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Originally Posted by jannieC
Charged me $25 for the whole thing. Not common. I have told everyone I know about this vet- I was so impressed. I've never ever walked out of a vet's office for under $100.
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$40-100 is pretty steep for an office visit, but was that a regular exam or an emergency fee?
The office where I work charges $26.50 for an exam (or $36.50 for exotics - birds, reptiles, ferrets, guinea pigs, rabbits) and x-rays start at about $80.00. However, you do have the option and the right to decline any diagnostics or treatments that you do not want or cannot afford. Our office is relatively new, immaculately clean and equipped with an in-house lab, x-ray machine, ultrasound, and the same type of surgical monitoring equipment used in human medicine.
Again, in defense of veterinarians, very few allow people to make payments because they've been screwed so many times. I'm in charge of billing at my office and you'd be amazed at how many thousands of dollars worth of unpaid accounts (many now in collections) that practice has amassed in only the 7 years it has existed. Our clinic sometimes makes exceptions to the no billing rule, but only in dire emergencies (life and death) or when it involves well-established clients with accounts in good standing. We simply can't afford to do otherwise.
As for the comment that you shouldn't have a pet if you cannot afford veterinary care for it, that was very rude of the person to say to you, but it really is the truth. I'm not expecting people to be able to afford thousands of dollars worth of chemotherapy and surgery like Homie has been doing for his dog, but I don't think it's really unfair to expect people to be able to pay for simple diagnostics like an xray.