Comments on: Hoboken vets & rat poison http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209 Making our community stronger with technology Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:25:00 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: mooshu http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-4#comment-186167 mooshu Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:18:05 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-186167 Stef, have you been here, before? This establishment doesn't operate on an appointment schedule. Also, it doesn't take over an hour to take a pet's weight. I've watched them do it-- takes five minutes or less.<!--begin reply--> <span class="in_response_to">In response to sdurbin who said:</span> <div class="replied_to_style">This might help you be less angry at the Vet. It looks to me that they did what was best for your dog. Here is why. The rat poisons work as an anticoagulant (anti-blood clotting). It does this by depleting the animal's body of Vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting. Standard procedure for poisoning is to always induce vomiting, which isn't always the easiest thing to do. This is to make sure that the animal ingests as little poison as possible. The vet used a less invasive method of inducing vomit probably because it is less traumatic to the dog, and because it will also cost you much less than a stomach pumping. By the time your dog got to the vet, it had already ingested the rat poison. They had to take the time to weigh your dog because they needed to know how much medication to inject and prescribe. This is very important information. As for the emergency cost, it doesn't matter what time of the day it is, an emergency in an emergency. Almost all professional clinics operate on an appointment schedule, so your 1.5 hour emergency would have, on a normal day, interrupted the schedule quite significantly. I worked in my father's dental clinic quite often. An emergency would sometimes make it so that the regularly scheduled patients would have to reschedule and come back later. The emergency fee barely did anything to make up for what he lost by the scheduled patient having to walk out. I'm going to vet school soon, and it isn't because of the money. Actually, veterinarians are one of the lowest paid medical professions even though they are specialists in many species, unlike human physicians. The average salary is between 60 and 80 thousand and the school bills are the same as medical or dental school (about 200K for the 4 year DVM degree plus 4 years undergrad). Try to be patient with the doctor. She isn't collecting insurance payments like your physician would. What you paid her is all she gets and overhead is quite high. Sincerely, Stefanie</div><!--end reply--> Stef, have you been here, before? This establishment doesn’t operate on an appointment schedule. Also, it doesn’t take over an hour to take a pet’s weight. I’ve watched them do it– takes five minutes or less.

In response to sdurbin who said:

This might help you be less angry at the Vet. It looks to me that they did what was best for your dog. Here is why.

The rat poisons work as an anticoagulant (anti-blood clotting). It does this by depleting the animal’s body of Vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting.

Standard procedure for poisoning is to always induce vomiting, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. This is to make sure that the animal ingests as little poison as possible. The vet used a less invasive method of inducing vomit probably because it is less traumatic to the dog, and because it will also cost you much less than a stomach pumping.

By the time your dog got to the vet, it had already ingested the rat poison. They had to take the time to weigh your dog because they needed to know how much medication to inject and prescribe. This is very important information.

As for the emergency cost, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, an emergency in an emergency. Almost all professional clinics operate on an appointment schedule, so your 1.5 hour emergency would have, on a normal day, interrupted the schedule quite significantly. I worked in my father’s dental clinic quite often. An emergency would sometimes make it so that the regularly scheduled patients would have to reschedule and come back later. The emergency fee barely did anything to make up for what he lost by the scheduled patient having to walk out.

I’m going to vet school soon, and it isn’t because of the money. Actually, veterinarians are one of the lowest paid medical professions even though they are specialists in many species, unlike human physicians. The average salary is between 60 and 80 thousand and the school bills are the same as medical or dental school (about 200K for the 4 year DVM degree plus 4 years undergrad). Try to be patient with the doctor. She isn’t collecting insurance payments like your physician would. What you paid her is all she gets and overhead is quite high.

