Big

This is a different thread from the one where I shared my thoughts about my dog and his death.

Here I want to share the nasty side of the whole fiasco. 3 months ago my dog screamed occasionally for 2 to 3 days from something and it was a sound I would not want anyone to hear from their dog. It was loud, desperate, scared and begging for help. It was the sound of death.

We took Mugli to the hospital back then in Red Bank, New Jersey. The doctor examined him, said he seems perfectly healthy to him and the only way to find out anything was to do some tests worth some $5K. He thought it could be some problem with his skeletal system or his brain. He gave us some anti-inflammation medicine and told us to tape his screams and bring them in for review. We gave Mugli the pills and he never screamed like that again until he died last week.

What I am thinking is that a tumor in his stomach that big had to be giving him problems 3 months ago. I spoke with a few medical professionals and they agreed that pains could have been brought on by the tumor destroying the nerves around while being in its early stages.

Even when we brough him to the hospital last week they did whole bunch of tests and could not find anything cancer-wise until they cut him open. This means they would do the tests 3 months ago, charge us $5K and would not find anything back then either. They would not find anything in a regular checkup either.

I am just truly disappointed that in the country with the most advanced medicine so to speak, the system is quick to charge you thousands of dollars while being useless in finding a tumor in a dog. Just truly disgusting to me!

Champ Kind

Welcome back Big, glad you are back to your old self again.

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I will smash your face into a car windshield and then take your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out to a nice seafood dinner and never call her again!

Tell me about it, this morning, I woke up and I shit a squirrel, but what I can't get is the damn thing is still alive. So now, I've got a shit covered squirrel running around my office and I don't know what to name it.

Flop The Nuts

Big, you can take a pet to have an MRI, CT, or whatever, but it's pretty expensive. Given how expensive the equipment is, it's no surprise that vets charge a lot for it.

If the vet can't find a big lump, it's difficult to diagnose what the problem is, because the pet can't talk.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but vets have a tough job, given the circumstances.

Wiltz

Jeez Big, $5K get a new Vet. or have your VET refer you to a Veterinary College with the proper equipment ultrasound, X-ray, ect.... You have to pay up front but, you get answers. My sister went through a similar situation a few years back with her American Foxhound it cost her less than $500.00 and they found a tumor in his throat. Under a grand and he lived three + years after the surgery. I will say a good friend of ours is a Vet. and prices seem to be climbing. I have spent $500.00 the last 3 months on Marley for a UTI and now she has a Thyroid condition.

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"He quits, not because he wants to, but because he has to. He has no choice.
" -Tom Brands 01/20/08

Spider

I was going to make a "Big's new pet peeve" joke, but instead I will simply say that I am very friendly with three veterinarians (who don't know one another), and all are compassionate and honorable people. The fact is that many diagnostic tests are expensive. Twenty five or thirty years ago, these tests weren't available, and it was guesswork. True, people weren't faced with difficult financial decisions concerning their beloved pets, but also true that many more animals suffered and died.

Veterinary insurance policies are available, but not too many people take advantage of them.

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"Love never dies." The Beatles

Big

Notice I said I was disappointed with the system, not necessarily with doctors.

They told us at the hospital that insurances for dogs cover only a small portion of the bills for major procedures. I mean, sure maybe there is an insurance that costs $500 per month but who can pay that money for a pet?

Come on Spider, you don't really believe any dog insurance will cover a $2500 brain test just because a dog's owner said he screams of something.

I mean, aren't there some microscopic cameras they can send down his GI tract to look for tumors or something? I mean this sucks!

Wiltz

Actually Big Pet insurance is a lot cheaper than that $500.00 covers the whole year for my 8 year old dog. $240.00 a year for my puppy. Covers up to $1400.00 a year outright and then covers a % after that. This is offered through my company via a third party provider.

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"He quits, not because he wants to, but because he has to. He has no choice.
" -Tom Brands 01/20/08

Big

$1400 per year is really nothing because if your dog really gets sick you need at least $5K to help him and then some of that $1400 will be spent for checkups and stuff.

Say the tumor in my dog was not that big and could be removed. It would cost me $3K for tests, $4K for spleen removal and then possibly another $3K for tumor removal since he was already prepped and cut open.

That would be $10K and then $1400 would be a drop in the bucket.

Then wiltz, I can bet that insurance of yours would not cover $5K worth of tests in case your dog screams.

I am just trying to share reality with people who have dogs and those that are looking to get one.

Big

Put yourself in veterinary doctors' shoes and ask this question:

When they make decisions according to hospital guidelines are they prone to finding the cheapest way possible to help your pet the most or are they prone to finding a way to help your pet while getting the most money they can out of you?

Flop The Nuts

When they make decisions according to hospital guidelines are they prone to finding the cheapest way possible to help your pet the most or are they prone to finding a way to help your pet while getting the most money they can out of you?

I've never gotten the impression that my vet wants to get the most money out of me. It sounds like you need to shop around for a new vet.