My Emergency Vet says she can't afford me???!

[Contessa]

I just read an online article on horse.com about vets helping out their clients because times are tough. My vet, I should say X-vet called me last week to tell me if she couldn't do my routine work (vaccines, worming and yearly check ups) she couldn't afford to keep me as a client. Apparently she didn't read the same article! This doesn't make any sense to me. I am not going to pay her to do things that I am perfectly capable of doing myself and keeping that $ in my own pocket. Wouldn't some money from me be better than nothing at all? I needed her as an emergency vet only and I like my mares/foals checked out the day after foaling. The timing of her announcement stuck me like a knife because I have a mare due this week!! She even had the gall to tell me my mare wasn't on her foaling list for this year because she had no idea when she was due. Flat out lie because last fall I gave her a paper with the exact breeding and expected foaling dates for my 2 mares. The next closest vet is almost 1 1/2 hours away from me. Kind of useless in a bad dystocia situation. I am between a rock and a hard place, not sure what I should do or can do at this point. Anyone out there go it alone without an emergency vet on standby?

 

[Jill]

Is she the only vet in your area? I do the routine vet stuff here, and that's actually what my vets prefer. They are available 24/7 for emergencies and I also have them do coggins, float teeth, etc... Is there another vet in your area who could do kind of the way mine does?

 

[Hosscrazy]

Do you have any other equine people in your area? We do split calls quite often which will make it worth while for the vet to come out to see us.

Liz R.

 

[Contessa]

She is the only vet in my area. I forgot to mention she is 4.3 miles from me and she charged me $100 farm call just to drive here. For almost 2 years I have been doing my own routine work and she was ok with that and now this? I'd like to know if anyone else's vet has done this to them. I'm in PA and apparently the vets are just like the doctors here-it's all about the money and a patient is no more than a # to them. Two weeks ago friends of mine who breed about 12 minis a year lost a mare due to impaction. Their substitute vet told them to take her to New Bolton but it would cost them $5,000 just for them to look at her. They held out for a miracle that never happened. It's just sad, not fair and costs are ridiculous!

Not close enough for a split call IF any other vet would do it, mine wouldn't.

 

[Magic]

I've read in magazines that it is best to use a vet for routine procedures so that they are familiar with you and your horses, and to be sure that they will be available for emergencies, but to totally refuse to work for you at all if you don't use them for routine work???

The only reason I can imagine for that would be if the vet were getting too busy and were going to have to limit their clientele. And even then it seems odd, because doing "routine" work would take up more of their time! Sheesh!

 

[muffntuf]

There is an increasing movement of vets to require that they do most of your routine work, in my area especially. If they don't do the routine work, or most of it, they don't come out, even at the high farm call prices.

I have 3 vets within 15 minutes of me, but not a one will come to my farm, unless the vet I have who is over an hour away, has called them to let them know they will be out of town for the weekend or something. I almost lost a pony the year before last year because my vet forgot to call the local vets to let them know she was gone for the weekend. My boy cut himself horribly and then got an infection in his leg that went all the way up his neck wihtin 12 hours. My vet didn't get home until Monday am, when she came out, it was almost to his heart. He made it, but that made me really angry with the local vets because they wouldn't come out. My vet called them to let them know she was really gone and it was an emergency, but by then it was over.

The next time I needed a vet on an emergency basis, this lady vet told me the, "I don't do your routine work, so you are not considered a client of mine", line. I called around and heard a vet had moved back into my area that I really liked. Tracked his number down and after $5000.00, he is my vet now. But he comes to do most of my routine work. We have an understanding though, I do the yearly vaccines and worming, he does the strangles, teeth, odd meds and emergencies. It's a compromise that saves me about $500.00, but it is $500.00 saved.

The drawback, his client list is full now and it takes three weeks to get him out for routine stuff. LOL!

How do we push back? We need vets.

 

[Contessa]

Magic my point exactly!

 

[Jill]

I live in "horse country" which is lucky for us... My vet practice has four full time vets. They honestly wouldn't have the time to do every client's routine vaccinations, etc. I hope some good solution will come about. I've always appreciated my vets but have learned through this site and others in different locations how really lucky we are.

 

[New2Minis]

My vets are super busy and they

me for doing the "easy stuff", but they are always there for me for injuries, coggins, medicines, medical problems, etc!!! I feel lucky, that is just rude for a vet to refuse to be your vet because you dont through a bunch of money at them for things you can do yourself!!!

