Please, Before You Need an Emergency Vet

[7thswan]

in Your area,well BEFORE you might need them. Read up, read the comments. I just did, on the place that treated our Sasha. Awful place,sad comments. I can't get it out of my head how bad her last bit of time on this earth was. So I've been reasurching what I could do or say to the owner of the clinic. Pretty much all I can do,is warn others.

[bluemoonluck]

There are two emergency clinics in our area. Both are okay, but both have their issues. One is better than the other, from what I've heard. The other one is very focused on $$$, not the animals

You're right thou - research NOW, before you need them!

[Minelson]

I'm so sorry I would write a letter to the place spelling out what you were unhappy about. Maybe...just maybe they will make some changes in their procedures. Sasha knows you were doing the best you could with the knowledge you had at the time to help her. She doesn't think about how awful it was when she passed. She just knows she was loved and is still loved deeply. I believe only love is real...everything else is just a bad dream. (((((hugs)))))

[mekasmom]

Everyone feels a sense of guilt when we loose a beloved pet. Forgive yourself for whatever you feel you might have done differently. You loved her. She loved you. And in her eyes you were perfect for her. It's that way with every dog. They see their Moms and Dads as perfect. Dog's worship, cats just kind of feel affection for their parents. She was never angry with you for taking her to the clinic. She just loved you.
I'm sorry for your loss.

[belladulcinea]

The nearest ER vet is over 45 minutes away, the vets here use each other to cover when someone is gone. We also have a good relationship plus we barter computer services with our regular vet that I have no problem calling him for emergencies. He checks his messages and has his home phone number on his answering machine.

I agree with Minelson, we can only do the best we can at the time. Don't be to rough on yourself.

[7thswan]

I do feel bad, a helpless sweet dog ,trusted me. Our phones did n't work that evening when I called our vet for emergency help,they would have been there for us in a Minuet. I've been thru many Vets in this area looking for a good one and was happy with the one we have now. I just never knew about this 24 hr. place, now every person I speek to about it,tells me the same thing-the place is awful. I came in the house from gardening to put words to paper and looked for who owned the Clinic so I write them along with the vet. I found the testimonials of pet owners that had the same kind of awful experiance as we did. Things happen, I know,but If a Dear Pet could be saved from our experiance, It's my duty to remind people. I do learn from others and I thank you all for that.

[Conhntr]

Some of these places really take advantage of upset people to milk them for money. My first go around with a dying dog was my 14yo golden retriever. Healthy all her life and had since i was 12!! So one morning i wake up and it looks like she had a stroke, but was still breathing and shaking around. I didnt even think things over i just loaded her up and went to the vet. By the time i got a handle on what was happening the total was already 1200$ for iv, xrays, admission, etc etc. then when i got myself together and realized she needed to be euthanized THE VET ARGUED WITH ME about it!!! Saying they should try more things on a stroked 14yo dog!!!


Point of this story is you must have a game plan. I loved that dog more than anything, slept on my bed for 14years and did EVERYTHING together. BUT blowing 1200$ to stretch her agony out a few hours didnt help her- or me.

So a puppy with a broken leg and good prognoses-- yes you spend 500$
A 2 yearold with bloat and needs surger-- maybe 2000?
An 11 year old with cancer?--- just let her go....

Some of these vets are shysters and will play on you sadness to enrich themselves. These decisions are very hard to make at 2 am with a sock best friend!!

[7thswan]

Originally Posted by Conhntr

Some of these places really take advantage of upset people to milk them for money. My first go around with a dying dog was my 14yo golden retriever. Healthy all her life and had since i was 12!! So one morning i wake up and it looks like she had a stroke, but was still breathing and shaking around. I didnt even think things over i just loaded her up and went to the vet. By the time i got a handle on what was happening the total was already 1200$ for iv, xrays, admission, etc etc. then when i got myself together and realized she needed to be euthanized THE VET ARGUED WITH ME about it!!! Saying they should try more things on a stroked 14yo dog!!!


