I live in Raleigh but I'm willing to go a little out of the way if I can save some $. I'm sick of ending up with a $280-$300 bill every time I take my dog in, when there's rarely anything wrong with her.

1/5/2009 9:55:31 PM

We never paid much at the Leesville Animal Hospital but we also were adamant about not getting bullshit tests done, just their shots or whatever else we were going in for.

1/5/2009 9:56:46 PM

This thread is relevant to my interests. I've been taking my dog to http://triangle.citysearch.com/profile/32268109/angier_nc/stage_road_animal_hospital.html but am not impressed with their vets at all.

1/5/2009 9:57:05 PM

Quote :

"We never paid much at the Leesville Animal Hospital but we also were adamant about not getting bullshit tests done, just their shots or whatever else we were going in for."

what tests/shots did you refuse?

1/5/2009 9:58:14 PM

crossroads vet on j/f

1/5/2009 9:58:55 PM

I haven't had any problems with Boulevard Vet on Western and I've taken pets in with some major issues (one had mystery lumps and the other had to get stitches because he was attacked). I was pretty emotional during both visits, and all the people have been extremely friendly and willing to explain what is going on with my animals.

1/5/2009 9:58:59 PM

I have 3 Great danes so price is very much an issue http://www.tysonanimalhospital.com/

Lowest prices and best service in RTP area. Plus they offer kennel services. I have been going there for years and have had nothing but great service every time.





[Edited on January 5, 2009 at 10:03 PM. Reason : .]

1/5/2009 9:59:37 PM

You have to get rabies and distemper vaccines every year. The fecal test I always refuse b/c my dog has normal poo and doesn't eat other dog's poo. Also, most vets push the bordetella vaccine like crack, but if your dog doesn't board or go to the dog park regularly it isn't necessary. With cats all you really have to get for an indoor is rabies.

1/5/2009 10:02:05 PM

Quote :

"what tests/shots did you refuse?"

First time we brought our cat there for boosters (so no spaying or anything like that) they wanted to do stool samples and blood work and crap. We told them not to bother because she was an indoor only cat and if she had managed to get parasites or something she just had shitty luck. They said no problemo and from then on would only do the annual boosters she needed when we brought her in We took her there for over 10 years without any problems.

1/5/2009 10:02:39 PM

Fuck Glenwood/Oberlin

just putting that out there due to my personal experiences

and I worked for them

1/5/2009 10:03:30 PM

Just took Tank to Gentle Care in Raleigh/Cary (http://www.PetRepair.com/) and it was $425 for all of his yearly shots, tests, check-up and 12 months worth of flea/tick/heartworm meds.

Might be more than you're looking to spend, but I also factored in the meds... which I'm sure aren't cheap.

1/5/2009 10:03:35 PM

Quote :

"Glenwood/Oberlin "

$$$$$$$$$$$$

1/5/2009 10:06:03 PM

I have taken my dogs to Petsound Animal Hospital near WakeMed on Tryon Road. Dr Monce is a great guy. And he is reasonable priced.

1/5/2009 10:07:14 PM

^^^Jesus Christ they robbed you blind.

p.s. If you ask, some vets will let blood samples be sent out instead of done in house, sending them out is MUCH cheaper.

[Edited on January 5, 2009 at 10:15 PM. Reason : p.s. ]

1/5/2009 10:14:40 PM

I don't know what is considered reasonable, because I've been working under the same vet for the last 5 years. I don't have all our prices memorized because I try to avoid doing receptionist work (hate dealing with money) but last I checked our prices were around:

Rabies: 14
DHLPP: 38
Physical Exam: 35
Stool check: ~18
Blood work: ~50
X-ray: 55 for the first and 48 for each subsequent

We don't charge a fee for physical exams when you come in for an annual vaccine. So it works out really cheap if all you need is a rabies shot. Also for the month of January heartworm pills are 10% off.

