Veterinary Care

[LindaJean]

Yay Murphy, we're rooting for you !!!
Oh my MissS , what a battle on all fronts, I hope you have help to handle it all.
Amara says " Get well quick Murphy ! ".

frogprincess.JPG

[peebee]

Hope Murphy sees much improvement from now on, so glad she is home at least.
My current vet sold out to VCA since he's retiring soon. I'm going to have look for another place because the reason I switched to him in the first place was because I was unhappy with my first place which was VCA. And get this, my vet's office sent me an email offering to give me priority to get same day care, for a fee of about $70 a month! It's called a "membership" & includes unlimited visits that your pet might require. Of course the visits and everything else are extra.
Umm, wasn't this all a given before when my pet was ill & needed multiple visits? I will never go to a place owned by a corporation again.

[bower]

So glad to hear Murphy is home.. the pet hospital sounds really traumatic. Love and water, hope this thing is turned around! And your appliances too, omg....!

[karstopography]

Glad Murphy is on the mend. I’ll never forget the $13 vet bill in South Dakota for a hunting dog, this might have been 20 years ago, but still. I can’t even remember what was wrong, but $13, what Veterinarian does anything for $13?

Our Veterinarian is an automatic $200. Walk in the door, hand over $200. Still, pets are family.

[GoDawgs]

...And get this, my vet's office sent me an email offering to give me priority to get same day care, for a fee of about $70 a month! It's called a "membership" & includes unlimited visits that your pet might require. Of course the visits and everything else are extra.
Umm, wasn't this all a given before when my pet was ill & needed multiple visits? I will never go to a place owned by a corporation again.

I really really hope you let them know this!

[worth1]

I had a vet call me up to come help give my cat Sylvester a shot years ago in Austin.
He was mad as hell until I showed up and he calmed right down.

[AZGardener]

@MissS I'm so glad Murphy is home. I hope her recovery continues ahead of schedule.

[MissS]

We were back to the ER this morning. Murphy has Phlebitis at her IV site. She won't walk on her leg but is not limping and keeps startling like someone has just pinched her. Her leg is discolored and somewhat swollen. So off we went back to the ER. Since she is already on antibiotics, they are giving her pain meds and have put her back in the head cone so that she won't lick it. She is getting heat pads on it every hour. Her temp is still elevated at 103.7. Rest, compresses, a carbohydrate diet, doggie downers and the cone. She sees her regular vet on Tuesday for a follow-up.

The good news was they didn't charge me for the visit!!!

[LindaJean]

Oh dear poor brave Murphy , praying for you both .
"If I could be half the person my dog is, I'd be twice the human I am. "
Charles Yu

[bower]

That is just awful... poor Murphy.
Obviously her trouble is due to the shoddy care they gave her, it just rots me that she gets another painful thing because of that... grrrr. Bow wow.

[loulac]

We were back to the ER this morning.

When I saw you had posted a funny picture viewtopic.php?p=98865#p98865
I thought that as Murphy was back home recovering you felt much better. I see I was mistaken. Let us hope vets will find quickly the right treatment to stop pain and lead to recovery.

[MissS]

We were back to the ER this morning.

When I saw you had posted a funny picture viewtopic.php?p=98865#p98865
I thought that as Murphy was back home recovering you felt much better. I see I was mistaken. Let us hope vets will find quickly the right treatment to stop pain and lead to recovery.

Murphy is home but she is still very sick. She has an infected liver which is going to take some time to recover from. She still is jaundice and has a fever of 103.7 (100-102 is normal) and now she has Phlebitis on top of that. She will need quite a bit of medical attention for the next few weeks.

Humor is good for ones soul!

[Moth1992]

Aw poor murphy sending you best wishes.

Im shocked with vet prices in the US. Its a racket almost as bad as human healthcare. The markups are like 500%. Eye drops that cost cents to produce are charged 60$ instead of $6. Everything is an extra 0 than the vets in europe.

Im waiting on blood results on my old cat ($500 for blood and urine work, its absurd!!!) and if he is diabetic or needs any chronic care I might consider moving back to europe.

[GoDawgs]

Herman's insulin syringes were $50 for a box of 100. Pickles searched online and got the same ones for $25. The urine test they did on him was $37.50 and the Heska CBC blood panel was $42.50. Heska is the brand of the machine that analyses the blood sample and does it quickly. Thank goodness we don't live in a large city where prices are so high.