Point of this story is you must have a game plan. I loved that dog more than anything, slept on my bed for 14years and did EVERYTHING together. BUT blowing 1200$ to stretch her agony out a few hours didnt help her- or me.

So a puppy with a broken leg and good prognoses-- yes you spend 500$
A 2 yearold with bloat and needs surger-- maybe 2000?
An 11 year old with cancer?--- just let her go....

Some of these vets are shysters and will play on you sadness to enrich themselves. These decisions are very hard to make at 2 am with a sock best friend!!

I am sorry for what you had to go thru. It is basicly the same here. My dogs take turns sleeping with me thru the night,I worked for myself so I could/can be with my dogs, we have a special vheicle we take them for rides in, I cook for them, ect, they really are my babies and take care of them better than myself. This vet was just so uncompassionate, and all she cared about was the $ and made it very clear with her statements on my paying for her education and when we questioned her on things she suggested she said that we should just uthinize our girl. She also insisted that our regular vet was a hack for not preforming all kinds of tests, she had no reason to say that because she refused to look at all of the paperwork I had brought indicating the tests and treatment we'd done over the last 6 months. I could go on and tell you more,that time will never be erased from my head.

Truthfully, I'm beginning to think I have some form of PTS. Nightmares, worrieing about the last of my 3 rotties, that he has some awful thing I can't see.The memories comeing back from when I was about 5 ,a dog catcher stripped my big yellow cur dog out of my arms to never see him again, my ralphina, dad let out on Christmas eve. never saw her again, my horse Ralph, the fence cut, taken, gone forever, kids stealing my lab pup, neighbors shooting our dog infront of my brother, him writhing on the ground in horror, my Magic, Angel, Sasha...I know I have to heal somehow,do something, but I just don't know what to even tell myself. I'm sorry.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Conhntr

Some of these places really take advantage of upset people to milk them for money. My first go around with a dying dog was my 14yo golden retriever. Healthy all her life and had since i was 12!! So one morning i wake up and it looks like she had a stroke, but was still breathing and shaking around. I didnt even think things over i just loaded her up and went to the vet. By the time i got a handle on what was happening the total was already 1200$ for iv, xrays, admission, etc etc. then when i got myself together and realized she needed to be euthanized THE VET ARGUED WITH ME about it!!! Saying they should try more things on a stroked 14yo dog!!!


Point of this story is you must have a game plan. I loved that dog more than anything, slept on my bed for 14years and did EVERYTHING together. BUT blowing 1200$ to stretch her agony out a few hours didnt help her- or me.

So a puppy with a broken leg and good prognoses-- yes you spend 500$
A 2 yearold with bloat and needs surger-- maybe 2000?
An 11 year old with cancer?--- just let her go....

Some of these vets are shysters and will play on you sadness to enrich themselves. These decisions are very hard to make at 2 am with a sock best friend!!

Yeah, Someone had a pup from my most recent litter, get into decon rat poison. Called me right away, I told him put hydrogen peroxide down their neck till they puke, Then do it again , then give them all the water they will drink and get them a Vitim K shot.
Well he did the peroxide, then his woman insists on going to the emergency vet. Tells the vet what they had done, (Vet tells them your buddy was exactly right Decon is an anti-coagulant, get as much out and boost the blood) they give him an $8 dollar shot of Vitim K. in a .30cent syringe. They are charged $245.00 for the visit (did not even need to use the clinic's $3.00 bottle of peroxide)

[Minelson]

7thswan I think that the grief brings up all those memories and you have a lot of them. By getting the word out about this vet it shows that you are trying to get a better perspective and looking for healing. That is a good thing. Talking about what happened will help. You have nothing to be sorry for. Your loss and the way it happened is a life changing event for you. It's going to take a while to get your feet back under yourself. I have noticed that I am more afraid for my animals then I ever was after loosing BoBo to a tragic accident that I'm sure left me with PTSD. I still catch myself replaying it in my head and if I don't re-direct my mind I will have a meltdown. Loss is by far the worst lesson in life ((((hugs))))

[champ7ac]

http://www.amazon.com/Local-Veterina...ords=local+vet


This is the link for a good book I just read, all about the vet industry.
The writers advice was to stay away from emergency vets, unless it was a broken bone, or hit by a car. They are in business to make the big bucks.

