Standard practice with vet bills
I understand that without insurance, standard medical treatment for pets is very expensive and some of it is justified in my eyes. However, I had a bad experience this week so not only am I grieving from the loss of my pet, I am also questioning the $1900 I paid to this vet in 3 days.
On Sunday, I took my dog into the vet because he hadn’t been eating or drinking for 2 days. They gave him some fluids (apparently not IV), took an X-ray, also charged an additional cost for them to review the X-ray, blood tests, special dog food, cerenia and sent him on his way in a couple of hours.
We get home and he’s still not eating or drinking. They said that in the X-ray they saw an object but it didn’t have an obstructive pattern. They said it maybe looked like a piece of a towel or something fuzzy, nothing wrong with bloodwork except for elevated white blood cells.
I call on Monday, explain he still isn’t eating or drinking and they say to bring him in. 589
They want to run the same tests, same X-ray and other things that total over $800. I was so emotional and didn’t understand how another X-ray was going to show something different and it was another $300. I agreed to do it, and this time they saw what appeared to be an avocado seed obstructing and it would cost $4000 for surgery with immediate release or $8000 with overnight/after care. He was 10 and we had to make the difficult decision to put him down.
What I’m flabbergasted about though, is that they didn’t seem to be able to see what was on the original X-ray, sent him home like that until he was in extreme pain and unable to walk. Then they squeeze another $700 out of us on the return so not only are we dealing with loss, but I’m going to be completely broke for the next month.
Curious if anybody else had similar situations and if they did anything about it. 589