1/5/2009 10:37:03 PM

^That's very reasonably priced. GG.

1/5/2009 11:04:40 PM

I second Gentle Care, they're fantastic and are very willing to help you out with finding a solution that fits your budget. They've also never pushed a test or exam on us that we didn't feel comfortable with or think was necessary (and our dog has some ridiculous allergies/health problems, making vet visits a 3-4 times a year event). Dr. Boggs is fantastic (and helped us finally nail down the cause of our dog's allergies, which was essentially almost every dog food manufactured), Dr. Holman is also excellent.

Quote :

"^^^Jesus Christ they robbed you blind."

I don't think so really. I mean Tank looks to be in the high 40's low 50's for weight, which makes a year of Front Line about $120, and a year of Heartgard will run you another $50, so that's $170 right there. The remainder has in the past for us averaged between about $100 and $150 (depending on if we needed rabies that year and whether she needed boardatella), so maybe LilWolf had some other tests done in addition to the yearlys.

1/5/2009 11:30:04 PM

Quote :

"Dr. Boggs is fantastic (and helped us finally nail down the cause of our dog's allergies, which was essentially almost every dog food manufactured)"

1) How did he nail it down?
2) What ingredient is it?
3) What have you done as a result?

1/5/2009 11:44:15 PM

I love how people act all surprised that animal med bills can be costly. You do know the people treating your pets are doctors too . However, good luck shopping for price, just make sure you still get excellent care and medical advice!

1/6/2009 12:10:51 AM

^To add to that, there is vet insurance. Don't know how worthwhile it is, but I do know it exists.

1/6/2009 12:14:35 AM

Quote :

"1) How did he nail it down? 2) What ingredient is it? 3) What have you done as a result?"

Really, she didn't do anything more than I would have expected from a vet, but for years we bounced between vets trying to find one that would give us a straight answer and a real plan. Most of the time, when we would go to a vet, they would listen to her symptoms, ignore what we had tried before, and then basically give us a menu of options (i.e. "It could be A, B or C, and possibly D, you can try X, Y or Z to test for A, you can try Q, P or R for B and C and and H, I or J for D, it's most likely A but it's also very possible to be C and B is expensive to treat. What would you like to do?") and some even gave us shit for keeping her on a steady dose of prednisone, as it was the only thing that through her life had helped keep the whole thing manageable (she was 10 years old at this point) and even though we knew we didn't want her to stay on pred, the ones that gave us shit had no suggestions for an alternative, just to take her off of it and try to fight this some other way. And most wanted to follow up (i.e. office visits) every two weeks while we were trying various treatments (at full office visit cost of course), and most also wanted to start from scratch, trying treatments we'd already tried ("just to be sure"). If we wanted to self diagnose and guess at treatment plans, we would have saved ourselves the money and just used dogmd.com or something like that.

Finally, we got in to see Dr. Boggs, she actually sat down and listened to what we had to say, what we had tried and what had worked somewhat and what hadn't. She figured that (like we and most previous vets did) that the primary problem was a food allergy, and that since this had been a constant problem through her life and with many different foods that it should be a very unique diet that we should try next. She gave us a new diet (whitefish and sweet potato), with a very specific plan: switch to the new diet, NOTHING else, no treats, no raw hides, no chew toys, nothing else goes in her mouth, stay on the pred routine, and a routine of anti-biotics to cut down on a current ear infection (caused most likely by the allergy). If she responds well to the new diet, a return vist in two weeks to do some blood work and ensure that the pred hadn't already damaged her health and then a new anti-inflamitory, with less steroids and more anti-histamines (Temeril-P). After that, we could continue to monitor her from home, and control the dosage of Temeril as needed, no need for bi weekly follow ups. She then helped us over the course of the next year or so to monitor exactly what dosages and medications were working and help keep it under control. We have been able to narrow it down to a routine of Benadryl, a quarter dose of Prednisone and her new diet. And when she had us try different medicines, if they didn't work and we switched to something else, she bought back the remaining dosage. Like I said, nothing I wouldn't expect from any vet, but she's the only vet we've been to that came up with a solid plan, wasn't afraid to voice her professional opinion and wasn't so self assured that she insisted if her idea didn't work that we must be doing something wrong. In short, she acted the way I would expect a medical professional to act, and treated us like the dogs owners and the people who knew the dog best.

