Question:
A co-workers dog recently started vomiting yellow bile on a daily basis. The dog is 9 years old and this has been going on for a few weeks. She only mentioned it to me yesterday. The vet has put this dog through all kinds of tests which in 2 days has cost her almost $1000.00. They did find a mass which they called a fatty tumour. Before biopsing it they want to do another blood test (they did one already last week) to make sure her dog is not a bleeder. If they remove the mass it will cost about $2000.00. After an ultrasound yesterday which cost a few hundred dollars they charged her an additional $100.00 for a consultation fee.
This sounds to me to be very expensive and I was just wondering if others thought so too. This vet is known to be very expensive by the way. Someone else I know had a cat operated on recently because it couldn't pee. The surgery and after surgery care cost her almost $3,000.00.

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Eek, that's a very costly vet. I think I would be shopping around a bit before allowing any more testing or surgery unless the dog is critical and it can't wait 24 hours.

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The dog is not critical. In fact it is not even sick except for the occasional vomiting of yellow bile. The vet wants him back next week for further tests. I told her in the mean time to try to either change food or increase what she is feeding.
The dog is eating a vet diet food to lose weight. He has lost 14 pounds since last year while on this food. The vomiting occurs at different times of the day and night.
I had a problem with my dogs vomiting yellow bile when they were eating a Nutro food. As soon as I stopped feeding them the Nutro the vomiting stopped.
I told her that there was a chance that her dog was vomiting because it was hungry. If this is the case she has spent a lot of money for nothing.

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i agree with bmd luver, she knows what she is talking about, time to find a good----- vet

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If they remove the mass it will cost about $2000.00
EEEK!! Is this mass internal, or on the surface of the skin?

My Chloe had major surgery to have bladder stones removed. Since she had other symptoms, she needed full bloodwork before the surgery. The total for EVERYTHING was 640.00$

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I agree with your diagnosis Coppperbelle. Boo had the same issue with chicken. The minute he gets chicken, he's up all night vomitting bile. I got him off chicken and he's alright. With an older doggy though, it's important to feed them a food they like so they keep their appetite up as they age... It would have been much cheaper to switch foods first and see before starting all the tests.

And yes, the vet is really expensive.

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I am glad that I am not the only one that finds these prices outrageous. My mother uses the same vet and I have told her that she is being ripped off. The mass is internal in the abdomen somewhere I believe. The vet said if the dog hadn't been tested because of the vomiting they would never have found it so wherever it is, it is not harming the dog or causing a problem.

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The vet is sure the mass is not malignant? In a 9 year old dog, I would concerned about that.

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There are these new emergency animal clinics popping up lately that has all the state of art equipment for emergency surgery. Is that the type of clinic you're going to? Even so, with some of the regular vets, the cost of blood screening, xrays, and other tests can go really high. I posted here in the fall when my kitty ate a ribbon and even though he ended up passing it , it cost me at total of $1600.00 just for a week of xrays, monitoring, drugs, and tests. If it had gone to surgery , I probably would have been out $3000.00 or more. I have to agree, these costs are ridiculous!!! People never had to spend so much for emergency health care for their pets in the past.

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Originally Posted by Lucky Rescue
The vet is sure the mass is not malignant? In a 9 year old dog, I would concerned about that.

The vet is not sure if it is malignant or not. He wants to do another blood test to make sure the dog is not a bleeder before he does a needle biopsy. I believe she said the blood test will cost another $200.00, then the biopsy, sending it to a lab and if necessary surgery which will be about $2000.00. I asked her if it was malignant was she going to go ahead with surgery.

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I'd look for another vet. When my last dog Travis had a fatty tissue growth, the vet just stuck a needle in and drained a little fluid and checked it under a microscope. He never charged me other than the regular visit he was in for. He also said to leave it until it got really big or he had to have another surgery. He ended up with a surgery after bloat and he charged us very little to remove it and Travis was already out so no charge for that.

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Yes, the vets charge astronomical fees for their services, but that`s our fault, because they know that most of us will do anything for our pets. The same goes for pet food companies. Have you ever noticed when you go to the supermarket that their is one whole aisle solely for pet food and treats, toys, etc.? It`s because they all know that we care about our pets more than our parents and grandparents did. Also, I have been to another pet forum website where there is a big controversy over Nutro dog food. A lot of dogs that are being fed that are vomitting bile, so if your dog is on that and vomitting bile you should switch dog food.

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The 40. US I spend per month on insurance has helped with the cost of treatment for the both of my dogs. Simon has some special issues and Peaches has pika-like tendencies (ate a curtain tie last year!) so the insurance has helped substantially (and my vet works with me on keeping cost down). As for feeding Nutro specifically Rainbow, I think it comes down to the dog. Many pups have allergies to chicken (like Prin's Boo) and a lot of these foods have poultry, so it follows that any food with chicken is going to be problematic. Personally my two were on Nutro canned for awhile and had no problems whatsoever, so I don't know that the food overall is so horrid it needs banning. And yeah, I've been pleasantly bemused at the growth of the pet aisle in the grocery stores. Almost as though market research ppl have been targeting those of us who have made the choice to have furbabies (and the #'s are growing) rather than hairless ones

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Many pups have allergies to chicken (like Prin's Boo) and a lot of these foods have poultry, so it follows that any food with chicken is going to be problematic.
Yup. It was more like an intolerance though. He'd eat chicken food, digest it sort of fine but then be up all night vomitting bile. Within a week of eating chicken, he gets bacterial overgrowth and throws up ALL DAY endlessly. He has to have antibiotics and an antinausea shot to make it stop ($86 every time). And strangers still give him cookies without asking. I swear, next time I'm going to bring him to their homes so they can deal with the puking and miss work the next day to take care of him. That'll teach them. And then I'll bring them Jemma twice a day every day so they can clean her ears up too... Sorry, I got into a rant. Never feed anybody else's dog.

