Patterdale ticker trouble

[ack-ack]

My 7 yr old Patterdale has always been a picture of health and fitness and is a fine specimen. He does not know when to give anything up and once he's knacked his self out will allways have a bit left in the tank. Rightly or wrongly I've allways been brought up to work a dog hard all the time they are enjoying it and thats what I do. He's mad it long after I've got bored of it.

 

Recently a visit to the vets for a canine MOT revealed an irregular heart beat. This has never shown up before. What are the causes and implications for this? I'm worried that I could get the poor old boy over excited and he could keel over. Any advice on this is greatly appreciated as my vet will happily relive me of hundreds of hard earnt squids for nothing. I don't begrudge old Digger the wedge but I don't like been taken for a ride.

[sully7s]

sorry to hear of ur news wish i knew what to say,, i have a patterdale hes 10 this year amazing dogs, hope all works out,

its not right how vets can charge what they feel..

Edited February 10, 2011 by sully7s

[Dirty Harry]

I had a schnauzer and he had a heart murmur. Had him put down a few months ago.

Vet said it was caused by bad teeth! Infection travels around the body and damages the heart valves. At the end the slightest bit of excitement made him collapse. You can put him on medication to improve things but take the advice from your vet.

 

Harry

[apache]

Recently a visit to the vets for a canine MOT revealed an irregular heart beat. This has never shown up before. What are the causes and implications for this?

 

The issue here is quite simple - the vet has picked up an abnormality at a routine physical examination. This is why the dog is examined [more thoroughly that I have ever been examined by a doctor]. To find out if this is likely to be harmful and to establish a cause further tests are required. Might be treatable. Might be nothing. Might drop down dead - only test results will let you know.

 

I don't begrudge old Digger the wedge but I don't like been taken for a ride.

 

Your dog is not well. There is no NHS for pets. Do you care what is wrong?

 

its not right how vets can charge what they feel.

 

Vets charge what the market will stand. They are in business and have to turn a profit to pay for their staff, overheads etc. To work this dog up properly it would need an ECG, Xrays and likely an ultrasound [echo] of the heart. We could be talking £40,000+ worth of equipment [some ultrasound machines can cost £100,000+] never mind the years training that goes in to learning how to use it and interpret results.

 

I can assure you that, on average, vets earn significantly less money than dentists, doctors, lawyers etc. You want the best care for your pet? Then you have to pay for it. At the very least get insurance in place if you don't have much money in the bank. Veterinary fees should be significantly higher than they are. I can assure you droves of people are leaving the profession to long hours, stress and poor pay.

 

Owning a dog is a privilege not a right.

[ack-ack]

The issue here is quite simple - the vet has picked up an abnormality at a routine physical examination. This is why the dog is examined [more thoroughly that I have ever been examined by a doctor]. To find out if this is likely to be harmful and to establish a cause further tests are required. Might be treatable. Might be nothing. Might drop down dead - only test results will let you know.

 

 

 

Your dog is not well. There is no NHS for pets. Do you care what is wrong?

 

 

 

Vets charge what the market will stand. They are in business and have to turn a profit to pay for their staff, overheads etc. To work this dog up properly it would need an ECG, Xrays and likely an ultrasound [echo] of the heart. We could be talking £40,000+ worth of equipment [some ultrasound machines can cost £100,000+] never mind the years training that goes in to learning how to use it and interpret results.

 

I can assure you that, on average, vets earn significantly less money than dentists, doctors, lawyers etc. You want the best care for your pet? Then you have to pay for it. At the very least get insurance in place if you don't have much money in the bank. Veterinary fees should be significantly higher than they are. I can assure you droves of people are leaving the profession to long hours, stress and poor pay.

 

Owning a dog is a privilege not a right.

