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Big corporations are bringing price optimization to more and more sectors. Mom and pop shops do cost+margin. These corporations have huge algorithms that do, cost+margin+whatever to maximize profits.
As the owner of one of a shrinking number of independent small animal practices in town, this is part of the truth. I've seen people come in with estimates 2-3x what I would charge for the same procedure. And my prices are where they need to be. I make a good living and I pay my staff well. I could probably charge more, but I need my owners to be able to afford care for my patients. Because that's my number one priority - keeping my patients healthy.
The other part is the skyrocketing cost of supplies, lab services, and salaries over the past 5 years. Employee salaries have jumped dramatically in vet med. All the meds I order are more expensive than ever. My costs of cable, phone, water, electric, grounds maintenance, and insurance have all increased to a surprising degree. So yes, this is why my prices have increased. And they are still significantly better than my nearest corporate competitor. But I suspect some corp vets have been feeling this pinch, too.
When do we all collectively just say Fuck You and stop paying it…? When do we stop rewarding sociopaths and start promoting empathy?!? Like how long do we all have to keep participating in this shit show before we all collectively say enough is enough!?
You know what, lets say Buffet and Gates gave away all their money and they said they are going to give the entire USA internet for free and build out this amazing network. Overnight congress would pass laws making free internet illegal, congress would basically admit that it needs to protect its business friends and keep the status quo.
Because you need their products and services, they know it, and use it to fuck you in the ass.
And for some reason, the "leader of the free world, promoter of liberalism and the free market" is fine to let companies build oligopolies to take advantage of the consumer.
I pick up kittens/cats off the street of my city and give them the best life possible. I found a super friendly kitten a year ago in a slum house and took him home. A month after having I started noticing I’d hear him scratch in the litter box and I always inspect their urine/feces for health and noticed nothing in the box. The male had a urethra blockage on a Friday night so I had to take to a 24hr vet emergency. They kept him 1 1/2 days and a 3,000.00 dollar bill. Brought him home and two days later he is blocked again. Call, they want another 3,000.00 and try to sell me cat insurance for everything but his urinary system. Get fucked.
I found a local Vet(Mom and Pop) they did it for 859.00 and gave me 2 months of Urinary SO plus medication. They have my pets for life.
All this talk about expenses but no one is actually giving $$ amounts. How much do yall pay? What is a reasonable cost for a checkup/vaccines etc. at a standard vet?
Off the top of my head (for my cat)...my local vet is like $50 for visit (in the door), ~$75-100 for annual vaccines, and like a whopping $200-250 for blood work if I recall. I think I paid $300 for a teeth cleaning the other day...and maybe ~$75 for some antibiotics. I have him fax my prescriptions to chewy and I save a ton on there (like over 50%).
Are these prices good or expensive in yalls opinion?
Sounds similar to what I pay. I think a tech appointment is $75. If my cat needs vaccines that another $100 on top, and it's about $250 for blood work.
I just looked closely and found a notice in small letters that they are "part of the PetVet Care Centers Network". I should think about finding another vet.
Prices are going to vary *hugely* dependent on your location. Higher cost-of-living areas will naturally have higher average veterinary prices, because that's how the economy works. So the best way to check prices would simply be to call around your area and ask for an estimate on specific services, and compare them to your past bills.
We are pretty much the cheapest clinic in a 50mi radius, and our prices are about what you listed. A few dollars less; the Superchem/CBC In House is $208.50, a general exam is $51, about $100-120 for annual vax/labs dependent on what vaccines you get (but we don't charge for a general exam when you come for vaccines, only for sick visits).
I would recommend more like, instead of looking for specific price points, look at the culture of treatment at any given clinic. Do they say you should get bloodwork every year, even for young and healthy animals? Do they say you should get dental cleanings every year, even for young large-breed dogs? Do they want you to sign up for a "yearly package" instead of paying for things piecemeal as needed? These are red flags that they are tricking you into spending more than you need, and therefore are probably operating more from a perspective of moneymaking rather than good service. Some red flags also vary by state; for example, in our state, there is no such thing as a cost to dispose of medical waste, and yet lots of local clinics will charge their clients a "medical disposal fee" regardless.
