Does Your Vet Have Your Cat’s Best Interests at Heart?
Posted by JaneFor the first time in her life, Minnie had to have a dental clean-up at the vet’s this week. This, of course, involved a genreal anaesthetic and we were warned that she may have to have an extraction or two if her teeth were too badly affected by the build up of tartar.
Fair enough. Quite a few of our cats have had teeth extracted over the years. But what isn’t fair is the charges different vets make for the same procedure.
Our regular vet quoted $600 (£300) to carry out the dental work but recommended that Minnie should have a heart ultrasound scan beforehand - both for her and their protection they said - as the vet had detected a small heart murmur. The additional cost for that would be $400 (£200). In total, we would be looking at a massive $1000 bill for a dental clean and tooth extraction. Wow!
I complained long and loud to all my cat-owning friends and it’s a jolly good thing I did, too. One of my long-suffering chums told me about her vet who seemed to be considerably cheaper. One phone call later, I had managed to ’save’ myself $700 on the deal as this new vet only charged $300 for the same procedure.
Editor’s Note: For those of you who read the Cat Owners Confidential Newsletter, you’ll notice a small discrepency in the sums quoted there and in this blog - well, I did warn you that my maths could be described as ‘freestyle’ ! I actually saved myself more than I thought……
Minnie had her operation successfully, no teeth required extraction and she certainly hadn’t required an ultrasound scan of her heart beforehand. Apart from Charm hissing at her every time she caught a whiff of lingering ’vet smell’, everything has been fine.
But the whole issue of fees has left a very nasty taste in my mouth. I feel ripped off by a vet who has had our regular business for some considerable time and on whose expert guidence pet owners rely. Is it fair to exploit the love and care pet owners have for their animals at a time when they are open to following any advice and recommendations their vet gives them? What pet owner would not want to do the very best they could for their sick animal? And how many times would an owner turn to their vet and ask, ‘what would you do in my situation?’ - and then follow their advice to the letter?
You might guess that I am not going back to my old vet and, in spite of a considerably longer journey to get to the new one, I shall be taking my business there when ever my two lovely cats need medical care.
Do you have any tales to tell of vet’s putting their financial interests before the health interests of your cat? Are you happy with your vet’s fees? Have you got insurance to cover your financial costs?
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Although my story involves a dog, I had a VERY similar experience with Desert Inn Animal Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. I went there on a third-hand recommendation, because my regular vet is closed on Saturday, and my poor little dog’s face had ballooned up to twice its normal size with a tooth abscess.
Just like what happened in the article, this new vet told me that my dog had a heart murmur, and she recommended a “cardiac panel” that would cost $500. Then she was quoting me anywhere from $300 to $500 for the procedure because of extraction(s), advising me that the $500 quote was most likely. When I said that the panel seemed unnecessary, since the tooth extraction was inevitable at this point, she told me that the panel would be used to prescribe a beta blocker. I looked at her and asked why they couldn’t just prescribe a beta blocker as a preventative measure. She said that a cardiac diagnosis was required to prescribe the correct beta blocker.
Given that she was telling me that my dog might die on the table, I wanted my mom to see him before we sent him in so she could have some closure if anything happened. The vet gave him 4 shots and prescribed 4 drugs (antibiotics and a painkiller). That was $200 there, in addition to the proposed $300-$500 she was asking for the procedure, plus $500 for the cardiac panel. In other words, this vet would have milked me for $1200 altogether, if I had let her. Now, I love my little guy more than I can express, but I simply can’t afford to lose $1200 right now. I’m in between jobs, and frankly, at my last job, $1200 would have been $15 more than I received on my paycheck every 2 weeks. Even without the cardiac panel, it would have been the $700 for the procedure and first visits. Somehow, paying almost as much for a dental as I do in rent every month STILL seems unreasonable to me.
In any case, the swelling and pain were down significantly on Sunday, so I decided to cancel my Monday dental appointment and re-schedule at my normal vet, who will only charge about $300 for the same procedure, and that’s WITH extractions. Ironically, even the receptionist who took my cancellation call seemed really shocked with the quotes she saw, because she said, “Oh my lord…did the vet say a lot of extractions would be needed?” Another interesting point…since my dog was so tender and painful, the vet wasn’t actually able to open his mouth and SEE what needed to be pulled, so I wonder where she came up with this “lots of extractions” determination.
