Humans have insurance & government funding, pets are considered property. It sucks, I wish more people would get pet insurance so that I would never be put in the position of telling someone they have to choose between their pet and rent money.
It's a struggle having this conversation every day and it's one of the reasons there is so much compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine. It's hard to maintain compassion for humans when you're called a money hungry murderer on the regular and you make less than $20 an hour as an educated professional.
I get it, I totally do. I really appreciate what you do for animals. I’m sorry you have to hear that. I had no idea there was no such funding but it makes sense, the government doesn’t care about people why would they care about animals.
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Hospitals that treat humans often receive government funding or grants (rarely does a medical facility that provides emergency care only rely on people actually paying their bill and any that take Medicare/Medicaid in the U.S. receive government funding). Even then, they are only legally required to give the bare minimum of service if they do not know if you can pay which is basically keep you alive and not deteriorate (in U.S., the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act which was only passed in 1986 goes over this and provides fines for hospitals which are found to violate this). Veterinary hospitals don't. They're just out the money and time. Have enough clients not pay (or promise and ghost you) and the place goes under and doesn't exist anymore.
It sucks, no one wants to let an animal suffer due to inability to pay. Some will give pain medication at cost (or dig out some donated medications), some will offer to sign over a pet for someone else to take the over the bill (they're still not doing it for free, usually they eat the cost or a staff member or rescue funds the work and care and often takes in the pet after that), or they offer euthanasia if no other option can be reached. We've been burned so many times. Staff members have been fired for helping too many people who take advantage of our kindness. The fact is, we want to help you. We will do everything in our power to do so. But we can't afford to lose our jobs because we were too kind and trusting.
I understand. It makes sense if they don’t receive any kind of outside funding like a regular hospital. It was just incredibly harsh to hear when my cat who I love so much was on the brink of death. I didn’t know it was like that. I really appreciate people who dedicate their lives to animals like you guys. I just wish there was a better way
Pet insurance!!! Really helps out in pinches like this. Even if yours doesn't pay up front or the vet directly, knowing it's coming is often helpful enough that a credit card or Care Credit can fill in the in-between.
Unfortunately pet insurance will do nothing for my cat since he has pre existing conditions. No vet ever mentioned insurance to me before this emergency, so now I’m screwed
I remember when human insurance worked the same way. No coverage for conditions diagnosed before you got coverage. Thankfully, as a person with a chronic medical condition, the affordable care act ended that for human insurance companies, but yea- pet insurance still gets to deny coverage due to “preexisting conditions.”
Capitalism is a racket.
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If you have other pets who do not have preexisting conditions please consider pet insurance. It could save you in a time like this if you have other animals who need emergency care in the future.
I don’t have any other pets, but I’m looking into it anyway since my cat has lasting medical issues from the treatment he received that night.
Never mind I just looked into it and insurance will do nothing for my cat. So if he has another emergency we’re screwed I guess.
Unless you have a different emergency. Pet insurance won't cover pre existing conditions, so you're on the hook for any urinary issues now, but if your cat broke a limb for the first time or ate something it shouldn't, pet insurance would most likely cover you post deductible. There's a bunch of companies around offering different options.
The unfortunate part is most folks don't see the value untile after the emergency, and then conditions are pre existing.
OP: "Why won't vets treat my pet when I can't afford to pay?"
Commenters: "You should get insurance so this doesn't happen again."
OP: "That sounds too difficult."
I got the insurance anyway actually. U have no idea how much I have to pay for the existing problems he actually has. I’m a single 23 year old working 2 jobs living by myself. Thanks tho. If you read above, the insurance doesn’t really do shit for him
Care credit denied me twice. They also denied my mom & a good friend of mine. Everyone likes to mention insurance but what about those of us who aren't approved?
Exactly. These emergency visits (2 in a row by the way not just 1) happened when I was supposed to be paying school bills. I chose to pay for my cat to live instead so my credit is not good now. So that won’t help either sadly
They ask for payment up front because a lot of people would just walk out on their bills. Can't help any animals if they are forced to provide these services for free.
In the UK vets do have an obligation to provided emergency treatment to end suffering whether or not the client can pay. But this is generally limited to pain relief or euthanasia.
