Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: NiceFish on November 29, 2010, 06:14:18 PM
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Just took my 1 year old bull mastiff into the local vet here on the north shore, facing a possible quite expensive vet bill for multiple xrays and to follow possibly surgery to reconstruct a misaligned joint (joys of large dogs). It's really just the surgery bills that would be tough to swallow, probably in the 1500-2000$ range. He's also developed a cataract so that's another bill of up to 2000 to fix or "remedy" (man did we ever get the pick of the liter or what? Did I mention he's just 1 year old!?)
ANYWAYS, it seems the vet prices reflect the housing market wherever you go, so with that does anyone have any vets that an honest man can afford (i just rent a suite here theres no way I could afford any sort of ownership of land in this area :P) ?
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I use to go to one on capilanio road well above the hwy bridge. I forget the name but it was a 24hr I believe also. They were pretty good to me but this was some time ago. Worth looking up...
:-\
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From what I've noticed, there is a direct correlation of service pricing to market area. There seems to be some that are just simply more expensive (I'm sure they're worth it) and the rest that price according to what the market conditions in that area dictate. It's a tough pill to swallow when your facing a huge vet bill... we have a cat that's cost us in the thousands now for UTI's. What to do about it is a whole other can that I won't open here but needless to say I feel for you.
If you can stand a drive out to say Langley area, I'm sure you'll get a lower price. The service varies from clinic to clinic, some nice some don't seem to be in it for our little furries but more for the money. There is a really good vet in south Langley that's very reasonable. Hell of a drive but might be worth it.
http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/British-Columbia/Langley/Zwamborn-Willem-A-Dr/1751568.html
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The "cheapest" Vet around is on Fraser and 41st in Vancouver. Atlas Animal Hospital. Only used them once but by far the cheapest I could find.
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All vets need to make money, I understand that. This one I went into today was 77 dollars just for the vet to look over my dog, as far as the xrays go, the prices seem to be similar across the board, however it's a crapshoot with surgery prices much like getting a quote on how much to fix your car, all over the place from vet to vet. We have a tough choice to make, as much as we love the dog, he's 1 year old and already has two HUGE problems like this? what does that say for the rest of his life, his other joints, etc. We may have to take the easy way out here as much as we may not want to it may be for the best.
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The "cheapest" Vet around is on Fraser and 41st in Vancouver. Atlas Animal Hospital. Only used them once but by far the cheapest I could find.
I remember taking my old german shepherd there once when she chipped her tooth. That place gave me the worst feeling..vet had blood stains on his jacket, filthy office space. Just seemed shady and was not comfortable taking her there. I've no idea why we didnt take her to our usual vet at the time...may have been in transition from one vet to another at the time.
Vets are expensive all over...but some charge even more...my sister goes to http://www.southburnabyvet.com/index.php and they've always been good. My dog passed away a number of years ago so I'm not too up to date with costs anymore.
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I remember taking my old german shepherd there once when she chipped her tooth. That place gave me the worst feeling..vet had blood stains on his jacket, filthy office space. Just seemed shady and was not comfortable taking her there. I've no idea why we didnt take her to our usual vet at the time...may have been in transition from one vet to another at the time.
Vets are expensive all over...but some charge even more...my sister goes to http://www.southburnabyvet.com/index.php and they've always been good. My dog passed away a number of years ago so I'm not too up to date with costs anymore.
It's opened 24 hours but when I went there to pick up my dog I found the door locked. After knocking on the door for several minutes the vet finally showed up rubbing his eyes. He had been sleeping in the back.
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What I would suggest is to get a few more opinions on your dogs joint problems. As the owner you can ask for the xrays that were taken and take them into another vet to get their opinion on the matter. In some cases with a young dog, you may get lucky and the vet may suggest booking physiotherapy or doing some water exercises with your dog to strengthen the muscles around the joint. Also you should talk to the breeder you got your dog from to see if hip displaysia has been a problem with his line of dogs. If you do decide to go the surgical route with your dog, it will not be cheap. Better to get a good vet skilled in surgery rather than a fly by night outfit. Also there will be secondary costs as the dog will need some physio to strengthen the muscles after the surgery. Whatever decision you make, try your best, that is all you can do in situations like this.
