# Vet bills need help



## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

I want to take Bridget into the vet tomorrow and again on Monday. Tomorrow would be a more serious testing for worms, giadrda or anything like it. Monday is going to be a full exam of Bridget with the best vet center we have in Columbus. The problem here is that I don't qualify for care credit and I don't have the money for everything. Total bills would be around 300. I'll put my paypal info here. I have insurance so any money donated can be giving back. My insurance company is very slow. They promise 14 days but I haven't seen anything less than 30. Until I get everything fixed I'm stuck paying them unless I want to be considered as having preexisting conditions. 

[email protected] is my paypal address. I don't know how to set this up in the correct way. No one is supporting me on this because they don't support Bridget's diet or going to the vet or in some cases they don't even support keeping the dog if she is giving us this much trouble. I have a debit card that is linked with my paypal address so I can get any and all donations/loans in real time. 

Link to the thread.

I want to give the money back but it might take 30 days to do so. I have insurance so it doesn't make any sense at all to not return the money if I'm going to be getting 80% of it back. 

I'll check back in the morning and again in the afternoon. I don't expect to get anything so anything at all would be helpful.

Update: This is no longer an emergency. No more donations are needed. Thank you all for your consideration and help.


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## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

I wish I could help with some money. Good luck with that. 

Is this OH or GA? 

You could cut down some of that fees by finding an alternative place for the tests. The GA shelters int hat area have low cost vets. 

This has OH vet information if you scroll down.
Columbus Dog Connection


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## Igandwhippetlover (Feb 20, 2012)

I would love to help you, but first off, I am off work on Workers Comp from an injury at work. Second we are in debt up to our eyeballs right now with our 
rescue that has cancer.

I would ask the vet if they would take payments. Some will if they can.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

I understand. Money is a problem for us all. Thank you guys for looking at it. I choose Ohio State University because they are by far the best to date on actually finding issues. In the past I've had other less knowledge vets do a whole lot guess work that didn't result in much of anything besides more money out of my pocket. 

Brandypup, I called all of those places back when Bridget had bloat. They all required things we didn't qualify for and the ones who were willing to help us were even more expensive. None could recommend a cheaper alternative.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

bridget246 said:


> I understand. Money is a problem for us all. Thank you guys for looking at it. I choose Ohio State University because they are by far the best to date on actually finding issues. In the past I've had other less knowledge vets do a whole lot guess work that didn't result in much of anything besides more money out of my pocket.
> 
> Brandypup, I called all of those places back when Bridget had bloat. They all required things we didn't qualify for and the ones who were willing to help us were even more expensive. None could recommend a cheaper alternative.


Teaching hospitals aren't cheap. Did they tell you $300? I've never been to a university vet for that little. 

Is this something that is new for her, or ongoing? Did your regular vet recommend Ohio State or a specialist?


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

xellil said:


> Teaching hospitals aren't cheap. Did they tell you $300? I've never been to a university vet for that little.
> 
> Is this something that is new for her, or ongoing? Did your regular vet recommend Ohio State or a specialist?


It is new. The higher price is because we needed a heartworm test since my normal vet who gave that to me vanished this month which means Bridget has lapsed due to our traveling vet not coming to our area this month like normal. They also recommended another stool exam and maybe not even going with the normal HW prevention. Then there is the exam fee. They have to more closely exam her diet and have no problems with raw is what I'm told. But they think Bridget might have another underlining problem so they can't tell me exactly how much everything would be. That is where the 300 came from because it starts out at 150 and goes up from there for any special test. I don't need the whole 300 but that is what I'm expected the full cost to be. Anything at all would help. I'm even willing to repay any money given to me for this cause. It is just that are money is getting dangerously low this month. 

It was recommended to me to go to Ohio State. As far as I know they only take dogs who were referred to them. I'm going to try to take her to a normal vet to do all the different test for heartworm and an actually giardia test because I think that might be a little cheaper doing it that way. It does however get me an extra exam fee. My last vet told me that some of the heartworm pills have beef flavoring and that might explain why she throw up after her heartworm pill, I think I gave her HA plus. She has had problems with anything flavored in the past. 

If I could get something as low as 100 we could still make everything work out by making all the necessarily cuts where possible.


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## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

How is your dog doing now? 
I just went through the other posts. My last dog got Giardia as well. Scary insane hard to figure out. Nothign showed up on tests. Normal pills (to treat diareha) were not working. I had her at the vet on I think a monday and a thursday. On the Sunday she was worse and I called the vet who said to bring her in although they were closed, he was just doing rounds. SO did. He gave her a shot (no clue what) to stop the diarhrea and she was fine since that. 

Sending prayers.. Tell the vet very specificly that you are broke and you need to work around it with what you have. They can work around your budget in a lto of cases. If you can get a certain test elsewere cheaper then do it like that. Also remember that a lot of tests can be done by a vet tech with no office charge. But you have to sometimes equest it.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

The only thing that treated my dogs for Giardia was safeguard paste, they use it for horses and I told my vet it is also used to treat Giardia, he didn't believe me but gave me a dose anyway, I insisted...when I brought back a stool sample for retesting it was gone, those metro pills are awful on a dogs system and shouldn't be given at all. I will send you some money!


