Upselling at the vet.

That's why I love my vet and they don't do that.

They tried to up sell me at Pirates Cove the other day. I had a coupon for 50% off up to a certain wash. He added a plus to the name but when I went in to pay the coupon no longer worked on it. I canceled it quickly.

EasyPeasy : Are you also taking your pets to Animal Care Center of Lake Houston? I guess I should look into them next time.
My guy in Porter sold his practice, and the new people are up selling everything, and it's just not the same.

Last Dec Christmas Eve actually. We had an emergency for a cat my DD found about 2 weeks before. I told DD to be prepared they were going to give her some crap about this and that testing and other emergency crap. I told her get antibiotics and fluids and call it a day. If the cat doesn't make it that's all she can do. Dont go broke for a maybe. BTW She had already taken the kitty in for its shots testing etc. He developed a cat cold but was negative for all the bad stuff. The emergency vet did exactly like I said and was trying to charge her 5 k in vet services. We went home with fluids antibiotics and anti nausea meds. The next day kitty was still not quite himself and she was waiting to give him antibiotics as his last dosage from the vet office was lagging for about 3 more hours. I told her don't wait he will be fine. She called the vet and they wanted her bring him back in for a couple of thousands cant remember maybe 3500. She gave him the antibiotics we gave him additional fluid by mouth and a syringe. Voila here is the monster now. Oh that emergency visit. Fluids anti nausea, antibiotics 4-6 hour wait and visit 900'ish can't remember.

Fanofdogs : That is where my DD goes.

Fanofdogs :
I had that happen as well. My pup was known to be dying of untreatable cancer, and toward the very end they wanted to do a bunch more blood tests…I asked, if the results came back either way, would it change the way he was medically treated? The answer was, No….so why do the tests?

frebu :
Oh my gosh that's awful! I'm sorry for your loss. It's heartbreaking to lose a pet.

Fanofdogs :
Corporate greed. It seems that the privately owned vet clinics generally aren't like this.

If I am faced with seemingly high requests for diagnostics or treatment especially if the animal is near end of life I ask the vet what they would do if it was their animal.
You are more likely to get a realistic answer.

Joe :
That's an experience shared by many. Thank you for sharing that. I've heard that happen many times from pet owners. I personally witnessed it happening during my grandmother's last days earlier this year. She had an incurable situation. Literally her final days, 95 years old. Diagnostics were being suggested that were of no benefit. My mother is nobody's fool and surgically dismantled the PAs rational for suggesting them. Cynically, I think they must count on a "trust factor", and don't expect people to ask intelligent questions about the situation. It's both sad and maddening. The diagnostics are where bills skyrocket fast.