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LOL! They do make good money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
Now that you've gone through all of this you realize why breeders charge so much for their puppies. All the testing and vet visits required can add up pretty darn fast. If she needs a c-section that can cost thousands. All the equipment, everything else, it's pricey. Breeders really do it for the love of the breed, since even at $2000 a pup, they rarely make back what they spent.
I just took Raven into the vet to get a new weight on her and she has gained 7.2 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks! I asked if the scale was broke and they promised me that it wasn't.
Raven has now decided on her own that we are NOT feeding her enough. Last night we were having tacos for dinner.. I made tacos for everyone and was serving them, I heard my kids scream, I took off running and Raven ate a pound and a half of hamburger right out of the skillet that was still on the stove. She was so proud of herself for finding her own food. She stood there tail wagging licking her face and when I asked her if she had been bad she looked at the stove, back to me and sat down and wanted me to shake her paw. She's so crazy, that's why we love her so much. She's our clown that can always make us laugh and make our day better.
LOL! I can just see it "Mom, I hunted for my own food. Aren't you proud?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
It's was one of those moments that you wish you would have been recording it. She was so cute that I couldn't even be mad at her. I told her she needed to go lay on her blanket, she happily did. And I just cooked more food. She has a stack of blanket on the floor in my bedroom (my husbands idea "she needs something soft and comfy too") but the last 4 nights she has been standing by the bed, nudging my husband till he moves over pushing me against the wall just so that when he's over far enough she can climb in bed with us. He wakes up and she tries to sneak out of bed before he can say anything. Lol before she was bred we had to keep her in a kennel when we were gone because she would chew on shoes and kids toys. Since she's been back we haven't put her in the cage but she still will go lay in it on her own willingly. Usually we find her camped out in our bed though.
Yikes, a great dane in bed with you. I hope you have a king sized bed. ;)
Both our dogs sleep with us. What I find funny is that the border collie will lie at the foot of the bed. You barely even know he's there. The beagle will literally nudge me over until the only thing keeping me on the bed is putting my foot on the floor. Heaven forbid I should try to move him, he gets very mad. It's my bed!
If I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom I'll come back to both dogs sleeping on my side, using my pillow. Seriously? I was only gone for a minute!
Trust me, vet's are far from rich.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
Sorry, sore spot.
I get that Sariss, but they're far from poor too. At least where I live. I used to babysit for our vet. Her husband didn't work at all, he was a stay at home dad before that became acceptable. They lived in a 4000 sq ft house, 5 bedrooms, 5 baths. It was huge. What I always found weird was that she had no pets. I asked her about it once. Her reply "I don't like having animals in my house". You're a vet!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sariss
She showed standard poodles. She had 4 of them. They were all kenneled and cared for by other people. She would show them, post pictures of her winning ribbon after ribbon in her office, but none of those dogs even lived with her. They didn't even have a fish!
Our poodle had constant ear infections. After years of constantly going to the vet, only to pay $100 just to walk in the door, and then pay more for the medication that never worked, we found a new vet. He charged us $20 for the medication, a different medication, and Silver never had another infection again. When Silver had back issues we went to him. After that we only took Silver to our old vet for his shots, only because the new vet we found was an hours drive away. Otherwise we would have gone to him for that too.
There are vets out there that will gouge you for every last penny. You really need to shop around. But there are also vets that really do it for the love of the animal, and I agree, those vets don't get rich, at least not with money. :)
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread with vet talk.
That is the exception, not the rule. Most of the vets I know (which is a lot) live very humble lives, and some live paycheque to paycheque. Clinic owners seem to be better off, but associates generally aren't - they often make about the same as a registered nurse here. And their lowly staff like myself scrape along making just above the poverty line.
A registered nurse here where I live makes $32-46 an hour! If I made that kind of $$$ an hour I'd be in heaven! The first Vet that I took my dog to here in town charged me $35 to walk in $25 for Vet exam charge $42 for antibiotics $82 for a swab of her vaginal discharge just to tell me she would be dead in a week and how horrible of a person I was (in front of my 8 year old daughter) second vet was a $10 emergency walk in fee $15 Vet exam charge free antibiotics $15 emergency US $8 swab of her discharge $13 blood work. HUGE difference.
For her recheck at the second clinic she had the US, swab, nail trim on a Saturday 6:30 pm and it was $25 total! This place may be an hour and a half from where we live but we will totally be taking all of our pets there from now on. Other than my dane I also have a 10 yr old spayed female pit a 8 yr old neutered male chocolate lab a bearded dragon and a neutered male cat (with 27 toes) so our vet bills are pretty expensive anyway.
Vets also enter the working field with 8 years of education and often $100,000 of debts, and they make half what their human-medicine equivalents make.
There is a lot of upkeep to a hospital. There is rent, insurance, educated staff to pay, hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment that is required to run a practice...
Im just saying. There are Crappy vets, just like there is with mechanics, etc. But most vets hate those cruddy ones more than anyone else, because they perpetuate the false idea that all vets are in it for the money and love to gouge.
It's unfortunately a sore spot for me, as I am told on a regular basis that if we cared for pets we would do things for free. Hello? Would you ask a grocer to give you free food? I mean, does he not want to see your family STARVE?