 

 

 

 

Thankyou for your reply. You're obviously a vet. I have no problem with vets as proffessionals but what I do object to is that every time my mrs takes them in for routine jabs and their twice annual check up she is sold a load of products that we cant afford such as eye drops etc when they could just say bathe eyes with some pre-boiled salt water or whatever. The days of the small independant vet seem to have gone forever. I know its naive to expect Farnon and Herriot everytime you run the mutts in for treatment but I've had vets in the past that have not been too far removed. They've felt like part of the family and treated us as such. The practice that I'm with looks more akin to something out of an American hospital drama and evidently charges accordingly. I have a different vet everytime and as a result theres no bond with either my dogs or myself. I have the utmost respect for vets but when they are part of a large practice the whole operation becomes more commercial and they have to tow the company line. The manadate seems to be sell sell sell. I would greatly welcome the names of any independant vets in the South Kent area so that I can at least know that my coin is being well spent and not just going to fund a chuffing great illuminated sign over the front door or top of the range *** panzers for the partners whilst the graduates of the practice are struggling to survive after the debt of uni. Thats probably why so many are leaving the proffession.

 

My dogs are my life and theres not a day goes by when I don't appreciate that. I will spend whatever it takes to keep them in the peak of health but I will not be ripped off. I'm sorry but some of them think they can bleed you dry because they know the bond you share with your animal.

 

Any independant vets in South Kent I would love to hear from you and give you my business.

 

 

[ack-ack]

sorry to hear of ur news wish i knew what to say,, i have a patterdale hes 10 this year amazing dogs, hope all works out,

its not right how vets can charge what they feel..

 

 

Cheers buddy, I don't begrudge a penny spent if I'm spending it well. I had a great vet in Canterbury called Mr Sanyal. He got struck off for fraud. Sounds really bad but all he was trying to do was bend the rules a bit to lessen the financial burden on his clients. He was a true gent. His lad used to look after the Lab when we went away as one year despite all the pre-kennel jabs she picked up a dose and gastroenteritis. He drove 25 mile and rescued her in the middle of the night, kept her back at his for the next 7 days and nursed her back from deaths door. He wouldn't accept more than £150 as he knew dad had just spent out on the first holiday in 15 years . Thats a vet.

 

Mr Sanyal, I salute you!

[ack-ack]

I had a schnauzer and he had a heart murmur. Had him put down a few months ago.

Vet said it was caused by bad teeth! Infection travels around the body and damages the heart valves. At the end the slightest bit of excitement made him collapse. You can put him on medication to improve things but take the advice from your vet.

 

Harry

 

Hi Harry,

 

Sorry to hear about your Schnauzer chap. The link between bad teeth and heart problems certainly can't be ignored. His teeth are cleaner than mine I reckon. He looks like Donny Osmond. He's on the hide chews everyday. I'm on the case to find a new vet for a second opinion. If it transpires that they have been reasonable in their past charging then I stand corrected.

 

I'm dreading the day my dogs pass on. I swore I'd never have another one after we had our last Lab put down.

 

Rob

[sully7s]

we have a women vet and a man vet where i take my dogs one the women will charge alot less then the bloke it dont make sence,my dog suffers with his ears all the time and you can buy the cream on line for £5 and in vets for the same product £14 im all for profet but they must buy bulk to so its even cheaper, u can see why some people dont want to pay out ,

[ack-ack]

we have a women vet and a man vet where i take my dogs one the women will charge alot less then the bloke it dont make sence,my dog suffers with his ears all the time and you can buy the cream on line for £5 and in vets for the same product £14 im all for profet but they must buy bulk to so its even cheaper, u can see why some people dont want to pay out ,

 

 

Like the vet said earlier though mate, they are in business to make money and we would all be knacked without them but I'm with you on that one. I reckon if you go in the vets and you're smart they whack they bill up a bit more. I make sure look pretty shabby when I go in there now, mind you after my Beagles last hoovering escapade I didn't have to try very hard on the look.

[al4x]

they vary hugely cost wise as do the profit margins on drugs, in the old days you didn't have all the gear and 3 or 4 nurses per vet etc etc to add to the overheads. These days you do and its big business, round us there is even venture capital being used to buy practices as they generate that much profit. There are the good the bad and the ugly, my brother works with one who have an online pharmacy and currently annoy most vets by taking all their cattle drug orders from them leaving them writing prescriptions or loosing the customer where they have an office. He doesn't just save them a bit of money its thousands a year hence they are growing as a business very fast. My local vets charges like a wounded bull, I had an injured dog in there a while back and in an hour with a steroid injection and an xray I was £200 lighter and that was with charges for nursing this that and the other they also would have killed the dog so I was rather glad I took her out and made the journey to my dads who is a vet.

