Affordable Pet Care

We use Heatherdowns Animal Hospital. They were half the price of the vet we used to go to in Maumee.

On a side note, our bulldog had constant ear infections and always scratched his ears. Our previous vet told us it was "just the anatomy of his ear" and that he would always be susceptable to them. The best we could do was to keep it clean.

The first visit to our new vet, she recommended using a food source with a novel protein source. It's been 8 or 9 months on the food and he hasn't had an infection yet!

Good grief! Please name the vet. I guarantee that Dr. Brent Couts at Spring Meadows Animal Hospital on Holloway Rd. in Holland, Ohio wont gouge you like that! I'm also positive that you will get many referalls from other TT'rs for different, good and reasonably priced vets. Pick one close to you and get an appointment. You're getting hosed.

Dr. Bart at Heatherdowns Vet Clinic. Great guy and talks to you about options, not demanding.

We have recently been using Overmeyer Vet in Sylvania. (Sylvania Ave, near McCord)

It's a smaller, single vet practice. Staff is friendly, and I find their prices to be reasonable.

My dog had an ear infection - I can't remember the charge specific to the initial ear infection, because it happened to be diagnosed at his annual visit. I do know that I didn't spend more than $200 for that entire visit...which included the annual vaccinations and annual checkup stuff in addition to the ear infection medicine/diagnosis.

$225 just to diagnose/treat an ear infection sounds pricey to me.

Oh...the follow-up office charge is $25 at Overmeyer. (I suppose it would be some additional charge if you needed more medicine, etc. But the office visit itself would be $25.)

Agree with everyone that this vet is soaking you. Leave. And tell him/her why...perhaps a lesson will sink in.

When you can afford it, you may want to consider having your dog allergy tested. It's around $400 (last time I did it--2008), but our dog was having recurring skin infections and having to go on Cephallexin every 3 months to bring down bumps (that also made him lose fur). Turns out he was allergic to rice...which is the binding ingredient in a TON of dog foods. Stopped feeding him food with rice...no problems (or big vet bills related) since.

Thanks, everyone! Overmeyer is closest to us, so I'm going to try them first. I think so many of the suburban vets have built new/totally remodeled that they've hiked their prices to pay for the five-star facilities. IMO that's what Holly Farms on Bancroft did when they bought the practice from Dr Hannan - he was affordable, the new place docs are as I described.

If it's not uncomfortable for you, could you tell us what vet you had been seeing? Might be a good future reference for others.

thanks,
lynn

Since the BBB won't take any complaints about vets.

$225 the first visit? Yikes! I know pet care is expensive, very, but geesh! I can tell you to stay away from Sylvania Vet as well. Prices are through the roof. Not happy with my current vet either. My sheltie had a horrible eye infection and crusting of the nose, chewing his back paws. To make a long story short, $160 later, we walked out with eye medication and steroids. Turns out, he had pink eye and possibly is suffering from a type of canine lupus that creates "Collie Nose."
Now, the vet told us that he may have this lupus but the only way to know is to biopsy it, at a cost of $400. Then, once they know, my dog would be put on steroids. So I asked if his condition could just be a horrible allergy- my dog has paw issues every spring and fall- The vet said yes, but the only way to know is through a biopsy. So, I asked what the treatment options were for lupus and or allergy. Answer- steroids. So, why would I pay $400 for the biopsy when, either way, my dog will be put on steroids? The same steroids- not affliction specific!
The best part is,the incredulous look on the vet's face when I said those words. Like, I did not love my dog enough to spend hundreds to put my dog on the same meds!
Soooo tired of this crap with vets. They know we love our pets like family and know many of us will do whatever it takes to help them. I can't afford $400 for an exploratory biopsy just to get to the same end result- a steroid I am not too thrilled with either.
Too bad the BBB does not take complaints. It would help pet owners tremendously if they did.

Also, very interested in knowing the food source you have your dog on, oldhometown and slowsol. I am really beginning to wonder if food is an issue with my little guy. He is very sensitive to heartworm meds and other meds for allergies. He has had mild seizures a few days after being given them- he falls on his side and looks into space for about a minute. If he is so sensitive to meds, maybe he has food allergies as well?

Agree with you on the higher prices for the remodeled/fancier facilities.

That's what I like about Overmeyer. The office reminds me of the small town vet we took our pets to when I was a kid.

It's a basic, no-frills facility with a competent staff. (Clean and maintained, of course, but not brand new or fancy.)

But honestly, that's all I really need in a vet practice - competent, friendly staff and reasonable prices.

"I love my dog desperately, but $375 an episode to fix a recurring ear infection seems a bit much to me."

You're right, MrsArcher. I think some of these vets take advantage of us because our pets need care. Some of these vets charge ridiculous prices.

"Dr. Bart at Heatherdowns Vet Clinic. Great guy and talks to you about options, not demanding."

I've heard a lot of good things about Dr. Bart! Thinking of changing vets and he's at the top of the list.

"Since the BBB won't take any complaints about vets."

Yep. Can't trust the BBB to tell us about problematic vets, so we have to depend on the reviews of customers and make up our own minds. ToledoTalk is a great place to look into this kind of thing!

"The best part is,the incredulous look on the vet's face when I said those words. Like, I did not love my dog enough to spend hundreds to put my dog on the same meds!
Soooo tired of this crap with vets. They know we love our pets like family and know many of us will do whatever it takes to help them."

You couldn't have summed it up better, golddustwoman! Sorry to hear of your dog's health problems. The important thing is you didn't accept your vet's advice, and understood the situation enough to know that you're not a moron who will just hand over money when there are more logical and cheaper alternatives. I hope your dog feels better!

