So I took our dog to the vet yesterday for her yearly checkup. When I mentioned to a friend last night how much they charged me, she said she'd never been charged that much at the vet. I also seem to remember that last year it was about 40 dollars cheaper and the only difference was that last year she had her distemper-parvo vaccine and this year she had a rabies vaccine.
I paid: $46-comprehensive exam, $32-bordetella vaccine, $24-rabies vaccine, $25-intestional worm exam, $42-heartworm test, $17-nail trimming. Total $140 plus $34 for 6 months of heartgard
I also took the cat because he has the horrible dandruff and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a more severe problem (he'd been there just a couple months earlier). I paid $56 just for his exam, and $22 for a stupid 6oz bottle of fish oil.
My total was $300. I just want to make sure that I'm not getting ripped off...does this seem equivalent to what you pay?
Re: Vet Bills..what do you pay?
We go to Mitchell Mill Vet and I really like them. The prices seem about the same but I'd have to look at the bills to make sure.
http://mitchellmillvet.com/
Sounds about right. We took Lucy in a couple months ago and paid about the same. She was in for her yearly and a couple other shots. We need to take Gir for her Yearly soon. Hopefully she'll be cheaper since she's a cat.
Dumb question. . .does pet insurance work like people insurance? or does it only cover surgeries and big ticket things (I'm researching it now and debating on getting it)
Hm, that's kind of funny to me b/c I used to go to Bowman and I left them because I felt they overcharged me, and that was with just my cats (didn't have the dog yet). I'd have to look at my vet bills to see how much we pay now, but what you said sounds about right. Where do you go now? I go to Leesville and while I think the pricing for those services is similar, they are really good about giving care for little things without us needing to get an appointment (which saves us) and I never feel like they are pushing meds/testing on us unlike @ Bowman. They've kept our cats there during the day to wait for them to pee to get a urine sample and don't charge us for keeping them. We can just drop by if the dog needs a shot or to have her anal glands squeezed and they'll take her without an appointment. On a seperate note, we've gotten our dog's nails ground down at petsmart and I don't think it was that expensive, maybe around $11-12?
wow I love my vet even more than I did before... we paid around $95 last year for our dog's annual check up, including all shots but bordatella.
Maybe it's bc we are in SC and out of the "city" ?
J is 72lbs, here is his breakdown from 3/1
physical: 52.00
lepto vac: 10.50
lab profile B (bloodwork): 46.00
kennel cough: 19.50
Giardia sample: 29.00
so to me, yours sounds cheap. j is still good on rabies and parvo until next year.
My sister and I were just talking about this yesterday. She has researched it pretty extensively and has found that pet insurance only covers major things.
You can actually buy a pet insurance plan which will cover your annual visits and shots and dental cleanings but in my opinion it is not worth it. Instead put money away into a savings account each month to save up for these expenses. I put $50 away every pay check since I have 2 dogs and 1 cat and I use that money to pay for their food and their annual visits. I do have pet insurance for one dog through go petplan who are amazing. I pay $25 a month and it covers accidents and illness and it is worth it ...we have a $50 deductible and then the plan covers everything else.
This one pup is a trouble maker..not her fault...but last year while on unemployment she racked up 5k in vet bills...so we got the pet insurance ...last month she hurt her back...$700 in vet bills all was paid by insurance except $100