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> The only thing that treated my dogs for Giardia was safeguard paste, they use it for horses and I told my vet it is also used to treat Giardia, he didn't believe me but gave me a dose anyway, I insisted...when I brought back a stool sample for retesting it was gone, those metro pills are awful on a dogs system and shouldn't be given at all. I will send you some money!


Thank you for the help Whitelo. I have good news. They were able to cut the exam fee in half by having me see the tech. We did a giardia test on the stool and the smear. We also did the hearthworm test. Both came back negative. Bridget had the metro pills before for her bacteria problem so I'm sure a lot of damage have been done by these vets trying out different test. I finally put a stop to allowing more antibiotics. The last time I quit only after a few days. 

So onward to the good news. They looked at Bridget's stool again. Our vet tech doesn't recommend the raw diet. But she said she thinks it might be working. The stool is bad but it shows improvement. Which means it isn't her normal diet that caused this problem. She thinks Bridget stomach really hated the kibble and the reaction was awful. She was also up in weight by 6 pounds which means she is keeping her food down long enough to start to process it. She still recommends going to OSU for the heartworm medication and not the test since we've done that already. They will also look at her diet a little more closely than most vets could since they don't have the training when it comes to proper diets and all they can offer me is their kibble. Other than that she is thinking Bridget is going to recover on her "special" diet as long as I'm extremely careful about what she eats. 

Total cost so far was 100. I'm hoping that will take care of all the testing. My vet tech said it was great idea for them to do the testing. We really didn't want to pay their testing fees. I'm expecting about another 100-150 and all should be good. With the help from Whitelo we might actually be barely meeting our goal this month. 

To Whitelo: I can give you your money back around the 20th of March. Either that or I can donate it to whatever you would like. My insurance company should cover me on these charges. I just didn't have all the money up front for this.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm glad all worked out but I'm one who doesn't believe that all the tests are correct...Many people have done the giardia test and have had it come back negative, if i were you and she is still having issues with throwing up and runny poo and the smell, I'd use the safeguard/panacur paste. Let us know how she is tomorrow..


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

Do you know how they did the giardia test? The in house tests aren't always reliable.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

werecatrising said:


> Do you know how they did the giardia test? The in house tests aren't always reliable.


They did the snap test and the facial test. They offered to do another test costing 60 dollars more if I still wanted to test for it. But at this point they were sure giardia wasn't it. 

I actually made sure to find a vet that could do the extra test required.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> I'm glad all worked out but I'm one who doesn't believe that all the tests are correct...Many people have done the giardia test and have had it come back negative, if i were you and she is still having issues with throwing up and runny poo and the smell, I'd use the safeguard/panacur paste. Let us know how she is tomorrow..


I've been following her food in her all day. I can feel my dogs food as it goes through the whole digestion process. Today it was taking a fair amount of time. Like it use to before it sped right through. It felt like she had a little potty that was ready so we went out for a short walk. The stool was very small but it was firm. It feels like the bulk of whatever she didn't produce yet will be here around 4am.. and if I'm lucky she will let me wait till around 7 or 8 before demanded to go out.

Breath smelled better. But that is normal after eating raw meat. No idea why eating anything raw would make a dogs breath not stink, but it does. I use to brush her teeth because it was required. Now, it is more because she enjoys the brushing. It helps me sleep at night knowing I'm going that extra mile to protect her teeth as I would do for my teeth. Floss once and brush at least twice daily for myself. I'm getting the idea that the meat close to the bone is kind of like her floss.


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

I have rescued animals and had no help with vet bills - Unfortunately, this is a part of life, I beg my vet for a payment plan.
I donate to rescues when I can (which is often) but karma doesn't work this way. When it's your animal many times people won't help you pay.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Noodlesmadison said:


> I have rescued animals and had no help with vet bills - Unfortunately, this is a part of life, I beg my vet for a payment plan.
> I donate to rescues when I can (which is often) but karma doesn't work this way. When it's your animal many times people won't help you pay.


I think in some cases people will help. I could have begged all day and it wouldn't have gotten me anywhere. When she had bloat I begged and begged for a payment plan and didn't get it. I had to deal with the bloat myself. It was a really long 24 hours. I was warned that if anything at all went wrong my dog was dead. The next day around that area someone with two dogs was holding up a sign. One of this dogs was sick, needing treatment that they couldn't wait around for. It had already been confirmed. He just couldn't pay it and no time to wait around for donations. Right before I arrived he got the money he needed and was on his way back to the vet for help. 

