Veterinarian venting.

[HighDesertDuck]

Took a Atlas to a Banfield (pet smart) vet today. His normal vet and I had been watching an infection in his leg. He was on antibiotics but we were concerned it was a foreign body, that might require draining and irrigation. Last night after our normal vet is gone for the weekend it swells up like a golf ball.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1384129054.928310.jpg

So this morning I take their earliest appointment for 3 PM. Of course he ruptures it an hour before the appointment. Anyway after answering the question of his balls several times as in; "is he neutered? No he is intact". Uncomfortable silence. I get to speak to an assistant and explain the situation. She takes the boy away and 5 minutes later the vet walks in without the dog and explains the "treatment options" all of which cost more than $150 and none of which include opening and draining. Then she asks me what I think we should do I suggest draining. She looks at me like I have three heads. And goes on to explain how we can do a culture and see if we can find a better antibiotic. I ended up just having then shave and clean it up. Then I am told that is just weeping a little. And to let it breathe, don't let hm lick it. They did offer to sell me a cone of shame for $25. I politely declined. Well by the time we get to the truck blood is running down to his paw. I break into the truck trauma kit and bandage him up. We're home now and the swelling is almost entirely gone now that it has drained. I follow up with his vet tomorrow. Btw he doesn't seem to be bothered at all by it.

[RonE]

You might ask you vet to give you a couple of tubes of Panalog (sp?). A sharp knife, some panalog and atheletic tape and you could drain it yourself and take the dog to the vet on Monday. Panalog is a wonderous ointment.

[FlintRiverFowler]

I posted here earlier this year about banfield, 8 week old puppy was severely ill with a high fever, they were so full of shit their eyes were brown. Wanted to run all kind of tests. Trying to scare us into spending money, scared my wife so bad that we ended up spending 700 bucks for basically nothing. When I tried to call corporate and get at least some of my money back they referred it to the banfield we went to and had the vet who I had to deal with call me. She was a rude bitch abt the situation and basically told me to fuck off. So I called right back to their headquarters and they said someone would be in touch. Noone ever called me back despite countless attempts to contact them. They would just put me on hold and never pick back up. I eventually have up. I wish nothing but the worst on petsmart and banfield pet hospitals.
Turned out the pup just had a respiratory infection and when our vet administered the right treatment she was fine in a day or two, now she's on the verge of her first duck season, I'm excited yet fearful to see how she performs, I think the high fever might have killed some of her brain cells bc she ain't the brightest crayon in the box.

[Goldfish]

Yea, going to a vet that is inside a chain pet store was your first problem

[FlintRiverFowler]

Yea, going to a vet that is inside a chain pet store was your first problem

Only place open on Sunday

[Goldfish]

Should have consulted the internet. Everyone is an expert
(but sounds like you could have gotten better info than banfield gave you, lol)

[FlintRiverFowler]

Should have consulted the internet. Everyone is an expert
(but sounds like you could have gotten better info than banfield gave you, lol)

Yeah, I could do those people's job. It's like they are only allowed to run tests to see what's wrong, where as my vet actually examined the dog and drew his own conclusions on what the matter was and how to treat it. Obviously it wasn't parvo if she wasn't shitting water and throwing up but they charged me 80 bucks for a damn parvo test. I was livid. They were giving me treatment options into the thousands. After basically paying 700 bucks for tests that drew no conclusions and an IV bc she was allegedly dehydrated I had to leave before I went ballistic. It puts you in a hard spot to have a very sick new puppy and an upset wife that doesn't care how much money gets spent trying to save the pup. No telling how much I would spend on her now that I'm completely attached to her. Only had her a year and I know when she goes they'll have to bury me with her.

[one2many]

i have a great relationship with my Vets, thank God!
sorry you guys had to go through that shit with the docs there.fuckers have you by the short and curlies and then they do a shitty job

[aunt betty]

As a carpenter and small businessman I failed. Why?
Because of not doing people wrong by coming up with the most profitable way for me to solve their problems...I always tried to think of the opposite in hopes they would learn to trust me and use me for all their future needs. (I tried to save my customers money)

That is why you are hatin on your vet.
Milking you like a cow is their job.

[assateague]

A-fucking-men.

[assateague]

I had an excellent vet when I lived in MN, would recommend over the counter "human" cures, which cost me $2 at the dollar store. Anymore, they look at you like they want to call social services, the humane society, and Sarah McLachlan if you shy away from a $400 price tag.

[aunt betty]

I had an excellent vet when I lived in MN, would recommend over the counter "human" cures, which cost me $2 at the dollar store. Anymore, they look at you like they want to call social services, the humane society, and Sarah McLachlan if you shy away from a $400 price tag.

BINGO!

[aunt betty]

The flip side...and this is sad.
My wealthy parents window shopped for a vet. They found a husband and wife, both vets, that did free surgeries for them and only charged for the meds...
One day, them poor vets killed themselves because they were DEEP in debt.
My parents didn't miss a beat and found another couple just like them.

[FlintRiverFowler]

I had an excellent vet when I lived in MN, would recommend over the counter "human" cures, which cost me $2 at the dollar store. Anymore, they look at you like they want to call social services, the humane society, and Sarah McLachlan if you shy away from a $400 price tag.

Had a GSP who had to have a toe amputated. At a cost of 300 bucks. I jokingly told the vet to just put her down when he told me the price, once again my fucked up sense of humor gets me in trouble. The guy totally freaked out on me.

[assateague]

Should've told him, if $300 isn't that much, then why doesn't he do it for free?

[HighDesertDuck]

Never posted a follow up. I'm a slacker.
Called our regular vet the next day. Told him what happened. He said sounded like I had done what was necessary and to just give him a call if it started to bother him or swelled back up. all is well with him now, although he ended up seeing his vet again after our last hunt. Prickly pear spines In his front paw. Danger of walkin bare foot in the desert.

[aunt betty]

We found a dog that somebody ran over and then left it. Rushed it to closest vet with an ER.
They were more concerned about the money, the pretzel money. We had no money for someone else's dog bill so...
Later that week when we came nosing around trying to learn the rest of the story it was dog? What dog? Do you have a receipt.