Not sure what my cat's vet did was "kosher" or not - need help please.

Hi everybody ... couldn't find an answer to this on the 'net so I
thought I'd try you guys. Hope you don't mind a stranger just barging
in here with a question!

Here's my situation -- my kitty was sick a little while ago (bad
reaction to some flea foam) so I took him to a vet in town; she was a
new vet to him; he's indoors only and he doesn't have a regular vet.
She ran a gazillion tests on him, even did xrays and sonograms, each
time saying the test was "inconclusive" and recommending more tests and
procedures. At this point, I had already paid her $2,000 for all her
work and tests! Next on her "to do" list for him was a biopsy of his
intestine. Well, I was not comfortable with having my boy put under
anesthesia and cut into when he was acting fine (eating, drinking,
playing as normal). Also, as you might imagine, I was quite emotional
with worry over my kitty, wondering if he was going to die or if I'd
have to make a decision to put him to sleep eventually or what!

So I asked the vet if she would talk to my friend, since I was unable
to absorb all the information the vet was giving me due to my emotional
state and I wanted my friend who was removed and could be objective and
analytical to hear from the doctor what was wrong with my boy. The vet
wouldn't talk to my friend unless I paid her. This seemed odd, since I
didn't see how this request would be any different than say, for
example, if I was married and asked the vet "Hey could you talk to my
husband about the cat's condition because I'm just too emotional to
understand all you are telling me."

Secondly, I wanted a second opinion on my cat before having him cut
open and biopsied. I wanted to take him to my previous vet 40 miles
away who has an excellent reputation. I asked the vet for my cat's
xrays so I could take them with me. I paid over $100 for these xrays
and I would think they are basically my personal property not the
vet's, but I don't know for sure - so that is question 1. Are the
xrays my *property"? Second question -- the vet charged me $30 for
the xrays, a "handling" charge if you will. Now, mind you, the xrays
were only a few days old and were still on her shelf in my cat's file;
it's not like she had to send off to some off-site storage facility to
retrieve his xrays. So, question #2 is, is it customary for a vet to
charge to give me (actually "lend", as I had to sign a paper saying I'd
bring the xrays back to her office) my cat's xrays that I already paid
for when he first got xrayed?

I paid for the xrays, took my cat to my old vet, the vet looked at the
xrays and all the tests that the other vet faxed over and asked me "Why
is this cat here? He's fine!"

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!

I don't think you have much of a chance trying to recoup any of the
money. First of all, it's her "policy" to charge a fee to hand over
x-rays (a poor policy for sure, but it's not illegal or anything). And
if she did indeed perform all the tests she *said* she did, there's
nothing really *illegal* about it -- unethical, yeah, but not illegal.
You could still try, but attorney fees would cost far more than it was
worth.
But I wonder if you maybe could file a formal complaint with the
Veterinary Board in your state listing exhorbitant fees and unnecessary
testing.

Sherry

Sherry

wrote in message
oups.com...
snip

I paid for the xrays, took my cat to my old vet, the vet looked at the
xrays and all the tests that the other vet faxed over and asked me "Why
is this cat here? He's fine!"

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!


Like Sherry said, there is nothing illegal per se about what this vet did.
Scummy and unethical yes, but not illegal. The most you can do at this
point is write a letter of complaint and spread your story to other pet
owners about how she bilked you.
I've never heard of charging an X-ray handling fee, for pets or people.
A question though, after your kitty recovered and was fine, on what basis
was she saying that he still needed further tests? How sick did your cat
get? Was he just not feeling well, or did he need to be hospitalized? For
a possible poisoning, I would think all that is needed is maybe some fluids
to help flush out the toxin, and bloodwork to make sure all organs are
functioning.

-Kelly

in article , KellyH at kelly at
farringtons dot net wrote on 6/1/05 4:49AM:


wrote in message
oups.com...
snip

I paid for the xrays, took my cat to my old vet, the vet looked at the
xrays and all the tests that the other vet faxed over and asked me "Why
is this cat here? He's fine!"

