we have a wellness plan at banfield and it helps keep costs down.

expensive vet bills..don't forget the help from your humane society
 

:)have you ever thought of your local humane society? I have a wonderful vet and she took in another vet and he was just as good..hee got an offer from the humane society and he told me he can do the sane things as your personal vet for alot less...also they have free food because they want you to be able to keep your pet..the humane societys are full as are the shelters

I do "thrifty" things with my vet. I always break up my shots, but I pay for them all at once. When I come back the second and third time, he doesn't charge me for the second and third OV.

How do you like the wellness plan with banfield? My huband and i are talking about taking baylee there.

$96 sounds like a deal to me! Trust me, it will get worse as Bailey gets older. Yearly blood panels are very important and after age six they need thyroid panels, too. An annual physical for Lady runs several hundred dollars and we don't even do shots any more!

I just spent $250 on her vaginal infection. (She's spayed, BTW). Between the office visit, the vaginal smear to make sure she had an infection, then ten days worth of Baytril, it was $125. It didn't clear right up so we had to do a culture which showed both E-coli and strep. With that and three more weeks of medication it was another $125. :eek:

I honestly don't know how those of you with multiple dogs do it.

Well, I swear vet prices are all over the map. When I would go to Marcel's old vet - I swear I'd spend $200 almost every time. Then I took both boys to the most recent vet, and if you've seen my thread in Sick/Emerg, you know how awful she was -- but her charges were not as high, like the last one -- and maybe now I know why.

And then - took both boys to a Vet Derm. 2 wks agoo - $576 but worth EVERY penny. And Wylie then had to go an Internist (after results from the Derm) - and yesterday that was about $1000.

Yes, when you start getting into specialists the vet bills can really get up there. I am so glad they are available, though, for "complicated" furbabies like my Lady and your boys!

I'm moving to Michigan!
I can't remember all that was on Bud's bill last year but these I
remember:

Exam :$68.00
Heartworm Test: $78.00
Fecal: $28.00
Total bill was $297.00, without heartworm meds. I had some still
at home!
I was just reviewing his last year exam because he goes at the
end of the month and there are some injections he will not be getting
this year, per me! Lepto is one.

P.S. I am going to inquire about the Titer's.
I was told it was over $100.00 but that's ok if it saves
Bud from being over innoculated.

After talking about his yearly coming up I just called the vet for an
appointment.
Guess what?
The vet does not do Titer testing!
What do you think about that? I thought they all did.
My neighbor gave me the price she was charged so I just asked my
vet and he dosen't do it! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Check with your local ASPCA/ or other shelter....they sometimes have vet clinics that are inexpensive.

It sounds like pure stubbornness because it isn't hard.
All he does is draws and sends it to a lab.
Now some think that titers are a waste of time or that they will never replace vaccines but they seem to be a fair starting place to at least try and avoid vaccinating yearly. I would hope if he doesn't do them, he at least offers to follow the AAHA recommendation of every 3 years for DHPP. If not, I'd be gone.

I hear you....
 

I've had the same vet throughout my life for all my animals so I keep him for my 12 year old pekinese just to be loyal. He's done a lot for my family pets throughout the years so I keep him for our Peke. Now that I have 2 pups I found a vet a little less pricey. My female went yesterday and it was only $88.00. If I had gone to our family vet it would have been about $150.00. That's what we paid for our pekinese annual visit. Anyway, there should be a cheaper place in your area. There are low cost spay and neuter clinics that offer low cost shots you may want to google on in your area. My friend used to take her cats to Animal Advocates, it's a low cost vet care facility and it was about 1/2 what she would pay at a regular vet....maybe checking around. Maybe check with the humane society in your area....It is a lot of money but you can cut corners if you check into cheaper places. Just to give you an idea, I refer people who buy my bunnies to low cost spay and neuter clinics and a girl just got her male neutered for $50.00 at a place I recommended. She checked on her own and they were all $300 + in her area....googling helps! You just have to check around.

I'm just glad that its ALLLL OVER with and pray to dear God that Bailey doesn't get sick and the next time he has to go back to the vet is for his next year's shots or if he does get sick hopefully I will be working by then so we could afford it!

I read someone talking about getting teeth pulled and Bailey needs ALOT of his baby teeth pulled and his teeth cleaned but I'm afraid to ASK how much thats is going to be :eek:

It can be expensive, but they are so worth it! :)

I spent around 20k in about two years treating my bullmastiff for cancer. That hurts especially when you are right out of college, but I'd do it all again if given the choice. I got almost two more GOOD years with my big boy. The specialists really do up the cost, but I suppose that makes sense.

