Vet's bills
 

One of our cats was limping a lot over the last two days. Then he could hardly move, and had an accident because he couldn't make it to the litter in the basement.... first time he's ever had an accident. So, we took him to the vet (he was becoming listless, too).

They looked him over, took an X-ray and gave him a painkiller injection, plus some anti-inflammatory medicine as a follow up. No real harm, he's somehow "sprained" an elbow. It took 30 minutes.

$275.

That just somehow seems wrong. They always produce surprising bills, but usually for our dog, who is a big girl, so it's sort of expected. But $275 for half an hour looking at a cat??? Should we change our vet or am I being unrealistic?

Re: Vet's bills
 

Welcome to the club! You have found out the true cost of health care in Canada....by taking your pet to the vet! ;):cool:

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This is not unusual, especially if a qualified vet (rather than one of his technicians) deals with you. I'm often shocked at vet's prices.

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We found that Animal hospitals are less exspensive than a private practice. Their care is also very professional and friendly.:)

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A lot of them call themselves 'animal hospitals' even though they are just normal vet practices. Our Ottawa one is a good example.

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I enrolled with our nearest vet when we first got here as our dog got sick and I didn't have the time (or the inclination) to shop around - I just wanted her seen asap close to home.

Then came the time for her annual vaccs. I rang 4 within driving distance. One about 15 minutes drive away was $60 cheaper. I have enrolled her in that practise now.

Not sure how you would do it when cat is sick tho - you just need them seen asap. Maybe now you know how expensive it is get prices for vaccs as I would presume if the vaccs are cheaper the care might be too.

(I might be completely wrong tho!) :)

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We take our cats to one of two vets in town, their prices are quite different. For some reason we are still using the more expensive one ??

BTW, our older cat gets arthritis in one leg when it's cold and damp, she limps and is extra grumpy. I have some cat painkiller from the vets - Metacam- and I give her 1ml when this happens. She likes the taste of it and it works. Maybe worth getting some in for yours?

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Definitly shop around. Country practices tend to be cheaper than city ones. The practice we use was recommended by a breeder. They do a mix of large and small animals and charge by treatment rather than animal size. I also think they provide the care an animal needs rather than the care the owner will pay for.

I mentioned this before. We insure our dog. A few years ago thre daft mutt went and broke her leg. The claim was held up because the insurance company would not believe the vet had provided so much treatment for so little money.

It is 20 minutes drive up the valley, but I'm not going anywhere else.

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That's what the vet gave us. It's an anti-inflammatory too. That part of the bill was $46 (plus tax) for 15ml.....

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ah, so keep the leftovers in the fridge and use it when she's out of sorts again. Works well for our cat. The vet is ok with it as long as we don't dose her everyday as it can be bad for the liver.

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My elderly collie is on a cocktail of drugs - Deramaxx for arthritis, thyroxin and lysodren (a chemotherapy tablet for a pituitary tumor). She's been on them for around 4 years. Cost from the vet each month is c$300. Cost from a regular pharmacy is under $150. If you need to pay for long term medication, get a script written up that you can get dispensed anywhere.

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Never thought of that. Good idea. Bleeding obvious now you've mentioned it though.

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+1. My old border collie is on Deramax too. $100 for 30 pills (he takes a half pill per day). My local pharmacist charges $60.

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Vet clinics (especially the corporate/chain ones) realise that people will shop around for the best price on vaccines and routine surgeries and will sometimes even make a loss on these to get people in the door. However, the lost income will be compensated by higher charges for other services. I would suggest not picking your vet by what seems like the cheapest at the beginning.

As far as regular vet clinics calling themselves hospitals. There are strict guidelines for what the practice can be called e.g. clinic vs hospital and they are inspected to make sure they fulfil the criteria. It is based on the facilities they have. The criteria is very different to the UK however so you may well be surprised as to what constitutes a vet hospital here.

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$120 for two booster shots and an annual check-up for our mutt. Having just visited the dentist, I thought that was quite reasonable.

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In the twenty years since I returned to Canada, I've been to a dentist exactly once. He stuck a needle several times into my gums, so as to do something he called "deep cleaning". What he didn't mention is that the shot included epinephrine, to which I have an intolerance. I took me more than a month to get my blood pressure back under control.

I think I'll just get dentures sometime.

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You should have consulted a chemist before taking the shot.

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Perhaps. There are all sorts of chemists. No doubt all sorts of dentists too. That one was incompetent.

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Ah.... I see. Thanks for the heads up! :)

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Maybe if you had gone to the dentist more than once in 20 years, you wouldn't have needed the 'deep cleaning'. :D

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I to have a Border Collie (my third), he is eight years old now and starting show signs of arthritis ....initial examination followed by X-rays came to almost $350. He has been a costly little guy by reason of one or two health problems in his short life and when his time comes, I doubt I will get another, as much I would dearly love to, cost being the primary reason. I will be living off my pension by then and potential vet bills will be a big consideration to be sure. :unsure: Pet Health Insurance may make it possible, however will have to wait and see when the time comes.

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No need to completely forgo the opportunity to have dogs in the future. Ever thought of fostering from the local humane society? or get involved with looking after the puppies that are trained to be autism dogs/guide dogs?

ok, it's not the same but there are a few ways to have a furry companion at home without worrying about the next expensive bill that might arise and there are opportunities to make a big difference.

