OMG vets suck

[wvhunter]

I took my dog last week to the vet bc he stopped eating and hadn't eaten in 4 days at that point. Vet ran some blood work and said he had whipworm. So I walked out with panacur and some pill to help his stomach and $250 lighter in the wallet. That was Wednesday, friday he finally ate alittle and pooped and was acting better. Then he stopped eating again, so I called the vet for some suggestions and explained that I don't have a bunch of money and can't afford another office visit at $55 just to walk in the door. She proceeded to tell me "she'll have to do more bloodwork, take x-rays to try something different" as she didn't get it right the first time. I told her i couldn't afford that and my next option if she wasn't willing to help me would be to put him down. her response was "well we also do that here by injection, i know it's a tough decision but we can do that" OMG money hungry a33holes

[redbayou]

He won't eat anything at all? I'm sure you're trying different options with him but gonna say it anyway. Give him anything you can to get something in him. How did this start? Just suddenly quit eating?
***very important detail here***
Is he drinking and peeing? As long as he's still peeing his kidneys are functioning and there's hope for him. Please keep us posted on his progress.

[wvhunter]

yes just suddenly, one day he was perfect next day he barely ate then the next day he wouldn't eat

I've tried hotdogs, canned dog food, baby food etc.. and nothing

he'll drink and pee

first bloodwork showed nothing wrong with his kidneys

[Bobby Vest]

Try a can of Tuna.

[pcable]

Try soaking his dog food with warm chicken broth. That has always worked for my dogs, and it seems to build their appetite a little.

[wvhunter]

Thanks but he died last night

[TC]

Sorry to hear this man THAT SUCKS!!! First and foremost FIND A NEW VET!!!!
When i went looking for a new vet i started asking around about LARGE ANIMAL VETS! Didnt find anybody that i could afford LOL Then i was told about another one and called them up Yup they Did large and Small animals both They had 3 vets on call as well as lots of Vet techs. I told the vet here it is i have a certain Number of hounds You treat me Right I will treat you right By Bringing in More when needed and Couldnt afford a lot. So Far has Worked out Great And they KNOW thier stuff But are also willing to listen.
As far as your hound we had the same thing happen to a 9 mo old female Turned out she had a blockage had Ate the ribbon off a dog food bag. They did X rays to find it.. Saved the Dog..

[wvhunter]

I use to go to an old school vet who did large and small animals and was very good. But he retired and the new vet that took over jacked the prices up and wasn't as good in my eyes. In this situation I took him to the first one locally that could get him in the fastest. She was a young vet that mis-judged his issues and didn't listen to what the symptoms were. Like she already had in her mind what it was and based on what little evidence she saw.

[TC]

Me personally.I Would Let her Know!! Her haste and Misjudgment Coast the Dog its Life and you dont feel that you Got even Close to your monies worth out of her and that you will let everybody Know what happened. May just make HER stop and think next time!! her personnel reputation may just be Worth something and make her open her eyes!! Remind her it aint all about the money!! just might make a GOOD VET out of her..

[wvhunter]

TC. Honestly I thought about doing that clinic has several Vets on staff and I don't think they'd care. She had very little compassion in her voice when I explained Monday that I couldn't afford another office visit. Then for her to say that "we put animals down too by injection" when I explained my other option if that clinic wouldn't help.

When I took him in the first time she barely looked him over and didn't offer an X-ray when it was possible that he had blockage bc he was a kennel chewing. But hey what do I know.

[warddog]

If it were me I'd do as TC suggested but probably more so. I'd go to the clinic personally and hope to find it full of customers when I asked to speak to the administrator or manager of the clinic to discuss the incompetence of their veterinary staff. I'd then proceed to talk about what had just happened when one of their vets allowed my dog to die but yet charged me for treatment.

[grim]

i had a vet do me similiar i had a dog that was lossing weight rapidly was eating but not as much as he normally. then i noticed his skin, gums and whites of his eyes were turning yellow took him to the vet the ran blood work, put him on iv's and kept him for two days when i picked him up the only thing he said was his liver enzymes were high gave me meds and told me to feed him science diet formulated for liver problems $45 dollars a bag. that visit cost me $550 dollars and he never got any better i kept him on the food the vet recomended for 4 months even took him running figure if he was gonna die he should have the chance to die doing something he loved to do. and after one of my females came into heat and he bred her I decided to have him put down at the same vets office. my wife worked at this vet and she tok him in the younger vet that just worked a day or so a week put him down and ask my wife if it would be alright to open him up and see if he could figure out what was wrong with his liver. when he did he found a tumor the size of a graqpefruit on it if they would have took xrays they would have found it. oh btw the vet was the only dealer around me of science diet at the time and if it wasnt for my wife working for him it would have been a much larger bill cause she was given 70% off

[pd65]

sorry to hear he died i have one now i dont know if shes gonna make or not ive been out alot of money.But i do have a good vet he found the prob i have a post on hear (dog will not eat) but all her prob came from her teeth infection went to the heart.keep check on there teeth if they have realy bad breath or build up on there teeth have them cleaned they can get infection an could cause kidney problems and in my case infection an build up on a valve in there heart shes been on antibiotics for a week they said it would take 3 months to kill it out.

[TheLittleBlackBook]

Your dog may well have had babesia.

Any time a dog gets severely anemic, you should worm them real good and treat for babesia, as they're pretty much going to have either some kind of worm or some kind of blood parasite, and there are common & safe drugs that you can give your dog that will take care of pretty much any of them.

Vets are professional "chargers" for their services. They actually take courses in how to jack-up the price by piecemeal billing you for what they do. When you come to a vet for something like anemia and lack of appetite, the vet will first charge you an office exam, then he'll charge you for running a test on worms, and then he'll charge you to do some bloodwoork for parasites, etc., all of which can cost hundreds of dollars.

If any blood test comes back as "auto-immune hemolytic anemia," the vet will tell you that your dog's immune system is attacking his own blood. This is always a misdiagnosis! (In truth, your dog has a blood parasite, but your vet simply didn't find the parasite. I have seen this happen to people hundreds of times over the years, where a second blood profile found the parasite.)

It's a lot better just to have the drugs onhand for worms, and for blood parasites, and to know how to use them. They won't hurt your dog, but they'll save you a lot of time and money 99% of the time, if you run them through a dog instead going to the vet, any time your dog comes off food or looks a little pale.

Every now and then you might run into a situation where a thorough worming and anti-parasite regimen doesn't work, and then you might need to go to a vet, but for the most part just knowing how to use some basic drugs will save you a ton of money in the long run.

Jack

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