VCA buying Vet Clinics

[limeyx]

Across the country. VCA has been buying up clinics for years. VCA was bought out by Mars, the candy maker, in 2017.

I stay away from VCA. They are the Edward Jones of veterinary medicine.

Same. We got sucked in one time and never again. Shocking prices

 

[Koolau]

Our last pet went to kitty heaven in 2005. Back then, vet appointments were still somewhat affordable. I hear stories now that make me think we'll need universal health care for pets. Vet prices have gone through the roof.

I have a good friend (late 70's) who just sold his Vet practice. He still goes in one day a week to do many of the routine (and even emergency) surgeries. He loves it. I still recall when he opened his practice. He offered 10% discount for two pets!

Back when I was a kid, we nursed our pets through their illnesses. They either made it or they didn't. We never went to a Vet because we couldn't afford it. When ever one of the cats had a litter, we would wean them and then take 2 to 7 cats to the shelter. My guess is that (in those days) none of them left the shelter alive.

Don't know who bought out my friend, but I don't think it was VCA. Sounds like one more step toward big business taking over just about everything. YMMV

 

[Teacher Terry]

We actually bought pet insurance for our 2 young dogs. Most of our other dogs were old rescues so too expensive to buy insurance. Thankfully my parents were responsible and all our pets growing up were fixed.

 

[athena53]

I ran this past a friend whose daughter is a vert- he'd mentioned a couple of years ago that she'd left a vet clinic after it was taken over by corporate bean-counters. They were "encouraged" to run tests she thought were unnecessary and each vet was evaluated based on his/her profitability. He said that was at the Banfield clinics inside PetSmart, most of which are owned by- M&M Mars.

 

[Mdlerth]

Even my veterinarian daughter-in-law gets those vaccines

...Now I need to change vets. The problem is that I have 2 half siblings to a dog that died at 3 due to GME. Vaccines may trigger this so I need a vet that will agree not to vaccinate my dogs...

Is it within the discretion of either the vet or the owner to withhold vaccinations? Around here dogs are required by law to be vaccinated against rabies, distemper, etc.

 

[Another Reader]

Here you can go to a vaccine clinic and get individual vaccines. If rabies is required, you can get a rabies vaccine and a certificate. There is a lot of controversy on the cat side about annual FVRCP vaccines. Some vets recommend not doing them after age 5 or 6. I suspect there is some controversy about DHPP vaccines on the dog side as well.

Vaccinating puppies against Parvo is worth the risk in most cases. The vets here see a lot of cases of unvaccinated puppies with Parvo, especially pit puppies. Most of those get put down because the owners don't have the money or don't care enough to treat. Very sad. Parvo is widespread and easily transmitted.

I no longer do rabies vaccines on cats. Mine are largely indoors, only a couple go outside. There hasn't been a recorded case in a mammal for years locally and the city uses rabies vaccine records to go after people that don't pay a $35 annual fee to license their cat. I generally skip the FVRCP in older cats. The risk/reward appears to favor that, as immunity seems to last long term. I support microchipping all pets and licensing for dogs, which can attack people and other animals if they get loose. Licensing cats is a revenue grab, pure and simple.

 

[kfsinc]

Mars owns Banfield and VCA as well as several of the premium pet food brands, IAMS, Eukanuba, and Wiskas to name a few. I called on them 30 some years ago and cats roamed the office. My inlaws are Vets in a small town - they've pretty much ruled out selling to VCA for the reasons you mention above. Coincidentally the other inlaws are in the funeral home business and got caught up in that fiasco many years ago also. Very similar business model.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Mdlerth, my dogs had all their vaccines until Trixie died. They are likely immune for life. You can titer your dog for everything but rabies. The titer shows if your dog still has immunity. Rabies is the only required one. The vet is off the hook if I sign a waiver. If my dog bit someone they could not quarantine at home. I am not against vaccines and since it’s suspected in her death and my dogs are half siblings it’s reasonable. Two problems with vaccines as I see it is they give the same dose to a 100 lb dog as they do a 5lb one. The only difference between the 1 year or 3 year rabies shot is the label on the bottle. A vet that gave vaccines according to weight lost his license. If more vets offered titers versus vaccines they would lose money.

 

[athena53]

I wonder what goes on in a corporate meeting that provokes someone who makes candy bars to decide to go into the veterinary business .

