Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wow -- nice to see a forum like this. I have been working with Turtlehomes for over a year now and have been loving getting involved with all this.

There are a few problems that I see though.
I guess the main one is trying to find a vet that is qualified and willing to work with you.

Example -- I did a rescue of a redbelly cooter, a large river cooter and got a yellowfoot from TH that had MBD.

I brought these three animals into the vet and had them listed under TH files. I offered to cover their expenses out of pocket because I planned on keeping all three animals as I had enough room to take them on. 3 examinations (under TH at least I was charged for only 2 exams, fecals and x-rays on one animal (we have flagyl and panacur so we just got the dosages for them) and a 3 week supply of Baytril for the yellowfoot (skin infections) cost me $300!!

Then I had a necropsy done on a painted turtle that just died for no apparent reason in my pond (needed to make sure that it was not a pond wide problem). ANOTHER 3 beans for that!!

It really does make things difficult when you are trying to do a good thing and willing to put some money out of pocket to do it (It was a big ouch but all three animals are fine and healthy and the painted died from noncontagious stuff) and have vets that are very good but not willing to work with you on this sort of thing.

Any other experiences like this with anyone else?

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>>It really does make things difficult when you are trying to do a good thing and willing to put some money out of pocket to do it (It was a big ouch but all three animals are fine and healthy and the painted died from noncontagious stuff) and have vets that are very good but not willing to work with you on this sort of thing.
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>>Any other experiences like this with anyone else?

I am aware of the difficulties of this type of scenario. My previous vet welcomed our 'rescues' (mainly injured wild reptiles) as it provided her with the opportunity to learn/experiement with on treatment methods (without the risk of a malpractice suit if something didn't go right). Generally we were never charged for exam fees, emergency drop ins, most surgeries/xrays, and euthanasia. We did pay for lab tests and put in towards medication costs and supplies. It was basically a reciprocation of treatment costs for hands-on learning experience. She used us to gain necessary experience so that later she could feel confident in treating clients that may come in with pet reptiles. Unfortunately, she recently moved out west leaving us having to find another vet. We had hoped that the new vet taking over the practice would be willing to work out a similar deal, but he had no inclination towards working with exotics or learning to work with them - just wanted to deal with cats/dogs. So we ended up having to use another vet that is further away. The new vet while he does try to assist with the fact we work with wild injured animals/rescues and are short on $$, we do not get anywhere near as generous discounts as our previous vet would give us since he's an experienced reptile/exotic vet...not one still learning proper reptile treatments so the previous barter system just does not apply here.

One thing you might want to keep in mind...local fundraisers with friends and family (& get them to go to their friends and family)! Use fundraisers to build up an 'emergency' stash for when something unexpected comes up and you really need money to assist with the vet bills. We use human-i-tees as our primary fundraiser method. They have a nice catalog which varies year to year so people we hit up one year are still likely to buy a couple of shirts the following year. Several of the shirt designs even favor the reptile/amphibian theme too

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PHWyvern

I have since discussed with my avian vet this exact situation and she is more than willing to learn. She cannot do all the stuff gratis as she works for a conglomerate (so many of the vets in my area have sold there their practices to this one corp. -- very sad-- it all turns into just standard fees, no multipet discount, no heart and no feeling).

She can, however, cut me some slack here and there and cut billing corners whereever she can. In any event it will be much better off than the situation I just experienced.