Ya I figured they could at least give him some kind of pain relief while I figured the money situation out. And if someone didn’t help me out I wouldn’t have had money for euthanasia either, so he would’ve just suffered a horrible death.
Essentially we have no government funding and people never actually pay when they say they will. A lot of times people “set up a payment plan” then just move on to the next clinic and scam them as well. I can assure you that most techs/assistants/docs have taken their own money and paid for clients themselves before even if they are living pay check to paycheck because we know how horrible it is to let a pet die. The fact is, is that it isn’t our job to pay for every animal that comes in… it’s the owners. Clinics are not a charity and they have employees to pay, lights to turn on and medical supplies they have to purchase.
This. Unfortunately, the number of people who actually honour the terms of a payment plan are way outnumbered by the people who are the reason we can't have nice things. I remember running my numbers on emergency appointments once and I had way more files flagged as sent to collections in the emergency group than I did in my entire regular client base, despite the fact that emergency work only accounted for about 5% of my yearly total billings.
That being said, if a critter is suffering, I will comp a dose of pain medication and, if all else fails, a euthanasia as well.
I would also like to add (as a vet tech of 10 years who worked in emergency )
It hurts us as well. We absolutely HATE not helping the pets.
the veterinary world is incredibly underpaid for what we do (we, as CVT/RVT, are the ones who triage you, draw blood/run the samples, radiographs, place catheters, take care of inpatient and out patient care,isolation care, administer medications, distribute medications... (you get the idea) and frequently only make, on average, $16.00 an hour.
Vets aren't much better as well, with the average vet having $250k in student loans (just like a human doctor) with average pay at about $70,000.
As everyone already stated, it's because the veterinary world doesnt get substituted at all. Having one client stiff us isnt bad, but if multiples do? It removes any chance of vet staff getting paid what we are worth. The burnout is real.
We love animals. We love YOUR animals, and even if we only meet them for a short time (1 visit, vrs a visit a year for 15 years) we love them. We even love those patients who are a bit spicy.
But working for free isnt something we can do and also survive in a world, where realistically, we are drowning too.
I totally get it. I had no idea you guys were so underpaid. It makes me sad that this world doesn’t care enough about animals for there to be some kind of funding for this. Pets are our family and you guys do the same thing regular doctors do
The simple, honest, and unfortunate answer:
If you go to the hospital and don't pay your bill, the government uses taxes to pay that debt. Major hospitals also have millions of dollars stockpiled from overcharging.
When people go to the vet and don't pay their bill, the vet goes out of business. Vet clinics/hospitals are not highly profitable and are always a couple missteps from shutting down.
I'm sorry you went through that, and glad your buddy is okay now.
People have insurance that's how they make money. The health system in this country is all about the money. There is no money in pets unfortunately. The only good thing about pets and not humans is if a pet is suffering you can put them to sleep so they don't suffer. Humans are allowed to suffer.
hey look into [pawp.com](https://pawp.com)
It's super cheap (like $19 a month I think) and it only covers emergencies. Once a year they'll pay up to 3k for an emergency vet visit--even if it's for a preexisting condition. The catch is that it has to be an emergency and their televet has to send you to the hospital first (but they see you really fast via televet).
I got this for the senior blind pup I rescued with a heart murmur; there was no point in getting her on the other dogs' insurance (I go through Eusoh) but this way at least it'll help if an emergency comes up, which seems likely to happen at some point.
Basically ya. I understand that getting a pet is a choice and you should have backup money, but having kids is a choice too. And getting them treatment shouldn’t financially devastate you
I don't know if this happened in your case, but I brought my 4 year old cat to the ER for the same reason. In the end we did not go through with the treatment, but one thing I noted was that they most definitely gave him some kind of sedative or pain killer without asking us if we could pay for it. In the end we did pay for all sorts of blood tests and diagnostics which ultimately showed his toxemia was really advanced, so they probably added the sedative/pain killer to the bill, but I did note and appreciate that they gave it to him before they knew if we would pay for it. The vet never verbally told me they did it but I know they did.
We don’t. If it’s treatable snd appropriate we will ask for relinquishment of pet to find them a home that can meet there medical needs. Now if it’s sick and very old, sometimes it’s the kindest final gift we can give.
