24 hour emergency vet clinics

There is a post about 24 hour emergency vet clinics. I had a bad experience at one last year on Memorial day. My favorite cat(Whitey) had a run in with a possum that used to live near my shop. The cat was about 6 months old and got a few puncture wounds and looked to be bleeding internally and was in shock.
Could not find a vet on call in our area that day(no one answered the emergency numbers). I called a 24 hour clinic in Buffalo, NY. The girl told me to bring the cat in and have $500 in my pocket. Long story short, I took the cat and they told me she needed emergency surgery. The vet gave me a written estimate for $1660. Asked the vet if she could give my cat something for pain and rehydrate her to see if it would alleviate the shock symptoms(it was 3 am). The vet obliged and said she had to go and operate on a dog hit by a car. I overhead the estimate for the dog and it was $1958. Then I decided to leave with my cat. Told the office girl and vet I would pay $200 and that was generous. My cat and I left and it was now 5 am. At 8 am took the cat to my local vet. He examined her and aked to keep her a day or two for observation. The cat was good to go and the bill was $125(not bad around here).
The vet told me a lot of the 24 hour clincs in the larger cities are Wall street fincanced. Profit is the number one reason for their existence. I looked in The wall street journal archives online and found two articles to support his claim.
I will really think twice(maybe more) before I go to another 24 hour emergency clinic in the city.

Have a friend who's cat went somewhere in the neighborhood at night and came back dragging a hind leg. He took cat to vet; they operated and pinned leg to hip; charged him $500 for that. It turned out that someone had shot the cat near the hip with a pellet gun - vet removed the pellet.

Previous to that, his young lab ate a whole bunch of things that it shouldn't have and had an obstructed bowel. He took it to a different vet, who kept the dog overnight and said that he "massaged" the bowel to remove the obstruction. That bill was $3,000.

I know what I would have done with that dog - and it wasn't fork over $3,000 for it's care.

There is NOT; repeat, there is NOT, a shortage of dogs in this country. I suspect thousands are put down every day in this country, yet some people saw fit to import a bunch of Russian mutts to keep as pets. They could have gotten better dogs at the local pound than those they imported.

Few years ago a cute little calico kitty showed up at my house. My little daughter took that as a sign from heaven that God wanted her to have a cat.

Fast forward a few months: Found the cat in distress, no movement in the back legs. Naturally it was a holiday, so off to the emergency care clinic. $700 to treat the cat for a crushed pelvis (apparently a car hit her).

Fast forward a few more months: Callie is in a motherly way, and she is in distress. Of course, a holiday, so off again to the emergency clinic. The crushed pelvis is preventing delivery of the kittens, so one c-section later we have a stray cat worth a total of $1,800.

Now I'm like a lot of you guys---I know the economy method of treating a sick or badly-injured animal. But not with a little girl crying in my ear.

Incidentally, the cat recovered and about a month later disappeared (not my doing). Never saw her again.

I figure little girls multiply pet expenses by a factor of about 500.

Yes, but what is your pet's life worth to you? I dread having something happen to one of my cats in the evening because it means a trip to the night hospital and at least a thousand dollar bill before I walk out of the place. I would rather have a healthy cat than the money. But then, I am a cat person.

That's why pet insurance, you get it all back minus any deductable you choose.We've never had any luck with female vets, you can call us sexist,but so far that is how it happened with us.Male vets we have had no problems with. We've lost 2 companions at the hands of 2 female vets, who were inept or didn't care.
LOU

Friend of mine visited one of those "clinic's", was told to leave her mastercard and the dog. Called later to say that card was maxed after two days and to leave another one!!!

I put both arms in the air at check out and ask when can I put 'em down.

I am sorry but, I cannot spend more than $500 or so on a dog or cat. I know, I am heartless 3astard but, to save a dog for $1,800, ummm......Nope. That buys a lot of groceries, and makes the house payment too.

Lady Vets Vs. Men Vets? We have a Basset Hound, this is germane to the story she's a HOUND and acts like hounds do, or to put it another way she's a pack animal and if you're not from her pack be wary. I've watched her with the kids and she very much understands she's lower in the pack hierarchy than any people member. First vet (the lady) comes into the exam room and starts the exam, in the process things get put up places dogs don't normally like having things shoved up. Dixie Belle gets a little cranky and growls and bares her teeth. Vet decides the dog has an attitude, marks it in her file. Dog now has to wear a muzzle anytime she's in the exam room and every time we visit we get the lecture about how she has an attitude and it's genetic and we should NEVER bred her. My remark didn't help, geesh doc if I walked in and didn't say high or pat you on the head or nothing before I started stuffing stuff up your backside you'd probably get a little cranky too! When the dog is about 3 years old we move, further out in the country the local vet is primarily dairy cattle guy but has small animal hours at the clinic. About the 3rd time we have Dixie in his clinic he leans over and tells me if we ever consider breeding her he'd like one of the puppies.

My akita ate a pile of tacklis once my wife wanted to take the dog to the the vet I refused, dog lived. Then the dog got into a bag of disposal razors ate only the razor part off. there's nothing funnier then a dog sh!ting razor blades. The dogs still alive at age 13.