Are Vets Crooked Thieves?

Today, I would like to discuss veterinary care with everyone. First of all, before I get into my thoughts on veterinary medicine, I would like to say that I have known some amazing vets with compassionate hearts that work hard everyday and experience serious emotional trauma throughout their careers due to the nature of their profession. Veterinarians can have a very difficult working environment and I respect those individuals who go out of their way to support owners and their dog’s needs.

With that out of the way, I need to address a serious concern I have for veterinarians and individuals who work at a veterinarian’s office or hospital that take advantage of an owner’s fear. After having dealt with two of them on the east coast this week, I am thoroughly discussed with their outrageous behavior and disregard for real support in exchange for providing fear and even downright panic on behalf of their customers. There is no call whatsoever for this asinine behavior from a medical professional. No wonder so many people have such a desire to acquire pet insurance for piece of mind.

Veterinary costs are astronomical on the east coast for no reason whatsoever. The care they provide is not any more sophisticated than any other vet prescribes anywhere else in this country and I feel extremely upset that these unscrupulous vets take such advantage of a family’s heightened emotions in a time of sickness. If a human doctor intimidated a patient in a medical hospital the way these two vets tried to intimidate us, they would be sued for malpractice. But, because they are veterinarians and the average citizen has no idea how to handle a dog’s medical condition, they get away with highway robbery.

This is Sheikh (Cotton Candy/Stanley) and he spent 24hours at the vet’s hospital in New Hampshire costing a grand total of $4000! Now, one would think that 24 hours of emergency care at a veterinary hospital in which $4000 worth of medical care was given would be at death’s door, but this puppy is nowhere near death.

Ali Baba (Cotton Candy/Stanley) just came back from a two day stay at a vet hospital in Massachusetts for $2700 and was wet with urine stains on his rear and wrapped in a urine soaked towel. On the phone before Jay arrived, they gave a grim description of his needs with dire warnings and fear-based rhetoric. The second vet on duty said that he had regurgitated this morning around 8am, but the night vet stated to Jay at 10am this morning that he hadn’t vomited since the evening before. Who is lying and why?

This unethical and highly questionable behavior from these two different vet facilities in two different states makes me infuriated. A feeding tube for a puppy that is no longer vomiting and is eating/drinking on its own? Are they insane?

Giving a dog a high dose of oral antibiotics just before he leaves to return home and then not provide continued antibiotic medication in his outgoing patient packet? What kind of antibiotic regimen is that?

And... Ali Baba’s vet was reluctant to allow him to leave and wanted to keep him there another night. When he returned home, despite his urine covered smell, he was wagging his tail and loping over to everybody happy as could be to see them with no indication of lethargy or sickness at this time.

I feel like we traveled back to the days when screaming patients in straight jackets wander the dark and dusty halls of the stone-walled mental institution, eyes wide with fear and anguish.

Luckily, Jay knows enough to get those two dogs out of their as soon as they were able to be rehydrated and no longer throwing up.

If you live on the east coast, take a lesson from us and never let a vet intimidate you with scare tactics that make your heart palpitate and your knees shake. If a vet tells you that your puppy could die if you transfer him to another vet with a lower price-tag, grab your puppy and run out the door without looking back. No one vet is God’s gift to dogkind and no vet is worth $4000 for 24 hours of care.