Hello, I have always been having a nagging feeling that my vet may be trying to upcharge extra services that aren't needed, but this latest trip to the vet made me feel like I made a terrible choice.
First of all, one of my pigs is terrified of everything involving the vet. Last week we listened to her breathing, and it sounded ever so slightly off. There were no other signs of illness, no lethargy, crusts, no change in eating habits / pooping / etc. But just to be safe we thought we should probably take her in. We've done this before half a dozen times with both of our pigs, they never really show any concrete signs of illness, most of the time we hear their breathing sounds a little off so we take them in, because the universal advice on the internet is to take them in whenever something is off.
Most of the time, the vet examines them, and then comes up with 'well... I can't really tell if they are sick, it's really hard to tell with guinea pigs, but you should probably get Xrays and Baytril just in case.' Usually I just accept and trust the vet and go through with the Baytril and usually pass on the Xrays, because that seems excessive for something that the vet isn't even sure about. But this happens every time we are concerned that they are sick... we've never actually (thank goodness, i suppose!) had a certain 'yep, this pig really is sick!' when we take them in. It's starting to become worrisome that we are giving them baytril for nothing... and thinking about if we accepted Xrays every single time... is it really okay to Xray a guinea pig so much if we did go through with it?? (not to mention... 200 dollars an xray.... on top of the 100 dollars per pig exam)
Anyway, I felt absolutely like I made the wrong choice when the vet suggested giving our guinea pig a fluid injection. Our guinea pig was already very stressed during our hour long visit, but I decided I should trust the vet. I thought it was going to be a quick and slightly annoying procedure for the guinea pig, but they brought out a very large needle with what looked like 100ml of water. My guinea pig screamed constantly, flailed, squirmed, and went limp several times during this traumatic ordeal of injecting all that water into her... (I had to help the vet hold her because she kept trying to jump off the table) which took around a full minute to do. The fact that they weren't even sure if she was sick and they still went with such an extremely stressful ordeal... I am not sure I feel like I can trust them now. It took a full day for my guinea pig to come out of hiding after the whole experience, and at least for the time being, she runs the second she sees me in sight. When I am not around, she is still acting normal with the other pig, eating fine, drinking fine, etc, no signs of sickness, she just seems a bit terrified of me whenever I come in to check on them.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but I just feel like I need to get this out and ask if anyone has any opinions or advice regarding this... I just feel like I made a bad choice recently and can't get it out of my head.
I guess a few questions I'd like to ask in summary:
Am I being too cautious and taking my pigs to the vet too much? (The vet seems to think I'm catching these things early, but also tells me they can't really tell for sure if they are sick)
Should I trust my vet has my pets best interest in mind and stop worrying about any trauma the guinea pig goes through with suggested procedures?
Is it weird to think the vet is pushing procedures just to get more money? At 100 dollars per pig the bill seems pretty high already, but each time they always seem to suggest extra shots and xrays that send the price soaring... Don't get me wrong, money is no object to my pigs health, but I want to pay for procedures that are actually needed, not 'maybe they might need this.'
First of all, one of my pigs is terrified of everything involving the vet. Last week we listened to her breathing, and it sounded ever so slightly off. There were no other signs of illness, no lethargy, crusts, no change in eating habits / pooping / etc. But just to be safe we thought we should probably take her in. We've done this before half a dozen times with both of our pigs, they never really show any concrete signs of illness, most of the time we hear their breathing sounds a little off so we take them in, because the universal advice on the internet is to take them in whenever something is off.
Most of the time, the vet examines them, and then comes up with 'well... I can't really tell if they are sick, it's really hard to tell with guinea pigs, but you should probably get Xrays and Baytril just in case.' Usually I just accept and trust the vet and go through with the Baytril and usually pass on the Xrays, because that seems excessive for something that the vet isn't even sure about. But this happens every time we are concerned that they are sick... we've never actually (thank goodness, i suppose!) had a certain 'yep, this pig really is sick!' when we take them in. It's starting to become worrisome that we are giving them baytril for nothing... and thinking about if we accepted Xrays every single time... is it really okay to Xray a guinea pig so much if we did go through with it?? (not to mention... 200 dollars an xray.... on top of the 100 dollars per pig exam)
Anyway, I felt absolutely like I made the wrong choice when the vet suggested giving our guinea pig a fluid injection. Our guinea pig was already very stressed during our hour long visit, but I decided I should trust the vet. I thought it was going to be a quick and slightly annoying procedure for the guinea pig, but they brought out a very large needle with what looked like 100ml of water. My guinea pig screamed constantly, flailed, squirmed, and went limp several times during this traumatic ordeal of injecting all that water into her... (I had to help the vet hold her because she kept trying to jump off the table) which took around a full minute to do. The fact that they weren't even sure if she was sick and they still went with such an extremely stressful ordeal... I am not sure I feel like I can trust them now. It took a full day for my guinea pig to come out of hiding after the whole experience, and at least for the time being, she runs the second she sees me in sight. When I am not around, she is still acting normal with the other pig, eating fine, drinking fine, etc, no signs of sickness, she just seems a bit terrified of me whenever I come in to check on them.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but I just feel like I need to get this out and ask if anyone has any opinions or advice regarding this... I just feel like I made a bad choice recently and can't get it out of my head.
I guess a few questions I'd like to ask in summary:
Am I being too cautious and taking my pigs to the vet too much? (The vet seems to think I'm catching these things early, but also tells me they can't really tell for sure if they are sick)
Should I trust my vet has my pets best interest in mind and stop worrying about any trauma the guinea pig goes through with suggested procedures?
Is it weird to think the vet is pushing procedures just to get more money? At 100 dollars per pig the bill seems pretty high already, but each time they always seem to suggest extra shots and xrays that send the price soaring... Don't get me wrong, money is no object to my pigs health, but I want to pay for procedures that are actually needed, not 'maybe they might need this.'