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So I schedule my supposedly in perfect health 2 year old cat to be neutered. Estimate for that is $700-$1k. For an 11 pound cat. I go in yesterday for the EKG and bloodwork they do to make sure he can handle surgery and the sedation, that comes to $340. I get a call on it today saying his platelets are low (87k, normal is 200k) so they want another $100 to manually look at his blood. There was also concern for heart disease (yay!) and suggested chest xrays to determine if it is or not. Thats another $744. I really want to do them to rule it out or see what needs to be done if he does indeed have heart disease but I dont have that kind of money laying around. I work hardly above minimum wage. All of this on top of starting something new at work and being in charge of all the phone calls today. I work in a law office, I was hired for real estate but the attorney decided to stop doing that and throw me into personal injury with no knowledge or experience. That is what im taking calls on today. Ive been given NO formal training, may have messed up once already because a client said they wanted to bring in papers and when I relayed that to the paralegal in the office she said the call was for her and they cant come in at that time for a meeting even though I was only told its to drop off papers. Today is going fucking wonderfully. I honestly just need this to be over. I cant even find another job because the market is so garbage (us citizen). I apply to jobs im well overqualified for and still dont hear back ever. Hell I applied to clean kennels at a shelter and STILL didnt hear anything from them. I pet sit and own animals myself, im familiar with cleaning up pee, poop, vomit, etc. as well as giving stuff like oral meds. Its all stuff I can do/have done but somehow im not qualified. |
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I cannot believe those vet bills. This a night mare. I must admit it is cheaper for neutering over here in UK. Which is a surprise as excesive vets bills has been raised as an issue here in parliament. As for your job just don't panic. Even the way you write is so competant. You will overcome your initial lack of knowledge very quickly. You can do it. Best of luck xx |
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Administrator |
That's crazy. You might want to check if there are any low cost neuter/spay services in your area. Sometimes there are ones that do charitable type work with deep discounts. |
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ZeroZero said:
I cannot believe those vet bills. This a night mare. I must admit it is cheaper for neutering over here in UK. Which is a surprise as excesive vets bills has been raised as an issue here in parliament. As for your job just don't panic. Even the way you write is so competant. You will overcome your initial lack of knowledge very quickly. You can do it. Best of luck xx
I couldnt either, I was expecting maybe 300 - 500 for his neuter and it ended up being double. The only reason im doing it there is because the clinic is offering $200 off spays and neuters. I also trust this vet as theyve handled all our animals and done good by them (2 dogs, another cat, and 2 rabbits). The other clinic thats near us, however, neglected our older dog. He would come in with bloody urine and pain and they would send him home with antibiotics and painkillers. Couple years later we go to our current clinic because the episode he has was during regular business hours instead of the middle of the night and they immediately find the problem. It was a grapefruit sized mass in his abdomen, likely cancer. They also said it couldnt have formed overnight and the other clinic should have been able to catch it. He unfortunately had to be put down because of it. And thank you, I appreciate that. I try but it gets frustrating and overwhelming sometimes |
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Cadence Farms said:
That's crazy. You might want to check if there are any low cost neuter/spay services in your area. Sometimes there are ones that do charitable type work with deep discounts.
I did try that after I got the original quote but unfortunately every single one I called or tried to make an appointment with told me they were only taking ferals, no public pets. That would have been wonderful considering their prices were around $200 for a neuter. In the end I was left with trying a new clinic I know nothing about, a clinic we dont trust, and our current one. |
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...We pay $50 to spay/neuter our cats...and it's considered a 'donation' not a fee. Thats insane. The place we go bases it off of your income bracket. We've had 3 females spayed there and every single one came back healthy and healed well. 1 of them passed due to unrelated cause but the other 2 girls are going on 7 years of being completely healthy with no complications. |
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Sunset River Arabian said:
...We pay $50 to spay/neuter our cats...and it's considered a 'donation' not a fee. Thats insane. The place we go bases it off of your income bracket. We've had 3 females spayed there and every single one came back healthy and healed well. 1 of them passed due to unrelated cause but the other 2 girls are going on 7 years of being completely healthy with no complications.
It should be that way everywhere, honestly. With how big the stray issue is here in the US spays/neuters should be far more accessible than they are, not just for strays either. Instead they charge crazy high prices |
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So update: The vet called me back this morning to tell me that even with the manual look his platelet count is still low & he needs to go in for another draw. This is another $200. On top of the already egregiously high quote I got originally and the extra $100 I spent yesterday to have it looked at manually.
I relay this information to my mother, who will be driving me, as I dont have a car. Instead of just understanding that its frustrating she decides to start going on about how I need to see if theres anything I can do to make his blood less sticky and clumpy despite the vet telling us (yes, BOTH of us. She heard it too)that cat blood is weird and sticky. Saying im "going down a rabbit hole" because im doing the REQUIRED testing for surgery. If his platelet count isnt high enough they wont do it because concern for bleeding. I also feel the need to add that it was my mother in the first place who pushed for him being neutered.
For context, I still live at home. Im 19, low income & not in school because of that. But I am doing my best with what I can. I pay her "rent" (pitch in for groceries and rent) and do what im told around the house as I should. My cat, Jiji, will occasionally have accidents. Not spraying, full on squatting, emptying his bladder, and vigorously trying to cover it up. Ive done everything I can think of to try and stop it, and to an extent its worked. An accident is rare now. The litter boxes are cleaned twice a day morning and night, if I havent seen him go potty all day & hes acting suspicious with a rather round stomach ill take him down to pee to prevent accidents. I will also have him go pee before I go to sleep if it feels necessary & clean the litter box immediately after so its nice and perfect, no reason for him to want to go elsewhere. My mom found one accident hidden that happened to stain the floor. For this she decided to threaten to send him to the shelter if I didnt get him neutered as soon as possible despite it not being marking. And now im here spending probably over $1000 total to neuter him. An 11 pound cat. An eleven pound cat, being neutered for $1k. Fucking absurd.
And now, while typing this, I find out that the opportunity I got last night to apply for a job making 50k a year with benefits and a good word in from someone high up in the company is no longer available. Its been offered to someone at the company already. This week just keeps getting worse and worse |
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That is insane. I had a similar experience trying to spay my dog recently. I trusted a vet I was bringing my last dog to. I didn't ask for the price and when they emailed me the consent forms before the surgery, they were quoting me 1.6k+. My German shepherd is a very smol girl, only around 70 lbs max. When I got my other dog spayed, it costed me around 400$ and she was about 60lbs. So I was guessing it would be around 500-600$ for my sheppie. I was speechless when I opened the email. 1.3k for the surgery, 200$+ for mandatory bloodwork, another hundred and so for parasite removal, which she recently had been tested for parasites and she was clean. So why do I have to pay to have her checked for parasites and have them removed, if we knew from her last check up a few weeks ago that she does not have parasites? And the knock out medication was not included, I had to pay for that too. The cheapest thing on the whole form was the cone of shame, at 40$. Needless to say, I cancelled the appointment. I'm looking for another vet now. |
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I also have a suspicion that the vet I went to overcharges because they know they're one of the only veterinary hospitals in the area. |
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Sunny
