Posted 10/25/2007 05:56:00 PM by Douglas

As with most health care, your Vet isn't in business for you not to pay for whatever services they're offering.

Take what happened with my cat Sabra. At age 21—the equivalent of a 100-year-old human—Sabra was fading. She had stopped grooming and was barely eating. She spent her days curled in a chair, hissing occasionally like a deflating whoopee cushion. Instead of letting her go gently, of course I took her to the vet. The vet shook her head at Sabra's condition. She likely had cancer, kidney disease, multiple organ failure. All this would have to be sorted out through several days of rigorous testing. Instead of saying, "I'm going to take her home and let her deflate in peace," I handed her over.

Sabra had no such luck. Two days and $800 worth of tests later, the vet couldn't find out what was wrong (besides the fact that she was 21) and said she was arranging a transport to a facility where Sabra could get an MRI. When I said I was coming to pick her up, the vet became hostile. "She might have a cancer we haven't found! She's not in good health!" said the vet. I returned Sabra to her chair, and she died a few months later.

I was left feeling the whole exercise was a way of shaming me into covering the overhead. But when I described what happened to Dr. Gerald Snyder, a Charlotte-based veterinary practice management consultant, he clarified the miscommunication for me. "The veterinarian is on the cat's side, not yours," he explained.

Some people just find it incredibly hard to say "no" to anyone in a white coat. They must know more than you do, right? Well, not always.

If anyone's looking for an Aggie Vet in Kemah that's a total dickhead and ignored obvious signs of kidney failure during regular checkups, then still managed to charge me $90 for putting down the sainted Gatisima, just lemme know. I'll give you the bastard's number.