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Thanks for the reply....it might be worth thinking about however I fear I am not cut out for that kind of thing as I would inevitably become too attached to them to give them up....:unsure:.

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Mate of mine in West Van had a dog that got hit by a car. Vets had him for four days. Buddy got a bill for $4500. 00
He said it would have been cheaper to have put the dog in the Wedgewood Hotel for four days

Re: Vet's bills
 

Ah vet bills. Our furry companions can be rather expensive. I seem to recall ACL surgery for our lab was something like $3000. Surgery to remove some lumps was about $1600.

We did have pet insurance, but the old "pre-existing condition" clause came up and so didn't cover these (ironically if we'd taken our poor limping hound to the vet one day later the ACL might have been covered, as there is some 21 day waiting period, and we took her in at 20 days - she was fine before that, seemed to come on quickly, labs being labs, they hide pain well, usually until it's very very painful for them)

Alas we had to say goodbye to our friend and the insurance, as to be expected had a lovely deductible, which meant the final expenses they would have paid to us were gobbled up by this, not exactly what you want when you've said goodbye to a faithful friend after 10 years.

Wife has said that she'll never, ever get pet insurance again, said she'd put the monthly payment into a savings account and draw on that if required. Myself, I'm not so sure, if the next hound was to have an expensive injury, it could wipe out that account quickly, and what if there was another following injury, before the account could be topped up, which insurance would cover. Would it not be better just to get coverage from the start. If the next dog is a puppy, then pre-existing conditions should not, hopefully, be an issue.

It has made me wonder if there would be value to an OHIP (or your provincial equivalent) for pets. Many people don't use OHIP and seemingly have no issue with tax dollars going towards others who do, so why not do the same for pets? I'm guessing the majority would, unfortunately, baulk at paying for furry pals, as opposed to humans. I'm no lover of small yappy dogs, or cats, but I'd still be happy for my tax dollars go to OPHIP (Ontario Pet Health Insurance Plan - see, I've got a name for it now :D) as I know it would be there if my pet needed.

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We seem to have struck lucky with the vet we registered with when we first arrived. Any time our dogs have had medication that can be got from the regular pharmacist, our vet has sent us there with a prescription.

Sadly, we have lost both of ours this year - one to prostate cancer, and the other to a combination of things. Both were put to sleep, one outwith regular hours, the other after a 4am phone call, was taken in the next morning. We were not charged a penny for either one.

With regards to insurance - we just have a transfer set aside every two weeks and the money goes into a separate account. It then goes towards vet bills/kennels, etc. So far, it has worked out well and our new puppy's fund is building up nicely. The only problem - my hubby reckons that the dog should use it to buy him a birthday pressie!

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We're raising our own Vet from scratch! Just started first year (after taking a year off after school), and by the time she qualifies, she'll owe me BIG TIME!

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My dog, my best mate, was sick last week. He'd eaten a bone and had a blockage in his bowel. They gave him an x-ray and 2 enemas, which cost almost $500. He got worse over night, and I took him back in first thing in the morning. They said surgery was needed asap, so I agreed.
A few hours later I got a call to say he'd died following a complication, but they handed me another bill for $1200.

:(

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That's so sad, I'm sorry for your loss.:(

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Thanks :)

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My sincere condolences to you too Jericho. The costs do seem extraordinary, whether the treatment was successful or not, and it must be especially difficult to think of challenging them over the bill when you are that upset.

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Sorry to hear your news Jericho :(
I always think it would be a nice move if Vets waived bills if your pet dies in surgery.

But I suppose it is a business .

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Jericho, sorry to hear your news. I can guess how you might be feeling.

We too had some bad news. The cat with the bad leg that caused the large vet bill passed away on Tuesday. When we were at the vets, we would have paid anything to have saved him.... but it was too late.

We were totally shocked that a cat with a bad leg, checked over by a vet on Friday, could suddenly die on the following Tuesday. He'd had a "sniffle" and occasional wheezing, but we thought nothing of it. He was lethargic, but we thought that was down to the bad leg. He had a seizure early Tuesday morning, a second one at the vet, and died 5 minutes after being placed in an oxygen tent. He supposedly had fluid on his lungs, but we're all mystified about how he died. We wouldn't go along with an autopsy. He was only 10.

It was a lesson learned... though vet's bills might be high, consider the alternative.

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oh I'm sorry to hear this. My sympathies

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So sorry to hear this, mate.
OH and I have had a recent bereavement as well.

We had to have our friend Hendrix put to sleep last week after he apparently had a stroke.
He had been with us since he was born and lived for sixteen and a half years, which is old for a cat, with never a sick day in his life until this event.

We have only been living in our new home for a few weeks - I had only registered us humans with a doctor the week before!
Hendrix woke up in the morning and couldn't use his left side at all.

Luckily, a neighbour works for an animal charity and has a collection of animals, many of them older, so we rushed over and asked where we could take him.

At the surgery they couldn't see him right away (as the vet was going to be late in after a late-night emergency case) but as he seemed to be in no pain, the veterinary nurse said they would keep him under observation at the practice until the vet arrived so that we could go to work and they would call us later with a diagnosis.
I was so glad about that, not because I wanted to go to work but because I wanted him to have some time under proper care to recover from the problem if that was at all possible.

After the vet saw him, it was clear that the decision had to be made to put him to sleep.
The vet was kind and considerate and afterwards we took Hendrix home to be buried.
They didn't charge us for the day of care at the practice, as they would have in the UK.
Cost $90.