A dog & canine forum. DogBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » DogBanter forum » Dog forums » Dog health
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Reasonable dog care



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 22nd 07, 05:21 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
yh2665
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Reasonable dog care

I live in Houston TX. I have a 4 yrs old English Bulldog. I'm
looking for a reasonable price vet to care for my dog.

I took him yesterday to Petsmart because he vomitted the day before.
I had to pay over $200 for the following procedures:
1. $33.95 office visit
2. $8.5 Blood sample collect
3. $52.39 Internal Organ Func Screen
4. $30.55 Blood cell count
5. $18.05 Lipase
6. $52.29 Prochlorperazine injection 5mg
7. $4.85 Medical waste disposal

The total was $200.58 for the visit. In 11/24/07 I had to pay $265 to
Brittmore clinic for office visit, shots and 80 Cetaphaine pills (I
think).

I'm in school part-time and have a job which doesn't pay much. I just
wonder if some pet owners who live in Houston can recommend a
reasonable/affordable vet.

Thanks.
April
  #2  
Old December 22nd 07, 05:42 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
diddy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,108
Default Reasonable dog care

yh2665 spoke these words of wisdom in news:cc130b7c-
:

I live in Houston TX. I have a 4 yrs old English Bulldog. I'm
looking for a reasonable price vet to care for my dog.

I took him yesterday to Petsmart because he vomitted the day before.
I had to pay over $200 for the following procedures:
1. $33.95 office visit
2. $8.5 Blood sample collect
3. $52.39 Internal Organ Func Screen
4. $30.55 Blood cell count
5. $18.05 Lipase
6. $52.29 Prochlorperazine injection 5mg
7. $4.85 Medical waste disposal

The total was $200.58 for the visit. In 11/24/07 I had to pay $265 to
Brittmore clinic for office visit, shots and 80 Cetaphaine pills (I
think).

I'm in school part-time and have a job which doesn't pay much. I just
wonder if some pet owners who live in Houston can recommend a
reasonable/affordable vet.

Thanks.
April


That sounds about what you would pay here. Vets assume that if you take
your dog to them, they want you to find the problem, and hopefully fix it.
diagnostics ARE expensive. This technology exists, but at a cost. If you
don't want the dog tested, tell them, they have the option to deny
treatment without testing, but they might try a scattergun (with mixed
results, of tossing antibiotics at it if you refuse to test)
Sometimes giving a dog something that doesn't work is far more expensive
that testing to find out what will work. diagnostics is the preffered
approach, but if you can't afford it, see if they will work with you.

Student or not.. you have this dog by choice. Which means, giving it
reasonable care. Those prices ARE reasonable. Your expectations may be a
little unrealistic. As a dog owner, you need to be aware that pet care
budgeting (especially for disasters) must be a planned part of the
financial dynamics. This bill was for a mildly ill dog. A seriously ill dog
racks up bills REALLY fast.

rainy day account:
Decide how much you are willing to spend, before putting the dog down.
(It's not fair to keep a dog suffering) and budget for a rainy day, up to
that amount, or keep a credit card (empty) to cover that set amount.

When you chose to keep a pet, you made a commitment to that care. Which you
did. Welcome to the adult world. Crisis tends to be around every corner,
and you now have an idea how fast costs collect quickly and unannounced.
Advance planning makes these crisises much easier to deal with, and making
advance decisions of how much you are going to spend will also make it
easy. Dogs have short lives. The breed you chose happens to have a shorter
lifespan than most. Almost certainly there are more catastrophes in the
future.

Good luck


  #3  
Old December 22nd 07, 06:20 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
diddy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,108
Default Reasonable dog care

elegy spoke these words of wisdom in
:

On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:21:18 -0800 (PST), yh2665
wrote:

I live in Houston TX. I have a 4 yrs old English Bulldog. I'm
looking for a reasonable price vet to care for my dog.

I took him yesterday to Petsmart because he vomitted the day before.
I had to pay over $200 for the following procedures:
1. $33.95 office visit
2. $8.5 Blood sample collect
3. $52.39 Internal Organ Func Screen
4. $30.55 Blood cell count
5. $18.05 Lipase
6. $52.29 Prochlorperazine injection 5mg
7. $4.85 Medical waste disposal

The total was $200.58 for the visit. In 11/24/07 I had to pay $265 to
Brittmore clinic for office visit, shots and 80 Cetaphaine pills (I
think).