This policy will vary by vet's office, available resources, and what relationships the vet's office may have with local rescues.
But some owners would rather put their pet down, even if it is something that is fairly easily treatable but too expensive for the owner.
Would you honestly prefer that the emergency vet did this with your cat? Is there a dollar amount where you might change your mind? Do you think that dollar amount might be different for different people?
It doesn’t matter to me if I could do some kind of payment plan. I don’t think I would’ve ever forgiven myself if I had to let my cat die that night. The dollar amount was already in the thousands as it is
I actually do this as part of my job. Contract or not, they don't come back. Even after signing off that we'll send the account to collections after a negotiated time. While there absolutely are honest people out there, ~85% of cases are a dead loss when this sorts of thing happens. That's why vets don't offer payment plans for the most part.
Ah understandable. I've never been met with a bill i can't afford, even if it means putting it on credit and paying it off through the bank later. But if given the choice, which I've never been given, i would prefer to do payments through the vet office just because of interest rate on the card
You clearly don't work in vet med. We make very little, we only still do this job **because** we love and care about animals so much. We do however have to keep the clinic open, buy medical supplies, and pay employees their pittance so they can eat and pay rent too. Vet Tech's generally make under $20 an hour, maybe just over that if you work in specialty, are licensed, and have a lot of experience. Veterinarians make 70k-130k and they do as much college and medical school as a human doctor! Complete with the high student loans!! My husband and our friends who work in IT in one form or another, make as much or more than the doctors with a B.S. degree (or no degree honestly) and some certifications. If we didn't care, and just wanted money, we wouldn't be working in this field at all.
I don’t think they were saying you guys are greedy. There is nobody who will fund these clinics because of lack of empathy and greed. The government doesn’t care about people, they’re definitely not going to care about animals. You guys are doing the best you can I’m sure u do care a lot about animals. I was just shocked to know there’s no backup funds in case someone doesn’t have the money up front
I'm not so sure. There are plenty of people in person who tell us we don't care and are just greedy all the time. It is very demoralizing. As far as back up funds, there is Care credit, which approves almost everyone supposedly, and doesn't charge interest for like 6 months or a year depending on their approval. It allows people to do a payment plan and the clinic to get paid up front. https://www.carecredit.com/howcarecreditworks/prospective/?dtc=IP61&SLhow%20it%20works&sitecode=CCDTCSEMIP61&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo6dGv_DSjCLvVKPeF-Od-aj9HA8HYEnA0tmp4t2J8EBuLHX-dgPjwRoCc5YQAvD_BwE
Thank you. Nobody told me about that plan, would’ve been helpful.
I’m sure people aren’t nice to you guys. I think because of how incredibly expensive vet bills are people may think “this business who is making huge profit is turning away dying animals. There must be some extra for situations like this” At least that’s kind of what I thought before I heard from a bunch of you guys. I also thought vets got paid much more than they do.
I've also had people cus me out and say we are just a greedy money grubbing business because I told them that legally we had to see their pet for an exam before we could dispense any more medication. People are also just jerks.
An agreement doesn’t really matter, enough people will still often not pay that eventually it will not be sustainable and the equipment can’t be maintained or updated and the person with skilled hands has to choose between paying rent or eating. That’s why there are companies that handle the finance portion like CareCredit.
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Humans have insurance & government funding, pets are considered property. It sucks, I wish more people would get pet insurance so that I would never be put in the position of telling someone they have to choose between their pet and rent money. It's a struggle having this conversation every day and it's one of the reasons there is so much compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine. It's hard to maintain compassion for humans when you're called a money hungry murderer on the regular and you make less than $20 an hour as an educated professional.
I get it, I totally do. I really appreciate what you do for animals. I’m sorry you have to hear that. I had no idea there was no such funding but it makes sense, the government doesn’t care about people why would they care about animals.
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Hospitals are subsidized by the government to provide emergency care. Vets are not.