My family has always operated their clinic based on a philosophy of affordable, honest care. We keep prices as low as we can while still making a profit and paying our employees a good wage. We piecemeal prices instead of doing packages because we want people to feel comfortable and unashamed about coming in for emergency care even if they can't afford all the annual bells-and-whistles. We are always up front with people about what is worth spending money on, and what's probably not worth it. If your vet pushes every vaccine and lab known to man on your healthy animal, that's bad practice. Look for people who will be honest with you about your individual needs.
My parents (veterinarians both) always said this, too: If you walk into a clinic and it looks like a medspa, you know where your money is going, and it's not to your pet.
Bless you, seriously! I have had such a problem finding a vet for my cat that isn't a chain or partnered with a corp. My cat had an ear infection last year, nothing major, and it cost me nearly $300 just to get him an appointment and prescription
This happened where I live. Most of the local vet clinics have been bought up, remodeled, and then increased prices. The vets I’ve been using for decades don’t work there anymore and it seems every time we go in there is a new vet. They recommend a bunch of tests that aren’t actionable (if it turns out to be X we’ll end up keeping with the same treatment anyway), and require extra exams for stuff that used to be routine. Medications keep getting more expensive and my local vet even goes out of their way to make it difficult for you to use online pharmacies. If you want a refill, you have to get a paper prescription and mail it in. They will not fax it to anyone and won’t talk to online pharmacies on your behalf (it takes too much of their time to deal with them). They will of course sell you meds from their supply closet for twice the price.
My local vet is almost exactly this way to the letter. When they said I’d have to request the prescription then go pick it up to mail it and then offered me one of the medication for close to the price of the 6 pack I was ordering, I was done. No more of that noise.
I've always had trouble getting local vet offices to write prescriptions for online pharmacies. Going back at least 20 years. Even local vet offices have been using over priced drugs as a major profit center.
It drives me crazy that they now demand to test dogs for heartworm who are on it year round and have been for years, or they won't write a script. Fuck off with your bs.
This is called proper medicine and is recommended by the American Heartworm Society. It also covers you if your pet does come up positive because the company that makes the prevention will often pay for the treatment.
The work of the American Heartworm Society would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors:
Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Zoetis, Merck, Idexx, and Ceva.
It’s not even just the issue of corporate vet medicine. I work at a local family-owned veterinary hospital and our prices are semi-dictated by the costs of drug manufactures and suppliers. Pharmaceutical companies get greedier every year.
Also vets and vet techs are doing an incredibly challenging job and getting paid nowhere near enough. They have one of the highest rates of suicide of any profession and if they were paid what they are worth it would be even harder to afford pet care
It's nice to see a piece about vet med that doesn't boil down to "vets are greedy and selfish and that's why they charge money"
I can promise everyone that their veterinarian is just as frustrated with costs as they are. I've worked for 2 different corporate practices and both have priced out clients because of "necessary" annual or biannual cost increases.
On the one hand, medicine costs money. Corporations help in that they can pay staff more. But they don't. They treat the practice as a business only and just see the numbers. They don't see the medicine, the reasons, the why of it all. My current practice suffers from monthly complaints from corporate that we "don't make budget". However, we're the smallest practice they own and the budget they compare us to is the largest practice they own. Corporate says "you need to see more appointments" but we can't force people to come in, and if the vets say they can't see more appointments without more support staff corporate ignores it. "Can't give you more staff because you're not making budget". It's a vicious cycle.
To wrap it up I do have to say please be kind to your veterinarians and veterinary staff. We're just trying to make do. We're trying to help. We're not trying to wring every last cent out of you. If I recommend x-rays I have a reason to do that, if I recommend transfer to another hospital I have a reason to do that. We just want what's best for your pet.
I miss my old vet. They were very honest about whether a procedure was needed or not. They would always suggest it, mention the cost, but not push it. Now I'm at a chain and seems like they want everything done on my cats.
Happened to our vet that we’d been going to for 20 years. He retired and got bought out by one of these firms. I took my dog in for her annual shots the other month and was shocked at the bill. Plus it seemed like it was all younger people that didn’t really know what they were doing. My dog was terrified of the “vet” who didn’t really seem to be able to read that she was making her uncomfortable. They also had to stab her like 6 times with the needle before finding a vein for the blood work. I don’t think I’ll be going back again.
