Tuesday, September 26, 2017

How Vets Take Advantage of Pet Owners





I hate to be taken advantage of by veterinaries. 
It’s been since I had to bring my dog to an “Emergency Clinic” because our vet had decided to go home an hour earlier.  Several dog/cat owners were waiting in this clinic in Ottawa.  We wanted to have our dog seen right away as he had urine bleedings during the whole afternoon.  But to jump the line we would have to spend $400, instead of the much “cheaper” fee of only $250.  As we had no other options - it was already 7pm - we decided to wait.  And so we waited and waited and waited… for almost 2 hrs in this “Emergency”.

Bentley, our dog, had stopped bleeding when we saw the vet finally.  He could not find anything and offered to have the animal in his clinic for 24 - 48 hours at the cost of $1,200.  Just to be sure, he is fine…  No Thanks!

We went the next morning to another vet, where we paid $70 for seeing the dog, and got a prescription for an antibiotic that cost $80.  A research on Google found the same for $36.

Years later, Bentley was not well and I dragged him to another vet, who insisted in having blood tests done.  For the visit and the blood tests - which did not find any negative results - I paid $550.

On top of that, they did not inform me about the result of the tests, until I threatened them with pulling my payment. I  was promised to receive an email the very next day with the results.  I had to send them reminders for several days until I got the blood test results. However, they sent me advertisements for a couple of months, until I reported them for spam.

Yesterday, I had to go to a vet again as Bentley’s face was severely swollen on one side. I suspected a dental infection - which the vet figured out too. He offered me an appointment for the next week.  I cautiously asked him about the cost. His answer was an amount of $600 at least to pull the tooth, make an X-ray before and sedate the dog.

This cost estimate meant FOUR TIMES the amount I had paid just last week to have the same done by my dentist.  I also got two shots, an X-ray and got a tooth pulled - on the same spot my dog has problems now, a grinder tooth.
I thanked the vet and he handed me for the “meantime” a bottle with 42 capsules of Clindamycin, an antibiotic, for a “bargain” price of only $32.  At any other drugstore, I would have paid $25 for 60 capsules.  But I was lucky that the vet raised the price only by a third more than the drugstore…

Clindamycin 150mg Capsules
Product ID: *CLINDA150
Generic Equivalent To Cleocin
Price: $25.20 for 60 capsules

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