Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone else been dumbstruck by vet fees?

I have had friends, famliy members and even strangers tell me about sad stories involving the decision as to whether or not they should pay an astronomical vet bill to save their ailing or injured pet, or if they should just let Nature take it's course.
This conundrum seemd like a no brainer to me, until my family was faced with the impending death of an agressive cancer in a beloved four-legged member of our close knit clan.

The expenses of taking care of a human member of my family would never cross my mind in the decision making process.
If someone I love is hurt or sick, regardless of the expense, I would make sure that they got the medical care necessary, even if it meant rasing money through unorthodox methods.
Unfortunately, the same is not often enough true with pets.

I would love to hear feedback about anyone's experiences with the overwhelming costs of Veterinary care for pets.
I know that this may require Kleenex, but I am hopiing to find a solution through as much input as I can get.

Thank you,
Amy Smith

Well since I know this post will not get answered for a long loooong time I will tell you what I think plain and simple.
I have many experiences in the past about sick animals and the outragious and unfair vet bill, not with horses, but with parrots.

I hate to tell you this, and I know how you feel for I have been in the same boat, but cancer will never go away, it may go in remission, but it will always be lingering. It may get a little better at times and maybe it could get worse. Vet bills will build up outragiously and perhaps the meds don't have a great effect and you will have to put down your friend anyways, and still have to pay the bills. I say this as nicely as possible but I feel you should just make that last appointment and end your friend's pain. I know It's not an easy thing to do, and I know it takes me a long time to get over death, but think about how your helping your friend.

God Bless, and hang in there!

Thank you for being so pointedly honest and truthful.

I am now concerned with assisting other animal lovers who may be facing large bills for situations that may not be quite as sever as aggressive cancer. You know, sometimes cancer is caught early.
However, there are other medical procedures that might be just as necessary to operate and just as difficult to pay for.
Those scenarios are what I am looking to identify with.

I am aggressively seeking a more affordable way for pet owners to be able to afford vet bills by an incremental payment method.
This of course would be dependant upon the vet office.

Let us hope that vet offices in Colorado Springs will be receptive to this idea.

Keep me in your thoughts.

Amy Smith

I know this is an older topic, but it hits very close to home. So I figured I will tell my story.

First and formost, I stay up to date on animal care and health treatments ect. I know my stuff(but not everything) Alot of things I can take care of myself. Some things I can call into the vet for. This all really helps. But almost 5 years ago my boyfriend and I rescused a german shepherd pup that would have been put down. She had a heart mummer, a very high grade one. We didn't know it was that bad. So we took her to give her a chance. One thing is we are both disabled. Long story short, she needed open heart surgery. Upwords of $2,000. We got some help from family and friends. We looked into pet aid group, but they said they couldn't help us. We ended up raising a large porsion of the money through Ebay and flea markets. About 1 1/2 months ago she started having problems eatting. I checked her mouth. Nothing in her teeth, stuck anywhere. No cuts, nothing. She was having a hard time eating and drinking. We took her to a vet. Almost $500 later we had NO answers. He said because of her heart he wouldn't do ANYTHING on/for her. But said it was probly cancer. We went to see another vet to poss. do a biopy. He looked her over, watched her eat, drink. Then said, most likely not cancer, nothing to suggest that. Maybe an infection, viris. Anibiotics, babyfood consistincy food to help her out. That vet charged $41.00. Within 1-2 weeks she was fine. We had almost no money left for the rest of the month, but would do whatever we could for the lives we took on.

Anna