Excess Diagnostic Testing by Vets

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[naznow]

Everything was ‘peachy’ at my animals’ vet office. I had a Beagle mix that was a cash cow for her. She had several things going on. I started asking more questions. And I started saying no. And I started asking for more affordable options with fewer risks and side effects. She seemed less happy with me. And then I started taking one of my other dogs to a clinic for her dentals since they cost HALF of what my vet charged. When my vet found out I took her somewhere else she was not pleased. And wouldn’t you know the next time I called to make an appointment for something they gave me crap about remaining a regular client and how they keep their first appointments for them. This was after I had spent THOUSANDS of dollars there over the course of over a decade going there. I called her out on this and how I have been a very LOYAL client for well over 10 years and I should get some kind of priority for that! Let’s just say I was so turned off by this experience. The thing that sealed the divorce for me was when my cat had an emergency and years before they would’ve fit us in right away but instead gave us a run around…for an emergency! I was so angry. Took my cat to a different emergency hospital and left the former one for good. I certainly did not feel like a cherished client but more like a number and I’ll never put-up with that BS again.

[leannsixberry]

Been there with my local vet. Needle 💉 in stomach. Took my cat in for Asthma. Did not consult with me, just took her off for a chest x-ray and she ended up with a needle stuck in her...why? Thank you Doctor Jones.👍🏻

[dawnb]

I challenged my vet regarding this. They didn't seem to be able to give me an answer regarding chronic ear infections. Your advice to just get an anti-fungal was the answer! Thank you from Wrigley the Poodle!

[costelloandlizzievolk]

This is difficult because my kitty got tested yet his cancer was missed and then found too late. They gave him a strong chemo medication that only seemed to make him worse, and then they were super dismissive and uncaring about it all, and he passed away within three weeks of diagnosis even though he had regular checks and tests. It’s been totally heartbreaking. I have totally lost my faith in vets. 😢 💔

[Madronaxyz]

My dogs are all rescues that I found and could not find their owners. I started rescuing dogs in the 1980s, before people were willing to adopt anything except a very small dog or a puppy. So I had a hard time rehoming the dog. I gave him extensive training and taught him a lot of tricks. I told people that I would pets at them whenever they went out of town. Despite those efforts, about 15 dogs never found another home and lived8 with me for the rest of their lives. They all lived to be 13 to 17 years old. So I have a lot of experience with old dogs.

My problem has been that veterinarians do not do enough diagnosis. They don't do a differential diagnosis. Therefore they don't do enough diagnostic testing to find out what's going on. Without a correct diagnosis it is impossible to prescribe the right treatment.



Patty weighed 36 lb. She was so mortally obese she could barely move. When she got down to her ideal weight of 17 lb she ran like the wind.

Patty had a small bump by one of the distal nipples in her mammary chain. I live on an island. There is one veterinary clinic. The best diagnostician in the clinic did not know what the hard bump was. He said he thought somebody had shot her and beebee pellets had lodged under her skin. I wanted him to biopsy it. It would have been a small surgery and she was the youngest she would ever be. He refused. All the other vets in that clinic refused. Only one clinic, no competition, veterinarians that do pretty much whatever they want.

Fast forward 4 years, practically overnight she had tumors up and down her entire memory chain on both sides. I was in the hospital for 3 months and she was with a pet sitter.

The vet tried to operate to remove the tumors, but stopped before even half were removed.

I repeatedly asked him why he stopped but he wouldn't say. It became immediately apparent however, that something had happened during the surgery. She was disoriented, prone to biting, and had forgotten all the 25 tricks she knew.

I'm a medical doctor. I don't know why the veterinary didn't think I would not notice and be able to figure out what happened. She had a very hard time the rest of her life and she didn't live much longer.

Failure to put the brain power into diagnostic testing shortened my poor dog's life. Removal of one 3 mm tumor would have required only about 5% of the amount of anesthesia she received.The less time in anesthesia the less likely there'll be a stroke or some other event that reduces cognition and function afterwards.

So I disagree that veterinarians are doing too much diagnostic testing. What they're doing is not enough problem solving testing based on a well thought out differential diagnosis.

Medical doctors, most of them, are not any better.

[mjadams]

Thanks for all you do and the information you share for all the animals and their owners. 🐾❤👍

[pdxwildchildroberts]

In the last couple of years my 9yo Lab has accumulated more small fatty lumps than I can count..I am told that's common..most are harmless, non cancerous..but I lost a previous rescue 15yo Lab to cancer..he also had the same small lumps..till one appeared on his hip..that was aggressive cancer😥RIP

[dreamgaits]

Amen to this. As a former vet surgical tech I can tell you, please remember the vet is in business to make money. Question everything.

[abbykoop]

My dog had a large lump appear practically overnight on his neck. I took him to a vet who thought it was cancer and wanted to do about $1500 in testing! I had recently lost a different dog and had a meltdown. I asked for some antibiotics to try, as I really didn't think cancer would appear overnight? I mean, this lump was the size of my fist!
I wound up taking him to a different vet after explaining the situation. I hadn't even closed the door to the exam room yet and the vet looked across the room and said...."that's not cancer!" He gave me antibiotics and it cleared up in a few weeks. It was cellulitis. Now that vet has retired and I'm at a loss again ...