I've been helped. I will also be much quicker to help others. Begging doesn't always work and no insurance I've seen pays for things upfront.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

bridget246 said:


> It is new. The higher price is because we needed a heartworm test since my normal vet who gave that to me vanished this month which means Bridget has lapsed due to our traveling vet not coming to our area this month like normal. They also recommended another stool exam and maybe not even going with the normal HW prevention. Then there is the exam fee. They have to more closely exam her diet and have no problems with raw is what I'm told. But they think Bridget might have another underlining problem so they can't tell me exactly how much everything would be. That is where the 300 came from because it starts out at 150 and goes up from there for any special test. I don't need the whole 300 but that is what I'm expected the full cost to be. Anything at all would help. I'm even willing to repay any money given to me for this cause. It is just that are money is getting dangerously low this month.
> 
> It was recommended to me to go to Ohio State. As far as I know they only take dogs who were referred to them. I'm going to try to take her to a normal vet to do all the different test for heartworm and an actually giardia test because I think that might be a little cheaper doing it that way. It does however get me an extra exam fee. My last vet told me that some of the heartworm pills have beef flavoring and that might explain why she throw up after her heartworm pill, I think I gave her HA plus. She has had problems with anything flavored in the past.
> 
> If I could get something as low as 100 we could still make everything work out by making all the necessarily cuts where possible.


I would check into MedVet in Columbus. I took my sister in law and her bulldog there because he couldnt move. For $150 they did the physical, exrays, steroids, massage and diagnosed him with two slipped vertibra in his spine. They were very kind, very helpful, thoughtful and we were amzed at the price, and that was an EMERGANCY visit.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Makovach said:


> I would check into MedVet in Columbus. I took my sister in law and her bulldog there because he couldnt move. For $150 they did the physical, exrays, steroids, massage and diagnosed him with two slipped vertibra in his spine. They were very kind, very helpful, thoughtful and we were amzed at the price, and that was an EMERGANCY visit.


I've heard about them. They charge a little more than normal because they are a emergency clinic. I think that is about normal price for that in a ER. Maybe around 50-100 on a non ER visit.

Walk in exam is usually a little more than 100 in a ER. Any special test cost about the same. The biggest difference is the walk in exam fee. At least that had been my experience.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

Yes, but being an emergancy vet, 
we got
Exrays
Steroids
Physical Exam
They worked on him to put his spine back in place
AT an emergancy visit and it was only $150 all together. At my normal vet I can't get an exray alone for under $80 and her office call is $35, $55 for emergancy. 

I would def. check into it. Tho I do think they have to have payment before upon service.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Makovach said:


> Yes, but being an emergancy vet,
> we got
> Exrays
> Steroids
> ...


Wow, exray's? I missed that last time. I will go to them if I ever have any other after hour emergency's. I had two so far. One with Bleach and the other with bloat. The exray's were the killer. But right now it would be a waste of money as I'm not going to a vet for test. I want to find new ways of getting Bridget her heartworm without it bothering her. If she throws it up then it doesn't do anything.


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

Lucky! My last emergency cost 2400 buck a roos. Nothing like getting into pizza dough!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

chewice said:


> Lucky! My last emergency cost 2400 buck a roos. Nothing like getting into pizza dough!


Yep, i've never gotten out for $150 or anything close to that. But, there are ER vets that don't try to gouge you. The first time I took a foster dog in to an ER because I thought he ate a popsicle stick they charged me for sending the X-ray results to New York so some specialist could check for stomach cancer.

Apparently that was in the fine print when I signed the consent form, and I was forced to pay it - $100. 

I realize I should have read every little tiny thing in that three page contract but I didn't. 

I also never went back to them. Since I got Snorkels later on and her ER visits were costing somewhere between $3000-$4000 a month for awhile, they lost a TON of money because they screwed me over for $100. But I bet if I had taken her to them, it would have cost me $8000 a month.


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## Igandwhippetlover (Feb 20, 2012)

So happy everything worked out for you and your pup. I have no idea what the cost is in other states or areas but our vet tests for
heartworm for 30.00. And she knows within 15 minutes. As for heartworms there is a new treatment for them. Doxicillin anti-biotics for one month 
then plain Ivermectin in a higher dose. I use plain Ivermectin for heartworm treatment each month. A bottle cost about 32.00 and last for 3 years.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Igandwhippetlover said:


> So happy everything worked out for you and your pup. I have no idea what the cost is in other states or areas but our vet tests for
> heartworm for 30.00. And she knows within 15 minutes. As for heartworms there is a new treatment for them. Doxicillin anti-biotics for one month
> then plain Ivermectin in a higher dose. I use plain Ivermectin for heartworm treatment each month. A bottle cost about 32.00 and last for 3 years.


Heartworm test here is around 45 to 50. Then they charge you an exam fee. Everyone wants to charge the exam fee.

Looked up Ivermectin. Here is what I found.

Link



> While the sensitivity to this type of medication is not always guaranteed, the following breeds are most likely to be affected:
> 
> Old English Sheepdog
> English Sheepdog
> ...


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