 

[Suzie]

Wow, where do you live? She must have clients paying big bucks for their dogs. My vet won't come for anything other than emergencies. He covers 5 counties and if you are lucky in an emergency he is only about an hour away. If you are unlucky and he is 5 counties over....well, you are on your own until he can come. And he will come no matter what time of night....if you really NEED him. He even traded in his truck for a smaller car to cut down on costs so he could stay in business. Your vet is a snob. Get another one.

 

[Starmini]

As they say, there are always 2 sides to a story... what if the vet has to hire a babysitter for calls, or has a parent ill. What if the client has been mean or rude at some point. What if none of the 3 close vets is familiar with minis or breeding. My mom deals with a LOT of crap to be a vet and I have heard her be cussed out because she couldn't get to a horse because she was already busy...or have a client demand all their records, refuse to pay their bill and then be mad 6 months later because she wasn't "there" for the colic, etc.

You also have patient continuity to deal with... Yeah I gave all my shots, you dont know what your talking about, my horse can't have confirmed encephalitis/rhino/ flu/ rabies/strangles/etc! That vets license and family life are on the line every call she makes.

Not saying you have been that way to this vet but what does she deal with on a regular basis to cause her to change policy??

A friendly phone call and what can I do to help/fix it may solve your problem or at least let you know what the problem(s) is(are)!

 

[Baydreamfarms]

Man that is a tough situation! It makes me feel very lucky about the vets in our area. We are rural and we have 3 dif equine vets that will come even if they have never seen you or your horse. There is one that is prefered and harder to get into but luckily he is our breeders vet so I've already met him, talked to him on the phone and he's even been called for my filly when she was 10 days old.

We've always done the routine stuff ourselves too, we do with the dogs and we will with our filly. Heck I've been learning how to trim myself so I don't have to rely on anyone for that even. In this day and age we have to know all the basics and be able to handle minor emergencies ourselves. This fast paced life doesn't work with us all the time and we have to tweek it until we can handle it.

I still don't understand what your vet means by she can't afford you??? That still is odd to me

 

[ropenride]

WOW! I feel really, REALLY lucky!!! My vet has a large practice but still has time for the "personal touch". He will have HIS office price my vaccines and wormer so I can get the cheapest, but has no problem with ME giving them. He comes out when needed for teeth and such at $75 farm call (35 miles one way), and I am always able to run them to the clinic for stitches and what not. When I have an emergency during hours he will come ASAP, after hours I am automatically referred to the University Vet School (1 hour away) when I call. I have another vet who is 1/2 mile from me that does Coggins and the dogs and cats, but he doesn't have the ultrasound, x-ray, surgical facilities, etc that my "regular" vet does, and he's fine with that. I will admit...my horses are well behaved, but I don't have a problem with a shot if they act up! I did run up a big bill one year, but I talked to him and we worked it out. When we moved here 10 years ago I made appointments with the local vets and did "interviews" before I picked out the ones I wanted to use. Both are Large Animal (mostly cow) vets, but have told me they enjoy mixing my 30 head (mostly bigs

) in with the cattle. I've got several books, and have picked my vet's brain about EVERYTHING, but it's nice to know he's only a phone call away. I'm afraid I'd have an anxiety attack if he sent me a letter saying he couldn't be my vet unless he does everything!!

Maybe you could offer to buy your vaccines from her, but still give them yourself????

 

[Riverdance]

I too live in Minnesota and have one of the best vets around!!!! Were I live we have a plethatude of vets. One that does all of the race horses and are VERY expensive. They are the closest to me, but I got tired of their ridicules prices. They built a multi million dollar facility and think that we should pay for it.

There are a few small time vets that work out of their trucks and then there is the vet in Stillwater. THEY ARE FANTASTIC!!! I had a yearling filly colic and I just could not afford colic surgery. They worked with the filly for 3 days, but she would not pass what was clogging her up, so they offered to cut their colic surgery in half for me. and let me make payments. She has been home for almost 3 weeks and is doing just fine.

They have met me at their clinic at all times of the day or night, and Ann, my favorite vet, is the one who comes out to my farm for coggins, US and health certificates.

The very first time I used them was an emergency. My old vet turned me away for a distocia because I owed them money(I had another distocia the week before and they almost killed the mare, then charged me $1,600, I could not pay the bill in full, so was making payments. They had also been my vet for several years and I had always made my payments)) I called Stillwater Vet and the owner, Terry, on a Sunday, had me meet him at the clinic (I had never used them before) He was able to get the foal out, and only charged me $275 for a Sunday emergency visit. The same deal that my other vet charged me $1,600 for, used their fresh out of school vets, almost killed my mare and it was in the middle of a week day too.

I LOVE MY NEW VET!!

