollen legs, issue w/ eye, etc. etc. etc.) So the bills just keep racking up. Good thing I love him. :winkgrin:

PS - Dog is NOT insured so that was money out of pocket completely.

[akrogirl]

[QUOTE=Peggy;4271627]
Six days at the vet clinic for impaction colic (no surgery) - $3500

That was the culmination of a year that included a high suspensory injury that segued into a diagnosis of collateral ligament strain and included a fever of unknown origin coupled with neuro symptoms that lasted 24 hours and vanished without a trace. I exceeded the $7500 on my major medical and it hadn’t paid for the IRAP or transporting him to the clinic for scintigraphy/MRI or transporting the vet to the barn. And, of course, this counted as three separate incidents, each with its own $300 deductible (and claims agent). I added it up once but have conveniently forgotten the number. If he’d waited two weeks or so to colic, at least it would have been on the next policy with a new $7500 to work with. Guess I got my not quite $600 worth, at least for that policy year.

Most on a small animal was around $800 for radioactive iodine treatment for a thyroid issue. The alternative was giving the cat pills every day for the rest of her life. Money well spent IMHO.[/QUOTE]

While high, I would love to have your clinic costs. We seem to be looking at a minimum of $1,000 per day these days at our local clinic. They are very good at most things, but also seem to have some of the highest fees out there.

[wendy]

had a friend who had emergency colic surgery done + hospitalization + complications bill came to over $7000. My own “best” was a prolonged lyme disease treatment that came to close to $2000. My dog, obtained from a rescue for $100, has cost us over $8000 so far for various health problems. Bad breeding rearing its ugly head.

[purplnurpl]

Over the past 12 months treating the same injuries we’ve racked up about 20K.

Thank goodness for Insurance. They have paid about 1/2.
The cheapest part has been the two MRIs. 2K a piece.

After this I really won’t complain about much–a couple stitches, emergency calls or routine vet bills are nothin.

[luvs2ridewbs]

$7500 for colic surgery for a horse that had another great show season and then died during second colic surgery. He was insured so they paid his vet bills. I will never not insure a horse.

[vacation1]

[QUOTE=lovemyoldguy;4271716]
I have the bill down to about $3k now. He lives on in my checkbook… :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

:lol: I have a similar monthly memorial to my first car (sigh).

[Lori_B]

I think it’s bad luck to even be reading this thread.

That hematoma video – :eek::eek::eek::eek:. How is that horse now?

[BlueEyedSorrel]

Pixie’s tendon laceration misadventure last year, hands down. I never figured out exactly the grand total of the costs, because it was just too scary to comtemplate. Let’s see:

$300 for the initial emergency vet call
$4500 for surgery and 3 week hospital stay
~$1000 for weekly bandage changes under sedation, for the first 4 weeks after coming home (could’ve saved money her if the mare wasn’t such a weenie about it)

That’s not counting the associated costs for trailering to/from the vet school (another $500), the cost difference between stall and pasture board ($125 more/month x 8 months), the extra gas I spent when I was going out to the barn twice a day, the extra money I spent on take out when I was too tired from going to the barn twice a day to cook… see why I never added it all up?

This is a horse that is the product of breeding a 2K mare to a stud with a $600 stud fee. Yes, I am nuts and I know I’m nuts, but this thread proves I’m in good company. At least I have a healthy horse…which is more than I would have if I put all that money in the stock market!
BES