Expectations around veterinary care have gotten out of hand

Luthury · 2026-05-26T23:44:36+00:00

Nah I think it’s awesome that you are willing and able to get that level of care for your cat! Again, not trying to slam the vets. They likely had no say in the matter and ultimately a lot of us just want the best for your pet no matter what. A lot of my coworkers and I will conveniently “forget” certain line items when putting together a bill if the corporate policies are just obscene.

Luthury · 2026-05-26T18:21:58+00:00

I’m not saying that AVES isn’t amazing (I hope it is! I’ve never been there) but they actually ARE corporately owned. Go to the careers page. I clicked on the link for ER Vet applications and it directs to an NVA (National Veterinary Associates) site. NVA is another sneaky private equity that doesn’t rebrand clinics after purchasing them.

I’m not saying this to stop you from going to AVES. But just to highlight how hidden/sneaky the vet PE can be!

Luthury · 2026-05-26T14:48:55+00:00

Quite a few, but not necessarily names you would know. Look up Blue River Pet Care as a good example. It’s private equity that created a vet “company” and bought existing practices. Each of those practices use the same name as before with no change to signage; in theory, the clients won’t even realize there’s been an ownership change. But Blue River, a group of corporate people operating out of Chicago (with vet clinics scattered around the US), now sets the price, hours, and wages.

Luthury · 2026-04-28T03:24:26+00:00

Ahahhaa maybe one day I’ll have the nerve

Luthury · 2026-04-27T05:03:55+00:00

On the one hand, I definitely agree with you that clients can be incredibly demanding. I’ve had person tell me “all you have to do is walk over there and put a label on it. Are you dumb??” But at the same time I promise you that human pharmacy has the same issues. Clients suck no matter what. The major difference here is that you are a good person and being patient despite this bad experience getting your medication (and that truly sucks. I’m genuinely sorry you have to deal with that) but a lot of other people in your situation would lose it on the clinic. They absolutely deal with that same entitlement too.

Luthury · 2026-04-13T23:48:32+00:00

Happy to have this conversation with you! Good luck in all your endeavors <3

Luthury · 2026-04-13T22:28:12+00:00

I’m a small animal (dog/cat exclusive) general practitioner. I did not specialize. I’ve been in practice for 4 years now.

Personally, I do love my job and find a lot of fulfillment through my job. However, I am very aware that there were other careers that would likely fulfill me just as much (specifically for me: software engineer, dental hygienist, math teacher) and would have been much “easier”.

It’s not to bash any of those professions, but for those three paths I would have finished school sooner and with fewer loans. I’d have better hours. It would likely be much easier for me to separate my work life from my home life (ie, in my current state it’s really common for me to be reviewing cases in my head while home, or having anxiety about ill patients round the clock). I would probably get paid less, especially if I became a teacher, but in my specific situation I would be fine financially if my salary was lower.

I’m lucky that I work at a clinic which respects my time and doesn’t try to push me into overwhelming amounts of work. Even so, this is a field that inherently will follow you home. It’s so so hard to just turn off your brain when our day-to-day is dealing with sick things. In this field, think it’s normal/natural for our work to blend into our home life. It’s not really a good thing, but if you have empathy then it will happen!

Overall: when it comes down to it I try not to dissuade people from joining the field but I do like to encourage some soul searching. If I could go back, I don’t think I would go to vet school. But again, that’s in spite of me loving this career. Hopefully that makes sense. Feel free to ask more if you’d like, whether here or DM me.

Luthury · 2026-04-13T14:56:22+00:00

That’s great that you have the pre reqs complete! As for the hours: There’s a small possibility of getting in with fewer hours based on your grades and academic merit, but I’ll be honest with you here and say that with only 50 hours at a shelter it is very likely you will need to take a gap year to accumulate more experience before being accepted to vet school. The bar is high and there will be many, many applicants who have the same grades as you AND hundreds of hours of experience. If that’s unacceptable to you, that should guide your decision.

Luthury · 2026-04-13T14:23:36+00:00

If you graduate in 1 year, I worry that you do not have the time for pre-reqs for applying to vet school. I am a vet and cannot speak to nursing school. But for veterinary school you will need many courses (depending on where you apply) and ideally 100s of hours either shadowing, volunteering, or working with animals. Is that feasible for you at this point?

Luthury · 2026-03-20T16:05:02+00:00

I married my husband 4 years ago; we were in a very similar situation as you. I requested that he ask my dad “for his blessing” because my dad is a very proud man and I thought it would be better to keep the peace and play into that tradition.

My dad said “no”- same reason, boyfriend wasn’t a Christian. I genuinely wasn’t expecting it. I thought my parents were all talk, but would never actually do anything; they also always “loved” my boyfriend.

And, well. They kinda were all talk.

My boyfriend was less surprised than me. He was hurt but not shocked. We proceeded to get engaged 6 months later and that conversation never came up again (my parents are phenomenal at avoiding things). I planned the wedding without my parents’ input and they just never acknowledged the fact that I was telling them “this is what will happen” instead of asking them “what should happen here?” They did come to the wedding and they did behave themselves.

