I'm at the vet with Holly and the tech just gave me the estimate

[MIButterfly]

before the doctor comes in. HOLY SHIT!!! It's almost $1,000. WTF?!

[LogDog75]

1. Sorry to hear about your pet

Sorry to hear about you pet. It's expensive to care for a pet and when they're sick or injured their medical expenses are high just like humans' expenses are. Veterinarians are among the lowest paid in professional medicine so it's not surprising the costs are high considering they probably have student loans to pay off as well as the cost of running their business which includes salaries for their staff.

I worked in the medical field in the AF and I knew a number of doctors, dentists, and veterinarians. What I learned from them is Veterinary School is one of the hardest to get into. One dentist told me a friend from medical school tried to get into Veterinary School but didn't and became a heart surgeon instead. One veterinary said the reason she joined the AF was because she couldn't afford health insurance or insurance on her veterinary business.

[obamanut2012]

2. What is the prodecure?

[MIButterfly]

7. It was just an estimate for tests to find out what's wrong with her

That doesn't even include any kind of procedure! We're not even at that point yet.

They did pare it down to just the necessary blood and urine tests and then we'll go from there. It went from close to $900 to a little less than $400. If they find out nothing from the first tests, then there will more tests.

[TBF]

3. I decided a few years ago to finally buy pet insurance

for my Pointer ... after years of rescue labs and the costs when they get older/sick. I'm definitely not coming out ahead w/the premiums, but they do cover about half of the annual visit (my Vet office is kind of pricey here in the suburbs), and it's more for if he has something chronic that comes up with aging. Still, pet ownership is not inexpensive. And I do know a lot of Vets have a hard time paying their loans at first because they aren't paid as much as other doctors.

[obamanut2012]

5. We finally did a few years ago, too

And, if often pays us zero, but we always file. Or 12-year-old kitty had to recently have emergency surgery for a retracted tooth/teeth, which basically meant all her teeth had to be extracted. The cost of that, plus the emergency after-hours visit to our vet the day before, xrays, and then aftercare, was $3,600. That was a huge hit for us, but we charged it. If not, our furkid would have died. We figured we would get nothing, but filed anyway. We got back $2,957. $600 is a lot easier to pay off.

[SheltieLover]

4. For what?

Healing vibes of the way to both of you.

[58Sunliner]

6. Ouch! I always ask then to itemize what the costs are so I can decide if they are necessary.