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!


Like Sherry said, there is nothing illegal per se about what this vet did.
Scummy and unethical yes, but not illegal. The most you can do at this
point is write a letter of complaint and spread your story to other pet
owners about how she bilked you.
I've never heard of charging an X-ray handling fee, for pets or people.
A question though, after your kitty recovered and was fine, on what basis
was she saying that he still needed further tests? How sick did your cat
get? Was he just not feeling well, or did he need to be hospitalized? For
a possible poisoning, I would think all that is needed is maybe some fluids
to help flush out the toxin, and bloodwork to make sure all organs are
functioning.

-Kelly



I was wondering this too. I also thought it was extremely strange that she
would charge for talking to your friend (a good idea btw I thought.) Sounds
like a real piece of work.

On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 06:41:14 -0500, Karen wrote:


I was wondering this too. I also thought it was extremely strange that she
would charge for talking to your friend (a good idea btw I thought.) Sounds
like a real piece of work.

There's talking and there's talking. A consultation fee is not
unusual at all. Now, if the OP had said "I can't understand this -
I'm handing the phone to my friend", that's one thing. Setting up a
consultation (even on the phone) with the friend is a whole 'nuther
ball of wax. I paid for a surgical consult with a specialist once,
just to get all of my facts and options before deciding whether or not
to do the surgery. I believe it was something on the order of $60.
For an expensive and potentially fatal surgery with a long recovery
time, on an elderly animal, it was the right thing to do.



--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album

wrote:
Here's my situation -- my kitty was sick a little while ago (bad
reaction to some flea foam) so I took him to a vet in town; she was a
new vet to him; he's indoors only and he doesn't have a regular vet.
She ran a gazillion tests on him, even did xrays and sonograms, each
time saying the test was "inconclusive" and recommending more tests and
procedures. At this point, I had already paid her $2,000 for all her
work and tests! Next on her "to do" list for him was a biopsy of his
intestine. Well, I was not comfortable with having my boy put under
anesthesia and cut into when he was acting fine (eating, drinking,
playing as normal). Also, as you might imagine, I was quite emotional
with worry over my kitty, wondering if he was going to die or if I'd
have to make a decision to put him to sleep eventually or what!

Sorry to hear of your situation, and glad your kitty is ok. This vet
sounds pretty unethical, but as others have said, it wouldn't be worth
trying to get your money back, and I agree with whoever said to make a
complaint against the vet to your state's vet board. It would be
interesting to find out if there have been other complaints made
against her.

As for the flea foam, as you now know, these flea preps can be very
dangerous. You say your cat is indoors only. Does he actually have
fleas? Personally, I don't believe in using chemical insecticides
unless absolutely necessary.

I don't see it as a consultation to have the vet speak to your friend
in order to help explain things to you more clearly, and charging a
consultation fee was not the right thing to do, IMO. She should have
spoken to your friend as a courtesy. It's not like you just walked in
off the street and wanted the vet to diagnose your cat for free, then
speak to your friend. Sounds to me like the vet was taking advantage
of your emotional state, and didn't want someone neutral to take part
in the relationship, since your friend may very well have seen through
her.

Lauren

***I would dump that vet, ASAP. Politely and firmly ask/demand that your
x-rays and records to be faxed to your newly appointed vet. You owe them/her
no explanation. She/ old vet, is obviously incompetent and unbelievably
greedy and selfish. I would also advise you to report her to the better
business bureau.

No telling how many more other people she's ripped off, and how many animals
she's caused a large amount of unnecessary stress and pain.

ML




wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi everybody ... couldn't find an answer to this on the 'net so I
thought I'd try you guys. Hope you don't mind a stranger just barging
in here with a question!