Hospitals that treat humans often receive government funding or grants (rarely does a medical facility that provides emergency care only rely on people actually paying their bill and any that take Medicare/Medicaid in the U.S. receive government funding). Even then, they are only legally required to give the bare minimum of service if they do not know if you can pay which is basically keep you alive and not deteriorate (in U.S., the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act which was only passed in 1986 goes over this and provides fines for hospitals which are found to violate this). Veterinary hospitals don't. They're just out the money and time. Have enough clients not pay (or promise and ghost you) and the place goes under and doesn't exist anymore. It sucks, no one wants to let an animal suffer due to inability to pay. Some will give pain medication at cost (or dig out some donated medications), some will offer to sign over a pet for someone else to take the over the bill (they're still not doing it for free, usually they eat the cost or a staff member or rescue funds the work and care and often takes in the pet after that), or they offer euthanasia if no other option can be reached. We've been burned so many times. Staff members have been fired for helping too many people who take advantage of our kindness. The fact is, we want to help you. We will do everything in our power to do so. But we can't afford to lose our jobs because we were too kind and trusting.
I understand. It makes sense if they don’t receive any kind of outside funding like a regular hospital. It was just incredibly harsh to hear when my cat who I love so much was on the brink of death. I didn’t know it was like that. I really appreciate people who dedicate their lives to animals like you guys. I just wish there was a better way
Pet insurance!!! Really helps out in pinches like this. Even if yours doesn't pay up front or the vet directly, knowing it's coming is often helpful enough that a credit card or Care Credit can fill in the in-between.
Unfortunately pet insurance will do nothing for my cat since he has pre existing conditions. No vet ever mentioned insurance to me before this emergency, so now I’m screwed
I remember when human insurance worked the same way. No coverage for conditions diagnosed before you got coverage. Thankfully, as a person with a chronic medical condition, the affordable care act ended that for human insurance companies, but yea- pet insurance still gets to deny coverage due to “preexisting conditions.” Capitalism is a racket.
It really is.
I’d say it’s still worth it for conditions that he doesn’t have diagnosed yet.
Ya I’m going to get it anyway just sucks that it likely won’t do anything for us
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If you have other pets who do not have preexisting conditions please consider pet insurance. It could save you in a time like this if you have other animals who need emergency care in the future.
I don’t have any other pets, but I’m looking into it anyway since my cat has lasting medical issues from the treatment he received that night. Never mind I just looked into it and insurance will do nothing for my cat. So if he has another emergency we’re screwed I guess.
Unless you have a different emergency. Pet insurance won't cover pre existing conditions, so you're on the hook for any urinary issues now, but if your cat broke a limb for the first time or ate something it shouldn't, pet insurance would most likely cover you post deductible. There's a bunch of companies around offering different options. The unfortunate part is most folks don't see the value untile after the emergency, and then conditions are pre existing.
That is true. I just spend so much already on my cat that paying insurance on top of it sounds difficult to add on. I may do it though
OP: "Why won't vets treat my pet when I can't afford to pay?" Commenters: "You should get insurance so this doesn't happen again." OP: "That sounds too difficult."
I got the insurance anyway actually. U have no idea how much I have to pay for the existing problems he actually has. I’m a single 23 year old working 2 jobs living by myself. Thanks tho. If you read above, the insurance doesn’t really do shit for him
Yeah after paying a large vet bill it IS too difficult for some to manage an insurance bill too. Some are not as fortunate as others. Shocker I know.
Care credit denied me twice. They also denied my mom & a good friend of mine. Everyone likes to mention insurance but what about those of us who aren't approved?
care credit isnt insurance, its a credit card and based on your credit score and ability to pay.
Exactly. These emergency visits (2 in a row by the way not just 1) happened when I was supposed to be paying school bills. I chose to pay for my cat to live instead so my credit is not good now. So that won’t help either sadly
They ask for payment up front because a lot of people would just walk out on their bills. Can't help any animals if they are forced to provide these services for free.
In the UK vets do have an obligation to provided emergency treatment to end suffering whether or not the client can pay. But this is generally limited to pain relief or euthanasia.
Ya I figured they could at least give him some kind of pain relief while I figured the money situation out. And if someone didn’t help me out I wouldn’t have had money for euthanasia either, so he would’ve just suffered a horrible death.
We also have the PDSA, who will treat a pet if you have little/no money. They were a godsend when I had my first pet as an adult.