I downloaded it on my kindle for .99.
Well worth reading for the information.

[Allen15]

To be fair, that really wasn't the vet's fault, & only $245 sounds like a reasonable price for an emergency visit. The lady in the story that insisted on going to see the "Professional" is really who should get the credit for going there, and I know from being in business, if one is to stay in business, there is a minimum price that you have to set for a service call, or you can't afford to stay in business...

The shysters are the ones who will encourage or insist in extraordinary measures and additional "tests" that won't really change the prognosis, but WILL soak the wallet and GOOD.

Originally Posted by Rock

Yeah, Someone had a pup from my most recent litter, get into decon rat poison. Called me right away, I told him put hydrogen peroxide down their neck till they puke, Then do it again , then give them all the water they will drink and get them a Vitim K shot.
Well he did the peroxide, then his woman insists on going to the emergency vet. Tells the vet what they had done, (Vet tells them your buddy was exactly right Decon is an anti-coagulant, get as much out and boost the blood) they give him an $8 dollar shot of Vitim K. in a .30cent syringe. They are charged $245.00 for the visit (did not even need to use the clinic's $3.00 bottle of peroxide)

[7thswan]

The Vet we went to at 4am saturday night(i was sleeping next to sasha,she woke me up) estamated just for tests 1640.00, but that did include oxcygen 24 hrs, 240.00 ,10.oo per hour. They insisted we let her stay for 24 hrs. She died within 1 hr(not quite) of getting there(over 1 hr drive) did nothing but put in a pic line and give her oxy. the bill was over 200. dollars. 35. dollars just to take her blood pressure...Sasha was dieing, no human on this earth would have thought she would last 24 hrs. Dh insisted they let us take our girl, he got very mad,they diddled arround- I am positive they were doing this onpourpose- They kept us out of the room, so that she would pass on her own,because Dh insisted we take her home to die peacefully with us. They deliberiteraly did this. They let us into the room ONLY-- when she was gone. We raise cattle, I've seen/treated calfs with phemnomia before, this is how Sasha was acting,like she had aseration phemn, from vometing . We found out at atopsy(free ,by our regular vet) that Sasha had cancer(undetictable because of location) her intestines twisted and cancer in her lung. The bad vet should have been treating Sasha, anything, but they just wanted to insist on $$$'s for tests, then when we said no tests right now -just treat her with antibotics and oxy, they refused and then wanted us to uthinize her. My regular vet would have done anything I wanted,knowing that Sasha was Dieing-but most important-Our Vet would have let us be with Sasha and comfort HER.Sasha lifting up her head,straining to see us thru the doorway, and then that witch of a vet shutting the door in my Dh's face-it's killing me. I just can't comphrend how anyone can be so cruel.7 months, i have been feeding her anything,cleaning up, her throwing up -20+ times a day, telling her it was ok,reasuring her because she felt ahamed, she let the vet help her, but we had to go there everyday(when she was hospialized) and spoon feed her,she only trusted us.She was such a good girl, She didn't deserve the end she got, and we weren't allowed to comfort her in the last moments, I just can't get over the cruelness.The $ isn't anything, but it was everything to the vet and it's why she wouldn't let us be with our girl.

[Veronica]

I'm sorry. All of our shepherds have passed from cancer (our duck toller just passed away from old age when he was almost 15). I'm starting to watch our older girl, who's 7-8 years, because I've become so paranoid about cancer. But I just try to focus on the good memories, and when I get morbid about it, I take the dogs out for a walk/run or play with them.
I hate that the vet was so mean (can't think of a better word) about your Sasha. We've had good experience with the local e-vet. They are also the internal medicine vets who've diagnosed/treated the dogs that have had cancer. We did have 1 bad experience with an e-vet in another location, who treated our bunny but we just won't go there again.
Sasha loved you and knew that you were doing the best you could for her. I think it's great that you are letting others know of your bad experiences so future pet owners will know not to go there.

