Comments on: When your pet doesn’t make it, who pays the bill?

By: Mollymew

Mollymew — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:58:41 +0000

Should the Veterinarian be paid if the animal “doesn’t make it”.
I’m a veterinarian myself, and I certainly agree with the statements about the consequences of the idea that honest failures shouldn’t be paid. If somebody approached me with the HONEST expression of “if my dog or cat doesn’t live I won’t pay you” I would AUTOMATICALLY cut the conversation short so as to not waste valuable time talking with a crook. No payment, no service. Slavery was abolished over 100 years ago.
Yet, there has to be honesty on the veterinarian’s side as well. Nobody can give odds to the decimal place or even within a 10% range, but I think it is imcumbant on the veterinarian to give an HONEST qualitative prognosis. If recovery is unlikely then say so. That is the ethical requirement of the veterinarian. The ethical requirement of the client is to pay the person who gives their honest opinion of the chance of success. In ALL other “chancy” service industries the words “go to hell” would come up if the customer tried the scam of refusing to pay unless success occurs.
After decades in practice I find myself NEVER using the word “certainly”, only “almost cetainly” and then “probably”,”likely”, “possibly”, “if we are lucky”, “unlikely” and “almost certainly” at the low end of the scale. The circle comes back on itself. The veterinarian can easily be fooled by many factors, and a seven point qualitative scale is about as fine a distinction as I am willing to make.
Mollymew

By: E. Hamilton

E. Hamilton — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:35:56 +0000

I pay my vet bills , win, lose, or draw.
The vets who pimp Hills poison in their waiting rooms?
Those bills I pay, grudgingly, and then never come back.

By: Deborah Stow

Deborah Stow — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:16:21 +0000

I was just wondering how may of the employes of these companies have animals that died? also there is insurance for pet’s I have both my dog and cat insured the plan covers medication and shot’s that are needed it’s a great thing to have.

By: Serijna

Serijna — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:27:22 +0000

Not paying your vet bill because your pet died is preposterous.
Just as silly expecting a vet to treat an animal for free that you found hurt on the street. Most vets perform a great professional service to animal/owners at a very reasonable cost IMO. Compare their fees(in lieu of all their expensive training) with your car mechanic, plumber, electrician etc.
Many are still paying off students loans, not mentioning expensive equipment.
Compare their fee with an MD or lawyyer.
Taking a very sick pet to a vet and have it back the next day greatly improved- priceless.
Taking a pet very sick pet to the vet but having it die in spite off but know that you did your very best- no guilt- , also priceless.
BTW, many vets also provide their services at nominal cost to TNR groups on their day off.

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:19:10 +0000

I have a life sleeping under my bed right now which is my cat and my mother’s dog is right outside my door and I care about them a lot aqnd if any thing happens to them I will give my sister some of their food and she will give it to the people at UC Davis and they will test it for me. My sister works at UC Davis A very angry pet owner

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:37:28 +0000

Comment by Donna — June 5, 2007 @ 8:24 am

“Basically, the food industry (pet and human) has become a dumping ground for making every last buck you can from waste products.”

You summed up what I’m taking away from all this. Nicely put. I can’t believe what I was feeding my pets for all these years. How many years did I take from their lives?

Just because a commercial pet food isn’t contaminated doesn’t mean it’s nutritional for them.

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:24:51 +0000

Basically, the food industry (pet and human) has become a dumping ground for making every last buck you can from waste products.

Personally, I don’t think it can simply be blamed on China any longer. China is responsible for their part in the already discovered contaminations, but the U.S. (government and business community) also has a part in this.

It’s a sad revelation to see all the research and testing that seeks to prove something that is not usable can actually be used. Low risk — I don’t think so.

By: Peggy (AKA: Big Fat Momma Cat)

Peggy (AKA: Big Fat Momma Cat) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:35:18 +0000

I’m afraid that commercial pet food has become synonymous with waste disposal.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:26:47 +0000

The FDA said that the redacted “fifth ingredient” was related to their testing protocol, if I’m remembering correctly. They said they didn’t want to share their testing protocols with manufacturers of products being tested, or words to that effect. I believe the “fifth ingredient” was, in this instance, just what they said it was. Here’s the published protocol:

http://www.fda.gov/cvm/GCMSscreen.htm

I think that it is Benzoguanamine, which they added as an internal standard.

They also say in this protocol that urea/biuret may be found.

Perhaps the scientists among us can read the document and see if they come up with a different read. That said, we now know there are at least two contaminants that they didn’t add to the list for testing, aminopterin and acetamyophen. How many more? Who knows…

By: petlover

petlover — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:26:36 +0000

I WANT TO KNOW THE NAME OF THE COMPANY:

*The highest level of acetaminophen was found in a dog food sample submitted by a manufacturer, she said. Coneley declined to identify the company but said its officials were given the results “well over a month ago.”
**********************

So, acetaminophen contamination was known to at least one lab over a month ago.

Do we ALL have to submit private samples for testing to CALL THIS COMPANY OUT? The company knew its food was toxic and submitted the samples itself so they could sit on the information, selling the rest of the lots because they knew the FDA was only testing for melamine and its related compounds.

This is EVIDENCE that the pet food companies (probably many more than one based on the lab findings from Don’s website) care NOTHING about our pets’ nutrition and safety.

Can you imagine the number of dog illnesses and deaths that have occurred in 30+ days because this company refuses to come forward and continues to make profits at the expense of our dogs who continued to solve the “problem” for the company by wiping their food bowls clean until they got sick or died?

THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT. THE COMPANY WILL PAY!

THERE ARE SIMPLY TOO MANY PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER TO EXPOSE THE GREED AND CORRUPTION IN THE PET FOOD INDUSTRY.

THIS COMPANY’S NAME WILL BE EXPOSED!

I’m heading over to Itchmo to donate money toward the cost of food testing!