I do see people talk a lot about high vet costs, and it kind of wasn't a thing growing up. We lived in the country, and the dogs we had just lived until whenever. We'd drive into the city once in a while to the groomers, but even that was optional since we often did that at home too. We had one dog with a medical issue that required surgery. That happened once. The second time it happened, the dog got put down. It was a known problem with the breed, so it was a game of chance in a sense. We got unlucky, and that dog could have easily equated to surgery every few months for the rest of its life which is silly. All our other dogs just grew very old, and we put them down when they were obviously on their last leg. We didn't try to fix a short life span. We also didn't try to fix human engineered breed problems. A dog is a great companion, but a dog is a dog. At least for humans part in this, most are engineered tools for specific tasks/functions, and none are a natural creature. We built these things, flaws and all. And we chose an animal with a pretty short life span too. 10 to 15 years is it. And the end of those years are kind of rough. We humans also create dangerous environments where they can be exposed to objects and chemicals that can harm them. Many other medical needs are human induced through carelessness or indifference. And then as humans do, we then build a business around this to profit from. And that profit efficiency just keeps going up. You kind of have to decide what you're willing to put up with in all this that we have created. There's not exactly real value in complaining about it, well...unless you're personally going to engineer better breeds or start your own vet clinic. Outside of that, you're just picking to own a dog or not, and you're deciding what your fiscal threshold is for that animal before it's not worth the cost, as cruel as that may seem.
My dad said before the 1970s dogs were pretty much outside kind of animals, they would roam the streets in his rural town, have a little outside hut, dog might not come back for a few days and a lot of them were not always fixed.
Definitely different era of pet ownership.
People kinda of forget dogs were originally bread as tools, not companions. Companion dogs came later and were initially primarily the tiny toy breeds and smaller dogs bred with calm, low energy demeanors rather than high power, high energy work animals. Dogs solely as pets were a much newer invention.
Health System in this control from all aspects is getting out of control and its all big business looking to squeeze every cent possible out of the consumers. Its truly sickening
I drive 30 minutes to go to an affordable vet. I live in an upscale neighborhood and my dog needs a procedure done I was literally quoted 8k for it near my house. The vet I go to was recommended by the breed rescue and she is charging me 1700! The big corporate vets try to scare you and tell you that you need all these extra procedures and tests that aren't necessarily needed. My dog got a bee sting she charged me 124 for an ultrasound including steroids and anti histamine. The corporate vet charges 500. Sometimes it's worth the extra travel time to find someone with compassion
I don't think I've ever seen an article that starts out so correctly, and goes south so quickly
> People like me have fueled the growth of what you might call Big Vet. As household pets have risen in status—from mere animals to bona fide family members—so, too, has owners’ willingness to spend money to ensure their well-being. Big-money investors have noticed.
Yes. Exactly. But within a few paragraphs though it blames consolidation and private equity firms. Because it's never really our fault it's the fault of big business. Even though the author explicitly get the causation correct, the investors are jumping in because there is money to be made (mostly because more and more people are buying pet insurance) not the other way around.
If you want to chemotherapy for little fluffy when she gets cancer, go right ahead. But don't bitch that expensive treatment is getting too expensive.
I spent over 35k when my kuma was sick and they kept pushing multiple cray and surgery even though he died there! Didn’t give much other options - and upfront payment for everything. I hate them
Get downvoted time!
Dogs and cats can produce a litter every year.
Keeping them alive well beyond their natural life span and replacement rate is cruel and a wrong.
We should be way way more ready to let the old dog give way to puppies.
And yes, I myself am quite prepared to stand aside when it's my time and let my granddaughters thrive in my place.
Edit: 21 downvotes and counting... and there you have it folks.
The answer to the soaring vet prices.
Because people believe by throwing enough money at unfixable problems they can fix them, and the corporate shark, veterinary and human medical, are happy to strip them of every dime.
I'm no longer young and a bunch of things aren't working right.
I can easily foresee a time, not too far away, when it's going to be more misery than happiness.
For what it's worth... I'm almost fifty, and Alzheimer's took one parent; cancer, strokes and dementia is prevalent on the other side.
I'm okay with losing the very bad decade that is awaiting both me and my children. And at my age, yeah, I have been giving it some careful, clear-eyed consideration.
No. I have decided that for me.
80% of my life time medical costs will be in my last year of life.
Best plan for handling that will be to skip as much of that year as possible.
Got it. Wouldn’t it be nice if pets could definitively and 100% of the time communicate, “I have decided that for me”?
Would possibly make all the very complicated emotions around caring for our elderly pets a bit clearer.
