Why aren't cats more popular

Scrabo said:
I don't buy the idea that 'poor' vets rely on sales of supplied etc, the cost of procedures is where you make the money, we have all the cats insured so we don't have to worry if we can afford that surgery or not, not everyone can do that.



You are pricing yourselves out of business, people can't drop $$$$ on a pet when they have to put food on the table. Agree, part of being a responsible pet owner is to insure you can afford it, but most people given the choice between a $5000 vet bill or having to tell poor Johnny that Fido has gone "upstate" - choose the upstate option.



Sorry I have never met a poor vet, especially here in AZ, one of the MOST expensive states for vet care.



$75 to weigh and stick a thermometer up a cats rear or a $200 single X-ray does sound excessive.
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I've got to back John up. Veterinary medicine is not a very lucrative profession. I've seen that with veterinarian clients, and my daughter just became a veterinarian.

She is the third vet in a 3-vet practice, with her primary focus being to help the owner with his large animal practice, and secondarily to handle small animal medicine.

She is in a blue collar town, and has to deal with people who can't afford proper orthopedic surgery to fix a broken leg. Casting wasn't going to and ultimately didn't work, and they just had to put the dog down last week.

She was on a farm call two weeks ago, and the older vet was run over by a beef cow when he was working on her calf. No broken bones, but lots of bruises. Fun and games for a fraction of what an M.D. may earn. But they love what they do.

As for me, in a dog guy (two English Labs) and don't like cats. I'm also a high wing guy who wants to get a low wing. But I won't get a cat. ;)
 
nddons said:
I've got to back John up. Veterinary medicine is not a very lucrative profession. I've seen that with veterinarian clients, and my daughter just became a veterinarian.

She is the third vet in a 3-vet practice, with her primary focus being to help the owner with his large animal practice, and secondarily to handle small animal medicine.

She is in a blue collar town, and has to deal with people who can't afford proper orthopedic surgery to fix a broken leg. Casting wasn't going to and ultimately didn't work, and they just had to put the dog down last week.

She was on a farm call two weeks ago, and the older vet was run over by a beef cow when he was working on her calf. No broken bones, but lots of bruises. Fun and games for a fraction of what an M.D. may earn. But they love what they do.

As for me, in a dog guy (two English Labs) and don't like cats. I'm also a high wing guy who wants to get a low wing. But I won't get a cat. ;)
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You don't get cat, cat gets you...:lol:;)
 
nddons said:
My daughter says reaching into a carrier to pull out a cat is like reaching into a basket of razor blades.
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When I was running the glass bottom boat with a wild sea lion show and a pelican that socialized to me I used to tell the guys I'd train, "These guys will bring you $400 a day in tips, but you gotta be willing to occasionally bleed for it.":lol:
 
nddons said:
I've got to back John up. Veterinary medicine is not a very lucrative profession. I've seen that with veterinarian clients, and my daughter just became a veterinarian.

She is the third vet in a 3-vet practice, with her primary focus being to help the owner with his large animal practice, and secondarily to handle small animal medicine.

She is in a blue collar town, and has to deal with people who can't afford proper orthopedic surgery to fix a broken leg. Casting wasn't going to and ultimately didn't work, and they just had to put the dog down last week.

She was on a farm call two weeks ago, and the older vet was run over by a beef cow when he was working on her calf. No broken bones, but lots of bruises. Fun and games for a fraction of what an M.D. may earn. But they love what they do.

As for me, in a dog guy (two English Labs) and don't like cats. I'm also a high wing guy who wants to get a low wing. But I won't get a cat. ;)
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Must be someone else's Maserati sitting outside our local vet, Monday thru Friday.
 
weilke said:
Then you should understand that it costs money to buy equipment, hire staff and run a business.
You are also free to find a cheaper vet (that's like finding cheaper sushi).
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I do, you have salaries, rent, power, insurance etc etc but there is no need to nickel and dime people -if you don't make any profit on prescription food for example as someone mentioned earlier, why stock it, you are out the cost of stocking it.