I’m all for veterinarians making an honest living, but this sort of crap isn’t honest at all; it’s skeezier than dealing with a used car salesman because they ARE trying to leverage your love against you.
Hi Jay
I find your comment really interesting seeing as you had the same experience as me. I just wonder how many pet owners around the world struggle to pay the vet fees because they believe that they have no choice seeing as they love their pets so much.
Also, do you think that vets start out to make as much cash as possible out of owners, or do they realise the potential after they enter the profession?
I fully believe that the majority of vets have the hightest standards and principles - but they are let down by the unscrupulous ones who see dollars walking through their door rather than living beings that need their expert help to relieve suffering………
I think that overcharging can result from different things.
1. You get an associate vet who doesn’t have any say over the billing, and in the process of recommending what’s truly best for your pet, they rack up the expenses. Some vets are more assertive in compromising on certain things to help the bill come down, but many are not, and many more get commissions/bonuses for their income to the clinic, so they may not have a lot of incentive to do so. (Especially if they convince themselves that you can really afford it, or if they simply don’t like you for some reason.) Some companies, like VCA, really limit the vet’s ability to compromise, so for those doctors, their hands may be completely tied.
2. Just like any other industry, people might go into it with love and an idealistic attitude, but the reality can sometimes just kill that. As a vet fresh out of school, they don’t make much money. Compared to human doctors, they make crap. Add to the fact that they see examples of truly bad and neglectful owners, deadbeats who don’t pay their bills, and clients who are just schmucks or unreasonably cheap…that can harden a vet’s perspective and make them less empathetic to an owner’s plight. (A fairly natural defense mechanism, but one that should be curbed nonetheless.)
3. Some vets will make a conscious effort to milk as much as they can from an owner. Once again, there are bonuses/raises and prestige at stake (top earner), and for clinic owners, pure profit. Some of these vets may not question their actions, because they see it as doing everything possible for the animal (whether or not it’s extraneous is always up for debate). Case in point, I do think that the cardiac panel would be the best possible thing for me to do for my dog, if money were not an issue. But, money IS an issue, of course, so it becomes a matter of cost-benefit. My dog is 11 years old with a heart murmur. Sadly, his days are numbered at this point, and a beta blocker won’t change that. It MIGHT extend his time, IF they diagnose him correctly, but then again, it might not. Anesthesia would still be a high risk for him. Of course, the vet did not volunteer an honest summary of what the cardiac panel could/would do so that I could make a truly educated decision. I had to dig for what little information I received from her.
4. Corporately owned clinics, like VCA, plus the increased acceptance of “pet insurance” have given the industry a sense of “safety” when it comes to jacking up the prices. Once private clinic owners see what VCA charges, then they think, “Hey, we can charge that much too, and people will pay!” I’m willing to accept that inflation will cause the prices to go up in vet care, just like any other industry, but not to such a degree as I have seen in the last 18 years. The unfortunate owner who can’t afford the care is written off as irresponsible, negligent, or stupid for not getting pet insurance. It’s crazy, especially given the fact that over 40% of Americans lack medical insurance for themselves.
I think you are right that Vets are exploiting pet owners for profit. I live in Britain and a documentary on national TV next week is going to expose how Vets are doing unnecessary MRI scans just to make money and do injections the pet never needed and tell clients to buy the pet food the Vet sells because the Vet makes at least 20% ;profit from the sale of the food and then from trying to cure the illness the pet very often gets because it has been fed such poor quality and species inappropriate food.
Ugh, I’m both happy and sad to hear that other people have had almost identical experiences to my own. Not only in the case of dental care for my elderly cat - ultrasound needed, xrays, full blood work up, etc etc as well as major dietary changes recommended (to the food sold at the vet, of course), but also when I tried to find a low cost spay clinic for a kitten I adopted off of the street. Unfortunately, I had no easy alternative as after calling around, all of the vets in my area quoted the same ridiculous price ($600-700 for a spay). I ended up finding a low cost clinic two hours away for under $150. So I had to take a day off work to get a relatively common procedure done. That year, I spent close to $1600 on vet bills…which now seems absolutely ridiculous but when the vet tells you that your beloved pet is in immense pain…it’s hard to think rationally.
And now it’s looking like my elderly cat is getting another inflamed tooth…but now that I’m in a lower cost area (central NJ rather than NYC), I’m hoping my vet appt tomorrow won’t cost an arm and a leg.
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