[GoDawgs]

Aw poor murphy sending you best wishes.

Im shocked with vet prices in the US. Its a racket almost as bad as human healthcare. The markups are like 500%. Eye drops that cost cents to produce are charged 60$ instead of $6. Everything is an extra 0 than the vets in europe.

Im waiting on blood results on my old cat ($500 for blood and urine work, its absurd!!!) and if he is diabetic or needs any chronic care I might consider moving back to europe.

Our vet clinic will charge $5 for writing a prescription so you can buy whatever online instead of there at the clinic. You might check and see if you can do that at yours. However many pet meds are formulated specifically for the type of animal and human versions can be toxic to them.

It still doesn't hurt to check or to just tell them straight up "I can't afford this. What else can we use instead?" One of these days I just might tell them, "Well, I might just have to put this animal down because I can't pay what you want", never intending to do so but to just see what they have to say. In reality though, we were considering doing just that with Herman after looking at his quality of life going forward. Before we made the decision, Herman took that out of our hands himself and passed away in the night.

[Farmette]

Late Friday afternoon, my daughter and her family had a vet make a home visit to their home to euthanize their 15 y/o black lab. She had been failing, stopped eating and drinking and her hind legs had failed her. She was a wonderful dog, but it was time as the end was inevitable, she was suffering and they felt it was the humane thing to do. So, she peacefully went to the Rainbow Bridge.
About an hour later, my dog, her buddy, starts acting weird, has slobbery drool coming out of his mouth. He won't lay down or sit...just keeps pacing, tail down between his legs. He is a bubbly Golden Retriever, whose tail is always up and wagging. We really became alarmed when his hind legs gave out twice and he wouldn't eat one of his liver treats. This is a dog who will try to eat a tiny piece of stone, if bored. Of course, we tried to think of anything he could have gotten into...and when he didn't improve, we became frantic and called the vet. We couldn't think of any cause and wondered about the coincidence and timing of his malady. By now, it was the ER vet so we called ahead and were on our way out the door and wouldn't you know it, by the time we got to the car, his tail was up and wagging! We came back in, called the vet and watched hime. Thankfully, he made a full recovery. We still have no legitimate cause for his behavior...so?
I agree the cost of vet care has put owning one out of the reach of many people. I see many now have plans that you can purchase that cover the cost of shots and routine care. But it's the cost of treatment for illness that's the most costly.
Patti, I hope your pup makes a full recovery soon!

[MissS]

Thank you for the well wishes everyone. @Farmette I hope he just had a muscle cramp and nothing serious comes from this.

Murphy seems to be in better spirits this afternoon although she is still in a lot of pain in her leg. She seems to be grateful for the warm compresses on it. She is on a carb diet so rice, pasta and bread are her choices. No protein to tax her liver. I have learned that she can be picky. No whole grain bread for this girl. Nope, white bread only. No thanks to the rice either. So... pasta it is. She is eating her pasta well. 1/2-3/4 c every 4-6 hours.

[GoDawgs]

I have learned that she can be picky. No whole grain bread for this girl. Nope, white bread only. No thanks to the rice either. So... pasta it is. She is eating her pasta well. 1/2-3/4 c every 4-6 hours.

A good progress report! Pasta, eh? Well, it's a lot less expensive than some of the vet foods like Science Diet. None of mine ever liked that stuff when it was recommended by the vet.

More smoke signals going up for Murphy!

[MissS]

I have learned that she can be picky. No whole grain bread for this girl. Nope, white bread only. No thanks to the rice either. So... pasta it is. She is eating her pasta well. 1/2-3/4 c every 4-6 hours.

A good progress report! Pasta, eh? Well, it's a lot less expensive than some of the vet foods like Science Diet. None of mine ever liked that stuff when it was recommended by the vet.

More smoke signals going up for Murphy!

Thank you!

[Moth1992]

How is Murphy @MissS ?

My boys blood panel was not good. Chronic kidney desease. Sigh..... Tomorrow the vet will teach me to give him fluids and will give me prescription food.... Im so bummed. I hope we can enjoy at least a couple years more with him but might not be the case.