I'm thinking that maybe some foods might have too many digestive aids, so the food might go through some dogs too fast, (thanks to stool hardeners, the stools are firm, ) but the result is the dog's belly is empty really soon after eating, which causes the bile vomitting. That's my theory. Then you move the same dog to a richer food with no digestive aids or hardeners, and they stop vomitting bile because the belly is never empty because the food is a lot harder to digest and takes a lot longer. Maybe?

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Originally Posted by rainbow
Yes, the vets charge astronomical fees for their services, but that`s our fault, because they know that most of us will do anything for our pets. The same goes for pet food companies. Have you ever noticed when you go to the supermarket that their is one whole aisle solely for pet food and treats, toys, etc.? It`s because they all know that we care about our pets more than our parents and grandparents did. Also, I have been to another pet forum website where there is a big controversy over Nutro dog food. A lot of dogs that are being fed that are vomitting bile, so if your dog is on that and vomitting bile you should switch dog food.


A few years ago I tried Nutro on my dogs. The vomiting of yellow bile started within a couple of weeks. I e-mailed the company and was told to increase the amount of feedings. I did and it was okay for awhile and then the vomiting started again. Again, I e-mailed the company and they told me to feed them more food. That is when I decided to go back to the Iams I had originally been feeding. I was so upset when both dogs vomited yellow bile at the same time in the middle of the day I switched cold turkey back to Iams and the vomiting stopped. I went on a new search for another dog food and have never had that problem again. It wasn't the chicken in the Nutro because Iams contains chicken too. There is something else in the food that didn't agree with them.

I am hijacking my own thread

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Sorry to keep hijacking but about the vomitting with Nutro,is it all of Nutro food or just the chicken?I just bought a big bag of lamb and rice,I have to start mixing it up with the other food next week.My foster Scooby has been on it for the past 2 days.

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I got my cat back from the vet today. He had eaten some thread and got the needle stuck in his tongue.

The bill for the surgery to remove it and almost 3 days of hospitalization (to rehydrate him) cost over $1000. He also had blood tests and a full bloodwork screening done. And there were the obligitory x-rays and antibiotics.

Does $1000 sound in the right ballpark?

If he had needed exploratory surgery to check out his intestines for the needle, it would have cost about $500 more.

I have never needed to take an animal in to the vets for something so major, so I'm curious, more or less. I like the vet I found, so I'll probably stay with them anyways.

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I called our vet to get a quote on spaying our pup. They quoted me between $260 & $295. When it was all said and done, our bill was $560 (they also treated her for an ear infection). What they didn't tell me was they did a test prior to surgery to check her bloodwork and also the charges for pain medicine, upset stomach medicine, etc. I was floored, but didn't say anything. I don't mind paying for their services, but when you ask for a quote, it would be nice if they told you all the extras they charge.

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Holy cow! $500 for a spay and ear infection? I think both would be about $200 max at my vet. That must have been one heavy doggy!

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Frenchy ..... I don't want to be hijacking this thread either, but wanted to let you know that my friend at the lake who has a Berner has had him on Nutro Lamb & Rice ever since he came off Nutro LBP, and he has absolutely NO problems at all, either tummy wise or coat wise. He is a gorgeous Berner. I bet Scooby will do well on this food.

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Frency

My dogs were eating the Nutro, Natural Blend or Choice, can't think of it right now. It was a few years ago. It was not the lamb formula and I believe it was chicken.

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When I had Sophie spayed last year this is what she had done
Spay
Blood work
teeth cleaned
Umbilical hernia repair
fatty mammary mass removed
pain meds
2 return check ups
$ 285 taxes included
Sudbury Ont
I told him I didn't have a lot of money and he cut me a break.

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When I asked for the quote for spaying, the vet tech asked me what her weight was and she weighed 45lbs. Her spaying was a week later and weighed the same. I still don't get it. We've been taking our pets to the same place for years and they are well aware that we aren't made of money. I wish I lived closer to Sudbury. Your vet sounds like he's doing his job out of compassion rather than the almighty buck! We've just had a new vet move into town, so the next major thing, we'll switch to him.

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My vet (& I love her) charges about $120 I think for little dogs (spaying), I can't see a medium one being that much more. An injection of pain meds and follow up visit is included in the fee.

My cat's had emergency surgery before, but it's never been more than 550$. But if you like your vet then stick with him, or ask for a breakdown of the fees.
She might need an ultrasound soon though, which is $400 (ack).

I have met a vet who was in it just for the money though, but thankfully they are not all like this.

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