So, look around and check around. You may find another vet somewhere that you end up just loving!!

By the way, I do all of my regular care. They have also helped me when I have tried to do some care myself to save money.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

This is VERY common. The vets can only service so many people. If they take too much on, they risk having too many calls at the same time and be unable to handle emergencies. If they only see you for emergencies, they have all the risk and none of the benefit of a routine client. They have to optimize their time, but can't overextend themselves. By eliminating people like you who use them as "backup", they can take on a full time client who earns them more money and optimizes their time.

If they calculate that they can handle 800 clients, and 200 of them only use them for emergencies or backup and do less than $200/year in business, why should they continue to be your insurance? Should they spend time sitting on their duff, unable to take on new clients just to cover your "just in case" mentality? They could take on a regular client and earn $2000/yr. [SIZE=14pt]THIS is what she means by the statement that she can't afford to keep you as a client.[/SIZE] That money goes a long way to compensate the vet for their horrible hours, huge debts, and tremendous commitment to their clients.

Do I like it? Nope, I do the same thing. I do 95% of my own vet work. BUT, I live in a "vet rich" area where there are three world-class (Rood and Riddle, Hagyard and Magee, etc) clinics within 30 minute's travel, PLUS all the lil guys. I'll be able to get emergency services. You need to think long and hard and figure out which is more important... saving a few dollars, or having a vet ready to help at any time. Not everyone is in my situation, these days having two dozen clinics within 100 miles is very unusual. Vets are a dying breed, and very hard to keep in our industry. The hours are HORRIBLE, the people hard to get along with, and the work not nearly as rewarding as it should be. And small animal vets earn twice as much.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We use a clinic about 25 miles away, the vets are great (we do have one we prefer) and they are ALWAYS ready to help us in an emergency- like today. Danny slit his eyelid open and needed sewn up, and they took Jane in immediately! They like us, even with the "dinky" horses!

We get our Coggins and rabies shots there, do our own combo shots at home. They also do our geldings.

We sent them a picture of us at Nationals after Sunny got his Res Championship. They proudly display it on the counter.

Lucy

 

[Whitestar]

I know that money is also a factor. Consider if you pay when you are presented a bill or if you have to make payments. Running a vet clinic, even though ours is non profit, & we do not take payments, I have worked for full service vets before & know how much it costs to run a vet clinic. The suppliers dont take payments, they expect payment in full on their equipment & drugs & other stuff they sell the vets who in turn usually end up taking payments on from their clients. Many people are on an emergency only basis, the only time we saw some pets if they were hit by cars or in an emergency situations & then the people didnt have the money then to pay it & had to make payments. There were ALOT of people making $25 or so payments on huge bills, it can run a vet out of business or make them pick & chose the clients that they want to do business with. It may not seem fair from a clients standpoint, Vets love animals or would not have chosen the industry, however their families have to come before your pets. The best way to keep a vet is to have a emergency fund to cover the bill when it is presented. They do get tired of hearing "can I may payments". And a lot of people run out on their bills or decide that they are not going to pay the bill after the vet has worked on the pet/horse/livestock for days, sunk tons of drugs & employees time to save them, only to have the animal die & the owner decide that it was the vets "fault" or "why should I pay a huge bill on a dead animal". There are two sides to this story, although I am not saying that these circumstances have anything to do with this story, just wanted to give the Vet clinics side.

 

[Shari]

I feel for you. I went from my Farm up north with 5 very good, main horse Vets to choose from.

Down to here, where there are only two Vets,,,and because of what one did to Theia.. would not have them on my farm for any reason. (Yes, that Vet has a list long as my Arm of her mistakes)

The other Vet, I have used a few times and they come when they can. They are an hour away if they are at the office. They are sooo busy,, they rather have us do our own vaccines and worming. Because there are so few large animal vets ( 2 of them) in a big area full of cattle, they have more work than they can deal with, with just the emergancies.

I think it is wrong for a Vet that dumps a paying client. If they have that much work,, hire an intern or a Vet just out of college. Better than leaving people stranded.

 

[Cathy_H]

You could ask the vet how much more she would have to have from you in order to come out on an emergency. This would be above & beyond her normal emergency fee charge. If she is willing to come out to your farm for that extra $$$ & you are willing to pay it then start socking away some $$ for those emergencies......... If this amount is close to what your routine care would cost then have her do the routine stuff if that will keep her coming back. Good luck to ya!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I think it is wrong for a Vet that dumps a paying client. If they have that much work,, hire an intern or a Vet just out of college. Better than leaving people stranded.

What vets just out of college?