Furball lodged in throat

[fang]

[FONT=&quot]File down the teeth when he was in there.. of course not..lol The vet was in there twice, and wanted another $200+ just to file them down even when the rabbit was already out and he was already in there. I say + because he would never give us a straight answer on any of the prices. I am really tired of being held hostage by our local vets.
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[fang]

Geoff, Are you a vet or tech? In your experience what would teeth filing normally cost?

 

[JBun]

I'm pretty sure Geoff is a vet.

You've got to find a different vet. This vet sounds like he's trying to run up costs or something. I would think that a good vet, as soon as he saw that the teeth were part of the problem with the hair getting caught on the sharp points, would have taken care of the problem right then and fixed the teeth. It's just unbelievable that he didn't and now wants to charge you more. Could you maybe contact a rescue or the humane society. They may be able to help you out with info on getting your rabbits teeth done. I would call around to some different rabbit vets and ask for a price on getting the teeth done. If they won't give you a definite price, I would tell them you'll find someone else then. There's no reason they can't give you a set price for a procedure. I'm not sure of the best method for smoothing out the sharp points. I read that clipping them can cause fractures in the tooth that can lead to future tooth problems, so you may want to investigate the best method and ask which method the vet will use to trim the teeth as well.

 

[whitelop]

Geoff is a vet, he's been a vet for like 20+ years I think.

Here is a link of vets offices around the country, some in other countries too. Hopefully you can find another rabbit vet in your area and go to them. Because the vet you have now sounds like he is ripping you off.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/

Do you by chance live in a rural/impoverished area? (Not talking about you personally, but the charges for vets a lot of times depend on the area you're in)

 

[fang]

So far this has been the most capable vet for rabbits in the area. We have tried several other vets in the area that "treat" rabbits. Cost us a lot of money for people who had no clue as to what they were doing. This is a really bad area for vets, and they have sort of gotten together and set prices way above normal costs. Example [FONT=&quot]. I have a dog that they wanted $750 to fix an ear hematoma. Yes $750! I took my dog down the hill to lost angeles (yes I said LOST) where they charged me $250 to fix it, full wiring/stitching of the entire ear. A vet in [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Los Angeles[/FONT][FONT=&quot] mind you who's overhead is triple what it is in my local area.
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[fang]

We can't really afford to take the rabbit to the vet if it happens again. We need to find a way to clear this on our own. Gf's credit cards are up there now. In the last month we have spent 2k on the animals. last several months 3K (and the loss for an unknown reason of her beloved golden retr. and don't get me started on that one. I have never EVER seen so many inept vets in my life as there are up here. ) Unless we can find a way to do it on our own we will have to have her pts. And it is just too sad. I have left her e collar on to make sure she cant do any grooming on her own, but we will have to take it off soon and I am afraid it will happen again at that time

 

[Sweetie]

For me, when I had Prince and he had molar spurs, it cost me $130 to get his molars filed down. Yes, vets are expensive for rabbits.

 

[JBun]

If going back in is absolutely impossible right now, maybe until you can afford it you could just do the normal things we do to keep our rabbits teeth worn down. I would do very limited pellets so that she will eat more unlimited hay, and offer a variety of different grass hays, also have different chew toys that she can chew on like apple sticks, willow, I buy 1x2's at home depot and cut them up and make chew toys for my rabbits. There are also those hanging chew toys with wood blocks and a bell at the end. And also different veggies, introduced correctly to avoid digestive problems. You just want to give her as many ways to naturally wear those spurs down, as possible. I would also keep her coat shaved short until her teeth are ok again. And if it were me, I would be calling into that vet office and giving them a piece of my mind about not taking care of the teeth at the time the problem was found, just so they could charge for another procedure to be done, which you can't now do because thay've taken all your money. Jerks!!!

 

[fang]

GF cut her fur down short... but I think we should take it down more. It is still long enough for her to suck down her throat while grooming herself (which is why we want to keep the e collar on) Rabbit now has fur mights go figure, which is really irritating the rabbit especially with her collar on , but GF doesn't want to give her the meds while she is having this issue and on antibiotics.. so we are using diatamous earth only. With the collar on, the irritation non withstanding she is happy.. eating drinking and breathing fine. not quite as happily hopping as she used to .. but living "comfortably". Bought her a chewtoy ball last night but its too big to get into her collar lol so we will be breaking it down so she can find a way to chew on it. We put her on grass only on Christmas. Hopefully that will help too. This would be more tolerable if the life of this sweet simple little animal was not at stake.

 

[JBun]

Did you ever ask the vet why he didn't just take care of the teeth at the time? I'd be interested to know what his excuse would be.

Mites, wow, your bun is having a hard time lately, poor girl. I'm glad she's doing ok with the collar on. I had a bun that got really depressed when I tried using a collar on her. Had to take it off.

 

[fang]

She doesn't really like it on her. She has tried to take it off a few times, but for now it's not an option to take it off her.

 

[Trixie]

I just wanted to add that my bunny went for her check up and had a small molar spur, they immediately filed it down...it cost me nothing. I just paid for the full check up. I hope your bunny is going to be okay.

 

[fang]

Hi Trixie,

Hmmmm... we have never had a bunny go for a regular check up. What is the ave. cost for something like that , and what do they actually check?