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What I would suggest is to get a few more opinions on your dogs joint problems. As the owner you can ask for the xrays that were taken and take them into another vet to get their opinion on the matter. In some cases with a young dog, you may get lucky and the vet may suggest booking physiotherapy or doing some water exercises with your dog to strengthen the muscles around the joint. Also you should talk to the breeder you got your dog from to see if hip displaysia has been a problem with his line of dogs. If you do decide to go the surgical route with your dog, it will not be cheap. Better to get a good vet skilled in surgery rather than a fly by night outfit. Also there will be secondary costs as the dog will need some physio to strengthen the muscles after the surgery. Whatever decision you make, try your best, that is all you can do in situations like this.
This is very obviously a mis-alignment of the joint , and it's very noticeable if you compare his two front legs, one is way more developed than the other, this has probably been a problem all along but he's been able to make due but as he's added more weight it's given him more trouble. It's one thing to have these surgeries done and bite the bullet but there is nothing saying it isn't going to be in other joints as well and quite frankly it may just be. I have two bullmastiffs and this one has always been "different" in terms of the way he has developed.
We love our dog but we don't want to see him going under the knife every year or so, he's not a science project and we are not trying to play god here.
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Sounds to me that your gut is saying to put the pooch down. Sometimes it makes sense. Like you said, two large problems for a one year old pup could be a sign of things to come. Everyone is different regarding their pets, some wouldn't put their pet down over their dead body, others are more rational thinkers. Are years of physiotherapy, possible complications, ongoing issues etc, doing the best service to the animal itself?
Either way, tough call. I wish you and the pooch the best of luck.
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yeah this is why I drive an old beater and not a newer car. Five years ago when my dog was 9mo he had a bit of a gibbled skippy walk and I found nothing wrong with his paws etc. Took him to our Vet.
Vet took Xrays, recommended TPO surgery which was done at another clinic.
We had surgery done at a in Vancouver on Boundary Road. Cost was very high, but we plan on keeping our dog around til he packs it in at age 16-18 so it's only $500/year, amortized over his lifespan.
Surgery isn't something to monkey around with. You wouldn't let your best buddy open you up to remove your appendix, even though he's cleaned hundreds of fish, would you?
Other option is to get another dog. But only a non-dog owner would ever say that.
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This is very obviously a mis-alignment of the joint , and it's very noticeable if you compare his two front legs, one is way more developed than the other, this has probably been a problem all along but he's been able to make due but as he's added more weight it's given him more trouble. It's one thing to have these surgeries done and bite the bullet but there is nothing saying it isn't going to be in other joints as well and quite frankly it may just be. I have two bullmastiffs and this one has always been "different" in terms of the way he has developed.
We love our dog but we don't want to see him going under the knife every year or so, he's not a science project and we are not trying to play god here.
I once met a lady who had a dog that was jumping around more so than a normal dog of it's kind and she said that he could not do so before and in fact could not even walk properly!!!
She took him to a vet on Fraser hwy in surrey that uses a "alternative" methods like acupuncture for example and it apparently worked quite well. I've also heard other good story's about her.
I personally believe that surgery and stuff should be used as a last chance approach, but it makes vets a lot of money.... and seems to be the first approach.
Give her a call and see what she says; 604 597 1913, her name is Dennis I believe (it's a her!)
And call around! My dog once ate a fish hook with line attached. When I pulled the line the hook obliviously started to poke her. :o She did some things that made me think she was going to die right there. :'( it passed ;D and when I got back to civilization and the nearest phone I started calling vets. I was broke and still young with little cash and every vet was saying do this and do that and that meant BIG$$$$.
Well.... I finally called one (about 14 vets later) and explained my situation. She said that instead of doing all this stuff, just watch the dog for any signs of problem. If there are no problems then there is no concern. If there are then Bring her in for xrays and stuff.
Well... she is fine to this day and I guess the hook "passed". I think this was in part to the line being attached and keeping it pointed the "right way" well on its journey but the biology of life is amazing and is quite resilient.
This lady I spoke to answered the phone and may have not even been a vet, but she knew what she was talking about and helped me big time!!!