2) It's actually a multitude of ingredients, she is highly allergic (as in instant ear inflamation, followed by scratching and infection) to beef, chicken and wheat. One of these is in almost every food product made for animals, so 98% of food, treats and rawhides (her favorite toy) are out of the question. While she did better on a duck and potato diet and a lamb and rice diet, she still did worse than on whitefish and sweet potato, so we think she may also have a slight allergy to duck and either lamb or rice.

3) As I said above, we've got her on a steady diet and medication routine that has helped keep everything under control. Her ears still need constant cleaning and attention, but we no longer come home to a blood covered dog and walls because her ears flamed up so badly that she scratched them open, and we no longer need to make quarterly vet visits. We're now working on seeing if there are any environmental things we can do to eliminate any other possible allergies.

Quote :

"I love how people act all surprised that animal med bills can be costly. You do know the people treating your pets are doctors too . However, good luck shopping for price, just make sure you still get excellent care and medical advice!"

I wish I could get treated for the same cost as my dog. Not counting some of the more esoteric drugs, I spend less treating my dog (even when she had bad problems) than I do on myself.

1/6/2009 12:54:04 AM

You are a much more patient person than I am

1/6/2009 1:58:57 AM

Hidden valley animal hospital, I think my new cat is going to Dr. Lapham there. alternative medicine is cheaper in the long run, my dog had IBS (my mom was stupid, held the dog hostage so I'd go home and took her to a shitty vet) and some new food and a couple supplements were all she needed.

1/6/2009 11:44:42 AM

Quote :

"I love how people act all surprised that animal med bills can be costly. You do know the people treating your pets are doctors too"

nobody here is surprised, its just I realize that they're running a business, and most of them are forced keep making money the #1 priority since people need jobs, and since the owner(s) want to make a profit/income too. Secondly it seems most clinics/hospitals in raleigh proper charge more than ones not in the city limits. I'm just trying to see what options are out there...

Quote :

"We have been able to narrow it down to a routine of Benadryl, a quarter dose of Prednisone and her new die"

How much Benadryl? How much does your dog weigh? (fyi the generic benadryl is really cheap at walmart)

What kind(s) of allergy testing have you done? I always thought it was $300 for the whole battery of tests...is that not how it works?


My dog has responded well to diet restriction and 2X a day benadryl. for food, i always get her grain free, with a single, unique (fish or fowl) protein source + potato.

1/6/2009 1:07:14 PM

Quote :

"I love how people act all surprised that animal med bills can be costly. You do know the people treating your pets are doctors too"

I have heard many stories of veterinarians ignoring the most logical answer in favor of running a battery of expensive tests and treatments; all aimed at putting more money in their pocket before fixing the actual issue. Some of those horror stories came from a friend of mine whose husband is a vet. He has had to deal with frantic people who bring him a pet that is on death's door with an obvious issue that has gone untreated despite multiple trips to their "regular" vet, tons of tests, and treatments that didn't stand a chance of working. Some of the vets around here are shady as hell and your pet's health is on the line for their greed. With that in mind, I don't think it is offensive at all for pet owners to try to find a vet that does good work at a fair price.

1/6/2009 1:53:06 PM

Quote :

"How much Benadryl? How much does your dog weigh? (fyi the generic benadryl is really cheap at walmart)"

~45 lbs, and she gets 2 doses a day (just the 25mg capsules from the store). A half tab of pred every other day (not sure the exact dosage) and whitefish and sweet potato.