The whole "prescription" food thing is a con in my option, it's used to drive you to an pricey vet to purchase food, come on its cat or dog food, why does it have to be "prescription" - it's not a drug.

And again , $75 to stick a thermometer in the rear of a cat, probably done by some low paid trainee.

Oh let's do some blood work, charge you to draw the blood, charge you to test it ( ok with that) but then " oh that number looks odd, let's test again". Been there, paid for that.
 
nddons said:
Like anyone on this board that owns an airplane? A second home? Has an expensive wife?
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If you own a plane, you need EVERY penny you can get :wink2:
 
Scrabo said:
Must be someone else's Maserati sitting outside our local vet, Monday thru Friday.
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Jealousy is very unbecoming.

He probably wonders why someone that flies or owns an airplane whines about veterinary expenses.

I always wondered about people that choose a particular charity like cat rescue (which I applaud and support), and then expect someone else (the vet) to finance or subsidize their charity/hobby.

I also never understood how people could expect a private business to compete on price with spay/neuter operations that are funded by municipal taxes or 501 c3 charities, or both. Our county paid $300,000 to buy a bus that travels to low income areas and pays around the same amount in annual operating expenses to provide low cost spays and neuters to anyone that drives up with an animal. They charge around $10 to $30. People would read that and then complain that I should be charging the same amount.

That's why I never carried a handgun at work.:D
 
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Scrabo said:
True but in AZ I am certainly not seeing any who are going hungry.
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I wouldn't expect them too anywhere, but I bet if you look at the vet serving the horses on the reservation, he's not driving a nice new truck or living in a McMansion.
 
Henning said:
I wouldn't expect them too anywhere, but I bet if you look at the vet serving the horses on the reservation, he's not driving a nice new truck or living in a McMansion.
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Yep...vets still make house calls. And they don't get to bill Medicare or Medicare or an insurance company at 10X inflated rates. And it doesn't have to be horses or cows. I know of a couple of vets here in El Paso that will make a house call to tend to a sick/injured dog or cat as well.
 
evapilotaz said:
fluffy gets sick estimated vet bill for cure $3,000 or $60 to have fluffy put down. What do most people decide.
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The average American household does not have $3K in savings.

That's a profound statement when you think about it. :nonod:
 
Scrabo said:
I do, you have salaries, rent, power, insurance etc etc but there is no need to nickel and dime people -if you don't make any profit on prescription food for example as someone mentioned earlier, why stock it, you are out the cost of stocking it.

The whole "prescription" food thing is a con in my option, it's used to drive you to an pricey vet to purchase food, come on its cat or dog food, why does it have to be "prescription" - it's not a drug.

And again , $75 to stick a thermometer in the rear of a cat, probably done by some low paid trainee.

Oh let's do some blood work, charge you to draw the blood, charge you to test it ( ok with that) but then " oh that number looks odd, let's test again". Been there, paid for that.
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A cat is a thing. You are free to decide how much or little you want to spend on it. You dont want to buy 'prescription food', dont buy it. You dont want repeat labwork on your cat, don't purchase additional labwork. You are in full control.
 
txflyer said:
The average American household does not have $3K in savings.

That's a profound statement when you think about it. :nonod:
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Maybe they would have those 3k in savings if they didn't spend between $700 and $3,000 per year on feeding a pet ?
 
Henning said:
I wouldn't expect them too anywhere, but I bet if you look at the vet serving the horses on the reservation, he's not driving a nice new truck or living in a McMansion.
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Exactly.

There is a large disparity (both income and to a fair extent professional knowledge and skill) between the rural large animal vets and the big city ones who deal solely in pets.

For the most part, it's the big city vets that are making good money. They are also coincidentally
often the ones who don't have a lot of practical knowledge and rely on running expensive tests and labs to make any kind of diagnosis.

