Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think my beardie has a respritory infection so I gave my vet a sample of Arwen's stool. The fecal exam costs $47. I've never heard of it being this high before. Is this normal?

The office charges $45 for a regular vet visit.

some places charge 10 dollars, and some charge a whole lot more, it really depends on the vet, i think 47 dollars is wayyy overcharging you... is this a herp vet? i have 2 vets i use, one charges 28 for a fecal the other 19 dollars...it really just depends
-----
reiko
photos

This is the only herp vet I can find in the Montgomery, Ala., area. They don't do the exam at the office. They send it to Tenn. That could be why it is so high. If anyone knows of a place around Montgomery, please let me know.

If not, I may have to drive 2 hours to Birmingham or 2 hours to Dothan. Might as well just pay the extra dinero!

funny thing this thread is about fecals to...anyways my regular vets ofice stopped seeing reptiles (and maybe that is a good thing).. anyways it comes at a bad time because i need to have fecals done on seven reptiles and i called around and since i'm switching vets they have to see all the reptiles for a new account check up which cost 40 dollars them they run two fecals at 19.00 a pop.. so all together if my math is correct i would be spending 548 dollars on 7 fecals.. what am i to do.. i don't have 548 lying around especially since i go back to school in two weeks and tution is do tomorrow *sigh*...and that is the cheapest place i found.. they aren't flexible at all and they HAVE to see each reptile before they allow a fecal to be done.. grrr...any suggestions on what to do would be greatly appreciated...

alissa

n

and a book and do them yourself, you should be able to do this if you have some background with using scopes and biology.
-----
Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Nope sorry no suggestions but keep looking places. Vets offices will screw you over time and time again. I am so Pleased with the vet I go to. Charges me the same money if I come in with one animal or 5. When I started out and had to rid everything of worms he charged me by the hour and he worked quick and didn't charge me the max. Cool guy. I bring in an animal want a fecal he does it right there. No charge no nothing. Guess i am one lucky man.
-----
Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

My vet only charges for one office visit, no matter the amount of animals you bring in (Within reason lol)

>>Nope sorry no suggestions but keep looking places. Vets offices will screw you over time and time again. I am so Pleased with the vet I go to. Charges me the same money if I come in with one animal or 5. When I started out and had to rid everything of worms he charged me by the hour and he worked quick and didn't charge me the max. Cool guy. I bring in an animal want a fecal he does it right there. No charge no nothing. Guess i am one lucky man.
>>-----
>>Derek Affonce
>>DeKeAff Exotics
>>dekeaffexotics.com
-----
Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

that was the way it was at my old vet.. 36 dollars a vet visit no matter if i brought in 1 or 100.. it didn't matter..but with this new place their fecals aren't a bad price really, 19.00 to float and another 19.00 to test for good bacteria.. i can swallow that price..but 40 dollars for each animal..sigh..

got the price down to 85 bucks for 7 fecals and another 33.75 for the checkup.. thank god.. i was freaking out a little bit

alissa

You were charged that much because they sent it out, I am unclear on why they did that, was it a culture as well? Fecals are one of the more simple things vets do.
I'm sorta confused why a vet would need poop for a possible respiratory infection. At the hosp I work at we charge like $15 or something close.
Here's an idea, when I lived in Fort Collins, CO, my vet was in Greely which was a good 45 min away, My vet wanted poop to look at and asked me to fed ex it overnight so I wouldn't have to make an hour and a half drive just to drop off poop.
Then if you need medicin that vet can call it into a pharmacy near you, or if the pharm doesn't have it, that vet clinic can tell your local clinic what you need and you can get it there. I do it all the time for clients who live far away (or found it cheaper elsewhere, lol)
Good Luck
-----
DogStar

"Many have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You remain responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." --Antoine de Saint Exupery

that since bearded dragons are hardy reptiles, that something may be causing her immune system to lower, thus making her susceptible to a respiratory infection.

How does she determine an RI from a physical exam? What kind of things do they use to treat it?

The leading sign of an RI is open mouth breathing, or bubbles out the nostrils. Not alot an exam will tell you sides that, possibly an xray would help to check out the lungs.
It's usually bacterial so it's treated with antibiotics.
-----
DogStar

"Many have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You remain responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." --Antoine de Saint Exupery

Last I checked they were on different ends.

Anyway, an idea, call around to your local animal control and find who is the vet they send off the norm animals too, usually there is a vet in each town that they take things like squirrels, possum and other strange creatures to that are not normally pets. They usually have a lab on sit and the vets tend to be more kind hearted and not so commercial.

We had a good regular reptile vet, but one saturday, one of our dragons had a prolapse, our cvet was out of town and I was frantic and found one recommended because he does take in off the norm animals from the county...... Man, I fell in love with this guy.... you gotta love a vet around christmas time that looks like santa and greets you at the door with a newborn squirrel clingin to a peice of fake fur and a bottle hanging around the vets neck. The baby squirrel was hanging there nursing away... then he puts it in a tiny incubator to stay warm while he checks our girls out!

This guy and his partner are our regular vets now.... and they KNOW Reptiles, especially dragons! Charge $10 for a fecal, $20 for an office visit unless meds are needed, then its $3 to $5 more.

It was my decision to just get the fecal done. Since the test is $47 and a visit is $45, I wanted to rule out any parasites before I stressed Arwen out by actually taking her to the vet. Besides that, with the fees they charge, I want to do more research before I go with this one.

I checked on Arwen this morning and she was breathing fine. In fact, she's shedding her head and I think her puffing out her throat was her way of loosing up the skin. I'll keep an eye on her and listen to her breathing but hopefully, it was just a false alarm.