Didn't actually have any allergy tests run, just occasionally would try new treats to see if she reacted well to them once everything was under control. For some reason, most of the vets we went to before, wouldn't run (or "recommended against") the tests. In retrospect, we should have insisted since we were spending nearly that much every few months on the dog, but we didn't, and since she responded so well to the new routine, haven't had a real need to do it.

Quote :

"I have heard many stories of veterinarians ignoring the most logical answer in favor of running a battery of expensive tests and treatments; all aimed at putting more money in their pocket before fixing the actual issue. Some of those horror stories came from a friend of mine whose husband is a vet. He has had to deal with frantic people who bring him a pet that is on death's door with an obvious issue that has gone untreated despite multiple trips to their "regular" vet, tons of tests, and treatments that didn't stand a chance of working. Some of the vets around here are shady as hell and your pet's health is on the line for their greed. With that in mind, I don't think it is offensive at all for pet owners to try to find a vet that does good work at a fair price."

This was our experience too. The fix for our dog should have been obvious, or faster to hit on, but it seemed like most vets we saw were more interested in getting an office visit out of us every 2 weeks and finding the most expensive treatments and tests.

1/6/2009 2:00:16 PM

What would some of you say is the average cost of your dog/cat per year, or per month if easier. I know it depends on if they have serious issues through out the year, but if you've had a pet 2+ years, what's the average cost?

1/6/2009 4:34:09 PM

Probably about a hundred bucks per dog. Though it was higher this year because of the need for frontline.

1/6/2009 5:52:52 PM

I am so thankful I have a friend that is a vet in Greensboro. I have seen what he charges some of his other customers compared to me, and it makes me wish I studied harder in college

1/6/2009 5:58:23 PM

For everything, when I had my dog it was about a grand a year. Food, vet, and a few training classes. That was a 70lb dog, so I expect the cat to be a little bit less, since she's supposedly generally healthy, and only weighs about 10lbs. Have to buy feline pine or other expensive litter and grain free food though (don't want to feed her anything I'm allergic to, in case I forget to wash my hands after feeding her and it's better cat food so she should have less dander) so might just be a couple hundred less.

EDIT: figures don't include boarding, or minimal boarding. If you travel frequently that jacks the price of pet ownership way up. For my dog, decent boarding was about $20 a day.

[Edited on January 6, 2009 at 6:05 PM. Reason : ...]

1/6/2009 6:02:36 PM

Where do you find grain free food? Is this dry food or wet food?

1/6/2009 7:03:08 PM

my roommates in college and i took all our pets to lake wheeler vet on the corner of tryon and lake wheeler. the vet there is really awesome, super friendly and really seems to care about your pet. plus she also specializes in exotic pets iirc

1/7/2009 7:33:03 AM

I second Crossroads Veterinary on Jones Franklin

1/7/2009 7:45:21 AM

Quote :

"Where do you find grain free food? Is this dry food or wet food?"

There are lots of brands now. In Raleigh, there's some at Discount Pet Supplies near the Lowes on Tryon (taste of the wild and innova EVO) and Unleashed on Lake Boone Trail has taste of the wild, instinct, and frozen raw food. Other places have lots of grain free dog foods, but it's harder to find for cats (people don't seem to care as much about them).

A few other brands are Merrick's before grain, Wellness core, and several more listed at http://www.naturalpetmarket.com/ They have most grain free brands on their site. it's a little more expensive, but great for allergies since California Natural is the only grain containing food I have found without corn or gluten (wheat, barley, rye) and if the pet has a suspected wheat allergy best to eliminate all gluten grains to make sure it's not a problem.

I'll be buying taste of the wild from Unleashed. They are very knowledgeable and friendly, and have good prices too. They also carry frozen raw food. Most frozen raw is a little pricey for me, but I'll feed it a couple times a week so the enzymes in the raw meat will help with Monster's teeth. She's been eating meow mix before I got her and if I can't clean up her teeth she'll need the vet to do it.