Just pray that your baby does not get an illness..the costs can add up. With Izzy diagnosed with pancreatitis this past November we have spent so far over $2,000...and that's not including new food and supplements and regular routine checkups. My husband and I would do anything to keep her healthy. You gotta do what you gotta do..they are our family members and have to be thought of when you get any type of puppy..all the what ifs and can you afford it.

You really don't want to put that off. Retained baby teeth can throw the bite off and cause the jaw bone to grow incorrectly. They will also decay and can abscess which can infect the permanent teeth. The bill will be much, much higher then, too.

Wow! I thought 10 grand for my French Mastiff was a lot....How is he doing? I love mastiff's but they're just too big....my Mastiff was the hugest dog I'd ever seen but so beautiful and sooooo sweet AND extremely smart!! I'd love to see a pic....

He was diagnosed a little bit after his 6th birthday with lymphoma, and he passed just before his 8th. My parents actually got a male and female from the same litter during my first year in college. The female passed away at 4 in her sleep from bloat. Needless to say we were devastated. After I graduated, Hutch (the male) came to live with me. I don't know how much my parents paid for them initially, but between the two of them they had almost every issue that frequent these breeds - Hutch had entropian surgery, Starsky had hip surgery...

Sorry to hear about that! My Bertha had bad knees...fixed the knees several times and had to hold her up with a sling to go potty until she was healed. She passed before her hips got to bad....she was great!

I just took our Yorkie in for shots, Heart Worm and Bordatella(sp) and one month of Frontline Plus. It was $158 and change to get out the door. As much as we want another Yorkie this is something we need to keep in mind.

I forgot to mention that was for three months of Heart Worm and one month of Frontline Plus. Also Petco does shots alot cheaper than the vet, at Valentine's Day this year one of my kids and I went to Fantastic Sams for a haircut and even they were doing a Rabies Clinic! First time we'd ever seen that!!

My vet gave me this stuff that works for fleas, ticks and heartworm in a once a month all in one pack...I'm sure I saved some money getting that one. She had her check up, 3rd set of shots and rabies too for a total of $88.00. I think checking around for less expensive care is key....it still costs money but at least it's not that bad if you check different places.

What is the stuff called? I'd like to check into it. I'd found around here the vets who are farther out of town are a little cheaper than the ones close by. I don't think that is so true anymore, I need to shop around. My old vet used to let me make payments which helped, this one wants the money up front which makes it more difficult.

you know the bad thing about the price of shots, is anyone can order them and give them, (other than rabies in my state) but you can give a full around of shots to a dog for under $6.00!!!! You can go to your co-op and get them one by one. Or you can order them from Discount Pet Supplies, Pet Supply, Online Pet Supplies, or dr frosts & smith. Online and many more. You may want to look into it.

yes anyone can buy vaccines on the internet from certain sites. i haven't seen any place where you can buy just one vaccine. They usually come in packs of 20 something. Also you'll need syringes and needles. And you need to know what your doing....

The last time we went to the vet it came to $43. That was shots and exam.

Our county vet holds a yearly rabies clinic in the park. You can take your animals and stand in a LONG line, but it's only $5.

We used to buy them at a place in Phx and do that but I haven't found a place here that sells anything other than for cows and horses. I haven't checked into buying them online. If I could stand in a long line and get it done for $5.00 I would.

Yeah Vet bills suck. My cat Ashes had to go in for a blocked urinary tract twice in the last 6 months. First time cost me $400 the second time was worse and they had to keep him over the weekend about a month ago. It cost me $900. He also has to be on a prescription diet (mostly wet or moist to prevent the stones from reforming) which is also costing me an extra $60 a month. :( Luckily my vet is pretty nice and is letting me pay off what I couldn't pay upfront a 100 at a time every 2 weeks when we get paid. I only have 2 more payments to make! Then I get to start saving up for my dreamed-of yorkie baby Yipee! Still, the kitten I got for $10 at the pound has turned out to be made of gold! (Hmmmm maybe thats why he keeps getting blocked...:p)

hi i go to the humane soecity ther are preety cheap i live in manhattan new york and its expensive up here and groming is 50.00 bucks and up alots of places are expensive in pet care good luck on your new baby:)

While vaccine clinics have their place, they make me very nervous.
First, no vaccine should be given without an exam.
Even if the vet giving the shots does an exam, whose to say said vet is any good? There is no client/patient/vet relationship in most cases. If you get the exam done at your regular vet's office and then go to the clinic within a few weeks, that seems fair but I would sure hope they have medication for reactions available and they really should have equipment (oxygen, crash cart) there too which I highly doubt most do.

Because vaccines have to be stored just right, shipped in a certain way, disposed of in a certain way, given correctly and someone needs to be near by who can take care of reactions, I would definitely rather not give them myself. I gladly have the vet do it or a tech under a vet's supervision. If something goes wrong, it is their problem to fix.;)