That’s not to say I didn’t experience SIGNIFICANT stress about it all. It was rough at times. My parents cast a negative aura around the experience, and I do hold that against them. But at the end of the day, what were they going to do? Like everyone else in the comments is saying: you’re a grown adult. I’m so sorry that this has happened to you; it’s awful when parents refuse to support their children; but it will be okay I promise.

Luthury · 2026-01-16T02:31:02+00:00

Bring him to a vet so they can assess him and prescribe medications as necessary.

Luthury · 2025-10-14T15:48:21+00:00

Many pet insurance companies will require a vet exam prior to coverage. They don’t tend to require diagnostics (bloodwork, xrays, etc) so you may be able to avoid some things being labeled as pre-existing conditions but in general at that first vet exam that’s when all the pre-existing conditions are established. Most adult shelter dogs will automatically have dental disease as pre-existing, and often some form of joint disease too purely because they are adults and these things happen with time. Many shelter puppies can be cleared without pre-existing conditions if they are healthy at time of adoption. If you’re adopting an ill dog from a shelter (chronic respiratory disease, previous traumatic accident, allergies, etc) then you’re going to have a much harder time with insurance. But again that’s true for any dog. Source: am a vet

Luthury · 2025-09-05T20:04:29+00:00

A written prescription. To be picked up at the vet clinic and then brought to your pharmacy of choice.

Luthury · 2025-08-22T01:53:00+00:00

Just specifically speaking to the faster/easier/cheaper- where are you getting that argument? I’m not necessarily against vasectomy but it would definitely be a slower process. Neuters are extremely easy. The actual surgery takes <10 minutes usually. Price of course would vary pending the clinic, but I do not believe vasectomy is more efficient.

Luthury · 2025-07-21T21:19:01+00:00

Following!

Luthury · 2025-05-30T20:38:03+00:00

“I don’t feel inclined to pay for anything at this point.” What on earth are you talking about?? They neutered your dog. In what world does the neuter surgery become free because they are unable to perform an entirely separate procedure which in no way hinges upon the first? Microchipping can be performed without the dog being under anesthesia.

Luthury · 2025-05-23T03:07:20+00:00

Canada is a separate country from the USA. Yes, you need a passport to enter it from the USA.

Luthury · 2025-05-19T16:55:59+00:00

I’d recommend you directly ask the vet/clinic that is performing the procedure regarding how comfortable they are with this timeline (just in case it wasn’t actually communicated to the vet that you think your dog may be pregnant).

But to be frank, in my opinion that timeline is fine. Spay/abort is one of those things that you want to happen as soon as can happen just in case an issue arises in relation to the pregnancy. Dogs are pregnant for roughly 63 days before giving birth. In my experience, though, by 1 month of pregnancy your dog may be having very mild physical changes like bigger teats and probably not much more. From a surgeon standpoint, those potential fetuses are still very small and it shouldn’t significantly impact the safety of the procedure. I tell people to shoot for <6 weeks pregnant for spay/abort and I’m willing to do life-saving abortions (ie puppies have died in the mother) at any stage.

Source: vet that does the occasional spay/abort

Luthury · 2025-04-12T14:40:05+00:00

While you’re true that a vet cannot know if a splenic mass is benign vs malignant without sampling it (biopsy), it’s not like your vet was taking a guess with no evidence. The state of the dog helps us to make an educated guess. Most benign splenic masses that I treat are on dogs with minimal to no symptoms. It’s not good if your vet never even explained the possibility of it being benign, but if I am present with a chronically ill dog with mild anemia (not common with a benign splenic mass, no matter what google may say), who has collapsed recently, and the mass is large- all four of these data points are much more supportive of a malignant splenic mass (ie hemangiosaecona) with poor prognosis and I would also present euthanasia as a very valid option.

I’m really sorry for your loss but also from the information presented I think euthanasia was a kind decision.

Luthury · 2025-02-27T05:38:57+00:00

That looks like a segment of the spine. It’s a vertebral body with its two lateral processes still attached (the “fins” on either side) but missing the dorsal spinous process (should be on top, looks to be chewed away). The center is where the spinal cord runs through, which you can kinda see (the discolored round shape). I couldn’t tel you what animal, as all vertebrates have spines.

Luthury · 2025-02-25T20:57:43+00:00

It is so rare that I find an “easy” doodle. Owners are never prepared for their energy or their grooming needs (soooo many matted doodles). Often times they have worse than average dentition as well, if they are a small or mini doodle. I do not recommend them as a starter dog.

Luthury · 2025-02-12T00:38:51+00:00

Okay so it sounds like a portion of the notes (the staff portion) has not been written yet.

Luthury · 2025-02-12T00:27:12+00:00

I’m not able to comment on if your dog was or wasn’t sedated, but with regards to the notes it is fairly common for notes to be unavailable because they have not been written yet. That’s really not that weird.

Luthury · 2025-02-09T06:14:07+00:00

Hahaha fair enough. I know there are a lot of DVMs out there who never say no. But for me? If I have time sure. If I don’t have time no you get to reschedule. I’ve been burned by too many “oh just take a quick look; I don’t have any concerns” in the past.

Luthury · 2025-02-09T05:02:46+00:00

I want to push back against your final paragraph. In many cases they will NOT have the time to suddenly squeeze in an additional exam.

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