If I wanted to make money, I would be a freakin nurse. It's basically the same education and at least twice as much pay.
Also, being a great Dane owner myself - big dogs generally = bigger bills. I prepared myself for that before getting one.
Apologies for a hijack, I just wanted to get my voice out..
I completely understand. Like everything else, it pays to shop around. A friend of mine has an 18 year old cat. We live in Canada, last weekend was our Thanksgiving weekend. His cat had stopped eating, and on Thanksgiving she couldn't even stand up. He took her to an emergency vet (his only option because of the holiday). A thousand dollars later, after many tests, they told him they had no idea what was wrong, gave him medication, and sent him home with his still very sick cat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
The next day he went to a vet recommended by a friend of his. It was an hour drive, but well worth it. They ran all the same tests the emergency vet clinic did, found out what the issue was, told him to throw away the pills that the emergency vet gave him, kept his cat overnight on intravenous. The total charge, $150, with new medication, and all the same test the other clinic did.
As of today, not even a week later, his cat is up and about, and doing well.
I have a small zoo as well. Vet care isn't cheap. Who can afford to spend a months pay on one vet visit? I know I can't. But does that mean only the super rich should have pets? That makes no sense either, since there are so many in the shelters in need of a home.
Maybe we should start a new thread about this, discussing vet care, options, prices, etc. I really don't want to turn your thread into a discussion about vets and how much they charge, and how the average person really can't afford it.
I'm willing to start the thread and post a link here if that's okay. Let me know. I really don't want to take away from your thread, and I feel a discussion about vets would do that. I'm sorry for my part in it. :(
Lol that's fine. I'll follow your thread also.
It took me a while to write it, and I have to say, I may have let my emotions get the best of me when I wrote it. So take it with a grain of salt. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
Here's the link:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/v...ch-771805.html
I won't address how unprofessional those statements to you were, but I do want to ask this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven Rayne
Did she think your dog has a pyometra? Is this the one that did the US?
And I will agree that $82 for a vaginal swab is quite pricey, IF it was done in-house, send out is a different charge always, because of what the lab charges the clinic.
Yes he thought it was Pyo just from the swab that he did and he looked at it under a microscope right there in the room with me. It didn't go ANYWHERE. He told us because it was Friday when I took her to him it would be an emergency surgery and would cost me $3500. I asked him if antibiotic would slow it down enough for her to make it through the weekend ( as she was eating, drinking, playing) he didn't want to give them to be but did. We left I came home crying my eyes out told my husband who dropped to the floor in tears hugging his baby girl. We got up super early and started making calls asking other vets how much they would charge for the surgery and the Rascal Unit told us $600 on a weekend or after hours and $250 during the week. We took her up the same day and they did the swab, blood work, US and said that we were told wrong and that it was just a vaginal infection and would be cleared up with antibiotics.
Only the second clinic did an US on her. The first on that told us it was Pyo told us that just from the swab alone. No other tests were done.
Sometimes pyo can be detected from blood work and/or a swab. If he thought it was pyo due to a swab, than he may have seen an abundance of white blood cells and/or bacteria. Pyo is not that hard to diagnose.
As for charging you $3500 for an emergency spay... good lord! Go somewhere else.. Pyo surgery is a spay with more complications.. shouldn't cost more than $600.
Some vets like to charge a lot of money for their time. I will admitt that it is very hard to find a vet you like that works with your budget. But once you find that vet, keep them!
As for your emergency problem.. if she is drianing, than I would take the time (but not too long) to find a good vet with reasonable choices.
I love my dog, but I wouldn't pay $3500 for an emergency spay.. that's the same cost as fixing an ACL!
She doesn't have Pyo though. She had a vaginal infection and was pregnant I the first US 2-6 pups. That was at day 23 and at day 30 a differ t. Vet did the US (same place Rascal Unit) and claimed should didn't/couldn't see anything because Raven was extremely tense and flexed her tummy too tight. They said IF she gains weight, gets mammary tissue, gets a bloated looking belly to bring her back at day 45 for an X-ray to be 100% sure either way. Either a false pregnancy or a real one. I've gathered up all the supplies just in case and I've been doing as much research as I can since this will be my first litter completely alone. I think I'll be more frightened than Raven will. I took her to the vet office a few days ago and at that point she had gained 7.2 lbs in just two and a half weeks. I'm sure that she's gained more than that now. I'm lost and so is the lady that's joint breeding with me she's never had this with any of her danes or staffies.
Ultrasound is rarely an effective way to count puppies unless the ultrasound machine is super high tech. But there are just too many puppies in those long uterine horns for the ultrasound to find correctly.
I'm glad your dog doesn't have pyo.. but still, pyo surgery shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg. If you like and trust this vet, than stay with them.. but they are ungodly expensive. I'd find a different vet that isn't going to charge you a down payment for a house just to get your dog fixed.
X-ray is really the only way to go. The closer to her due date, the more visible they will be and the vet will be able to measure their heads to see if they can go through the birth canal easily. That will prepare you for either a c-section or watch for signs of distress.
Big dogs rarely have issues birthing. I'm sure your doggie will do just fine. Her wanting to nest and be close and "calming down" are a lot of signs of pregnancy.
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