[DryHeat]

The two times we've needed to use e-vets have worked out OK. The first time we went to the service recommended by our regular practice when we found our favorite cat huddled on the floor early AM, soaked in her own diarrhea, dehydrated and hypothermic (95F). Apparently she would likely have died if not put on IV rehydration and a heating pad when we got her over there within maybe a half hour. The next day we were at the clinic visiting when a tech commented something like, "You know, I had to call Dr. Suzy in to check your Puff this morning, she had some odd orange discoloration or growth on her forehead," but with maybe a trace of a smirk, whereupon the youngish female Dr. Suzy (or whatever) who was in the room too looked *real* sheepish and said, "Yeah, Puff is such a darling I kissed her on her forehead and I was wearing apricot lipstick." They wound up doing exploratory abdominal surgery with the eventual conclusion that she'd had intestinal twisting that had self-corrected maybe while they'd been moving her around for X-ray angles. Had to be boarded around ten days so we figured the eventual $3K bill total was reasonable, though painful. That was 15 years back, I hate to think what the charges would be now. More recently, my MIL's cat became unresponsive on a Sunday after years of fighting kidney failure, so we took her to a nearby different place and again got responsive service, no hassle over the "time to euthanize" decision and rather modest charges, we thought. So, some areas do have decent e-vets, but the idea of picking one in advance with some research is surely good.

Sorry for the horrid treatment of your pet.

[Allen15]

I've been told from a pretty good holistic vet (Dr. Karen Becker, DVM), that cancer risk can be greatly reduced by improving the feed to something that is species-appropriate, which generally doesn't include most commercial dog foods. Do your shepherds eat dog food or eat a raw diet?

Straying back to topic, feeding a balanced raw diet can greatly reduce the need for an emergency vet too, barring accidents.

Originally Posted by Veronica

I'm sorry. All of our shepherds have passed from cancer (our duck toller just passed away from old age when he was almost 15). I'm starting to watch our older girl, who's 7-8 years, because I've become so paranoid about cancer. But I just try to focus on the good memories, and when I get morbid about it, I take the dogs out for a walk/run or play with them.
I hate that the vet was so mean (can't think of a better word) about your Sasha. We've had good experience with the local e-vet. They are also the internal medicine vets who've diagnosed/treated the dogs that have had cancer. We did have 1 bad experience with an e-vet in another location, who treated our bunny but we just won't go there again.
Sasha loved you and knew that you were doing the best you could for her. I think it's great that you are letting others know of your bad experiences so future pet owners will know not to go there.

[Joshie]

There is one animal hospital here. They are expensive and money driven. If they keep your pet you must be there first thing in the morning to transport to your normal vet.

You might do well to use a mixed animal vet. Large animal vets typically make emergency farm calls are probably more likely to come to your farm or meet you at their clinic. Because we have horses our vet bills us. I have noticed that he expects payment at the time of service for those who just have small animals.

It is hard because in a lot of places you have no choice.

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by Allen15

I've been told from a pretty good holistic vet (Dr. Karen Becker, DVM), that cancer risk can be greatly reduced by improving the feed to something that is species-appropriate, which generally doesn't include most commercial dog foods. Do your shepherds eat dog food or eat a raw diet?

Straying back to topic, feeding a balanced raw diet can greatly reduce the need for an emergency vet too, barring accidents.

Mine eat dog food - Dr Tim's with one, Wellness Core (switching over to Dr Tim's) with the other one. They also get a can of a grain free dog food day, and depending on the day they get sardines, raw meaty bones, egg, meat, etc.
I've thought of a raw diet, but I'm afraid I just won't get it right. So hence some additions to kibble and wet food.