Back when I could get Jim Cramer's podcasts, he would occasionally talk about the massive amount of money people spend on their pets, and name companies likely to profit from this trend. I see the "personification" of pets on FB all the time. My niece by marriage buys clothes for their doggie, takes it to Starbucks for a "puppucino" (a cup of whipped cream- ick!) and says what a good "Daddy" my nephew is to their doggie. One FB friend asked us all to pray for her basset hound going through chemo. He survived it but didn't last long after that. A neighbor took his cat to a veterinary hospital 3 hours away for brain surgery and another FB friend started a GoFundMe page after her dog chewed up part of a rug and needed to have it surgically removed from her intestines to the tune of $6,000. She's a professional speaker and had once confided that she needed new dentures but couldn't afford them.

I find it mind-boggling but then I've never owned pets. I can see why Mars would want a piece of it.

 

[dirtbiker]

I'm down to one dog, a mut rescue. My bulldog and boxer died 3 and 1 year ago, respectively. As much as I love my dog, I'm not going to ever get another. Well, at least I say that now. They're great companions, but they're also money pits (and hell for my lawn! ). Checkups, vaccines, sick visits, food, grooming, boarding during vacation, etc. end up costing quite a bit of money in the long run. I'm not arguing against anyone else owning dogs. I'm just arguing against me owning dogs again.

We had a vet that we really liked, private practice. We wanted to stay with him because his facility was nice, his office staff nice, and he was great. But we were being raked over the coals with each visit. Talking to friends and family with dogs, we found we were paying fully twice as much for each visit and vaccine. And with three dogs at the time, it was really getting expensive. We switched to someone else and our bill was cut in half. We found that we just didn't like that vet enough to pay those outrageous prices.

Mdlerth, my dogs had all their vaccines until Trixie died. They are likely immune for life. You can titer your dog for everything but rabies. The titer shows if your dog still has immunity. Rabies is the only required one. The vet is off the hook if I sign a waiver. If my dog bit someone they could not quarantine at home. I am not against vaccines and since it’s suspected in her death and my dogs are half siblings it’s reasonable. Two problems with vaccines as I see it is they give the same dose to a 100 lb dog as they do a 5lb one. The only difference between the 1 year or 3 year rabies shot is the label on the bottle. A vet that gave vaccines according to weight lost his license. If more vets offered titers versus vaccines they would lose money.

Animal vaccines aren't approved for doses other than standard size. While it may make sense on the surface that a smaller vaccine should be given to a smaller pet, the evidence showing it is as effective is lacking (though I'd wager to say that it probably would be effective). The only way to make sure is to give a smaller dose and then test titers. This just isn't cost effective, and adverse vaccine reactions are very unlikely, particularly serious ones.

As far as refusing a rabies vaccine for a half sibling with an immune disease that is only postulated to be related to immunizations. I'm sorry, I feel this is irresponsible for public health.

On the topic of losing money for titers:

"But titer tests often end up costing owners more than vaccines. According to Denish, a distemper-parvo battery titer costs about $76, while the vaccine is about $24. Because there is always the chance that an already paid for titer will show that a vaccination is required anyway, many owners would just as soon opt solely for the vaccination, if only for financial reasons."

https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/what-titer-test-and-it-right-your-pet-0

 

[Teacher Terry]

This auto immune disorder is always fatal and it’s a painful death. My vet agreed with me. Another dog in this line has died young. The remainder of us with dogs in this line have quit vaccinating. These are Maltese so tiny dogs that don’t bite people.

 

[Bestwifeever]

DS has always taken their dogs to Banfield, inside PetSmart, and has always had insurance on them. IMO the insurance is where Banfield is making its money--DS breaks even on vaccinations and annual visits, has to pay something for more than that (but less than what uninsured animals are charged). I'm sure Banfield is not losing money on its insured pets, and probably making more because lots of, "we have insurance, let's go to the vet for this stomach issue" and still paying something for the visit, instead of "let's wait and see if this stomach issue resolves on its own."

We've had four dogs and never had insurance. Lucky to have found a cozy practice now. We left one three years ago when it shifted to pushing extra services after the founder retired and sold it. Our cozy practice has NO big pharma posters of illnesses your pet might get, pretty refreshing.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Our kids are grown so our dogs are our babies. 2 weeks after getting my first dog who was only 2 months it was discovered that she needed heart surgery or she would only live a year. We did it and she lived 15 years. It cost 4K. When Trixie had the auto immune disease we drove 4 hours to a vet teaching hospital because my vet was clueless. They diagnose it right away. Some dogs wear clothes because they are tiny and cold in winter.