Here's my situation -- my kitty was sick a little while ago (bad
reaction to some flea foam) so I took him to a vet in town; she was a
new vet to him; he's indoors only and he doesn't have a regular vet.
She ran a gazillion tests on him, even did xrays and sonograms, each
time saying the test was "inconclusive" and recommending more tests and
procedures. At this point, I had already paid her $2,000 for all her
work and tests! Next on her "to do" list for him was a biopsy of his
intestine. Well, I was not comfortable with having my boy put under
anesthesia and cut into when he was acting fine (eating, drinking,
playing as normal). Also, as you might imagine, I was quite emotional
with worry over my kitty, wondering if he was going to die or if I'd
have to make a decision to put him to sleep eventually or what!

So I asked the vet if she would talk to my friend, since I was unable
to absorb all the information the vet was giving me due to my emotional
state and I wanted my friend who was removed and could be objective and
analytical to hear from the doctor what was wrong with my boy. The vet
wouldn't talk to my friend unless I paid her. This seemed odd, since I
didn't see how this request would be any different than say, for
example, if I was married and asked the vet "Hey could you talk to my
husband about the cat's condition because I'm just too emotional to
understand all you are telling me."

Secondly, I wanted a second opinion on my cat before having him cut
open and biopsied. I wanted to take him to my previous vet 40 miles
away who has an excellent reputation. I asked the vet for my cat's
xrays so I could take them with me. I paid over $100 for these xrays
and I would think they are basically my personal property not the
vet's, but I don't know for sure - so that is question 1. Are the
xrays my *property"? Second question -- the vet charged me $30 for
the xrays, a "handling" charge if you will. Now, mind you, the xrays
were only a few days old and were still on her shelf in my cat's file;
it's not like she had to send off to some off-site storage facility to
retrieve his xrays. So, question #2 is, is it customary for a vet to
charge to give me (actually "lend", as I had to sign a paper saying I'd
bring the xrays back to her office) my cat's xrays that I already paid
for when he first got xrayed?

I paid for the xrays, took my cat to my old vet, the vet looked at the
xrays and all the tests that the other vet faxed over and asked me "Why
is this cat here? He's fine!"

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!

"Janet B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 06:41:14 -0500, Karen wrote:


I was wondering this too. I also thought it was extremely strange that
she
would charge for talking to your friend (a good idea btw I thought.)
Sounds
like a real piece of work.

There's talking and there's talking. A consultation fee is not
unusual at all. Now, if the OP had said "I can't understand this -
I'm handing the phone to my friend", that's one thing. Setting up a
consultation (even on the phone) with the friend is a whole 'nuther
ball of wax. I paid for a surgical consult with a specialist once,
just to get all of my facts and options before deciding whether or not
to do the surgery. I believe it was something on the order of $60.
For an expensive and potentially fatal surgery with a long recovery
time, on an elderly animal, it was the right thing to do.

Well, when you say you asked the vet to talk to your friend because you are
too emotional to take it all in, it does NOT sound like a "consultation" to
me. It sounds like, you want the vet to tell your friend what they told you
so that you don't miss anything. I say that is a piece of work and a lot of
gall to ask for an extra fee.

She/ old vet, is obviously incompetent and unbelievably
greedy and selfish.

Like the vet a friend of mine was forced to use. His wife had a cat he
had given her when he took a job abroad when they first met and he had
to do this to buy and furnish their first home together. When the cat
got to be 16+ he became ill and off they went to this new vet. For a
little while the treatments worked and the cat was well and happy but
after a couple of years the treatments stopped working and the cat had
no quality of life whatsoever, he was at the vet's almost every week
and when not at the vets he was lying on his bed uninterested in food
and having to be taken to his litter box as he could only walk a few
steps....But she couldn't bear to lose her "baby" and the vet saw her
coming and colluded shamelessly with her, suggesting more
investigations, more treatments, maybe "this one will do the trick" and
"we haven't tried this one". My friend actually asked the vet about
putting the poor cat out of his misery and his wife gave him the sort
of look that suggested sooner him than her cat....He tried to change
vets but his wife was so convinced that this "vet" was all that was
keeping her "baby" alive she gave him another "sooner you than him"
look