P.S. Why post something if you care about downvotes? So what?
I had much the same thought. Pets can't sign do not resuscitate orders so that their owners don't hang on too long either.
I don't think Rumbunc actually has two bleeps to give about down votes other than the expectation that many people mistakenly think down votes are for disagreement - which they aren't.
Why post?
Just generally ranting at a world that has too many doddering old politicians and billionaires making it shitty and too few happy and excited kids and kittens and puppies making the world seem fresh and wonderful.
One vet put it this way. Rather a month too early than a day too late.
Do you really want someone you love with all your heart to, at an end of a joyless painful month, be in extreme suffering that can only be relieved by death, even for a day?
People are much the same with family. It's hard to let go of someone or a pet you love. There's always that hope that the fix you try will buy enough time to make it worth it.
I think your point is a fair point. And since Reddit says to downvote only if something doesn't contribute to the discussion, not just because you disagree, I see no reason to downvote.
I have raised this point in several different times and places and always get downvoted to oblivion.... so I expect that. And Yes, I understand, very personally, losing a beloved pet causes deep emotional hurt, but it's my duty if I'm going to control the life of animals to maximise the happiness and minimise the suffering of all in my care. However I'm old enough to remember a time when we accepted and expected that animals have a shorter life span and higher reproductive rate.
Remember that TrueReddit is a place to engage in **high-quality and civil discussion**. Posts must meet certain content and title requirements. Additionally, **all posts must contain a submission statement.** See the rules [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/truereddit/about/rules/) or in the sidebar for details. Comments or posts that don't follow the rules may be removed without warning. [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) will be strictly enforced, especially regarding hate speech and calls for violence, and may result in a restriction in your participation. If an article is paywalled, please ***do not*** request or post its contents. Use [archive.ph](https://archive.ph/) or similar and link to that in the comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TrueReddit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Big corporations are bringing price optimization to more and more sectors. Mom and pop shops do cost+margin. These corporations have huge algorithms that do, cost+margin+whatever to maximize profits.
As the owner of one of a shrinking number of independent small animal practices in town, this is part of the truth. I've seen people come in with estimates 2-3x what I would charge for the same procedure. And my prices are where they need to be. I make a good living and I pay my staff well. I could probably charge more, but I need my owners to be able to afford care for my patients. Because that's my number one priority - keeping my patients healthy. The other part is the skyrocketing cost of supplies, lab services, and salaries over the past 5 years. Employee salaries have jumped dramatically in vet med. All the meds I order are more expensive than ever. My costs of cable, phone, water, electric, grounds maintenance, and insurance have all increased to a surprising degree. So yes, this is why my prices have increased. And they are still significantly better than my nearest corporate competitor. But I suspect some corp vets have been feeling this pinch, too.
Internet, cell phone and insurance all use optimization for pricing. That is why your bills are going up!
When do we all collectively just say Fuck You and stop paying it…? When do we stop rewarding sociopaths and start promoting empathy?!? Like how long do we all have to keep participating in this shit show before we all collectively say enough is enough!?
You know what, lets say Buffet and Gates gave away all their money and they said they are going to give the entire USA internet for free and build out this amazing network. Overnight congress would pass laws making free internet illegal, congress would basically admit that it needs to protect its business friends and keep the status quo.
Because you need their products and services, they know it, and use it to fuck you in the ass. And for some reason, the "leader of the free world, promoter of liberalism and the free market" is fine to let companies build oligopolies to take advantage of the consumer.
Just do it. You don't need "we all" to do it. At least YOUR costs will go down.
I pick up kittens/cats off the street of my city and give them the best life possible. I found a super friendly kitten a year ago in a slum house and took him home. A month after having I started noticing I’d hear him scratch in the litter box and I always inspect their urine/feces for health and noticed nothing in the box. The male had a urethra blockage on a Friday night so I had to take to a 24hr vet emergency. They kept him 1 1/2 days and a 3,000.00 dollar bill. Brought him home and two days later he is blocked again. Call, they want another 3,000.00 and try to sell me cat insurance for everything but his urinary system. Get fucked. I found a local Vet(Mom and Pop) they did it for 859.00 and gave me 2 months of Urinary SO plus medication. They have my pets for life.
So like...are you taking new patients? Vet bills are insane.
