The second I saw this website, I thought to myself, "How appropriate!" Such a great idea and I suspect we will start seeing more and more of these types of spoofs, given the declining state of the profession and the frustrations felt amongst my colleagues.
Plus, we get tired of having to defend ourselves for, oh, I don't know, things like... earning a living, supporting our families, having lives, etc. to the cheap ass public who thinks vets should do everything for free.
But otherwise this is just some funny stuff. :)
Cheapo Vet
To my friends who invented this wonderful idea that is still making me laugh, kudos to you and your great idea!
I do cheap neuro. If you can't afford an MRI I wave a bag of old refrigerator magnets around your head.
ReplyDeleteI like the intent but the implication that only iso/sevoflurane anesthesia on a ventilator is safe is dubious. That being said it goes a long way towards explaining why quality vet care cost more than $50. I had some pitiful run in with the aftermath of el cheapo vet this weekend. In both cases the owners actually requested more appropriate care and various el cheapo vets said "naw, we will just give a shot of steroids". In one case we rectified the problem easily, in the other long term damage may have occurred, sigh.
ReplyDeleteI spent about 8 months working at a "cheapo vet" s/n clinic as an assistant. Long story short, these were some of the worst months of my life, and the more I learned, the worse things became. The doctor did not know that a pulse ox monitor was not reliable, and thus continued operating on several dead animals. It wasn't uncommon for an untrained and hurried assistant to forget to turn on the oxygen. I was asked to do things that were illegal for my qualifications. I finally left the job when my own cat was on her deathbed and my choice was between being home with her to hopefully save her life or to continue in the job I hated but kept only to do what I could to keep animals safe.
ReplyDeleteI still lie awake at night remembering my time there and all the animals that didn't have to die.
I have some colleagues up in the Seattle area. They will get a real kick out of this website.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the best anesthetic monitor is giving a shit and paying attention. I have worked in facilities with poor equipment but we kept patients safe by careful monitoring of vital signs. And that was an e-clinc only doing surgery on sick patients. Do I prefer having bells and whistles, hell yes! Is there any exuse for not noting your patient is dead during surgery NO!
ReplyDeleteA lot of cheap spay/ neuter clinics do very good work and your cheapo website should acknowledge that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, its one thing to charge a fee for services rendered and another to 'overcharge'. Pushing products on clients based on deals with a sales rep is a common practice too.
It's unfortunate that the vets that treat their patients responsibly with consideration to cost are lumped with the ones that overcharge without batting an eyelid.