 

[Kipcha]

Babbitty gets his molars trimmed for spikes every 3-6 weeks and it costs me $70 a pop, although he does not require any sedation or anything.

Sounds like you guys are really getting a run around Sorry you're having such rotten luck.

For just regular vet checks here, the cost averages at $80 to get in and see a vet (A GOOD vet, there are plenty of cheaper ones around but I don't trust them for a second). For our vet, the cost includes checking everything on the bun (Teeth, eyes, ears, nost, feet, hocks, etc.) and if the bun has a problem that you need to keep going back for, there is no cost for the recheck. So we don't have to pay a visit for Babbitty every time we go in, or in Spyro's case where he is respiratory problems, he can go in for them to listen to and we don't have to pay anything.

 

[Trixie]

Hi Trixie,

Hmmmm... we have never had a bunny go for a regular check up. What is the ave. cost for something like that , and what do they actually check?

Well I'm in Canada and Mocha's check up cost me $62.00 for a full health check, heart, mouth, ears, butt, privates :spintongue weight, etc. They did her nails for me as she's hard to get the back ones done.

 

[fang]

Yeah that's another thing about this vet. we get charged for the "office visit" each time we walk in there even though its all for the same reason. Never had this happen before.

 

[fang]

Anyone in southern California have a place where we can have her molars trimmed and it not cost an arm and a leg?

 

[Imbrium]

office visit at my vet (who is *really* good) is $45 for one pet/$58 for multiple pets. it's really a steal if you have a menagerie - I took in 2 bunnies, 2 sugar gliders and 14 hammies for well-being checks at the end of november and still only paid $58

 

[fang]

Update.

We kept the collar on her for several weeks. since non of the other symptoms that the vet said she might have ( fur coming into her throat from her stomach) and she was healthy etc we decided to go ahead and have the tooth filed. The vet said that in filing the tooth the "post" actually came out and it was a bad tooth he filed the remains and told us that we should bring her back in 3 to 6 months to have the tooth checked out to make sure it wouldn't cause any more problems, and that now she should be fine from now on. The vet had nicked her mouth in the procedure so we had to keep her on anti-biotics for two weeks We got the bunny back to the house and she was amazing. Full of energy, acting almost like a "puppy" lol it was great. We keep her fur short now just to be on the safe side. . She was great. Then a day before we were supposed to stop the antibiotics it started again. I was a little pissed , but calmly called the vet. I explained to him I thought this was supposed to take care of the problem. He wanted to get her into his office again later that day, (since he wasn't in at the moment) and I asked him again how much this was going to cost... It was still going to be $500.. but he would try to keep it as low as he could..(which is what he had said before on the second time we had her throat cleared and it was MORE expensive the second time. Honest to god, we have already spent almost 2K on this rabbit at this vet. At what point does the vet go.. just bring her in?? We didn't make it there in time. She died. Suffering.. I am so upset at the vet and myself I am beside myself. She was screaming for help, never heard a rabbit scream like that before. then just collapsed She tried to stay alive long enough for me to help.. but there wasn't anything i could do, I couldn't get anything into her mouth that would catch on whatever was down there. She just lay there alive but unable to breath. all breathing had stopped but she just laid there looking at me to help nudging me..Her brother was screaming too, and thumping. IT gets worse but I just can't even type it in here. It all happened so fast but seemed to last so long. I guess I am just really getting upset that today’s vets, seem to be in it more for the money than the love of the animals. I don’t begrudge anyone making a living. But watching these vets up here continually expanding their offices, then charging more.. it’s frustrating. This McVET (like McDonalds's ) business approach that has been taking over as business models in all areas of business in the u.s. is disheartening. Set fees no matter how skilled or unskilled a service is. I can go online and see what I can pay for animal medications and can see that the vets are charging 300% markups on what I can get it for. This vet is a nice and caring vet definitely more able than most of the vets up here concerning rabbits... but really. You used to be able to bring your pet into a vet to get looked at free of charge He/she would charge you for the treatment. Then vets started charging a fee to see them.. well ok, that's ok.. But after they have seen you and after you have already paid them, you get charged again for a visit for the same problem?? Really? A problem they were supposed to have fixed? And now vets won't give you a cost over the phone for ordinary procedures.. No shopping. and of course you won't find out what their cost schedule is like until you have PAID for the visit. Seems a little more than unfair. This is state is screwed up bad already.. I now expect this kind of business practices and I am rarely disappointed. I am sorry for this post, I guess I needed to vent. I can’t tell my girlfriend what her poor rabbit went through it would break her heart.

 

[sarah222296]

definitely don't tell your girlfriend about the screaming! Your a saint for doing what you did for that bunny and putting up with that ******* vet. I work at a vet and i guarantee you you should not be taking the other rabbit to that guy. The vet should have filed down her molars the first time when he figured out that was most likely why the hair was sticking, and charged you afterward especially if he hadn't given you a price to begin with. Most vets will eliminate vet visit costs after you spend 500$ and just make you pay for the surgery. I have no clue what kind of vet sees a problem and doesn't fix it, the only time that happens is when the owner tells them not to fix it because of cost. Which was clearly not the case with your situation. There is a list of rabbit savvy vets on the rabbit house society's website and i think there is a link on the main forum with where to find rabbit house approved vets. Once again your great for doing what you did and your girlfriend and her rabbits are very lucky to have you around.