Sincerely,

Stefanie

]]> By: mooshu http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-4#comment-186166 mooshu Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:15:57 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-186166 Um, an emergency fee for a middle of the day visit? I'm stuck on this one because this place doesn't have a make-an-appointment policy. They take walk-ins all the time. I should know-- I bring Hoboken pets there. Son-of-a-bitch. What shocks me more is that apparently "hi, my dog ate rat poison" isn't enough to make someone tend to you. Even if there are no animals in the waiting area, someone should have spoken with you. I know this place as a courteous establishment that treats pets well, so am kinda in shock. This doesn't make any sense. Ugh, so disappointing, Animal Infirmary. So very disappointing... Wasn't Oscar's week, was it? Poor guy. Hope he's feeling better. Um, an emergency fee for a middle of the day visit? I’m stuck on this one because this place doesn’t have a make-an-appointment policy. They take walk-ins all the time. I should know– I bring Hoboken pets there.

Son-of-a-bitch. What shocks me more is that apparently “hi, my dog ate rat poison” isn’t enough to make someone tend to you. Even if there are no animals in the waiting area, someone should have spoken with you. I know this place as a courteous establishment that treats pets well, so am kinda in shock. This doesn’t make any sense.

Ugh, so disappointing, Animal Infirmary. So very disappointing…

Wasn’t Oscar’s week, was it? Poor guy. Hope he’s feeling better.

]]> By: sdurbin http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-4#comment-186128 sdurbin Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:00:26 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-186128 This might help you be less angry at the Vet. It looks to me that they did what was best for your dog. Here is why. The rat poisons work as an anticoagulant (anti-blood clotting). It does this by depleting the animal's body of Vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting. Standard procedure for poisoning is to always induce vomiting, which isn't always the easiest thing to do. This is to make sure that the animal ingests as little poison as possible. The vet used a less invasive method of inducing vomit probably because it is less traumatic to the dog, and because it will also cost you much less than a stomach pumping. By the time your dog got to the vet, it had already ingested the rat poison. They had to take the time to weigh your dog because they needed to know how much medication to inject and prescribe. This is very important information. As for the emergency cost, it doesn't matter what time of the day it is, an emergency in an emergency. Almost all professional clinics operate on an appointment schedule, so your 1.5 hour emergency would have, on a normal day, interrupted the schedule quite significantly. I worked in my father's dental clinic quite often. An emergency would sometimes make it so that the regularly scheduled patients would have to reschedule and come back later. The emergency fee barely did anything to make up for what he lost by the scheduled patient having to walk out. I'm going to vet school soon, and it isn't because of the money. Actually, veterinarians are one of the lowest paid medical professions even though they are specialists in many species, unlike human physicians. The average salary is between 60 and 80 thousand and the school bills are the same as medical or dental school (about 200K for the 4 year DVM degree plus 4 years undergrad). Try to be patient with the doctor. She isn't collecting insurance payments like your physician would. What you paid her is all she gets and overhead is quite high. Sincerely, Stefanie<!--begin reply--> <span class="in_response_to">In response to animal_lover who said:</span> <div class="replied_to_style">A vet has a professional obligation to describes options available to you and the cost of each option. Most importantly the vet must follow a prescribed medical duty of care. My pet was on a widely prescribed NSAID with side effects well documented by the pharmaceutical company. The vet failed to do a fecal sample which was indicated given the pets sysmptoms. The vet led me to believe my pet had no hope and relying on her professional opinion, I agreed to put down the pet. But not for the fact that this vet failed to perform this indicated and simple test, my pet would likely be alive today. Had I been informed that simply stopping the medication was an option and that most NSAID ulcers heal easily if the NSAIDs are stopped I never would have made the choice to put him down- and am I certain if the vet knew proper clinical protocol neither would have she. Yes this was a Hoboken vet.</div><!--end reply--> This might help you be less angry at the Vet. It looks to me that they did what was best for your dog. Here is why.

The rat poisons work as an anticoagulant (anti-blood clotting). It does this by depleting the animal’s body of Vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting.

Standard procedure for poisoning is to always induce vomiting, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. This is to make sure that the animal ingests as little poison as possible. The vet used a less invasive method of inducing vomit probably because it is less traumatic to the dog, and because it will also cost you much less than a stomach pumping.

By the time your dog got to the vet, it had already ingested the rat poison. They had to take the time to weigh your dog because they needed to know how much medication to inject and prescribe. This is very important information.

