A couple days ago, I mentioned that I paid way more than expected for my cat Chiara's "basic checkup" at the vet and how I would have to take her again soon to get her teeth cleaned. The vet phoned me with an estimate today and said it would range between $500-700+ dollars, depending on how many teeth she needs to get extracted.
In my head as she's talking, all I can hear is Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I am moaning to myself because that means I have to part with about $1000 in vet fees. I know I will take her because I don't want any aspect of her health deteriorating. But I'm also wondering, how much can we trust vets? What if they say your pet has something, or they blow it up to be worse than it is, just so that they can make some more money off you?
It's a bad thought to think, but as I mulled over my dilemma with Smeek today over coffee, she got me to thinking about how vets seem to be (in my very limited experience with them) like car mechanics. They find something that's wrong and then charge you an arm and a leg to repair it. And how am I to know whether they are telling me the truth? How much can you trust a stranger? Why can't there be some kind of built in lie-detector and rate comparison that I can rely on?
Okay, maybe I'm trying to justify my conflicted reluctance to take Chiara back there. I'm also worried about her not waking up from getting anesthetized. And being in pain. I don't know how parents do it. How can they let their children out into the world with a strong sense of security that they will return in one piece?
At the same time, I'm thankful to have parents who trust and believe in me enough to let me go to New York City on my own. I don't know if I could do the same thing when I have children. I can't even let my cat out on our front yard without a leash.
And yes, you got it right. Not only am I a cat-lady now...I'm also an overbearing one.
Meuve I had the exact same experiece with Mimi's vet. When she was really ill, the vet thought that she had an eye disease when really she had to get a hysterectomy. I think that's a pretty substantial mistake to make. So he charged us for really expensive eyedrops that clearly did nothing and then over 1000 for the surgery later on. Moral of the story: try and get a second point of view. You might have to shop around for a good, trustworthy vet!
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