ladyofthelake

You should just do what I did. We went to the local adoption day at Petsmart, found a lovely pup needing a home and adopted her. She had all her shots done, including Rabies and had been neutered too. Total cost of adoption... $65.

AmerLisa

Our dog was originally my husband's. He got her from a rescue shelter in the UK and had had her for a few years before I ever came along. He had two previous vets before I came over and had always had yearly boosters for her. The new vet that we both found did exactly what you were describing. We had a lump removed, blood tests, teeth cleaned, etc. This was all recommended by a UK vet. In the long run we trusted the vet and we don't feel like we were fleeced at all. And the UK vet that did do all this testing was a bigger vet, I mean it had two locations in the town we lived in. They also had a lot of corporate advertising going on in their office. I still don't think we were advised to do anything unnecessary.

Ash UK/US

When I left the UK almsot 2 years ago I left behind my 2 boarder collies (one 12 the other 9) with my parents... both dogs had/have annual boosters. Also if we wanted to kennel the dogs we had to take their certificates to prove they were up to date with thier jabs it is not only a US thing.

Ash

Brit'n'TX

we've been really lucky with our vet - looks after our three dogs very well and is a one-man practice ... doesn't feel "corporate" at all. The staff know us and our dogs names and always ask how the other two are if we take one in ... and in my experience the charges here are certainly no higher than we were paying in the UK ...

NC Penguin

I don't have any pets but one of my coworkers pays for her dog to be put up in a day kennel whilst she's at work. She had to put her dog there for the whole weekend recently and when she picked up the dog, the vets (they also have a side business for the day kennels) said the dog was sick during the two days/nights stay and needed medication so she had to stump up for that as well as the weekend's worth of boarding.

When I heard the story, I was a bit sceptical that the dog was even sick. I personally think my coworker was getting fleeced by the vets but I didn't voice my doubts.

It's certainly a slick business for petcare in the US. I was in a podunk town called Jamestown last weekend (it's virtually in High Point, NC) and it has a pet cemetary and the local paper offers pet obituaries too!





NC Penguin

tinaflorida

We haven't had much luck with vets in the US either.

After falling out with our original vet about four years ago, we had been taking our two cats to a local vet without too many problems up until last year. When we took our cats in for their annuals, they wouldn't let my husband hold our own cat because they were afraid we would sue them if he scratched us! Imagine that... suing a vet because we were scratched by our own cat.

Our male cat Dakota is very hyper when he's at the vets, and we've had problems with him before. Vets have tried to blindfold him in the past, and one even suggested sedating him by gas chamber before giving him any shots. But he is always happier if one of us is there and holding him. So we are now completely exasperated over this vet and will be trying to find a new one that will let us hold our own cats while they are being examined.

BritishInOhio

My wife is a vet here in Chicago and I can honestly say that the rates they charge are resonable, well reasonable in the sence I can afford a big house and new car!!!! Only kidding, in fact it all depends on the practice, my wifes practice where she works, we don't own it, is extremely expensive but it is aimed at a certain type of owner. To compensate for the cost the practice has everything, it even has a CAT scan machine, brand new as well as all kinds of up to date stuff. Funnily enough my brothers girlfriend who is a doctor in the UK came over last weekend and hade a tour of the practice and commented on how the vet practice had better equipement than her hospital. My wife claimes the practice has better eqipement than her University!!! SO I just think the quality of care is better here and thus cost more.
The wife and I recently rescued a dog from the pound so have enclosed a photo of him for your enjoyment! Will not upload for some reason will try again!

thing1

My husband brought his cat over from England and says that his vet experience is more corporate compared to his vet in the UK. Apparently his old vet wore Hawaiian shirts instead of white lab coats. LOL Hubby also mentioned that Boston did have to have yearly boosters there.

About vaccinations and alternative care for one's pets...

When my dachshund was still just a puppy she was given her last puppy shots...one of them being leptopspiriosis. She ended up having a severe allergic reaction and started crashing. I had to rush her back in to get a steroid shot to counteract the vaccine.

Curiously enough, my beloved furry baby became gravely ill when she was just 9 months old. None of the doctors were taking me seriously and told me to give her pepto-bismol, but it didn't help so I made an emergency call and insisted they see my puppy on a Sunday. The vet agreed to see her very reluctantly. When I got there with little Phoenix, the vet decided she seemed dehydrated enough that they wanted to keep her there overnight. I got a call later that night from the vet saying that they didn't know if she would make it through the night. The vet said all her symptoms seemed like she might have the very rare virus, leptospirosis, but wouldn't know if that is what it was until the tests came back and that she wanted to start treating her for the virus anyway. Phoenix spent a week in the vet hospital which was far from cheap. The tests confirmed that she had had a strain of leptospirosis.

I couldn't help but think how odd it was that my dog had gotten what is considered to be a very rare virus...the very same virus that the vaccination for caused a severe allergic reaction.

I read many of the vaccination horror stories out there and thought I would try a holistic vet. At this point my sweet doggy was a full blown special needs dog. She is epileptic, has food allergies, has recurring yeast infections in her ears and constant staph bumps in her front leg pits. She has also had many random issues like bladder infections along the way. I did the whole making all of my dog's food from organic foods and from scratch. I put her on holistic meds, but instead of getting better, she just got much much worse. She had lost almost all of her hair when I decided enough is enough, it was time to return to western medicine.

Happily, Phoenix now has a full coat of hair, her seizures are under control (knock on wood) thanks to the potassium bromide she takes twice a day, she eats a super-duper hypo-allergenic dog food, and we always have tresaderm on hand to take care of any yeast issues in her ears. It seems I rarely leave the vets without it costing me at least $200...and we see the vet a lot more than once a year.

I have spent thousands on my furry baby, but to see her whole little body shake from side to side with exictement and joy to see me when I've been gone for only 5 minutes makes it all worth every penny.

sibsie

I think over vaccination is becoming a real prob. One of my bessie mates here is a vetinary research scientist and she actually refuses to vaccinate her animals once they've had the initial kitten/puppy shots.

My cats get their rabies booster every year and my horses just get the West Nile jabs.

thing1

My dog hasn't had any of her vaccines for a while except her rabies shot which is an "every three years" shot here in Michigan. She is doing so incredibly well right now that I am scared to give her the other vaccines...especially if there is a good chance she doesn't need them. After reading some of the posts here, I think I will opt to have her blood tested to see if she still has immunity or not.

The vet clinic I have taken Phoenix to all her life has several doctors and there have only been two that we liked. Our favorite doctor who saved Phoenix's life has left the clinic to raise her children. But the doctor we see regularly now is wonderful and doesn't judge me if I feel uncomfortable giving her yearly boosters. Some of the other docs have spoken to me as if I were stupid and ridiculous for having some of the concerns that I do.

I wonder what the norm is for vaccinations just over the border in Canada? I'm sure they are faced with all the same viruses as us, but wonder if their practice of vaccinating is different.