Dear Vet: Please Accept My Paycheck....

[Guest VelvetEars]

Seriously. This whole thing is getting really old. If I have to go to the vet one more time in the next month, I am going to scream.

 

Last night I was getting ready to go to the hospital to check on one of my mommies who had birthed on Saturday (after i transitioned her to the next doula, of course), and I see fresh blood on my sock. Not me....so who? DS finds it's coming from Jackson's paw. He has a nice slice on the bottom, just above/alongside a pad. Get him temporarily bandaged up and I go to the hospital. While I'm there, DH calls my cell - he found a "ton" (3 nice size blotches) of blood in our bedroom, on the dog beds and a throw pillow that was on the floor. It's not quite like the crime scene I was picturing, but still...all over the brand new dog beds and a white pillow!!! I'm thinking that Jackson must have been getting down off our bed and somehow sliced his foot on the bed frame, where it joins the footboard.

 

DH took him to the vet today - it wasn't a terribly deep cut, but because it's on a flexing part of his paw, he needs a few stitches, and to do that, he has to be sedated. I would have recommended that anyway, because he was MEAN last night when I was trying to do a better bandage on his paw before I went to bed. He HATES having his paws touched. I couldn't find the muzzle, so I had to tie his mouth shut with a sock and have DH pin him down. It was not one of my finer moments.

 

It's not like it's that expensive - it was just $105, which included a cortisone shot for the allergy he seems to have developed on his bum (he was seen a few weeks ago for it, had his AGs emptied for good measure, put on benadryl, and keeps licking). I'm just tired of being there!!! But this has been the most expensive vet bill year ever. Every time I turn around I'm headed to the vet for something.... I told the desk gal that I was going to just start having a percentage of my paycheck deposited into their account every 2 weeks. And then I'm going to invest in three plastic bubbles, one for each of the dogs, and a padded room for me!

 

the one kind of funny thing out of all of this, though, is that when DH was walking him to the car in front of our house and getting ready to put him in, a car stopped and the people wanted to know if he was a retired racer and if we rescued him, and DH said yes (rolling his eyes, i'm sure) and they thanked him for being so wonderful and rescuing him and giving him a home. He thinks it's so bizarre that random people will just stop and talk to us about our greyhounds when they see us with them, and we (greyhound people) stalk other people we see walking greyhounds. "No one else does that - just you crazy greyhound people." On the way to the vet to pick him up, I was taking a route I normally don't take, and was driving by a park, and saw a couple with a beautiful brindle hound - had I not been running late to get Jackson I'd have pulled over to talk to them.

[grey14me]

omg, Meredith! seriously, you deserve a break already I sure hope he heals quickly and uneventfully!! I'll keep my eyes open for any dog sized plastic bubbles

[Guest Cris_M]

Welcome to Gabriel's Accident of the Month Club. A month without a $200 vet bill was a rarity. It isn't funny in real life, and I wish I had some good ideas to keep Jackson out of the vet's office. I don't know what makes one dog so much more accident prone than the next, but I am very sorry you are dealing with this. (((((((hugs)))))))

 

 

[Guest IrskasMom]

A Friend of mine were talking about having another Grey. Well .... I said ,I can't afford it. I had taken Morty in

the early Morning Hour to the E-Vet $ 205 no Blood test no anything.And still did not know,what was wrong

with him and because he was Continuing Panting and just walking around for Hours after, I had taken him

to my Regular Vet and insisted on a Blood test and the whole "Shebang" $ 295 . $ 500 in one single Day

and still don't know what's wrong , that is a little steep. It gave me a clear Conscience ,that I have done everything I could .

Edited September 25, 2007 by IrskasMom

[Guest GiJenn51]

Oh I sooo understand what you mean about the vet. It got bad enough for me, that my vet would give me discounts she felt so bad. I know I paid for some first class vacation to Tahiti and put the techs through school. I hope your luck changes!

[GeorgeofNE]

Oh! We've all been there! I think my last vet visit--one cat, rabies shot, my greyhound, rabies shot, ran me $400!

 

Why you ask? Well, the cat's "veins collapsed" when the vet was trying to give her a shot. I didn't really care all that much--I know that sounds AWFUL--but the cat is 13, never been sick a day in her life, clearly in the pink of health. I figured it was just some fluky thing. Well, the vet talked me into a clotting factor test. She didn't tell me that the test alone was $99!

 

She charged me the full exam fee for George, even though he's been examined four times already, once within two weeks of this visit.

 

You can imagine that I was not all that made at George when he decided to pee on the reception desk while I was having a mini heart attack over the bill!!!!

 

 

[patricia]

I know what you mean...I feel like I live at the vets office...I should have my own private room with a refig and diet coke and a TV!

[RobinM]

You sure do deserve a break! But NEVER ASK WHAT ELSE COULD GO WRONG.... you might just find out...