[lorenasantos]

I’m not sure I’ll be so lucky to get an message from you. My fur baby ( dog). Got diagnose with heart enlargement she has a appointment for cardiologist 2 months from now. Been looking everywhere and just because it’s not considered emergency or bad enough according to them my baby can’t access the Analisys or treatment she needs. She recently started to loosing weight and is worrying me. she still eating and over all she still moves around not as much but hasn’t been able to be fully her self. I’m devastated since she is my first babe I found her on a trash container and for me she means the world. I save/rescue stray animals take care of them and them eventually i found them a forever responsible home. I have 10 dogs that are mine that for several reason weren’t adopted so I offered them a forever home. Being that said is challenging enough for me to focus only on 1 fur baby, my question is what type of diet should my dog with heart enlargement could have ? Also, as my understanding is dogs with heart enlargement don’t have cure? Is it true? Is there anything I can do to stop or delay this process to help her to live a happy life? I truly hope you could brightening my day by your skills and professionalism on tips that could help. 🙏🙏

[danielle]

Some Vets will run routine diagnostic work ups every 6 months! Some will run routine diagnostic work ups every 4 months! As an animal owner you MUST ask yourself what could possibly change any of those results within months apart?? Especially if there’s no clinical signs or symptoms the animal is exhibiting.

[stephenbayer]

There is a part of me that would think the vet would be running too many diagnostic tests but at least they are thorough which I appreciate.
Some days I think Holy shit my dogs vet is better at there job then my own family doctor is.
I had to push and push for my doctor to listen to me I told him order other tests other then just a CT scan after a month of me being in pain and my doctor dragging his feet I finally said order a MRI and altrasound and a
shut series because I know there is a problem and i know what it is. I said to someone hell I should just go to my dogs vet at least they run test rather than throwing drugs at the problem.
I went to emerg 5 times before they finally listened but in those 4 other times all they did was give me a shot of Toradol before I finally had to put my foot down for them to listen

[jeaninemarinez]

Hi there my dogs food was recently changed I used to cook for them and I went to kibble and I did slowly mix it for about a week and he's got soft stool and it's like a greenish color with some mucus in it I read that it could be a bacterial infection and I read that oregano oil would be good to give him for this cuz I do not want to give him a metronidazole due to the side effects of that drug

[angelicasmith]

I have a serious question when I got my dog vaccinated for rabies she started acting really aggressive it hasn't gone away. So after a year of being ignored we're almost a year my naturopath was out here and did a hair analysis and said that my dog has rabie poisoning and that affected her brain my friend who's a vet says she's never heard of that and that's not a thing and takes huge offense when I say that I'm not comfortable with science diet or hills or Royal canin diet I don't want to disagree with her but I feel like naturopath medicine is actually better for dogs in certain circumstances and people as well because well there's certain disabilities and things that don't take synthetic drugs very well also her mom and her dad and her also got very sick when they had the kennel cough shot they all wear showing signs of kennel cough right after they got the vaccine so and the vet did not want to diagnose or see them because they had kennel cough so I'm wondering and they did heal from it thanks to you I just gave them honey and some kind of like syrup elderberry syrup and my friend told me to give them Robitussin and that helped as well I so did keeping them on our prebiotic probiotic and keeping my house humidity up and they're prebiotic probiotic I have has like cinnamon and things that are really good for colds anyways so really helped out but seriously when it comes to vaccines is it possible that your dog can get vaccine poisoning does it happen because the dog has an allergic reaction to vaccines cuz I have a family of dogs I have a mom a daughter and a son

[fabulousrobert]

Exactly. This one vet hospital place kept changing me for a follow up check up while treating the same issue. Every time I brought my dog back, they have to run the same lab test they ran last time where they already know what the causes are. I just want to make sure my dog is getting better. Well, before we check him, we have to run a lab work. Sign here.
I was like you already did the lab last time and we already know what the issue is and another $$$ again. Talk about rip off.
It was for an ear infection.
Since I found this doctor, noone is ever gonna play me, again.

[dmariewalker]

My chihuahua is now 12, she has arthritis, she was on metacam, till she started having blood in her stools, so it was discontinued, veterinarian offered no other solution, it’s been 3 years now. I’ve recorded my dog whining in her sleep, played it for my vet 🤷🏼‍♀️ all she is concerned with is my dog weights 16 lbs. vet says she should weigh 12, her mom was a large Pomeranian, dad a chihuahua. Why don’t vets take in the parents DNA, just like humans we are part of each parent. All my veterinarian who is female cares about is vacccinations, which I stopped except for rabies, bc this chihuahua has had 3 seizures in a year. Test all negative, my vet blames her weight. Anyway still nothing for her arthritis/pain, so the other night I gave her half an aspirin, so she could sleep (me too). PLUS my vet wants me to come to the Farm office, they charge $50 more for dogs to be seen there. Their walk-in clinic doesn’t. Last time at the Farm it cost me $500 for my cocker spaniel mix, and $250 for my chihuahua mix. I’m a widow on SS and I can’t afford these prices. I won’t mention she threatened to take away my cocker spaniel mix if she doesn’t lose weight, I paid dog walkers $500 last year to walk her & she lost 3 lbs!! My vet said her collapse trachea was bc she’s overweight, 🫢 she weighs 40 lbs. she’s cocker spaniel, corkie, & boxer, bc I had a DNA test on her. I love my dogs, I have 3 they live inside, are not abused & my yard is fenced in.

[angelicasmith]

And when would you advise to stop vaccinating your dog should I really keep vaccinating my dog when they're 10 and 11 years old should I really keep vaccinating my dog you had a bad reaction to vaccines even if she is young.

[thechloechronicles]

My vet now charges over $2, 200 for spaying