Gun Dog Forum

I have been using this vet about a year and this is my fourth vet. I have been happy with the care and had a rough year so we were there a lot and I spent quit a bit. An office visit is $70 just to come in the door with an appt. if you just show up with an emergency its $90. But what bothers me is no matter what the reason for the visit I get a speech about why I should spay my dogs. I have two females and I like to trial a little and we hunt. All the vets I have gone to give me the same story if I dont spay them they are going to get cancer. Yesterdays vist I was told besides cancer they will get some kind of sists inside and out and these always end in major medical care and or death.

My first question is there any truth to this?

My next question is after the dogs had there shots in July all of a sudden they are telling me I need more shots for Canine Influenza and for Kennel Cough also a fecal test for $48 when there is no sign of worms and dogs take worm pills.

Are these shots really needed and is this fecal really needed yearly.

My third is the use of Ivermeckin for worms and heart worm. It is way cheaper and I know people who use it and say it is fine. My vet of course disagrees and he also sells me the worm pills at $72 a year per dog.

Anyone know about this?

It just annoys me how they go on about this, it was so bad at my first vet with her insisting I spay the dog for her health and I was basicly killing the dog if I did not do it I left for my second. The second vet turned me away in an emergency and I had to find a third. The third was good but he was 80 miles away which is how I ended up at the fourth when I had another emergency and needed the vet on a sunday. I can live with the high prices as I dont see a choice here in NY but I almost told her off this last visit and I dont want to shop for another vet.
MM

The spaying is a load of crap. I've never heard of such BS. Your vets suck sorry man.

I would get the Kennel cough and influenza. Very important. Heart worm test every three years. Look into heart guard. Chewables. All you need is a prescription from your vet and Foster and Smith sells them decent price.

in Long Island i'd have the dog on round the year heartworm preventative.....no tests needed as long as there is no break in medication.

Dogs in the east will get heartworm if left unprotected.


I'd find another vet, one that's not on the kool-aid and trying to go to the Bahamas on your money, and pushing unneeded treatments and trying to scare you.....

Law requires rabies be given by a vet. The vet that is at my store for our vaccination clinic does not like the three year protocol for dogs under three years old. The AVMA and heartworm med mqnufacturers now require an annual blood test. Our price for those two things would be $42.

Biggest risk for an unspayed young bitch is pyometria, breast cancer increases after seven. Females spayed young have an increased risk of bone cancer and hemangiosarcoma.

We no longer recommend the canine flu shot because research is out that shows the virus has mutated and the vax has not been changed to reflect that. Kennel cough is useful if your dog is frequently exposed to other dogs. Ours is $12.

We've also been going around in circles with vets since moving last year.

Ivomec is fine...no reason to spend $$ on heartguard. Just make sure it's not expired.

Kennel cough...you can buy the intranasal vaccine and give yourself (Drs. foster & smith sell it).

I don't give canine influenza...it's never been recommended.

A vet must give Rabies vaccine. You can give all others yourself (they're really easy to give).

$70 for an office visit???? Holy Cow! I pay $25 for an office visit, and if I bring multiple dogs at the same time, I get a discount. $20 for the 2nd dog, $10 for the 3rd and $15 for each additional dog....then a 10% discount on the total.

Oh and as far as spaying. All my girls are intact. We're considering spaying Tessa (who is 7 1/2 yrs old) as we don't plan to breed her again, but we haven't decided for sure.

I have checked all around and 60 to 80 is the office visit price. I wish I could get a discount for more than one dog cause I am thinking of adding a third dog. I think I will switch to the ivomec after I run out of the interceptor pills. I also think I need to set the vet straight but I hate to do that but seems like I either take the speech about how I am killin my dogs or say somthing. It goes against what I was taught about never argue or back talk anybody who is giving you health care or making your food.
MM

mm wrote:I have checked all around and 60 to 80 is the office visit price. I wish I could get a discount for more than one dog cause I am thinking of adding a third dog. I think I will switch to the ivomec after I run out of the interceptor pills. I also think I need to set the vet straight but I hate to do that but seems like I either take the speech about how I am killin my dogs or say somthing. It goes against what I was taught about never argue or back talk anybody who is giving you health care or making your food.
MM

Why do you consider explaining your reason for not spaying negative? Hard to hve much of a conversation if everyone is afraid to express themselves.

Ezzy

I am in SW Mo and my annual vet is $115 per dog. I also do Ivermectin, much easier and I know the 1st day of every month i give them a dose. Iam on my third vet and never had a problem with this pair. They also told me after we talked about breeding that my girls are good dogs to breed. I would say the best way to ease your mind is talk to your vet about breeding and let them know your intensions. There are a lot of people out there that the vet is talking about, not caring who or what is bred. You should keep searching until you find a vet that makes you happy and treats your dogs well.

I go to a fourth generation family practice vet and they are great. No BS, never once tried to talk me into neutering, simply asked what my plan was and didn't show any bias one way or another. They're fine with me using Ivermectin and just do a heartworm blood test once a year. Couple weekends back my pup got a scratch on his eye on a Saturday hunt. Had to bring him into an emergency vet (different clinic.) They charged me $250 for the visit, three days of pain meds and eye drops. Brought the pup into my vet later that week to make sure the eye was healing and they didn't charge me a dime. I'm pretty sure they didn't benefit at all from the original visit to the emergency vet either. I'd strongly recommend anyone in the twin cities to give my vet a try.

You need a new vet. This guy has been treating housewives Pomeranians for too long.

Not gonna address the things I don't know about, but I will address the spaying issue. If you're not planning to breed, I would spay the dogs. I had a good friend lose two setters a year and a half ago, one to mammary cancer that they caught too late and the other to pyometra. Both preventable by spaying. They were nice dogs too!

But I also wouldn't want a vet that I couldn't communicate with well and if I wanted to keep the dogs intact and they wouldn't leave it be, then I'd be looking for a new vet.

Holy Crap! Im not charging enough....