EDIT: I'm going with taste of the wild because it's one of the lower calorie/cup foods (most grain free foods are high calorie) because monster gets chubby easy. if she doesn't have a problem with it, I'll probably try Instinct or one of the other brands because taste of the wild has a good bit of potatoes in it, might as well go low carb if I'm going grain free.

[Edited on January 7, 2009 at 8:10 AM. Reason : ...]

1/7/2009 8:06:31 AM

DO NOT go to the one next to Ten Ten restaurant

1/7/2009 2:13:09 PM

vets are generally a lot less expensive if you are willing to drive to pittsboro/chatham county. my vet bills were cut in half.

1/7/2009 2:56:46 PM

Quote :

"Where do you find grain free food? Is this dry food or wet food?"

All over the place. I normally go to Pet Supermarket off of Falls of the Neuse, or Pet Mania off of Falls/Strickland. I used to get a good one (Dick Van Patten or something like that) at Petco but there aren't any near me. Petsmart has none that I could find, fyi.

1/7/2009 8:18:22 PM

Thanks

I can't buy any of this stuff now but it's good to know for when I get home. Japan's pet food is absolute garbage. The best food I can find ingredient wise is Purina One, and even then the second ingredient is corn filler

1/7/2009 9:26:16 PM

uggh

1/8/2009 8:03:35 AM

there is a petco beside bjs warehouse on old wake forest rd

1/10/2009 8:26:43 AM

Petco gives me the heeby jeebies. The ones I've been to look like the K-marts of the pet store world.

1/10/2009 1:54:09 PM

Quote :

"Purina One, and even then the second ingredient is corn filler "

If you think corn is bad then no wonder you are having trouble finding "quality" food. What do you want? Steak?

1/10/2009 1:58:27 PM

^Plenty of pet foods do not contain corn, you just have to look outside of giant pet chain stores. My trainer and vet love Innova, I've been using Blue Buffalo and have been happy. Probably 75% of pet foods contain corn as one of the first ingredients. Corn is a cheap filler used to bulk up the food. The dog then has to eat more of the food to get the needed nutrition, generally causing obesity. Poor foods generally cause allergies, messy poops, and ungodly gas.

1/10/2009 2:04:39 PM

Poor quality doesn't cause obesity. More than likely they'll be undernourished. Obesity is cause by feeding too much Fat and Protein which these meat only dog foods are full of.

1/10/2009 2:10:30 PM

Quote :

"If you think corn is bad then no wonder you are having trouble finding "quality" food. What do you want? Steak?"

Are you serious? Corn is a useless filler and common allergen. Even most mediocre foods avoid it.

1/10/2009 2:10:43 PM

Quote :

"Poor quality doesn't cause obesity. More than likely they'll be undernourished. Obesity is cause by feeding too much Fat and Protein which these meat only dog foods are full of."

No, poor quality foods can cause obesity. First they cause nutrient deficiencies, then because of these deficiencies the dog's body goes into "starvation" mode, storing as many calories as possible and telling them to eat, eat, eat to try to get more nutrients.

1/10/2009 2:13:23 PM

Exactly, but if you are in "starvation" mode you aren't going to suddenly blow up. Just because your pet is allergic doesn't make it a 'common allergy'. I know one person that is allergic to peanut butter, does it mean that all peanut butter should be avoided by everybody? No.

1/10/2009 2:17:16 PM

Unless the dog gets to that state because of a lack of vitamins and minerals, not calories.

High quality food does NOT make pets get fat, I've found the opposite to be true. My German shepherd had lots more energy, so she was less likely to get chunky than when she was eating science diet's crap.

1/10/2009 2:19:54 PM

i'm a huge fan of this company:
http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/

1/10/2009 2:25:20 PM

Yes, high quality foods will make dogs get fat. You would be surprised at how many owners keep feeding the same amount upon switching to a 'premium' food.

1/10/2009 2:27:40 PM