[ack-ack]

they vary hugely cost wise as do the profit margins on drugs, in the old days you didn't have all the gear and 3 or 4 nurses per vet etc etc to add to the overheads. These days you do and its big business, round us there is even venture capital being used to buy practices as they generate that much profit. There are the good the bad and the ugly, my brother works with one who have an online pharmacy and currently annoy most vets by taking all their cattle drug orders from them leaving them writing prescriptions or loosing the customer where they have an office. He doesn't just save them a bit of money its thousands a year hence they are growing as a business very fast. My local vets charges like a wounded bull, I had an injured dog in there a while back and in an hour with a steroid injection and an xray I was £200 lighter and that was with charges for nursing this that and the other they also would have killed the dog so I was rather glad I took her out and made the journey to my dads who is a vet.

 

 

You're right, theres some and some. The Patt got a series of lesions on his head after a session sub-surface and it bore all the hall marks of ringworm. Thought I'd run him in the vets as you do and they were very reluctant to treat for ringworm until they could positively identify it as the drugs can hammer the liver. A fair judgement I thought. They proceeded to take a series of tissue samples for culturing and in the mean time sold us a bottle of Hibi to swab the areas and the bucket head to stop the scratching. The condition cleared up after 3wks and the test results came back at the same time as inconclusive. The fee came to nigh on £400 of which luckily I only had to pay 150 as I was insured but I thought that was well excessive. They wheel out the big guns first before trying out the muskets. The NHS do it the other way round.

[apache]

I'm sorry if I came across as harsh. I agree that because a lot of people's pets are insured they want the best for their dog. If you want the best in terms of skills, equipment, diagnosis and treatment then you have to pay for it. In one way it's great for the profession, in another it is hard for uninsured pets to pay.

 

This is why different vets appear to charge quite different amounts of money for what on the face of it seems a similar job. A bitch spayed at a veterinary hospital may cost more but have a nurse monitoring the anaesthetic throughout, the vet wears gloves and sterile gown like in a human hospital. A cheap practice might operate on the same table as they clip the dog on, monitor the anaesthetic with lay people moving between patients using older suture materials. I know which is better, but what do you want to pay for? The same job has been done, but very differently.

 

Do you see what I am getting at?

 

Cheap and cheerful is readily available.

 

Apache [vet and Patterdale owner - hope your dog is fine!]

[ack-ack]

I'm sorry if I came across as harsh. I agree that because a lot of people's pets are insured they want the best for their dog. If you want the best in terms of skills, equipment, diagnosis and treatment then you have to pay for it. In one way it's great for the profession, in another it is hard for uninsured pets to pay.

 

This is why different vets appear to charge quite different amounts of money for what on the face of it seems a similar job. A bitch spayed at a veterinary hospital may cost more but have a nurse monitoring the anaesthetic throughout, the vet wears gloves and sterile gown like in a human hospital. A cheap practice might operate on the same table as they clip the dog on, monitor the anaesthetic with lay people moving between patients using older suture materials. I know which is better, but what do you want to pay for? The same job has been done, but very differently.

 

Do you see what I am getting at?

 

Cheap and cheerful is readily available.

 

Apache [vet and Patterdale owner - hope your dog is fine!]

 

 

 

You came over a little harsh but you were defending your profession and I respect that. Vets get a hard time of it especially from idiots who get a 'pet' without even thinking of the potential medical costs, from my initial post I could quite easily have appeared to fit into this category. Everything you have said is true but sometimes you just cant help but feel that the lead is been swung a bit by a few who bring the profession into disrepute. Every profession has them in some shape or form.

 

I appreciate your informed, reasoned input and will be speaking to the practice to discuss possible strategies and I will take it from there. It's all come as bit of a shock, sorry if you thought I was having a pop.

 

Cheers Apache.