Ever since, every one that answers the phones knows little if anything and just says bring her (and your wallet) in and we'll do stuff.... NO THANKS
I really wished I had her number and all I know is she is in chilliwack area.
BUT, the moral of the story is look around... do your homework and ask questions.... as there are only a few good ones in any profession.
I bet you could spend all day calling vets within the lower mainland but that is far cheaper than going to the wrong one and doing something not needed.
Her is another one I liked and my sister went to. http://angelanimalhospital.net/
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It may be a good idea to google search the vet you might bring your dog to. There will be people giving their experiences of vets they use. From there you can make an informed decision and bring your dog to a vet that will be most experienced and your dog will be in good hands. Hope you find a good vert for him! Good luck.
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http://www.bullmastiffsonline.com/health.html
The Bullmastiff looks like a big Pug which is scary.
read this page in particular
http://www.bullmastiffsonline.com/hip.html
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I think that we've come to our decision to have him put down. Coming home from work he's even worse, he can't find any comfort in where he lays down and he is now limping on his front leg and rear legs (this is what i had feared whether or not this was going to be problematic in a few of his joints). We love our do, we really do but I think this is for the best. (We also have another bull mastiff who is two years old and is problem free thus far).
As far as the vets go - I've always taken "due diligence" in whom I take my dogs to as I've moved to 3 different cities in the past 2 years, we've been to several. Some great some not so good, I was just looking for ones that have great service with reasonable price points, however these surgeries appear to be similar prices across the board as well.
It's so difficult beacuse he is still just a pup and we have to make a decision to take away a member of our family. I feel like such a terrible human being but in my gut it just feels like the correct decision.
Thank you for your input Brian, I admire your loyalty to your pooch and wish the best of health to him, I wish it was as simple for my guy, however we are in at about 2000 dollars already this year on vet bills for him (other issues he's had dehydration and direreha as a puppy, testing, bloodwork xrays done when he was 6 months to figure out why he can't seem to hold his bladder (he's since improved somewhat but will still urinate in his crate if left alone for 7-8 hours).
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Nicefish-- you have my complete sympathy. As a dog owner all my adult life I have had to make those tough decisions too. But sometimes it is best to do what is best for yout pet, ....
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Well I made the call to the vet and it was met with the utmost resistance! Couldn't believe it even as I explained my story and my reasoning to not pursue further treatment, basically wanted to "do the surgery and see what happens" so, I remarked well after the surgery and things do not go exactly as "planned" and you agree to put him down, who is going to cover the bill? "Well its your dog your responsibility!" What a surprise.... Sometimes you have to wonder what the vets are thinking here, yes IT IS my dog and we've come to our decision!
Sorry i am using this as a bit of a vent for me as my wife is just a mess.
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Sorry to hear about your dog.Is a very tough time indeed.
From the sounds of it you are doing what needs to be done.
I would take him somewhere else and find a new Vet.
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We were pointed in the direction of a vet who would put our dog down last night. It was gut wrenching for us, we actually went through two vets before the 3rd one agreed to put or dog down. The second one decided to call the 1st vet to get thier story - so of course they declined what we wanted to do, again citing the dog is so young and we should wait atleast a month on "pain medication" that they had given us (although we were never given any pain medication, just some anti inflammatory to hold us over till we made a decision. It came down to us bringing our dog in and them having a morale debate over it untill I stepped in and said "do you think I would really bring my healthy dog that I love and cherish to be put down? Am I some type of monster do you not see the hurt and anguish in our faces over this? He's young we know that, and he does not deserve a life full of surgery and treatment."
In the end it was clear that everything that he did that was cute when we had him were all signs of problems, regardless of the cataract and the front elbow in his leg, i am 100% certain he had hip dysplasia as well , having all the early signs of it just with the way he walked and the way he sat with his hips, that was only a ticking time bomb before he was going to be crippled with it -- and there is no real concrete cure for it.
The whole result of this is that we purchased this dog from what was just some person breeding their own dogs probably in an uneducated way, our other one came from a registered quality breeder and Kato has been a complete gem health and personality wise as compared to Jericho who seemed to have a majority of the issue that this breed faces.
If I can offer some advice over this if you are thinking about getting a dog, more importantly a pure breed make sure to know the breeder and ask to see health records of the dogs they are breeding.