I'm in school part-time and have a job which doesn't pay much. I just
wonder if some pet owners who live in Houston can recommend a
reasonable/affordable vet.


those charges seem quite reasonable to me. lower than what you'd pay
here (exam is $49 and change). (i'm in central PA). dogs aren't cheap.


Lower than what I pay here in rural western ohio, where farmers refuse to
pay much for livestock. If an animal is sick.. sell it! Livestock exchanges
flourish here.
I don't consider the prices unreasonable, but this is a becoming middle
aged dog, whose owner is just beginning to enjoy the middle aged dog
maintenence fees and not liking it very well.
REALITY CHECK!!
  #4  
Old December 23rd 07, 02:09 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
buglady
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 863
Default Reasonable dog care

"yh2665" wrote in message
...
I live in Houston TX. I have a 4 yrs old English Bulldog. I'm
looking for a reasonable price vet to care for my dog.

I took him yesterday to Petsmart because he vomitted the day before.


..............Nothing else going on? He vomited once? No blood in the
vomit? Not repeated, continuous vomiting, even water won't stay down kind
of vomiting? No weird things in the vomit? No lethargy, tenderness in the
abdomen, pale gums? No diarrhea?

..........You can learn to look at some basic things, like eyes, gums,
checking for tenderness, taking temperature, etc. that can go a long way
towards deciding whether or not to head to the vet. Vomiting once with no
other symptoms is not when I'd be heading to the vet. Then again, this is
something you learn over time if you haven't been living with dogs for a
long time.

.......I'm not saying don't pay attention. It takes more attention not to go
to the vet, because you've got to know when you absolutely have to go.

buglady
take out the dog before replying


  #5  
Old December 23rd 07, 08:37 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
Dave Garrett
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7
Default Reasonable dog care

In article cc130b7c-31aa-402b-a092-5917df32a827
@a35g2000prf.googlegroups.com, says...

I live in Houston TX. I have a 4 yrs old English Bulldog. I'm
looking for a reasonable price vet to care for my dog.

I took him yesterday to Petsmart because he vomitted the day before.
I had to pay over $200 for the following procedures:
1. $33.95 office visit
2. $8.5 Blood sample collect
3. $52.39 Internal Organ Func Screen
4. $30.55 Blood cell count
5. $18.05 Lipase
6. $52.29 Prochlorperazine injection 5mg
7. $4.85 Medical waste disposal

The total was $200.58 for the visit. In 11/24/07 I had to pay $265 to
Brittmore clinic for office visit, shots and 80 Cetaphaine pills (I
think).

I'm in school part-time and have a job which doesn't pay much. I just
wonder if some pet owners who live in Houston can recommend a
reasonable/affordable vet.


I agree with other posters who've said that those fees aren't really out
of line for the services rendered. That said, I've always found it far
preferable to find a local vet you like and develop a long-term
relationship with him rather than rely on the vets at the big-box chain
pet stores like PetSmart.

Houston's a big city, and I don't know what part of town you live in,
but if you're within reach of the inner-loop area, I can highly
recommend the vet our GSD has been seeing since she was a pup - he's
near 610 and TC Jester, and is extremely thorough and reasonably priced:

Stephen L. Burda, DVM
1977 West TC Jester
Houston, TX 77008
(713) 869-0202

The address may have changed, but not by much, as they've been in the
process of moving to a larger space across the parking lot but in the
same strip center they've been located in.

Dave

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Pet Care Rick Farr Dog behavior 0 April 8th 06 07:17 PM
Pet Care Tim T. Dog rescue 0 May 26th 05 09:19 PM
Is getting a Chihuahua puppy reasonable for me? Pyro Doug Dog breeds 0 March 28th 04 03:42 PM
ok why can't they take care of me... Nessa Dog behavior 0 October 15th 03 09:45 PM
eye care Dimpled Chad Dog health 1 July 30th 03 01:49 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:52 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0 (Unauthorized Upgrade)
Copyright ©2004-2024 DogBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.