I have a wonderful vet and am so grateful for her. That said, with some conditions, a specialist is needed, as are diagnostic tests. I have access to wonderful board certified specialists and am grateful for them as well. There is not a chance in hell I would trust an online source to diagnose my pets. There are many things that can be advised by experienced pet owners but conditions that require medications or other treatments are not something I want advice on from anyone but my trusted vets.

As for Covid, I am going to simply say, that as a retired public health nurse I am astounded at how misinformed the American public is about health care laws during a pandemic. Nothing that was done with quarantines had to do with our First Amendment . It was about public health. That is all I will say about that.

I totally understand that cost of pet care is extremely high and, as access to more intensive care for our pets is rising, I always advise people to get pet insurance. I believe that veterinary care is becoming an insurance driven industry. I don't go without health insurance for myself; and, after years of spending crazy amounts of money on my pets, i now have pet insurance. Best move I ever made!

Those tests are often very necessary just like they are in human medicine. Health care for pets has become very detailed and with that, the cost is rising.

No, it is not fun taking sickly dogs out to be seen when they are ill. If the right tests are done or allowed to be done, then the vet can advise on treatment. No, not all treatments will work but they should always give you a detailed explanation about the chance they will or will not work and then you can make a decision that is best for your pet. Many times, the treatments/meds DO work. I have a lot of threads on this forum about my previous pets and fosters and their medical conditions.....hospitalizations, treatments and meds and many of them out lived expectations because of those things! The amount of money I have spent over the years is astounding, but I would do it all over again. That said, as I said in another post here, I now have pet insurance.

At the end of the day, yes, in some cases they are old and what is going on perhaps cannot be "fixed". But still.....in order to REALLY know what it is, then taking them out and allowing tests to be done is necessary. Vets don't have crystal balls.

I’m sad to see the Vet bashing. I love my Vet and the specialists I worked with over Callie’s life. They were very honest with me and did things that were necessary. They can’t just look at your dog and guess they do testing for a reason. Some cases maybe harder then others. These Vets go into debt to get an education to save our animals. What a shame….. Hopefully this doesn’t discourage someone from getting Vet care.

It's different situation with vets in different parts of the country/world. Here we don't have really many specialists, just general veterinarian. I have a friend, who is a veterinarian cardiologist, who've been advising me alot, but since she cannot physically examine the dog, it's really hard to get a good professional advice.

As I said, general vets or specialists cannot diagnose properly if not allowed to do the necessary tests.