As for the emergency cost, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, an emergency in an emergency. Almost all professional clinics operate on an appointment schedule, so your 1.5 hour emergency would have, on a normal day, interrupted the schedule quite significantly. I worked in my father’s dental clinic quite often. An emergency would sometimes make it so that the regularly scheduled patients would have to reschedule and come back later. The emergency fee barely did anything to make up for what he lost by the scheduled patient having to walk out.

I’m going to vet school soon, and it isn’t because of the money. Actually, veterinarians are one of the lowest paid medical professions even though they are specialists in many species, unlike human physicians. The average salary is between 60 and 80 thousand and the school bills are the same as medical or dental school (about 200K for the 4 year DVM degree plus 4 years undergrad). Try to be patient with the doctor. She isn’t collecting insurance payments like your physician would. What you paid her is all she gets and overhead is quite high.

Sincerely,

Stefanie

In response to animal_lover who said:

A vet has a professional obligation to describes options available to you and the cost of each option. Most importantly the vet must follow a prescribed medical duty of care.
My pet was on a widely prescribed NSAID with side effects well documented by the pharmaceutical company. The vet failed to do a fecal sample which was indicated given the pets sysmptoms. The vet led me to believe my pet had no hope and relying on her professional opinion, I agreed to put down the pet.

But not for the fact that this vet failed to perform this indicated and simple test, my pet would likely be alive today. Had I been informed that simply stopping the medication was an option and that most NSAID ulcers heal easily if the NSAIDs are stopped I never would have made the choice to put him down- and am I certain if the vet knew proper clinical protocol neither would have she.

Yes this was a Hoboken vet.

]]> By: animal_lover http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-4#comment-101082 animal_lover Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:25:11 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-101082 A vet has a professional obligation to describes options available to you and the cost of each option. Most importantly the vet must follow a prescribed medical duty of care. My pet was on a widely prescribed NSAID with side effects well documented by the pharmaceutical company. The vet failed to do a fecal sample which was indicated given the pets sysmptoms. The vet led me to believe my pet had no hope and relying on her professional opinion, I agreed to put down the pet. But not for the fact that this vet failed to perform this indicated and simple test, my pet would likely be alive today. Had I been informed that simply stopping the medication was an option and that most NSAID ulcers heal easily if the NSAIDs are stopped I never would have made the choice to put him down- and am I certain if the vet knew proper clinical protocol neither would have she. Yes this was a Hoboken vet. A vet has a professional obligation to describes options available to you and the cost of each option. Most importantly the vet must follow a prescribed medical duty of care.
My pet was on a widely prescribed NSAID with side effects well documented by the pharmaceutical company. The vet failed to do a fecal sample which was indicated given the pets sysmptoms. The vet led me to believe my pet had no hope and relying on her professional opinion, I agreed to put down the pet.

But not for the fact that this vet failed to perform this indicated and simple test, my pet would likely be alive today. Had I been informed that simply stopping the medication was an option and that most NSAID ulcers heal easily if the NSAIDs are stopped I never would have made the choice to put him down- and am I certain if the vet knew proper clinical protocol neither would have she.

Yes this was a Hoboken vet.

]]> By: murphymc http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-60719 murphymc Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:56:10 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-60719 I have a labrador that can't stop eating things. He eats things he's not supposed to quite regularly, so taking him to the vet everytime was becoming an expensive option. If ever your dog eats something he shouldn't. Take a tablespoon of salt, and literally put it down his throat. He'll vomit whatever he ate right away. It's actually quite awful to watch, but effective. Someone at one of the dog parks had told me that trick. He read it in a first aid for dogs book. I didn't believe it would work, but it does... Of course, regardless if you get him to puke rat poison up or not, you should take your dog to the vet to be checked out... I have a labrador that can’t stop eating things. He eats things he’s not supposed to quite regularly, so taking him to the vet everytime was becoming an expensive option. If ever your dog eats something he shouldn’t. Take a tablespoon of salt, and literally put it down his throat. He’ll vomit whatever he ate right away. It’s actually quite awful to watch, but effective. Someone at one of the dog parks had told me that trick. He read it in a first aid for dogs book. I didn’t believe it would work, but it does…