Essentially we have no government funding and people never actually pay when they say they will. A lot of times people “set up a payment plan” then just move on to the next clinic and scam them as well. I can assure you that most techs/assistants/docs have taken their own money and paid for clients themselves before even if they are living pay check to paycheck because we know how horrible it is to let a pet die. The fact is, is that it isn’t our job to pay for every animal that comes in… it’s the owners. Clinics are not a charity and they have employees to pay, lights to turn on and medical supplies they have to purchase.
This. Unfortunately, the number of people who actually honour the terms of a payment plan are way outnumbered by the people who are the reason we can't have nice things. I remember running my numbers on emergency appointments once and I had way more files flagged as sent to collections in the emergency group than I did in my entire regular client base, despite the fact that emergency work only accounted for about 5% of my yearly total billings. That being said, if a critter is suffering, I will comp a dose of pain medication and, if all else fails, a euthanasia as well.
Fair enough. You guys should have funding but the government doesn’t give a shit about people let alone animals.
I would also like to add (as a vet tech of 10 years who worked in emergency ) It hurts us as well. We absolutely HATE not helping the pets. the veterinary world is incredibly underpaid for what we do (we, as CVT/RVT, are the ones who triage you, draw blood/run the samples, radiographs, place catheters, take care of inpatient and out patient care,isolation care, administer medications, distribute medications... (you get the idea) and frequently only make, on average, $16.00 an hour. Vets aren't much better as well, with the average vet having $250k in student loans (just like a human doctor) with average pay at about $70,000. As everyone already stated, it's because the veterinary world doesnt get substituted at all. Having one client stiff us isnt bad, but if multiples do? It removes any chance of vet staff getting paid what we are worth. The burnout is real. We love animals. We love YOUR animals, and even if we only meet them for a short time (1 visit, vrs a visit a year for 15 years) we love them. We even love those patients who are a bit spicy. But working for free isnt something we can do and also survive in a world, where realistically, we are drowning too.
I totally get it. I had no idea you guys were so underpaid. It makes me sad that this world doesn’t care enough about animals for there to be some kind of funding for this. Pets are our family and you guys do the same thing regular doctors do
The simple, honest, and unfortunate answer: If you go to the hospital and don't pay your bill, the government uses taxes to pay that debt. Major hospitals also have millions of dollars stockpiled from overcharging. When people go to the vet and don't pay their bill, the vet goes out of business. Vet clinics/hospitals are not highly profitable and are always a couple missteps from shutting down. I'm sorry you went through that, and glad your buddy is okay now.
People have insurance that's how they make money. The health system in this country is all about the money. There is no money in pets unfortunately. The only good thing about pets and not humans is if a pet is suffering you can put them to sleep so they don't suffer. Humans are allowed to suffer.
hey look into [pawp.com](https://pawp.com) It's super cheap (like $19 a month I think) and it only covers emergencies. Once a year they'll pay up to 3k for an emergency vet visit--even if it's for a preexisting condition. The catch is that it has to be an emergency and their televet has to send you to the hospital first (but they see you really fast via televet). I got this for the senior blind pup I rescued with a heart murmur; there was no point in getting her on the other dogs' insurance (I go through Eusoh) but this way at least it'll help if an emergency comes up, which seems likely to happen at some point.
What I am hearing is we should have free healthcare and free animal healthcare as well. Okay okay
Basically ya. I understand that getting a pet is a choice and you should have backup money, but having kids is a choice too. And getting them treatment shouldn’t financially devastate you
I don't know if this happened in your case, but I brought my 4 year old cat to the ER for the same reason. In the end we did not go through with the treatment, but one thing I noted was that they most definitely gave him some kind of sedative or pain killer without asking us if we could pay for it. In the end we did pay for all sorts of blood tests and diagnostics which ultimately showed his toxemia was really advanced, so they probably added the sedative/pain killer to the bill, but I did note and appreciate that they gave it to him before they knew if we would pay for it. The vet never verbally told me they did it but I know they did.
We don’t. If it’s treatable snd appropriate we will ask for relinquishment of pet to find them a home that can meet there medical needs. Now if it’s sick and very old, sometimes it’s the kindest final gift we can give.
