A somewhat related and sad story. A buddy I work with who lives nearby... sadly his dog got run over yesterday (Thursday). He had to leave work because he got a call from the vet (also my vet) that they had his dog with a broken leg. Coincidentally, he live just across the street from the vet and the dog got hit right in front of "Brown Road Animal Clinic." This was around 11:30. The vet was insistent that he get there ASAP. He checked out of work, got several calls along the way that he needs to get there ASAP. He gets to the vet, and his dog is there, broken back leg and all. The choices: put dog down, or have back leg amputated (back leg, at the hip). And he needed to decide right then and there. He, and his wife who had joined him, had no idea what to do. Quoted cost of amputation = ~$2000. Vet kept pressuring them to decide quickly, which was a tough decision because of the finances involved. Come to find out, reason why needed to decide so quickly, was because the vet office closed at noon. !!!!!!!! Again, this is/was also my vet. These A-holes at this veterinary office were so worried about getting off in time to go home at noon that they made an already stressful situation even worse for my friend. Long story short, they decided to take their dog to someplace more qualified, amputation was less ($1700), and my buddy picked his dog up today after work and after the amputation. They still owe $200 for the 1.5 hour "stay" that their injured dog was at our vet.
Today when he told me the story of how he was treated by the lady veterinarian at our common vet's office (guilt, shame, accusatory), I then decided I would never give these A-holes any more of my money or allow them to care for my pets.
I got the same treatment the last time I was in there trying to get a refill of heart worm medicine. Lady vet insisted I needed to have a heartworm test, even though each dog had been on heartguard since old enough. Heart worm tests run about $60 each (I have two dogs), take less than 15 minutes, and medicine is another $50 each. So you already have a $200+ bill. I agreed to the first heartworm test (over a year ago) because I figured it couldn't hurt. But in order to get a refill, they insist on another test. I challenged her reasoning, asking if they had been on heartworm medicine since the last test (i.e. preventing heartworms), why was another test necessary. She didn't like me questioning her judgment. The "discussion" went on for a little while before she started accusing me that I must not care for my dogs since I didn't want to pay for the test. The scene didn't end well, when I finally got tired of it, raised my voice, and asked her, "Are you going to give me my dogs medicine or not!" I got a 3-month supply rather than the year supply I was asking for. In order to get a refill, she says the dogs need another test.
I'm not too cheap/poor to pay for necessary care for my animals, but I hate to waste money if there isn't a serious need. I live alone, and I love my dogs because they are part of my small family. But I started having a bad feeling about my vet (Brown Road Animal Clinic: Dr. McNaulty, Mesa AZ, Brown Road and Higley) which is why I was hesitant to take them in for what turned out to be a nick on the ear (that bled a lot at first).
I'm just hoping that I will be able to transfer all my dogs medical and vaccination records to whatever new vet I find. I hope all vets aren't as interested in milking every nickel and dime from me in order to care for my pets.
Edit: All healed. It's a good scar, but this dog is tough. He didn't even know anything might have been wrong. It's amazing the pain tolerance animals have; makes many humans look like complete *******.