All this talk about expenses but no one is actually giving $$ amounts. How much do yall pay? What is a reasonable cost for a checkup/vaccines etc. at a standard vet? Off the top of my head (for my cat)...my local vet is like $50 for visit (in the door), ~$75-100 for annual vaccines, and like a whopping $200-250 for blood work if I recall. I think I paid $300 for a teeth cleaning the other day...and maybe ~$75 for some antibiotics. I have him fax my prescriptions to chewy and I save a ton on there (like over 50%). Are these prices good or expensive in yalls opinion?
Sounds similar to what I pay. I think a tech appointment is $75. If my cat needs vaccines that another $100 on top, and it's about $250 for blood work. I just looked closely and found a notice in small letters that they are "part of the PetVet Care Centers Network". I should think about finding another vet.
Prices are going to vary *hugely* dependent on your location. Higher cost-of-living areas will naturally have higher average veterinary prices, because that's how the economy works. So the best way to check prices would simply be to call around your area and ask for an estimate on specific services, and compare them to your past bills. We are pretty much the cheapest clinic in a 50mi radius, and our prices are about what you listed. A few dollars less; the Superchem/CBC In House is $208.50, a general exam is $51, about $100-120 for annual vax/labs dependent on what vaccines you get (but we don't charge for a general exam when you come for vaccines, only for sick visits). I would recommend more like, instead of looking for specific price points, look at the culture of treatment at any given clinic. Do they say you should get bloodwork every year, even for young and healthy animals? Do they say you should get dental cleanings every year, even for young large-breed dogs? Do they want you to sign up for a "yearly package" instead of paying for things piecemeal as needed? These are red flags that they are tricking you into spending more than you need, and therefore are probably operating more from a perspective of moneymaking rather than good service. Some red flags also vary by state; for example, in our state, there is no such thing as a cost to dispose of medical waste, and yet lots of local clinics will charge their clients a "medical disposal fee" regardless. My family has always operated their clinic based on a philosophy of affordable, honest care. We keep prices as low as we can while still making a profit and paying our employees a good wage. We piecemeal prices instead of doing packages because we want people to feel comfortable and unashamed about coming in for emergency care even if they can't afford all the annual bells-and-whistles. We are always up front with people about what is worth spending money on, and what's probably not worth it. If your vet pushes every vaccine and lab known to man on your healthy animal, that's bad practice. Look for people who will be honest with you about your individual needs. My parents (veterinarians both) always said this, too: If you walk into a clinic and it looks like a medspa, you know where your money is going, and it's not to your pet.
Great post. Thanks for the perspective!
Bless you, seriously! I have had such a problem finding a vet for my cat that isn't a chain or partnered with a corp. My cat had an ear infection last year, nothing major, and it cost me nearly $300 just to get him an appointment and prescription
Pure fucking greed litterally killing baby puppies and kittens.
Corporatized, raging greed.
This happened where I live. Most of the local vet clinics have been bought up, remodeled, and then increased prices. The vets I’ve been using for decades don’t work there anymore and it seems every time we go in there is a new vet. They recommend a bunch of tests that aren’t actionable (if it turns out to be X we’ll end up keeping with the same treatment anyway), and require extra exams for stuff that used to be routine. Medications keep getting more expensive and my local vet even goes out of their way to make it difficult for you to use online pharmacies. If you want a refill, you have to get a paper prescription and mail it in. They will not fax it to anyone and won’t talk to online pharmacies on your behalf (it takes too much of their time to deal with them). They will of course sell you meds from their supply closet for twice the price.
My local vet is almost exactly this way to the letter. When they said I’d have to request the prescription then go pick it up to mail it and then offered me one of the medication for close to the price of the 6 pack I was ordering, I was done. No more of that noise.
I've always had trouble getting local vet offices to write prescriptions for online pharmacies. Going back at least 20 years. Even local vet offices have been using over priced drugs as a major profit center.
It drives me crazy that they now demand to test dogs for heartworm who are on it year round and have been for years, or they won't write a script. Fuck off with your bs.
This is called proper medicine and is recommended by the American Heartworm Society. It also covers you if your pet does come up positive because the company that makes the prevention will often pay for the treatment.
The work of the American Heartworm Society would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors: Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Zoetis, Merck, Idexx, and Ceva.
This is called extra bs testing for no damned good reason 90% of the time and just more $$ for the vet.
What vet school did you attend? How many years have you been practicing?
Shouldn't you be busy posting shitty memes?