I grew up around horses and originally wanted to be a large animal vet. My first attempt at college was equine science/pre-vet at Colorado State. That only lasted a semester. We had a career orientation course that showed salary breakdowns between the large and small animal vets. The idea of putting all that time to get through vet school for what was then on par with regional airline pilot pay didn't seem worth it and I had no desire to deal with poodles and chihuahuas.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
So, that is the goal?
:dunno:
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No but despite what a previous poster mentioned, they are not all just getting by.

Vets are wonderful people, that have help us personally a lot over the years, but there are times where, like doctors, unnecessary tests are ordered.

Yes it's a for profit profession and have no problem with a paying a fair market price for a service but some of their fees are close to daylight robbery. Again $75 to take a cats temp or $200 for a SINGLE X-ray, not a series of X-rays, one single X-ray. Or my other favorite, we have to keep it in overnight, $300.
 
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Fearless Tower said:
Exactly.

There is a large disparity (both income and to a fair extent professional knowledge and skill) between the rural large animal vets and the big city ones who deal solely in pets.

For the most part, it's the big city vets that are making good money. They are also coincidentally
often the ones who don't have a lot of practical knowledge and rely on running expensive tests and labs to make any kind of diagnosis.

I grew up around horses and originally wanted to be a large animal vet. My first attempt at college was equine science/pre-vet at Colorado State. That only lasted a semester. We had a career orientation course that showed salary breakdowns between the large and small animal vets. The idea of putting all that time to get through vet school for what was then on par with regional airline pilot pay didn't seem worth it and I had no desire to deal with poodles and chihuahuas.
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The large animal vets who service with breeding and large calf production facilities may not drive Lamborghinis but they certainly don't live on ramen noodles. Also, I hear the vets working for the drug companies are doing ok for themselves.

I find salary comparisons to be often quite skewed by issues like part-time status and government employment. You see data like 'lawyers make $60,000' and if you drill down further that includes law-clerks, assistant DAs and guys who retired on their real-estate income at age 55.
 
Scrabo said:
Yes it's a for profit profession and have no problem with a paying a fair market price for a service but some of their fees are close to daylight robbery. Again $75 to take a cats temp or $200 for a SINGLE X-ray, not a series of X-rays, one single X-ray. Or my other favorite, we have to keep it in overnight, $300.
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And for each of these items offered, you are free to say no. Your obligation is to keep the animal from suffering, not to spend all your money.
 
txflyer said:
The average American household does not have $3K in savings.

That's a profound statement when you think about it. :nonod:
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You can get credit to save your cat or dog.:nonod: Sad when there are so many healthy ones about to be euthanized really, especially when you consider major $$$ cancer treatments that have an even worse rate of years extended than on humans.
 
weilke said:
The large animal vets who service with breeding and large calf production facilities may not drive Lamborghinis but they certainly don't live on ramen noodles. Also, I hear the vets working for the drug companies are doing ok for themselves.
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True and my comments were in no way a blanket statement for all vets. Just observations of a definite trend I have seen.
 
JOhnH said:
Jealousy is very unbecoming.

He probably wonders why someone that flies or owns an airplane whines about veterinary expenses.

I always wondered about people that choose a particular charity like cat rescue (which I applaud and support), and then expect someone else (the vet) to finance or subsidize their charity/hobby.

I also never understood how people could expect a private business to compete on price with spay/neuter operations that are funded by municipal taxes or 501 c3 charities, or both. Our county paid $300,000 to buy a bus that travels to low income areas and pays around the same amount in annual operating expenses to provide low cost spays and neuters to anyone that drives up with an animal. They charge around $10 to $30. People would read that and then complain that I should be charging the same amount.

That's why I never carried a handgun at work.:D
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Jealous - hell no, it's only a Maserati built by Ferrari, I would be jealous if it was a McLaren.
 
CAT had a major issues with their Diesel engines on boats and even with their bread and butter heavy equipment.

Marine people have grown to despise CATs. They usually opt for MANs or Cummins these days.
 
Simple answer: the Ancient Egyptian cult of Bastet.
 
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