Hello all, I hope you don't mind my mini-rant and asking for opinions on this situation?

I recently adopted a 2 year old (estimated) beagle/daschhound mix from the pound. She arrived with a fractured pelvis which prevented her from being spayed and adopted.

She is an absolute love and I adore her, and have been pouring money into her treatment through our vet for x-rays, constant checkups, and medication.

I brought her in today to polish off her shots and to check up on her hip. I walked out with a huge vet bill for some tests that (I feel) may have been essentially pointless at this point.

I understand the importance of blood tests and panels with birds and have never denied this same office (who is split between avian and domestic animals) money on every test they offer to make sure that Schroeder was happy and healthy.

However, I don't feel that an otherwise happy and healthy dog should be subjected to the same intense testing. Full blood work and fecal testing at every visit seems excessive to me and I get the sick feeling that they are milking my concern for my animals for money.

She had a very thorough vet exam at the pound, because she came in with a rather serious injury which, looking at the records, included some blood work and deworming.

I also went in with questions today about the medication they prescribed her. Metacam, which apparently is an arthritis medicine also used for anit-inflammatory which they prescribed as "pain medcation". I asked the technician why this was prescribed instead of just pain meds, since thats all she needed (and asked if she needed the inflammatory stuff and if so why wasn't that mentioned?) and she said shed tell the doctor my question. The Dr's answer? To have her stop taking the medicine because she appeared to not be in pain (no limping) and to start again if she restarted limping. I wish I pressed more, especially considering the medication the prescribed for her respiritory infection (from being in the pound) is apparently something for skin irritation. (info from 1800petmeds.com, which i had gone to to check for side affects)

So as I was paying my enourmous bill and buying a $72 box of "sentinel" the Dr comes out and asks me if shed been displaying any signs of being in heat (since they dont' want to spay her until her fractures heal more ) and I said that I didn't know, never having owned a dog who hadn't been fixed, let alone a dog in heat, and she nodded and started doign something else. I had to ask twice before she told me what the symptoms actually were that I should be looking for. -_-

Am I just being grouchy or might I be being gouged? Is it really important to be running constant tests on a healthy dog? (I mean, obviously her pelvis isn't 'healthy' but the rest of her spit spot!)

I was under the impression that these sorts of tests were very important for birds who hide illness and have no clear symptoms outside of test results to help guide vets but I did not think the same was true of dogs.

Any advice would be much appriciated!

I currently have 4 dogs (5 kind of). None of those dogs have ever had any blood work or fecals done (With the exception of a heartworm test done every 2 years). NEVER. Our Collie who we got as a puppy when I was a child passed away 2 summers ago at the age of 16. One of our mini dachshunds is 11 and going strong. My GSD is 10 and happy as can be (although his arthritis bothers him during the winter). The other 2 are young.

We can totally afford the tests, but our vet has never brought it up. I worked at this vet clinic for 5 years, and we never did blood work on dogs (or cats) with the exception of drawing blood for heartworm tests, or if the animal was sick. On a healthy animal, no way!!

I say find a new vet for Pam! That is JMO though. A full blood panel and fecal testing at every appointment is ridiculous!

I don't presently have a dog, but I have in the past and never had all those tests run.

There is a vet in my area (avian) who will run all kinds of unnecessary tests on birds. You can never walk out of there with less than a $600.00 bill. With him, I can guarantee it is all about money.

Thats what I was thinking Thanks for replying!

I grew up with dogs and we never put them through this sort of thing, let alone on such a constant basis!

I want to provide the best care I can for her, and I'll pay the necessary bills, but I don't want to completly drain my savings on useless tests on a healthy dog, especially with myself, an african grey, and the dog herself that could need emergency care that I would have a hard time affording because of all of this! Let alone regular bills, potential for car trouble, its just not something I can keep up

I would find another dog vet if they aren't answering your questions about meds. I also think the tests aren't needed, we have blood work done on my 11 year old Dane just because she is VERY old for a Great Dane. They check things like her liver function etc. so we can catch problems early. As far as a young healthy dog, there is no reason for blood work etc. other than the already mentioned heartworm tests every 2 years.

May be a bit over the top, but she may also have side effects from the medications and/or lingering effects from all of the surgery. I did not get how long you have had her, but he may just be quite cautious about whether she is completely healed up. Off label use of the drugs is not uncommon (use of an "arthritis" drug for pain is normal -- think about how many folks use aspirin for everything). I think I would ask for a long talk with the vet (and expect to pay him for his time) to explain what he is trying to do. Honestly, I can't tell if he is very cautious, but busy, and may be an awesome vet or trying to make a few dollars off of you. Glad your dog is doing so well & that she found someone who loves her so much!

My vet will do bloodwork for presurgery. Is this why your vet did it ?
Jack

No, shes apparently not having the surgury for her pelvis. They went to the surgeon with the quote and the surgeon said that they would recommend "conservative" treatment of cage rest to heal herself and see if it works.

She hasn't had any surgury or treatment to be monitored.

Metacam as far as I know is a pain medication on top of an anti-inflammatory- its like ibprofen. I give some to Paco, my amazon buts its routinely given to dogs and cats as well,and my vet told me it was likened to ibprofen in humans.

It's really a trust issue here - you should perhaps approach your vet & ask again if the costs can be kept to reason - ensuring only getting your pet back to health & not over-medicated.

The anti-inflammatory may be so she doesn't seize up in the back end during healing. For a young dog - she should heal fairly quickly - they didn't think a cast would help at all? Our dog was way worse - had surgery + pins - full recovery but just a hint of a limp, but she wasn't young like yours is.

Doctors are just like everyone else - sometimes they go off into tangents & have to be brought back to reality.

PS - if i haven't said this before - she is adorable.