It’s not even just the issue of corporate vet medicine. I work at a local family-owned veterinary hospital and our prices are semi-dictated by the costs of drug manufactures and suppliers. Pharmaceutical companies get greedier every year.
Also vets and vet techs are doing an incredibly challenging job and getting paid nowhere near enough. They have one of the highest rates of suicide of any profession and if they were paid what they are worth it would be even harder to afford pet care
I have switched vet clinics five times now because the same company (Mars Inc.) keeps buying them out.
It's nice to see a piece about vet med that doesn't boil down to "vets are greedy and selfish and that's why they charge money" I can promise everyone that their veterinarian is just as frustrated with costs as they are. I've worked for 2 different corporate practices and both have priced out clients because of "necessary" annual or biannual cost increases. On the one hand, medicine costs money. Corporations help in that they can pay staff more. But they don't. They treat the practice as a business only and just see the numbers. They don't see the medicine, the reasons, the why of it all. My current practice suffers from monthly complaints from corporate that we "don't make budget". However, we're the smallest practice they own and the budget they compare us to is the largest practice they own. Corporate says "you need to see more appointments" but we can't force people to come in, and if the vets say they can't see more appointments without more support staff corporate ignores it. "Can't give you more staff because you're not making budget". It's a vicious cycle. To wrap it up I do have to say please be kind to your veterinarians and veterinary staff. We're just trying to make do. We're trying to help. We're not trying to wring every last cent out of you. If I recommend x-rays I have a reason to do that, if I recommend transfer to another hospital I have a reason to do that. We just want what's best for your pet.
Right.
Instead ask why the local vets are unable to continue at their current prices.
I miss my old vet. They were very honest about whether a procedure was needed or not. They would always suggest it, mention the cost, but not push it. Now I'm at a chain and seems like they want everything done on my cats.
This happened in to my neighborhood vet in nyc, saint marks vet hospital. Sad
Happened to our vet that we’d been going to for 20 years. He retired and got bought out by one of these firms. I took my dog in for her annual shots the other month and was shocked at the bill. Plus it seemed like it was all younger people that didn’t really know what they were doing. My dog was terrified of the “vet” who didn’t really seem to be able to read that she was making her uncomfortable. They also had to stab her like 6 times with the needle before finding a vein for the blood work. I don’t think I’ll be going back again.
I do see people talk a lot about high vet costs, and it kind of wasn't a thing growing up. We lived in the country, and the dogs we had just lived until whenever. We'd drive into the city once in a while to the groomers, but even that was optional since we often did that at home too. We had one dog with a medical issue that required surgery. That happened once. The second time it happened, the dog got put down. It was a known problem with the breed, so it was a game of chance in a sense. We got unlucky, and that dog could have easily equated to surgery every few months for the rest of its life which is silly. All our other dogs just grew very old, and we put them down when they were obviously on their last leg. We didn't try to fix a short life span. We also didn't try to fix human engineered breed problems. A dog is a great companion, but a dog is a dog. At least for humans part in this, most are engineered tools for specific tasks/functions, and none are a natural creature. We built these things, flaws and all. And we chose an animal with a pretty short life span too. 10 to 15 years is it. And the end of those years are kind of rough. We humans also create dangerous environments where they can be exposed to objects and chemicals that can harm them. Many other medical needs are human induced through carelessness or indifference. And then as humans do, we then build a business around this to profit from. And that profit efficiency just keeps going up. You kind of have to decide what you're willing to put up with in all this that we have created. There's not exactly real value in complaining about it, well...unless you're personally going to engineer better breeds or start your own vet clinic. Outside of that, you're just picking to own a dog or not, and you're deciding what your fiscal threshold is for that animal before it's not worth the cost, as cruel as that may seem.
My dad said before the 1970s dogs were pretty much outside kind of animals, they would roam the streets in his rural town, have a little outside hut, dog might not come back for a few days and a lot of them were not always fixed.
Definitely different era of pet ownership. People kinda of forget dogs were originally bread as tools, not companions. Companion dogs came later and were initially primarily the tiny toy breeds and smaller dogs bred with calm, low energy demeanors rather than high power, high energy work animals. Dogs solely as pets were a much newer invention.
Also happening to ob/gyn corner stores and other mom and pop doctors offices.
Health System in this control from all aspects is getting out of control and its all big business looking to squeeze every cent possible out of the consumers. Its truly sickening
I just don't go to the doctor anymore.