RIP Jericho
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We were pointed in the direction of a vet who would put our dog down last night. It was gut wrenching for us, we actually went through two vets before the 3rd one agreed to put or dog down. The second one decided to call the 1st vet to get thier story - so of course they declined what we wanted to do, again citing the dog is so young and we should wait atleast a month on "pain medication" that they had given us (although we were never given any pain medication, just some anti inflammatory to hold us over till we made a decision. It came down to us bringing our dog in and them having a morale debate over it untill I stepped in and said "do you think I would really bring my healthy dog that I love and cherish to be put down? Am I some type of monster do you not see the hurt and anguish in our faces over this? He's young we know that, and he does not deserve a life full of surgery and treatment."
In the end it was clear that everything that he did that was cute when we had him were all signs of problems, regardless of the cataract and the front elbow in his leg, i am 100% certain he had hip dysplasia as well , having all the early signs of it just with the way he walked and the way he sat with his hips, that was only a ticking time bomb before he was going to be crippled with it -- and there is no real concrete cure for it.
The whole result of this is that we purchased this dog from what was just some person breeding their own dogs probably in an uneducated way, our other one came from a registered quality breeder and Kato has been a complete gem health and personality wise as compared to Jericho who seemed to have a majority of the issue that this breed faces.
If I can offer some advice over this if you are thinking about getting a dog, more importantly a pure breed make sure to know the breeder and ask to see health records of the dogs they are breeding.
RIP Jericho
I watched a friend's Shepherd suffer from displasia until the dog was finally put down - it was heart breaking.
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What many people forget is that pets are a luxury...NOT a need.
A person's dog to a vet is no different than a fishing reel to someone who repairs fishing reels. Both situations make money for the person doing the fixing.
Anyone buying a dog nowadays will understand that vet bills can run well into the thousands of dollars. If you are not prepared for that, then don't buy a dog.
If you have to go without a dog in your life, your kids will still be fed, you will still have a place to live. Dogs to not provide a basic humanitarian need for the average person.
As for fighting with the vets when they refuse to put your animal down and try to manipulate you into paying for expensive treatments.....you have perfect legal rights to do the deed yourself.
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Yes of course pets are a luxury, but there is a limit to what some people can spend on their pets when they do become sick or have an accident.
I did manipulate the vet however they simply won't do anything for free, not even an xray, obviously it shows where they stand.
This case wasn't about a single surgery and he's all fine and dandy it was more about a life time of surgeries and still not being 100% and we just cannot put our dog through something like that, it's not a good quality of life.
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I know it is a bit early but if you get a pet next consider getting pet medical insurance. It is the least you can do to ensure your pet will always be able to get the medical treatment it deserves. I pay around 35 a month from Trupanion and it has unlimited coverage.
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I feel for you. Putting m dog down was the hardest thing I've had to do. They're truly a member of the family and it's a very tough decision. Definitely when purchasing a dog you have to be careful, puppy mills and pet shops usually have dogs who are sick and bred improperly and will have a multitude of health issues. Some health issues are common for certain breeds, like poor hips for German sheperds.
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I know it is a bit early but if you get a pet next consider getting pet medical insurance. It is the least you can do to ensure your pet will always be able to get the medical treatment it deserves. I pay around 35 a month from Trupanion and it has unlimited coverage.
careful, things like TPO for hip displaysia are NOT covered under pet insurance. Ask me how I know. ::)
Nicefish, you have my condolensces. I hope to never have to walk in your shoes.
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We did look into pet insurance for both our dogs (we had 2 bullmastiffs) however it just didn't make sense it was something about 100$ a month per dog for near full coverage on most things with "limits" in each category of illness or sickness. We decided to just put money away every month as we figured that the dogs wouldn't require much more than the annual checkup and shots untill they were atleast 3-4 years old in which time enough money would be saved up to afford some stuff and then we could come up with the rest. Like I said (maybe i didn't say it here) we could have afforded to put jericho through all the medical stuff but that wasn't our wish for a dog, not a project to get healthy his life would be half over by the time he was near normal and then his developing displaysia would have crippled him soon after if it hadn't of done it already.