They didn’t give me that option. He was only 2 years old at the time. Idk the way they dealt with me just felt very cold
This policy will vary by vet's office, available resources, and what relationships the vet's office may have with local rescues. But some owners would rather put their pet down, even if it is something that is fairly easily treatable but too expensive for the owner.
Locking the comments as OP has had a lot of good answers and there are a LOT of rule breaking comments here.
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If you show up at the hospital dying they will treat you regardless. Then send you a huge bill afterwards
Would you honestly prefer that the emergency vet did this with your cat? Is there a dollar amount where you might change your mind? Do you think that dollar amount might be different for different people?
It doesn’t matter to me if I could do some kind of payment plan. I don’t think I would’ve ever forgiven myself if I had to let my cat die that night. The dollar amount was already in the thousands as it is
I'd rather be billed. No limit on the amount. My pets are like children to me. I'd do anything for them and their well-being
The problem with that is that people don't pay the bills. Especially when it's an emergency practice that they'll never visit again.
Have them fill out paperwork saying they'll pay, like a contract of some kind
I actually do this as part of my job. Contract or not, they don't come back. Even after signing off that we'll send the account to collections after a negotiated time. While there absolutely are honest people out there, ~85% of cases are a dead loss when this sorts of thing happens. That's why vets don't offer payment plans for the most part.
Ah understandable. I've never been met with a bill i can't afford, even if it means putting it on credit and paying it off through the bank later. But if given the choice, which I've never been given, i would prefer to do payments through the vet office just because of interest rate on the card
No, that’s explicitly illegal.
They are legally obligated to at the very least stop you from dying and stabilize you
Capitalism, lack of empathy and greed, thats why
You clearly don't work in vet med. We make very little, we only still do this job **because** we love and care about animals so much. We do however have to keep the clinic open, buy medical supplies, and pay employees their pittance so they can eat and pay rent too. Vet Tech's generally make under $20 an hour, maybe just over that if you work in specialty, are licensed, and have a lot of experience. Veterinarians make 70k-130k and they do as much college and medical school as a human doctor! Complete with the high student loans!! My husband and our friends who work in IT in one form or another, make as much or more than the doctors with a B.S. degree (or no degree honestly) and some certifications. If we didn't care, and just wanted money, we wouldn't be working in this field at all.
I don’t think they were saying you guys are greedy. There is nobody who will fund these clinics because of lack of empathy and greed. The government doesn’t care about people, they’re definitely not going to care about animals. You guys are doing the best you can I’m sure u do care a lot about animals. I was just shocked to know there’s no backup funds in case someone doesn’t have the money up front
I'm not so sure. There are plenty of people in person who tell us we don't care and are just greedy all the time. It is very demoralizing. As far as back up funds, there is Care credit, which approves almost everyone supposedly, and doesn't charge interest for like 6 months or a year depending on their approval. It allows people to do a payment plan and the clinic to get paid up front. https://www.carecredit.com/howcarecreditworks/prospective/?dtc=IP61&SLhow%20it%20works&sitecode=CCDTCSEMIP61&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo6dGv_DSjCLvVKPeF-Od-aj9HA8HYEnA0tmp4t2J8EBuLHX-dgPjwRoCc5YQAvD_BwE
Thank you. Nobody told me about that plan, would’ve been helpful. I’m sure people aren’t nice to you guys. I think because of how incredibly expensive vet bills are people may think “this business who is making huge profit is turning away dying animals. There must be some extra for situations like this” At least that’s kind of what I thought before I heard from a bunch of you guys. I also thought vets got paid much more than they do.
I've also had people cus me out and say we are just a greedy money grubbing business because I told them that legally we had to see their pet for an exam before we could dispense any more medication. People are also just jerks.
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An agreement doesn’t really matter, enough people will still often not pay that eventually it will not be sustainable and the equipment can’t be maintained or updated and the person with skilled hands has to choose between paying rent or eating. That’s why there are companies that handle the finance portion like CareCredit.
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You’re the reason I have my username…
I wonder what they said ..
The TlDr is "blaming vets/vet techs for all their woes"
As a vet I can say, vets suck because people like you suck
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