Of course, regardless if you get him to puke rat poison up or not, you should take your dog to the vet to be checked out…

]]> By: twocat http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-54113 twocat Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:01:55 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-54113 devilgirl: just clearing up that the visit -took- an hour and a half. The dog was seen immediately and made to vomit right away. And a cautionary tip about making pets vomit...vomiting is not recommended for the ingestion of all toxins (as they can do damage coming back up; gasoline, some household cleaners are a few examples...). Best thing to do before you try to make your dog vomit is to give a call to your vet and they will let you know if vomiting is safe or not. :) devilgirl: just clearing up that the visit -took- an hour and a half. The dog was seen immediately and made to vomit right away. And a cautionary tip about making pets vomit…vomiting is not recommended for the ingestion of all toxins (as they can do damage coming back up; gasoline, some household cleaners are a few examples…). Best thing to do before you try to make your dog vomit is to give a call to your vet and they will let you know if vomiting is safe or not.

:)

]]> By: bri777 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-53918 bri777 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:11:33 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-53918 Vets are very expensive. People need to know that before they get a pet. Little $400 shocks like this happen every couple of years. Tack on all the regular visits for shots etc and you are talking about $500-700 bucks in a typical year. Just something people should realize if they are considering getting a dog. Vets are very expensive. People need to know that before they get a pet. Little $400 shocks like this happen every couple of years. Tack on all the regular visits for shots etc and you are talking about $500-700 bucks in a typical year. Just something people should realize if they are considering getting a dog.

]]> By: joe1 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-53900 joe1 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:33:43 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-53900 The DOCTOR saved your dog's life! The DOCTOR saved your dog's life! The DOCTOR saved your dog's life! Now, how much is that worth??? The DOCTOR saved your dog’s life!

The DOCTOR saved your dog’s life!

The DOCTOR saved your dog’s life!

Now, how much is that worth???

]]> By: devilgirl http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-53826 devilgirl Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:23:53 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-53826 I am not surprised about the size of your bill, but am surprised that they made you wait an hour and a half to be treated. I'm assuming the poison he ingested causes the rodents to bleed out since he is now getting vitamin k which aids in clotting. The charcoal should have been administered immediately after getting him to vomit to stop the absorption of what may have remained. Your having to do it at home, what 2-3 hours later wasn't going to help much and I'm sure you had a wonderful mess on your hands. An emergency fee is very normal even during regular hours but they should have seen you and tended to him right away. The exterminator, knowing you had a pet, should have used a different technique if indeed these sticks contain warfarin. A little tip to all readers if their pet should get into something toxic: give them hydrogen peroxide. A few teaspoons generally makes them vomit. Try to keep them in the bathroom as they will foam at the mouth a lot and hopefully bring up the offending item. I'm sorry if any of this is repetative but I can't read all this now. Hope Oscar's feeling better! I am not surprised about the size of your bill, but am surprised that they made you wait an hour and a half to be treated. I’m assuming the poison he ingested causes the rodents to bleed out since he is now getting vitamin k which aids in clotting. The charcoal should have been administered immediately after getting him to vomit to stop the absorption of what may have remained. Your having to do it at home, what 2-3 hours later wasn’t going to help much and I’m sure you had a wonderful mess on your hands. An emergency fee is very normal even during regular hours but they should have seen you and tended to him right away. The exterminator, knowing you had a pet, should have used a different technique if indeed these sticks contain warfarin. A little tip to all readers if their pet should get into something toxic: give them hydrogen peroxide. A few teaspoons generally makes them vomit. Try to keep them in the bathroom as they will foam at the mouth a lot and hopefully bring up the offending item. I’m sorry if any of this is repetative but I can’t read all this now. Hope Oscar’s feeling better!

]]> By: hobokencat http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209/comment-page-3#comment-53778 hobokencat Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:38:30 +0000 http://hoboken411.com/archives/9209#comment-53778 VPI pet insurance. Well worth it. VPI pet insurance. Well worth it.

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