We made the mistake here - i bought my first dog from a CKC breeder, checked out the parents, saw health records of them, 100% quality pups. Jericho, we just bought from some lady in Calgary cause we wanted another dog but we didn't do our homework. That being said, sometimes you do get great dogs from non registered breeders but always check the background - and we didn't do that on this case and we paid for it. So hopefully someone can take that lesson from this, save your self the emotional heartache. I think the most important thing is to see where the dogs are being bred, and you need to see the entire medical history of the dogs.
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I think you have made the right choice, for you and for your dog... but it doesn't matter what anyone here says or thinks anyways... the dog is your responsibility and ultimately the decision is yours.
It's always hard to put down a pet. :'(
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Dont buy a dog if you cant take care of it knowmatter what may happen.Spend the 100 a month or whatever else you hadto do.I had a bill last year go just over 6500 bucks and still managed to pay it as I do not believe in killing a pet when it is over somthing that CAN be fixed, sickening.......Simply go in, put a deposit down and make friggin payments.Thats all I did.Sorry about my rant but there was alot more you could have done.Worst comes to worse, BORROW.
Iam done
Sorry for your loss >:(
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You are right I am such a horrible and terrible person because I saw the early signs of what was going to be a life time of pain for my dog. So I put him down, I only did this cause I am a cheap prick who didn't want to spend a dime on his dog! How do you know me so well? I won't bore you with the details of how emotional it was for us and how much I cried over this, I'm human too after all. Read my posts. I said I could afford the bills, I can easily borrow if I have to, I've got a big limits on my credit cards it wouldn't have been an issue, what I was looking for was a possibly more "affordable" vets that someone might recommend who has performed quality work.
It's a selfish choice to keep an animal alive if it's in consistent pain, it doesn't understand, as much as it loves you and you love it, it's still in pain and has no idea why. I hope your pet is healthy and pain free, I really do. I wasn't talking about just one surgery here I was talking about multiple ones, hell I wish it was from an accident then I would have bucked up and had the surgery but it was genetics, something you cannot change is the DNA make up of an animal and how it is going to develop.
At the end of the day a decision had to be made, and we can discuss right and wrong about it for the rest of time as there are valid reasons for both sides, but we made our decision, what's done is done and we can move on and live life feeling comfortable that we made the correct decision for us.
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Dont buy a dog if you cant take care of it knowmatter what may happen.Spend the 100 a month or whatever else you hadto do.I had a bill last year go just over 6500 bucks and still managed to pay it as I do not believe in killing a pet when it is over somthing that CAN be fixed, sickening.......Simply go in, put a deposit down and make friggin payments.Thats all I did.Sorry about my rant but there was alot more you could have done.Worst comes to worse, BORROW.
Iam done
Sorry for your loss >:(
What a frickin moron.
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I think you have made the right choice, for you and for your dog... but it doesn't matter what anyone here says or thinks anyways... the dog is your responsibility and ultimately the decision is yours.
It's always hard to put down a pet. :'(
Bang on Marmot. I have been there and done that; always a tough decision to euthanize a pet. NiceFish, I would have done the same.
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From my experience it is often the non dog owners who are the biggest complainers. If you think you did the right thing for your dog then all is good.
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We may have to take the easy way out here as much as we may not want to it may be for the best.
That's a horrible decision to have to make, whether your dog is 1 or 18, and I sympathise with you. Personally, I wouldn't put down my dog, especially if I considered him/her a member of the family, (which I do, with my own pets) if it was even in part due to a few thousand $$$ of treatments. Owning pets is a big responsibility, it's a time committment and a financial committment. With respect, I feel you did as you said above, take the easy way out, as painful as that was.
Sorry you had to go through that, it's always tough.
D$
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careful, things like TPO for hip displaysia are NOT covered under pet insurance. Ask me how I know. ::)
Nicefish, you have my condolensces. I hope to never have to walk in your shoes.
Trupanion covers Hip Dysplasia for an a bit more every month. For instance if you enroll a bullmastiff it costs $42 bux a month with $1000 dollar deductable and $66 for a $500 deductable. Both including the optional hip dysplasia covereage and they have NO PAYOUT limit per claim.
I am not sure what TPO is tho. I have a small dog and I have used insurance a few times, that is why I suggest it.