Q: "How can a vet justify charging me $20 for a shot that only costs them
$2.50? How can anyone afford those prices...."
A: So your ferret is worth $2.50 but not $20? What are your kids worth?
Just like truckdrivers, pastors and office workers, veterinarians have the
same requirements for food, clothing and shelter the rest of us have. They
are *medical doctors*, just as highly trained as those who work on human
beings *but* with the added responsibility of needing to understand the
physiology and medical needs of dozens of species, rather than just the
one. The test requirements to get into vet school are generally higher
than those to get into med school, and since the competetion is much
greater--because of fewer vet schools--it is harder to be admitted. But,
despite their intellectual achievements, vets are human beings, with the
same needs and desires. In other words, if they eat beans, they fert.
So ask yourself why people become vets when they have the same (or higher)
abilities as human doctors. Is it because of greed? I have yet to met a
vet who can pull in the same money as a malpracticing MD. Is it because of
power? Just count the number of MDs smoozing on the golf course and
compare it to the number of vets. Is it for ego? As if vets score higher
than MDs on the public popularity scale. Now, I might be a bit prejudiced,
but from my travels on this planet, I have found most vets got into the
profession because of one simple little reason; they love animals.
It is their love of animals that prompted most of them to forgo a more
profitable profession. After all, each one of them could qualify to become
MDs and make a lot more money. But their love of animals does not negate
simple economic facts; they have to support themselves and make a living.
If you divorce your feelings from the equation, and compare the $20 cost
for an exam and distemper shot to that of someone changing the oil in your
car, or delivering a large pizza, or cutting your hair, the cost is fair.
And since most people only own a couple of ferrets, the cost to the average
owner is not that much out of line with other expenses.
"But what about shelters?" you might ask. With 22 ferrets in my house, I
AM A SHELTER! I have made arraignements with my vet to come to my house,
innoculate all the ferrets while making a quick inspection of their bouncy
little bodies, have lunch, then fill out the rabies-tag info together. I
get a discount rate which almost makes the visit the same cost as buying
the vaccine myself, the vet has a nice few hours away from the office and
doesn't have the horror of seeing 22 ferrets in the waiting room, and I
have a vet on duty with full medical supplies should a ferret actually have
an anaphylactic event. Now, I am not rich, I have no hidden stores of
drug-laundered money. I work full time, go to school full time, have four
kids in college and my budget is tight enough--especially on the road--that
when someone buys lunch for me, it is quite helpful. But even if it cost me
ten times what it does to get my ferrets protected from that evil killer,
distemper, I would *STILL* have the vet do it. My ferrets are more than
worth the few extra bucks it takes to make sure they are protected from
harm, or even my best intentions.
Veterinary medicine provides a living to a person who has passed the
highest tests, and taken some of the hardest classes offered in any
university. Vets may be there because they love animals, but you can't ask
them to work for free. A machine to analyize blood might cost $20,000, a
top-notch X-ray machine and associated electrical wiring and shielding
might cost more than $30,000. Add $5000 for a neonatal incubator, $1000
for oxygen equipment, $10-15,000 per employee, $20,000+ for in-stock drugs,
supplies and equipment, insurance and rental fees of thousands per month,
and the cost of adhering to strict local, state and federal laws, and you
are just getting the idea of what it costs a vet to open and maintain a
practice. If you want someone to be there for you, to get up at night for
your crashing ferret, to keep them warm and alive when they are at death's
door, to give you free advice over the phone, to read all the books and
attend all the cutting-edge seminars, and charge only the minimum fee to
keep the practice afloat, then you have to give them your business. $20 is
cheap "insurance" for all those benefits.
It would be unfair for a vet to ask you to pay $2500 for treatment that
normally costs $50, simply because they would have to buy equipment and
supplies that total that amount in order to perform the proceedure. You
would point out the vet could use the materials for other clients down the
road, and you would be unfairly subsidizing them. And you would be right,
for that is exactly how vets operate; they spread the costs of their
practice over all of thier customers, over a long period of time. So that
$20 for the exam and shot is helping to pay for the low-coat spaying you
took advantage of, or the cost of saving a stray dog's life after it was
hit by a car and left for dead. How would you feel if a perfect stranger
came up to you and demanded you cough up hundreds of dollars to pay for
treating a dog you didn't run over? Would you do it? Yet, how many times
has the "pages" of the FML been filled with vile and nasty remarks about
vets who would send the dog someplace else, or worse, do proceedures such
as declawing so they can not only keep a ferret in a home, but also afford
the occasional freebee?
If you find spending $20 for an exam and distemper shot too expensive, then
you have no right to expect your vet to invest $250,000 or more to save
your ferret when it is stepped on, eats the rubber pads from the bottom of
your phone, or is suffering from pancreatic disease. Good vets are worth
gold, and my ferrets are worth more than gold to me. What are yours worth
to you?
Bob C and 22 MO Midas Monkees.
[Posted in FML issue 2423]
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