"I can tell you to stay away from Sylvania Vet as well. Prices are through the roof."

That place charges the highest rates I've ever heard of. I know of a few people who went elsewhere because of the very steep costs. The guy's in Sylvania, so he is able to charge such high prices in an upscale community. But there are a lot of very good vets who charge so much less. Definitely shop around. Just because a vet is cheaper doesn't mean the quality is less. Just ask around for better alternatives and Google the vet's name or practice to see if there have been any bad customer reviews on Yelp or other similar Internet user review services.

golddustwoman - I have recently tried grain-free pet foods for my dogs, and had some success with that.

From what I understand, typically it is the grain components that potentially cause allergies.

Some of the grain-free brands are pricey, but Costco's Kirkland brand has 2 grain-free varieties.

(As an additional benefit, I've read the grain-free dog foods supposedly reduce yard waste. I guess the grains are basically fillers that pass right through the dog?)

The guy's in Sylvania, so he is able to charge such high prices in an upscale community.

We went to Sylvania Vet before switching to Overmeyer, which is basically right around the corner fron Sylvania Vet. Part of the reason for our change was the pricing.

(The other part was that my dog would get spooked in the lobby at Sylvania Vet...the high ceilings with the echoing sounds. Same reason why I can't take him with me to PetSmart or other similar places.)

mom2- Thanks for the info. I have been doing research on allergies in dogs. I do believe he has the type of lupus that causes "Collie Nose" which can be disfiguring. Everything seems to point to it. I guess it can go into remission in the winter months, which seems to be his case- and shows up in spring/summer. Dogs (collies, shelties, borders, and other breeds have this issue) need to stay out of the sun and I need to use sunscreen on his nose. Who knew?
Are the grain free foods just dry or do they come in canned as well? My dog eats both.
Anyway, appreciate the help. $400 for a biopsy! Still makes me mad ):

I may be switching to Overmeyer as well. My mom took her dogs to him and he always seemed so gentle/caring/compassionate with them.

Sorry, should have been clearer. The overpriced vet is Holly Farms Animal Care Center on Bancroft near McCord. The first visit did consist of labwork (swabbed the ears and ran a culture), irrigating the ears, cleaned hair out of the ears (ouch!), office visit charge and two scripts that lasted 2 weeks Yes, each one of those was a separate charge to get to the $225. I don't remember what was done at the second visit for $150 but got another batch of pills. All of this for a repeat of what the vet calls a yeast infection that is hard to avoid because he has big floppy ears that basically overheat.

We were really careful since the last one when giving him a bath trying to avoid a new one but it didn't work. So now I'm reading up on some preventative options like diluted white vinegar drops once a week and plain yogurt twice a week added to his diet.

We feed our dog's the Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato dog good at Costco. It's actually cheaper than the Purina we used to feed them and their coats look better and we haven't had any allergy issues.

Thanks for the info. I think I am going to try the new food. It really can't hurt.

Our dog thrives on Nutro Grain Free Venison & Potato or Whitefish & Potato. Available @ PetSmart or Petco.

Not a Costco member...just wasn't cost effective for our little family! But looks like you got some good recommendations there too.

OHT...if you were interested, you'd probably come out ahead on cost of a Costco membership just on dog food alone. There's quite a price difference between the Nutro and the Kirkland grain free foods. (I don't know exactly what you pay, but I'd estimate that the cost difference is $15 or more per bag.)

Any other family Costco purchases would just be a bonus on top of that. LOL

Ditto on Costo pet food. We feed it exclusively to our 3 dogs and to our 2 cats. I have no problem spending money on pet food if its the best food. Turns out the Krikland brand "value" priced food IS the best food. Ours is also a "small" household consisteng of two retirees, three dogs that weigh a combined total of 17.5 lbs and two indoor cats. We get great value from our Costco membership.

I saved over $250 on a pair of prescription glasses alone. We saved over $100 on a gift GPS for a son-in-law. The list goes on.

It may take 3-4 months of feeding them the new food exclusively before you see any change. Also, it may seem like a no brainer to some, but we didn't think about the fact that treats needed to be grain free and of a novel protein. We were feeding them regular treats when our vet pointed out that everything they eat should be of the same composition (DUH!).

mom2: We might look into a Costco or Sam's Club membership again (we've had both in the past). At the time we had memberships, they were not selling the types of food our pet needed (although when he was on Iams, Costco was a godsend. But Iams has rice...he's allergic to rice. End of membership).

Our issue is with only two of us (no crumbcrunchers yet), we end up wasting a lot of fresh food because we can't eat that much...and neither of us likes eating much pre-packaged/canned food (which is conveniently packaged in giant, gigantic, and humongous sizes for our convenience).

When we counted our own food waste as part of the overall cost, it made more sense to just buy at Aldi + farmers market for the stuff we liked.

Gotcha, OHT.

I'm not really big on a lot of prepackaged food either, but I will say that Costco has a nice produce selection and also the meat department is much better quality than grocery stores.

Nice thing about that is that you can freeze a lot of that stuff (especially the meat) so there isn't waste.

I rarely buy many of the prepackaged foods, but do find that it's worth the membership for Kirkland dog food, plus meat, produce, some paper products, etc.

Of course, I do have 2 ahem crumbcrunchers too. :)

(Apologies to MrsArcher...didn't intend to hijack the pet care topic and turn it into a Costco review. oops!)

Apologies to MrsArcher...didn't intend to hijack the pet care topic and turn it into a Costco review. oops!

Ditto. Sorry about that Mrs. A...

That's okay. I got the information I was looking for.