Anyway he spent over =A36,000 on this cat and the cat had a miserable
last two or so years before even the vet had to admit that it was
kinder to let him go (He probably thought "this cat is not going to
last more than a few days so I'll grab the last few bob out of it
rather than letting it die peacefully at home"- incidentally in that
sentence I am using "it", which I never normally do but that is how
this particular vet was with cats apparently)

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi everybody ... couldn't find an answer to this on the 'net so I
thought I'd try you guys. Hope you don't mind a stranger just barging
in here with a question!

Here's my situation -- my kitty was sick a little while ago (bad
reaction to some flea foam) so I took him to a vet in town; she was a
new vet to him; he's indoors only and he doesn't have a regular vet.
She ran a gazillion tests on him, even did xrays and sonograms, each
time saying the test was "inconclusive" and recommending more tests and
procedures. At this point, I had already paid her $2,000 for all her
work and tests! Next on her "to do" list for him was a biopsy of his
intestine. Well, I was not comfortable with having my boy put under
anesthesia and cut into when he was acting fine (eating, drinking,
playing as normal). Also, as you might imagine, I was quite emotional
with worry over my kitty, wondering if he was going to die or if I'd
have to make a decision to put him to sleep eventually or what!

So I asked the vet if she would talk to my friend, since I was unable
to absorb all the information the vet was giving me due to my emotional
state and I wanted my friend who was removed and could be objective and
analytical to hear from the doctor what was wrong with my boy. The vet
wouldn't talk to my friend unless I paid her. This seemed odd, since I
didn't see how this request would be any different than say, for
example, if I was married and asked the vet "Hey could you talk to my
husband about the cat's condition because I'm just too emotional to
understand all you are telling me."

Secondly, I wanted a second opinion on my cat before having him cut
open and biopsied. I wanted to take him to my previous vet 40 miles
away who has an excellent reputation. I asked the vet for my cat's
xrays so I could take them with me. I paid over $100 for these xrays
and I would think they are basically my personal property not the
vet's, but I don't know for sure - so that is question 1. Are the
xrays my *property"? Second question -- the vet charged me $30 for
the xrays, a "handling" charge if you will. Now, mind you, the xrays
were only a few days old and were still on her shelf in my cat's file;
it's not like she had to send off to some off-site storage facility to
retrieve his xrays. So, question #2 is, is it customary for a vet to
charge to give me (actually "lend", as I had to sign a paper saying I'd
bring the xrays back to her office) my cat's xrays that I already paid
for when he first got xrayed?

I paid for the xrays, took my cat to my old vet, the vet looked at the
xrays and all the tests that the other vet faxed over and asked me "Why
is this cat here? He's fine!"

So, clearly, in hindsight, this first vet was just all about the money.
So now I am mad and wondering if there's some sort of action I can
take against the first vet. You know, at the very least I'd like to do
a chargeback on the $30 I paid for the xrays - not that $30 matters to
me, but it's just the danged *principle* of the thing. Plus, since
this vet seems to be all about the money, I'm hoping it would tick her
off a little. Especially after she took me for $2,000 and, worst of
all, put me in quite the emotional state wondering about my kitty's
health.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance **SO MUCH** !!!


The x-rays are legally the property of the clinic. If you request them, the
clinic should loan them to you without any fuss. You are obligated to bring
them back. The clinic has to keep them for a set amount of time. I think
it's something like 5 years, but it varies by state. You can have them sent
out to be copied at your expense, then keep the copies. I have also taken
digital photos of x-rays for people to have.

We don't usually charge any handling fees unless we are mailing them
somewhere. It's not a frequent request. I suppose you could charge a
deposit type of fee to encourage someone to bring them back.

MK DVM