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Vets want to help your pet – and you – but death threats aren’t good for anyone’s health


Boronia
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I am certainly not a fan of the "upsell" prevalent in so many of the chain (we all know who they are) vet clinics... to the point that I refuse to take any of my animals to them if I can avoid it. I do know that even vet nurses are trained to do it as part of their courses... so assume that vet students are taught the same.

 

I understand why the prices can be a bit steep in vet clinics... there are many overheads that need to be paid for that might not be obvious to the general public. Equipment that needs maintaining, rent, wages, stock maintenance, etc... none of it is cheap...

 

Most clinics are happy enough to write a client a prescription for medications if asked... but may charge a small fee for it. Then you can try your luck getting the medications online at a slightly cheaper price. Note that some medications may require the pet to be regularly checked over by the vet to make sure the meds are doing their job properly, and that the pet doesn't need dosage changes, etc...

 

T.

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On 09/02/2022 at 7:28 AM, tdierikx said:

When I took Pickles to the emergency vet clinic nearest to my place in the first week of the last Sydney lockdown I had a less than great experience. She had eaten something that had ruptured something inside, and was vomiting up blood. I had already gently palpated her abdomen and could feel the obstruction that was causing the issue. She was a very sick girl, and I've seen enough of these things to know that even with surgery, her outcome was going to be poor. I was there to end her suffering pure and simple.

 

What transpired was that Pickles was taken inside, and I was left outside in the carpark. The vet eventually called my mobile, and started trying to push for doing a myriad of tests, suggestions of surgery with a very low chance of success, etc. I was forced to basically plead with the vet to just cut to the chase and end Pickles' suffering... all while other people were milling about, listening to my end of the conversation, and giving me side-eye. An already traumatic situation was compounded by the complete lack of privacy, and the vet's insistence for wanting to try all sorts of things that weren't actually going to fix the problem at hand. I was firm but calm, and eventually was led to an isolated room to be with Pickles as she became an angel.

 

Based on that one visit to that emergency vet clinic, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone... but at the time, I just handled the situation as calmly as possible, paid the bill, and left. I can see how people would become agitated and/or upset and angry in a situation like that... it was all I could do to stay calm myself... and I've been in that sort of situation more often than I care to count... working with animals does have it's downside...

 

Oh... and the next day, I recieved a text message from the emergency clinic ostensibly "following up" on Pickles' "progress"... ummm... not very professional IMHO.

 

As a complete contrast, I once had to take a young goat to the vet clinic near my work. The goat had a distended stomach (not bloat) and was in quite a bit of pain and distress. The vet did an ultrasound, took a sample of the fluid in the abdomen, did a thorough check all over the goat, and unfortunately it had to be euthanaised due to a ruptured bladder. Not only was the vet kind and caring with the goat, his bedside manner with it's human (me) was second to none. AND then he only charged a consultation fee for the visit. That clinic ended up getting all of our business, including weekly visits to my work to maintain all the animals' health and wellbeing... and we had over 200 animals at any given time.

 

3 guesses which vet clinic I ended up taking bunny to the other day...

 

T.

 

ETA: My neighbour came over yesterday to tell me they had received a lovely condolence card from the vet for the passing of their bunny...

 

 

not alone, had a mare with at least 6 broken ribs,  the pain she was in she had to be put down. I sure didn't want to as she was only months off foaling so why would I want to lose the foal if the suffering of the mare wasn't my concern?  

 

The idiot vet argued with me for over an hour with alternatives.    Get a tractor and hip lift her then Sling her so she cant lay down etc

 

she was in so much pain she was down with no intertest in getting up, odema of legs and body, internal bleeding u name it she had to be put down.

 

She finally gave up and did as I had requested in the first place. BUT the bill certainly reflected the time dragged out by her,  Pardon me if i suspected that was exactly the plan frankly. scratch that one off ever letting through the gate.  Too many come out with so little hands on knowledge it is very concerning

 

only after being put down and her laboured breathing ended and the area collapsed inwards would she finally concede how massive the trauma was???????

 

 

 

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I don't think the public's "furbaby" attitude helps.  Customers are given what they expect.  It seems like the default prescription is a painkiller and an antibiotic...come back in a week if it's not better.  Then do bloods or other tests or take an Xray.

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12 hours ago, YOLO said:

Ah yes, the old "buying power" myth.  Trotted out by every vendor who doesn't want to update their archaic business practices

 

As someone who has actually seen the invoices with all the prices paid for stock in a vet clinic, I can say that markup on those prices still barely covered the running costs of said clinic.

 

T.

 

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On 09/02/2022 at 5:51 PM, Powerlegs said:

Yolo if you're talking about comparing to buying online as retail price, those vet med places have warehouses full of stock. Vets don't have that kind of buying power. 

I can tell you even if we bought flea/tick/etc treatments as wholesale (I've looked into it) we still can't order the amounts to do better than buying retail online. 

 that was sure brought home to me recently, had a litter attacked by, oops forget the name, but they needed Baycox,  except my vet had only 10 mils in stock left. all warehouses out of stock due to shipping shortages.  with 7 pups to dose it wasn't enough and all 7 died. that was a heartbreaker.   ordered a bottle just in case it occurred in another litter down the track. was told earliest delivery the warehouse could send would be December , price $240.   fast forward to February and stepson's bosses calves had same problem and baycox desperately needed to save them, was picking up feed from local produce store and there in his fridge was TWO! 250 ML bottles?   Bought both at believe it or not $130 each?    one for his bosses calves and one for any future puppies might need it.

 

then this week vet rings, 3 months after the one I had ordered last year was supposed to arrive in Australia and yep, still $240 for the same size bottle?

 

Thanked the vet profusely but explained had managed to find one in a produce store who kept it in stock for clients for calves and piglets. (same is used for puppies)  I daren't tell him what price they are selling it for.

was I a coward? or being tactful?

 

meanwhile produce store had restocked and has 10 in the fridge for clients and yep, still the same price?

Interestingly its privately owned produce store.   not part of a chain with the buying power like the pet barn ones.

 

Edited by asal
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13 hours ago, YOLO said:

Now the Clinic in question is part of a large chain, so I imagine they could still get the medication at a discount.  At worst, they could buy it for the same price I did, and charge a reasonable handling markup.  Not charge me $400 for something that costs less than $100.

 

The largest chain is the worst offender... I make sure to avoid them at all costs, as the upselling push really puts me off.

 

As for costs... say your pet requires fluids as part of their treatment. The actual bag of said fluids costs a LOT less than you will be billed for it... but then factor in the time taken for the vet to diagnose the issue and order said fluids to be administered, the time taken for the vet nurses to catheterise your pet, set up the drip machine to deliver the fluids at the right flow rate, attach the line to the catheter, make sure your pet is comfortable and resting well to accept the fluids, and then checking all vital signs every 15 mins whilst the fluids are being administered, and changing up a new bag if required... quite a few costs involved to do a "simple" task really... *grin*

 

T.

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