 

[Guest Tenderhearts]

:grouphug

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

I can relate on the vet bill costs - I spent $500 this month between medications/shots and dental. That's what keeps me from adopting my foster boy Luau. I just can't afford to own another Greyhound. Emmy, my Airedale Terrier mix is healthy as a horse and never needs to go to the vet except for her shots. Her teeth are perfectly white and she's 7 y/o so she's never had a dental. Anyway, Greyhounds are expensive but, to me, well worth it!

[Guest VelvetEars]

This has been the most expensive summer for us - Jane's stroke cost me about $4k, her tail amputation was another $200, and Jackson's rear end allergy and his cut foot has been another $150. I'm fortunate in that this vet's office is cheap, compared to others around here. They have sucky hours, but awesome docs and techs. (They weren't the source of the $4k for Jane's stroke - that was another vet and Mizzou vet school.)

[Guest sheila]

I feel your pain. I've become so familiar with my vets office when I call them I just say, 'Hey this is Sheila and..............' Once when I walked in they had Kiowas heart pills all ready and sitting on the counter because they saw me pulling into the parking lot. Yes....they know me well.

On the other hand.....if I'm ever short on cash there is never any question about putting the bill on a tab. I just tell em I don't have any money today' and they say 'Okey doke' and out the door I go. They know I'm good for it.

[GreyTzu]

I know what you mean...I feel like I live at the vets office...I should have my own private room with a refig and diet coke and a TV!

 

When Dylan was doing chemo, we always stopped at our holistic Vet on the way home. I tried to schedule a JD or Dancer visit at the same time as chemo treatment because it was almost a 200 mile round trip. Anyway, our holistic Vet used to put us in our own room, turn on soothing music, pull out big beds, do the acupuncture treatment and leave us all alone for about an hour, so I could nap and relax during the trip and stress of it all. She rocks!!

[Devotion]

I feel your pain too. I have paid for a nice vacation for my vet and orthopedic vet as well. I keep thinking maybe my 14 year old will become a vet!!!!!

[Cynthia]

Um hmm. I say that Katie's MRIs (repeat repeat) and the other pricey diagnostics (spinal and joint taps and on and on) could have funded a complete face lift for me. But now with potential brain biopsy and if that's a go - back surgery- I could have boobs too (if I wanted them.) I just want my Katie.

[Guest greytexplorer]

I feel your pain. I've become so familiar with my vets office when I call them I just say, 'Hey this is Sheila and..............' Once when I walked in they had Kiowas heart pills all ready and sitting on the counter because they saw me pulling into the parking lot. Yes....they know me well.

On the other hand.....if I'm ever short on cash there is never any question about putting the bill on a tab. I just tell em I don't have any money today' and they say 'Okey doke' and out the door I go. They know I'm good for it.

 

same here

 

I'm thinking about working there on the weekends/fill-in while others take a day off

They can apply my pay to whatever I owe!

[Guest Enna]

If it's any consolation, your tab for the toe injury was pretty mild. I paid that last week for the wound, and then more than that again last night when it split open...for the 3rd time...and the vet finally decided he'd suture it.

 

Our bill included things like $40 office visit, $28.85 wound care, $19.95 for wound covering (less than a yard of vetwrap and some gauze!), $14.95 for the lidocane injection, and another cost for the suture material.

 

All I want is for our girl to get better. I'm just thinking that I need to switch to a vet who will get it right the first time. If we can do that, it will be better off for the hound and the bank account.

[Guest VelvetEars]

I'm fortunate in that my vets are very good and relatively inexpensive. They don't take chances, and they it right the first time. Like when Jane's tail was injured, they said they could stitch it, but it might not heal well or could end up dying, but if I wanted them to try to save it, they would, but there were no guarantees. I said no, let's just amputate, because I don't want to be back in here for an amputation in a month or two. They said they appreciate owners who are well-educated about their pet's care and who don't expect them to work miracles. I told them that a dog with a short tail is better than no dog, or a dog with an infected tail. And because DH was taking Jackson to the vet this time, I told him that my recommendation is to sedate and suture, and if they wanted to "wait and see" to tell them I said no. They asked him if sedate and suture was ok with him, and he of course said "yes, that's what my wife wants."

[nyGreys]

:grouphug

[Guest ibigcrazy]

Shoot, the wounds are the cheap bills! It's all the other charges that kill you. In 60 days 1 dog, Harley has been to the vets office 6 times and all for test for his repeat UTI's. The poor boy just can't get rid of them. I feel so bad for him at this point. The next thing to be done is an ultrasound. I have no idea what that will run but if it will get to the bottom of this I don't care what it cost. 16 days of Baytril runs 80 bucks! this is his 4th series in 2 months!

 

Bobbi