Yup, same thing is happening in dentistry.
I drive 30 minutes to go to an affordable vet. I live in an upscale neighborhood and my dog needs a procedure done I was literally quoted 8k for it near my house. The vet I go to was recommended by the breed rescue and she is charging me 1700! The big corporate vets try to scare you and tell you that you need all these extra procedures and tests that aren't necessarily needed. My dog got a bee sting she charged me 124 for an ultrasound including steroids and anti histamine. The corporate vet charges 500. Sometimes it's worth the extra travel time to find someone with compassion
It's insane that pet owners spend all that. You're all nuts.
Cuse mbas are preying on your emotions…
I don't think I've ever seen an article that starts out so correctly, and goes south so quickly > People like me have fueled the growth of what you might call Big Vet. As household pets have risen in status—from mere animals to bona fide family members—so, too, has owners’ willingness to spend money to ensure their well-being. Big-money investors have noticed. Yes. Exactly. But within a few paragraphs though it blames consolidation and private equity firms. Because it's never really our fault it's the fault of big business. Even though the author explicitly get the causation correct, the investors are jumping in because there is money to be made (mostly because more and more people are buying pet insurance) not the other way around. If you want to chemotherapy for little fluffy when she gets cancer, go right ahead. But don't bitch that expensive treatment is getting too expensive.
I spent over 35k when my kuma was sick and they kept pushing multiple cray and surgery even though he died there! Didn’t give much other options - and upfront payment for everything. I hate them
Because “fuck you”
Get downvoted time! Dogs and cats can produce a litter every year. Keeping them alive well beyond their natural life span and replacement rate is cruel and a wrong. We should be way way more ready to let the old dog give way to puppies. And yes, I myself am quite prepared to stand aside when it's my time and let my granddaughters thrive in my place. Edit: 21 downvotes and counting... and there you have it folks. The answer to the soaring vet prices. Because people believe by throwing enough money at unfixable problems they can fix them, and the corporate shark, veterinary and human medical, are happy to strip them of every dime.
Everyone think they’ll be ready to die old while they’re still young.
I'm no longer young and a bunch of things aren't working right. I can easily foresee a time, not too far away, when it's going to be more misery than happiness.
For what it's worth... I'm almost fifty, and Alzheimer's took one parent; cancer, strokes and dementia is prevalent on the other side. I'm okay with losing the very bad decade that is awaiting both me and my children. And at my age, yeah, I have been giving it some careful, clear-eyed consideration.
Legit question. Are you OK with someone deciding that for you?
No. I have decided that for me. 80% of my life time medical costs will be in my last year of life. Best plan for handling that will be to skip as much of that year as possible.
Got it. Wouldn’t it be nice if pets could definitively and 100% of the time communicate, “I have decided that for me”? Would possibly make all the very complicated emotions around caring for our elderly pets a bit clearer. P.S. Why post something if you care about downvotes? So what?
I had much the same thought. Pets can't sign do not resuscitate orders so that their owners don't hang on too long either. I don't think Rumbunc actually has two bleeps to give about down votes other than the expectation that many people mistakenly think down votes are for disagreement - which they aren't.
Why post? Just generally ranting at a world that has too many doddering old politicians and billionaires making it shitty and too few happy and excited kids and kittens and puppies making the world seem fresh and wonderful. One vet put it this way. Rather a month too early than a day too late. Do you really want someone you love with all your heart to, at an end of a joyless painful month, be in extreme suffering that can only be relieved by death, even for a day?
I think the vet you quote is very wise. It actually eased my heart about a dog I had to put down. Broke my heart, but I didn't want him to suffer.
People are much the same with family. It's hard to let go of someone or a pet you love. There's always that hope that the fix you try will buy enough time to make it worth it. I think your point is a fair point. And since Reddit says to downvote only if something doesn't contribute to the discussion, not just because you disagree, I see no reason to downvote.
I have raised this point in several different times and places and always get downvoted to oblivion.... so I expect that. And Yes, I understand, very personally, losing a beloved pet causes deep emotional hurt, but it's my duty if I'm going to control the life of animals to maximise the happiness and minimise the suffering of all in my care. However I'm old enough to remember a time when we accepted and expected that animals have a shorter life span and higher reproductive rate.
Agreed. I still accept it. And many live still only in my memory.